How To Drive On Snow And Ice (1957)

[DustyRusty]

 

[jimh406]

I remember driving two wheel drive cars on snow, but I haven't had to do that much for the past 40 years. I got stuck across town in my mustang about 12 years ago with summer tires, but I still made it.

Nowadays, it's 4 wheel drive with 3 peak rated tires.

 

[woodman55]

Back in the early 80's we would go the the mall parking lot after a storm ,and the lot was cleared and empty of cars. To practice "defensive driving". What a great place for donuts, fish tails, skids, ect.

 

[Mark_BX25D]

That's actually a good video for just about anybody that's new to driving on snow. The physics has not changed.

 

[Yooper]

When I was 16 years old the next door neighbor’s wife was stuck in the driveway. She was just learning to drive as her husband had Parkinson’s and this was her first winter. I could hear her spinning the tires so I thought I would go give her some help. When I got there she was sprinkling some ashes under the front tires of her two wheel drive car. I asked her why the front tires and she replied that the back ones were turning just fine but the front ones were not. I stood there stunned and tried not to laugh. Then she proceeded to get in the car, put it in reverse and backed right out!

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

I turned 16 in 1965 in Vermont and soon had an older VW bug. Being poor I bought retreaded winter tires for the back called “sandpaper retreads” from a local retreader. They were actually winter spec. retreads with bits of cork embeded in the rubber. As the tire wore the cork pieces were lost leaving the rubber full of tiny dimples in the aggressive tread. Those things were so much better traction than anything made since that I continued to buy and use them exclusively on my F150 plow truck well into the late 80”s. They are not made now and retreads have all but died out anyway. The downside was you could not get a full summer on the things. Winter change over was a must.
That VW would go where even jeeps frared to tread. Once the snow was so deep on the dirt road at out farm I had to stop because the snow jamed under the front and lifted the front wheels off the road! I had enough traction to continue but could not steer!
Anyone remember these super retreads?

 

[Henro]

Back in the early 80's we would go the the mall parking lot after a storm ,and the lot was cleared and empty of cars. To practice "defensive driving". What a great place for donuts, fish tails, skids, ect.

Those were the days. Now you would probably lose your license doing the same thing...

That and driving an old junker in a friend's parent's muddy field taught my reflexes how to react on slippery surfaces to this day!

 

[The Evil Twin]

When I was 16 years old the next door neighbor’s wife was stuck in the driveway. She was just learning to drive as her husband had Parkinson’s and this was her first winter. I could hear her spinning the tires so I thought I would go give her some help. When I got there she was sprinkling some ashes under the front tires of her two wheel drive car. I asked her why the front tires and she replied that the back ones were turning just fine but the front ones were not. I stood there stunned and tried not to laugh. Then she proceeded to get in the car, put it in reverse and backed right out!

That reminds me of the time I saw a woman at a gas station adding 3 quarts of oil to a brand new car. Usually I just let people do their thing but when she got a 4th quart from the store I had to ask. She said the salesman told her to check the oil every so often because it could burn some during break in. Sounds like solid advice. She pulled the dipstick out and showed me that the oil was only half full. Meaning half way up the dipstick!

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Never got any of my '67 Mustangs stuck in snow, had Goodyear Suburbanites AND several steel billets in the rear wheel wells in the trunk.
Today's 'new' drivers have NO idea HOW to drive..rely on 4WD, ABS, TC, computerz...

 

[Daren Todd]

They were still teaching that in drivers ed in Middlebury VT in 91'. If it was our driving block, then we drove. Didn't matter what the weather was doing.

Thinking back on it, that was probably why the driving instructors were going bald

I actually took my drivers exam at the tag office during a snow storm. It was either go that day, or the rescheduled appt was 6 weeks out. I wanted my license

One of the things we had to do was a hill start with out rolling back. The evaluator had me pull up by the curb on 7% grade hill by the college. Set the parking brake with vehicle in neutral to make sure the e-brake held. Then had to take off releasing the brake without rolling backwards. With 10" of snow on the ground

I stopped and the car immediately started sliding backwards. She verified that yes the back tires weren't spinning by opening the door and looking back. 🫣🫣🫣

She said "umm.... I should have probably thought this one through a little better since we are in a snow storm"

I eased the car into the curb so it wouldn't roll backwards anymore. Then the front of the car slid back and forth some when I eased on the gas till the tires caught and started pulling us back up the hill.

Then the brainiac instructor had me go through the college taking the 10% grade with the two 90° S turns in it

I passed. Dad was absolutely livid when he found out where she had me do the hill start, and then took me through the college route.

