Having driven through the same storm as it went from MN to Chicago the day before Christmas, I feel your pain.

ON the trip to Chicago it took an extra 3 hours to get to where we were going. Luckaly the truck had just gotten new tires, and the 4x4 is very effective. My normal gear covered anything we would need had we needed to stay or help ourselves out of a ditch.

It is great that you could get through it as effectivly as you did.

Another case for our way of thought, and proof that you can't rely on "the system" to keep the roads clear for our travels.

This was, for lack of a better discription, and unusually "slippery" snowstorm.

Most snow we get around here is fairly wet and heavy. This was a light powder, which would make for a great day skiing, but not for driving.

I drive a Subaru Outback wagon which is usually pretty surefooted in the snow. For the first time in five years of ownership, I had all four wheels let go on me while I was coming around a corner (responding to the firehouse for an EMS call, no less). I was only going 20 miles an hour (maybe less), but the car did a 270 and ended up facing backwards in the middle of the road I had turned on to. No one else was on the road, and I didn't hit anything, so no harm done. I turned around and continued on my way, even slower than before!

Thankfully, most people around here stayed off the roads. We got plowed out pretty quick, leading me to believe there's some truth to the allegations that NYC suffered from a wildcat job action.

Be safe everyone!

Subaru = 4wd drive, right?

To me, it seems like pretty normal 4wd behavior. A GREAT asset both for handling curves and chugging snow - but when it slips, it slips without the pre-warning signs of conventional 2wd.

I'm glad it worked out OK.

I actually recommend anyone to go play with their car on an empty and icy parking lot, if they can find any. Braking hard and provoking a skid is a great way to prepare for winter. And great fun

Yup. 4WD. Usually quite predictable, however. Understeers when entering a turn, but adding some throttle mid-turn brings on oversteer pretty easily - and usually quite controllably. In this particular case, I wasn't trying to do anything fancy, but it just let go. I was surprised, but my track training kicked in and I stopped fighting it and enjoyed the ride. (The rule of thumb I was taught driving on a track is "in a spin? Both feet in." I.E. push in the clutch to disengage the engine, and lock up the wheels. Then enjoy the ride and brace for impact )

I agree wholeheartedly that you should take your car out to an empty, snow-covered lot to see how it skids. I tried to get my wife to do it with me in this storm, but she was scared. I did do an intentional "panic stop" to show her how the anti-lock breaks work, and intentionally induced both over- and under-steer to show her the difference, and how to recover. There's only so much you can learn, however, until you drive through it yourself!

Subies have AWD, which handles somewhat differently than traditional 4WD. Different AWD technologies handle differently from one another as well.



The worse the traction, the better. A day of this kind of practice will teach you things that are a lot more painful and expensive to learn on roads.

Excellent advice. Remember to turn off traction control / anti-skid to get a feel for how the vehicle really handles in worst-case conditions.

Always fun too
We used to use the DMV parking lot when I was in college, and one classmate the police came up and asked what he was doing and he said he was practicing snow driving as he was from whatever state south where they get much less snow and they were cool with it despite all the circular tracks in the lot.
I've found that I can still our brake ABS, the fancy sensors and computers can't threshold brake like a foot can and that AWD is no where near as good as old fachioned level on the floor 4x4.

My grandpa ran a towing company back when tow bans were much rarer. I remember being out with him on some pretty nasty nights trying to keep the interstates clear for the DOT and Highway Patrol. He always claimed the number one thing 4WD and anti-lock brakes were good for was getting people stuck where most tow trucks can't get them. The number 2 thing was ringing up very large towing bills for the trucks that could go get them.

As noted above, you need to understand the limitations of your equipment and your skill with it. Practicing in the local parking lots is always a good way to warm up for winter driving.

A couple of additions to all the good inputs above:
- Slow and easy is the key to driving in bad winter conditions
- If it was hard to get moving it will be much harder to stop (or steer)
- Do not ever, ever stop on or near the main portion of the road/interstate
- In icy conditions the shoulders and median often have much better traction
- Curves are tricky
--- flat curves - go slow, really really slow
--- banked curves - go fast enough to not slide out the bottom
------ usually about half the posted speed
- Weather forecasts cannot be trusted - if in doubt stay home or pull off early
- The first snow falls/ice storms are the worst since everyone is out of practice
- Driving through snow drifts that come over the hood is contra-indicated
(and a whole lot of fun under the right conditions)

Final Note: I drive a Jeep and haven't gotten stuck where the tow trucks can't get to me yet!

-Eric

Around here, a day (4 hours) at "slippery tracks" was compulsory training for getting my driver's license. That track (expoxy with water) is more slippery than most surfaces you'll ever encounter in the winter - think a skating field with water on it and no winter tires. But no play - hard practice: Stop the car as fast as you can without spinning, going through curves at higher and higher speeds until you slip and then manage that skid and so on. The contents of the course has probably shifted a bit with the introduction of modern electronics into the car, but the basic idea is the same.

The funny thing - the effect of that course is highly debated. It focuses on mastering the situation. It makes (some) males feel overly confident and thus taking more chances.


Safe winter driving is not really all that much about how to control a skid - it is about reducing speed so you not only avoid that skid, but have the ability to stop or steer away from anything unexpected, such as a car or a person blocking the lane.

Of course, if you're lucky enough to have proper race track training (I'm a bit envious here then you will have learned a lot of the same things.


And I must say that proper winter tires really does make ALL the difference in the world. Really. But even with winter tires, conditions are some times simply so bad your options are extremely limited. Drive accordingly.

that's something i wish we had here in Minnesota.even if was just to try out and not part of the license test.we had 100's of crashes at the first snowstorm that could have be avoided if people knew how their car handled on snow and ice.i have a SUV and a big front wheel drive car,a V6 Plymouth,and i had a couple dicey moments with both of them and i,as my Grandson would say,drive like a old man.