Driving Mild

Posted on by curioussteph

It snowed last night, three to four inches worth, and this morning is bright and sunny and cold (13F or -10C). After shoveling the walks and driveway, I headed out for a last shop. We’ve had an exceptionally mild autumn, with very little snow, so today’s outing was an opportunity to remember driving techniques for snow and ice.

Mild is a good word to use here. Be mild in many actions: turning, braking, accelerating. In most cases, less is more. Start into a turn, and then let momentum and the slippery surface carry you through. Corrections when slipping seem more effective when small.

Driving speed in snow and ice is truly a place to go mild rather than wild. So often, I see people in 4-wheel drives barreling along at high speed on icy roads, deluded by their 4 wheel drive.  Yes, its very helpful for traction while driving. No, its not helpful for stopping, and with higher speeds, stopping distances increase, as do the distances when stopping on snow or ice. Around here, the common traffic citation for accidents is driving too fast for conditions.

I’m not a slowpoke in general when I drive, and when it snows, I err on the mild side. I’ll keep my wildness for another venue.

 

<a href=”https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/mild/”>Mild</a>

10 thoughts on “Driving Mild”

  1. I will keep this in mind next week when I house/puppy sit for my daughter in the snowy lands of Utah. I have zero experience driving in the snow and I’m worried about it. I will drive mild.

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    1. 4 wheel can make an amazing difference in getting around on snow and ice, particularly in hilly terrain. The problem is that stopping is still a major issue. For me, living in town, I find that I do very well with front wheel drive and snow tires. The only problem is with deep snow and my little Honda Civic gets high centered. If I lived in the mountains, I would have 4-wheel drive.

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Published by curioussteph

June 2017: I started writing Curioussteph.com with this: By day, I'm a retired family physician turned body-oriented psychotherapist. I garden, travel, am owned by 2 elderly cats, figure skate and am training for my first triathlon. April 2020: Three years later, the two elderly cats have crossed the rainbow bridge, and we now have an 11 year old adoptee, Ziggy. I'm done with triathlon and skating for the time being, and I am still physically active, running, biking and walking. It's now the time of the coronavirus, which is affecting us all.