Winter Drivers

What's Wrong with Winter Drivers?

by Jan Semenoff

When I was a police officer, I hated the first day of snow. Notice I said, “The first day of snow” as opposed to the “first day of winter” that came much later in the season. (Texas readers take note: We get some serious snow here in Canada. You are forgiven if you decide to forego this article, pour yourself another iced tea and lament the chilly 73 degrees Fahrenheit you are presently experiencing.) On the first day of snow, the average driver is reduced to ploughing ahead blindly, sliding half-out of control on the ice, unable to brake or steer, barely able to manage the vehicle, a half-hour late, and just knowing that they will be lucky to get the kids to school and make it to work without getting rear-ended. Accident statistics on these first days of winter are grim.

Even though we are past that first day in most parts of the country, I thought we could take a look at the root cause of most of these fender benders, hoping to stave off a trip to the local body-shop, or worse. Forgive me if a lot of this is tongue-in-cheek. That’s just the Canadian way of looking at winter with humour.

Slow Down – Most drivers hit the ice-slicked streets in the first few days of snow still driving as it the road conditions were as clean and dry as summer. Hard on the gas and your back-end is sliding out of control. Hard on the brakes, and you’re sliding without steering capability. More inexperienced drivers are bad for this. People who have never driven in snow, or worse yet, think they CAN drive in snow, typically over-estimate their stopping distance. If 20 k/mph is as fast as you can safely drive for the road conditions, then 50 k/mph is foolish.

Your braking distance may be as much as 3-4 times, or more, given varying road conditions. All things being equal, a car on a clean, dry road traveling at 40 k/mph will stop in about 13 metres (44 feet for the non-metric readers). The same car traveling on loosely packed snow will stop in about 25 metres (82 feet), roughly double the distance. On glare ice, the total braking distance increases to 53 metres (173 feet). That is about four times the summer driving distance, and this assumes 40 k/mph. These distances will be increased by traveling at 50 k/mph, and even more at highway speeds. Slow down.

Here is a good tip, courtesy of one of the safest drivers I know. If you find yourself starting to slide on the glazed patch formed by polished tire ruts, see if you can manage to pull yourself up onto the crest of the ruts. Often, this “brown-sugar” snow still has enough sand and roughness to offer you the traction you desperately need. Try it, it works in a pinch.

Clean Your Windshield – Yes, I know that it is cold, and you want to get in to your car and you are running late. I know you can’t find your windshield scraper and are using your Canadian Tire card. Do the defrost routine, and clean off your windshield anyway. That little patch you’ve only just managed to scrape off directly in front of the steering wheel is probably not good enough either. Do the whole windshield. While you’re at it, try the side windows and the rear window as well. I once pulled a guy over who hadn’t cleaned off any off his windshield, so he just decided to roll down the side window and stick his head out to drive to work. By the time we pulled him over his glasses were completely covered in frost. He could have been a candidate for the infamous Darwin Awards. Luckily, he drove away with only a frost-bitten face and a small reminder payable to Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada.

I’m constantly amazed to see people with a foot and a half of snow on the back trunk. When the snow is really sticky, it also impairs your headlights and taillights, so clean those areas off as well.

Vehicle – I know I’m going to get in to a lot of trouble for saying this, but it has been my experience that anti-lock brakes work marvellously for inexperienced drivers on ice. The panicked “Fred-Flintstone-feet-on-the-road” kind of stop can quickly lead to out of control fishtailing. Anti-lock brakes seem to minimize this effect, and assist in stopping the car in a straight line. They are not perfect, but then again, independent tests seem to support their use in the majority of cases. I’ll save you the trouble of looking up my e-mail address. Tell me your opinion by clicking here.

You should also keep your tank closer to full than empty most of the time, to minimize condensation in the tank and fuel lines, and rough running or stalls. Your car should have a survival kit (Download our Checklist), and be well-serviced for winter. Any problem your car has in the summer will only be magnified once it gets cold.

You should also know that Transport Canada and The Rubber Association of Canada recommend FOUR snow tires be installed on your car, rather then the recently popular all-season M+S (mud and snows). Four snow tires with a good robust tread pattern help maintain stability and control

Transport Canada recommends that the snow tires should be installed in sets of four. Although M+S tires provide safe all-weather performance, they may not be suitable for severe snow conditions. Why all four tires? Well, given that you could find yourself slipping out of control, the last thing you need is to have one end of your car digging in, and the other end fishtailing. With four tires, you simply get better control.

Proper air pressure of tires is also important, considering that tire pressures will decrease substantially as air temperature drops. At least we are spared the tires that we had thirty years ago that rolled along the road with the finesse of four blocks of ice, making that bunkata-bunkata-bunkata sound until they thawed.

Emergency Kit – I’m going to guess that right now in your glove box are two dried-up ballpoint pens, and empty bottle of Acetaminophen, and 4 extra napkins from your last drive-thru order. As common as this is, it is surprising to find so few people, especially professional drivers, who carry a properly stocked first aid and emergency kit in their cars. We’ve included a checklist that you can print out as a starting point for assembling a good emergency kit. Is it too much trouble to assemble your own? You won’t think so about 20 minutes after hitting the ditch.

Hopefully you don’t find yourself stranded in the snow, in an accident, or injured from an accident. The recent snow fall in eastern Canada has claimed five lives on the first two weeks of December alone. If you are responsible for professional drivers, please make sure that the fleet has survival kits. And as always, slow down.

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