Driving on ice is dangerous and often frightening for those who do not do it often. You can feel like you are barely in control of your car — and that may be true. A lot of accidents happen because people suddenly lose control or can’t react the same way they can on clean pavement.
How can you drive safely? One expert noted that your car has three basic functions:
- Accelerating
- Braking
- Turning
According to him, you must pick just one at a time. Trying to do two of those things at once can be catastrophic on the ice.
Even so, people do it all the time. They come up to a turn going too quickly, for instance, so they try to hit the brakes and slow down as they turn. That’s when the wheels skid sideways and they just start sliding, halfway through the turn and careening off of the road.
Instead, you need to slow down in advance and then turn, without braking, when you get to the right point in the road. If you know you are going too fast to make the turn, just drive past it, slowing down as you do. Then turn around, come back up the road, and make the turn at a more controlled speed.
Of course, this only works when turning onto a side road from a road that continues on past the turn.
Understanding how to drive safely can help you, but you are still at the mercy of other drivers who make mistakes. Be sure you know how to seek compensation if you get injured in an accident.