I enjoyed it, that was a fun challenge

 

[Mark_BX25D]

They were actually winter spec. retreads with bits of cork embeded in the rubber. As the tire wore the cork pieces were lost leaving the rubber full of tiny dimples in the aggressive tread. Those things were so much better traction than anything made since that I continued to buy and use them exclusively on my F150 plow truck well into the late 80”s. They are not made now and retreads have all but died out anyway.

Au contrairé, sir! They are still available here! They are highly spoken of in a couple of automotive forums I have inhabited.

 

[Lil Foot]

Years ago I was driving a 2wd Toyota PU near Flagstaff and conditions were a little slippery- packed snow & some ice. I was doing great until I turned onto a downhill, cloverleaf off ramp at about 20mph.
Instantly I was just a passenger; it was polished glare ice-nothing I did changed anything, so I just sat back for the ride & inevitable crash.
Amazingly, I slid sideways down the entire length of the curved ramp, never even bumping the curbs.
When I got to the bottom, I pulled over to the shoulder, badly shaken. Almost immediately, there was a tap on the window from a DPS Trooper.
I rolled down the window expecting a ticket and a chewing out, but instead he shook my hand for what he called "The finest piece of driving he ever saw".
I didn't have the heart to tell him I was just along for the ride.
After that I got serious about 4wd and/or chains in those conditions.

 

[Biker1mike]

I taught three kids and one grand kid how to drive. The first good snow I took them to either a parking lot or the state park and played in the snow. Kids did not have traction control so how to brake and control a skid were always fun. Grand kids car ( my old commuter ) has traction control and anti-lock brakes and front wheel drive. A completely different beast in the snow.
Of course we all had to learn the tricks of driving all wheel drive vehicles. But , then again, nothing beat my old Jeepster Commando with a Buick v6 for shear fun in the snow.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

After that I got serious about 4wd and/or chains in those conditions.

I wish more people up here would learn this!

 

[Biker1mike]

I wish more people up here would learn this!

I can not tell you how many times me and my two wheel drive pickup went to the scene to find a 4x4 truck or jeep well off the road. Drivers would bitch that these roads are terrible. I'd have to tell them that there are a bunch of two wheel drive vehicles with blue lights that made it to the accident just fine.
Not a coincidence that this was almost always on a tertiary road that led from the commuter rail station.

 

[je1279]

What I find crazy living in the Northeast is that a large portion of our population completely forgets how to drive in the snow from one year to the next. The first few snow storms of the year are a guaranteed $h!tshow on the roadways here.

 

[Daren Todd]

What I find crazy living in the Northeast is that a large portion of our population completely forgets how to drive in the snow from one year to the next. The first few snow storms of the year are a guaranteed $h!tshow on the roadways here.

It ain't just a "North East" phenomenon 1 snowflake and people forget how to drive

 

[rc51stierhoff]

It ain't just a "North East" phenomenon 1 snowflake and people forget how to drive

You could add rain drop to that…it’s not just snow.

 

[DustyRusty]

What I find crazy living in the Northeast is that a large portion of our population completely forgets how to drive in the snow from one year to the next. The first few snow storms of the year are a guaranteed $h!tshow on the roadways here.

When I was in college back in the early 1960s one of my roommates was from Montreal. He asked me if I would drive him home for a weekend, and I said yes. I can remember this like it was yesterday, when the snow started falling we were just entering the area around McGill University and had to go up a steep hill to get to where he lived. I couldn't believe that the people of Montreal didn't know how to drive in the snow! I had no problem getting up the hill but I had to drive around the cars that were stuck. I did have about 200 pounds of sand in the trunk, and snow tires. He was amazed that I could drive in the snow as well as I did that day. To me, it was a natural occurrence that I learned to drive in the snow. I don't believe that the people in the Northeast forget how to drive in snow, I believe that they never learned how to drive in snow!
When I was working, a fast-moving Noreaster blizzard hit in the late afternoon. I stayed at work till about 7 PM figuring that the roads would be cleared of snow and stuck cars. I was wrong, and I had to drive all around the stuck cars when I came to a long hill on the highway, the cars were scattered around like dominoes. I drove around all of them till I got to the top of the hill where there was a State Police car across the road. I stopped and he walked up to the car and politely told me that I came up the wrong side of the road. I explained that I had no choice because of all the cars that were stuck. He asked about my car, an 87 Mercedes diesel sedan, and I just said, 200# of sand in the trunk and studded snow tires along with knowing how to drive in snow is all that I needed. He moved his car out of the way, and I continued my drive home. Those were the days before cell phones, and my wife was worried that I was stuck on some road in the snow when I drove into the driveway.

 

[dlsmith]

I've never owned a 4WD vehicle, never will. If the roads are so bad you need 4WD, keep your ass at home, unless you're LEO, FD or first responder.
If people did that, there would be a lot fewer deaths on the roads in the winter. But then, that's Darwin's Law at work, weeding out the fearless.