Running boats was some of my best training for driving. It taught me that managing momentum and not fighting it made life much easier. Incorporate that with the idea that the brake pedal really does not exist when things are slippery, and you get much better at driving in bad conditions. Unfortunately, when cars have to stop to avoid an accident in front of it, it does not have many options for getting out of the way of the drivers behind their cars.

With snow and ice, I had at least one hard lesson. I went down an ice-covered road when I was 17, my car spun and I was stuck jsut off the road, with little damage. Then, another car came in the other direction and smashed into the right rear quarter of my car (really my parents car). This other car backed up and drive off. My car had a huge dent at the back of the passenger door and front of the quarter panel. The passenger door never opened again. Of course, when I explaned to my parents that some other car didi all the damage, I was not really believed. Luckily, the other car showed up te next day, and it had been driven by someone I knew who was 1 year older than I was.