Change down through the gears. Push the brakes gently until they.lock, release, repeat until you stop. It's not easy because it's counter-intuitive. I try to just not drive in snow (I know that doesn't work for everyone).

When the roads are slippery with snow (especially hard packed snow which forms ice surface quickly) you have to extend braking distances by several times, take corners multiple times slower andf accelerate very gently.

Tyre choice helps a lot, some of us have dedicated sets of summer and winter tyres on wheels, others have adopted the use of genuine 'all season'' tyres, note a winter or all season tyre should have the 3 peaked mountain and snowflake combined emblem embossed on the sidewall, without that emblem its not a genuine winter rated tyre....just out of interest i run both types, all seasons on one vehicle and dedicated tyre sets on another.

Winter rated tyres have a different tread compound designed to grip below 7'C which is where summer tyres start to lose their grip, the downside to all seasons is that they wear faster in summer heat but overall they are worth getting in my humble.

In the sort of size your C1 would have they can be surprisingly cheap, you don't have to buy Michelins which have become almost worshipped in reviews and comments in recent years for their expensive offerings, such alternatives as Vredestein Falken etc make very good tyres but don't spend the gdp of a small country on adverts and sponsorship...however i wouldn't advise anyone to plummet the cheapest budget end of far eastern unheard of makes for any tyre choices, they really are cheap for a reason, i've experimented twice in recent years and both times have had them removed whilst still almost brand new so poor was the experience.

The present conditions will only last another few days and spring is around the corner, so you might give some thought to tyres during the summer or when they need replacing, cheaper out of season too if you shop around...note do not run mixed winter and summer rated tyres, even on different axles, if you go winter rated get 4, plenty of Youtube videos showing you what can happen if you mix the types.

The more suitable tyres won't give you dry road grip in poor conditions, but they will offer better grip in worsening conditions, you'll still have to take care.

The other factor at play in your minor accident is that ABS doesn't always work for you in really slippery conditions when coming to a halt (or not), sometimes locking the wheels up and allowing the snow to build up in front of the tyres would help you stop better, or using cadence type braking as mentioned above, but you can't disable ABS from the driver's seat for the odd occasion it might help.

Edited by gordonbennet on 10/03/2023 at 07:59

Funnily enough John, our tractor unit tyres of the last 3 years are snowflake and mountain stamped, both steer and drive axle types (different patterns), they are without doubt the best wet gripping tyres i've experienced in all of my long life in trucks, as you would expect superior grip a given on snow etc.

Sometimes when braking on snow slush its etc its obvious you arn't going to stop in time, all you can do is try and keep a clear calm head and use whatever suurroundings might help knock some speed off, ie can you run the tyres alongside a gutter or verge (could be some grit underneath that will help offer some friction), could you run it onto the grass bank, you might ruin a wheel or tyre or bend a bumper but if you can avoid hitting a third party then it will almost certainly be a less painful result overall.

Driving trouble free for many years depends to no small extent on a helping of luck, you can hedge luck your way by preparing for scenarios, eg correct and quality tyre choice and good brake maintenance and having clean clear windows and good lights, what's that old saying about failing to prepare resulting in p--- poor performance :-)