Tips on Driving Better in Snow & Ice

We had our first significant snow earlier in the week, and there's going to be more, so you might want to brush up on your snow & ice driving tips. First off, these tips are from AAA, and having AAA might be another worthwhile thing to have not only in the winter but year round.

Here are some tips for you and your car before you even start driving such as: keep a bundle of cold-weather gear in your car (some things like blankets, medication, food and water), make sure your tires are properly inflated and have plenty of tread, keep at least half a tank of gas in your car, and never warm up your car in an enclosed place.

So now you are on the road, and the one thing you should never do when it is snowing or it has snowed is use cruise control, as it will hamper your car's control and could potentially cause an accident. Some other big tips for driving safely in the snow and ice:

• Make sure to drive slowly. You will still get to your destination and you can always adjust your speed down to account for lower traction when driving on snow or ice.
• Don't stomp on your brakes or hit your gas too hard. You will want to apply the gas slowly to regain traction and avoid skids. Also here's a big reminder: it takes longer to slow down on icy roads.
• Don't drive too close or don't be on someone's bumper. Whatever distance you normally travel behind a car on nice roads, you will want to multiply that by five. So whenever the car in front of you is accelerating or making a turn, count to at least three then go as the increased distance will give you more time to avoid an accident.
• Know your brakes. This means testing them out before the winter comes and get them changed if needed.
• Brake correctly, which means keep the heel of your foot on the floor and use the ball of your foot to apply firm, steady pressure on the brake pedal.
• If you don't need to stop, then don't. So don't brake too hard if you don't need to or you could slide and if you can slow down enough to keep rolling until a traffic light changes, do it.
• Don’t power up hills & don't stop when you're going up a hill. Applying extra gas on snow-covered roads will just make your wheels spin, so try and get a little speed before you go up the hill and then continue to accelerate slowly and decelerate down a hill slowly. You want to not stop while going up a hill as it could cause your car to slide.

You can see more driving tips from AAA here.