1. If streets are slippery, when going downhill put your car in neutral and intermittently tap the brakes (if your brakes allow it). Use gently applied pressure, not hard hits. Braking downhill while in gear can cause your car to fishtail, or the rear to lock up. Of course ABS tends to solve this problem, but not everyone has that. Believe it or not.)

2. Allow yourself three-five times the normal distance between you and the car ahead. Allow yourself at least that much extra stopping time. When approaching any intersection, from approximately three times your normal distance remove your foot from the gas and let your car take itself there. The slower you are going when you have to hit the brakes on ice, the less you will slip.

3. If you start to fishtail don't panic. Just remove your foot, and steer into the skid. The big thing is to NOT slam on the brakes, unless you LIKE doing donuts....

4. If you get stuck, try rocking the car. If possible, show patience, and let the engine pull the car out of the stuck spot without applying the gas. If the slope is small enough, quite often that works. Applying gas just gets the wheels spinning, which melts the ice/snow, which then immediately refreezes and there you are still stuck....

5. Get a bag of kitty litter and keep it in your trunk. This is great to use as traction, if you don't have a supply of sand handy. Oh yeah, speaking of, if your driveway is snowcovered, and you don't have a shovel, try spreading sand on it and letting the sun work for you. Sand heats up faster than snow, and then radiates back out. It will melt the snow faster, then you can sweep up the sand.

6. The best rule of thumb when driving is to just be patient, GO SLOWLY, use carefully and gently applied movements in both steering and braking, and think and look ahead. Course it's better yet just to not drive....

[ 01-02-2002 12:59 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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