THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO SLIDING AND RECOVERING ON ICE LIKE A PRO!!
So i've been googling like mad for a tutorial about how to handle a car once you've gone over the edge, past the limit of traction. How do you rein the car back in, once it's lost traction on ice?
Yeah, yeah grandpa, "just dont get into the situation", but what if you've no choice, what if THROUGH NO FAULT OF YOUR OWN (see #1 for an example) you've gone over the edge? What then, huh? How do you get it back?!
COULDN'T FIND A TUTORIAL, SO I PUT ONE TOGETHER WITH WHAT I LEARNED, HERE IT IS!!
There's tons of alluring titles for articles on the web, but you dive into them only to find they mention things like "pack a warm blanket", "take a thermos flask". No! The title of the article was "How To Drive On Ice" not how to prepare for winter driving! Argh, i know that bit already! Teach me the driving technique already!
So anyway, after much frantic searching, many hours reading (80% at least wasted / duplicate info), i have learned and compiled the perfect "how to drive like a pro, on ice" article.
HERE IT IS!!! 10 Steps To Ice Driving Nirvana!
1. Just don't get into a loss of control situation in the first place. There's no going back.
2. There's no going back. Just don't get into a loss of control situation in the first place.
3. Just don't get into a loss of control situation in the first place. There's no going back.
4. There's no going back. Just don't get into a loss of control situation in the first place.
5. Just don't get into a loss of control situation in the first place. There's no going back.
6. There's no going back. Just don't get into a loss of control situation in the first place.
7. Just don't get into a loss of control situation in the first place. There's no going back.
8. There's no going back. Just don't get into a loss of control situation in the first place.
9. Just don't get into a loss of control situation in the first place. There's no going back.
10. There's no going back. Just don't get into a loss of control situation in the first place.
Damn!! Turns out, there's a reason there's no step by step how to recover a slide down an icy hill, blindly into a junction. It's because there is no way to recover. It all revolves around not getting into the slide in the first place.
Whether it's fitting tyres with ice studs, or even just deciding to park up and not drive down that steep hill which could be icy, the key to each solution is always the same, its about never losing traction on ice in the first place.
Double Damn, wish someone had written a short article that says YOU CANT and saved me a ton of wasted searching / reading time.
I wrote this in the style of that non-existant document i really wanted to find. I'm gutted it doesn't exist so i thought i'd let off some steam in a way that may (or may not) help others :-(
Happy Holidays!
Footnotes
#1 There's no such situation that's no fault of your own, you're in charge of the vehicle, YOU are 100% responsible for what it does. You're responsible for choosing to tackle that bit of road in the first place, it's your fault you're too much of an ass to do the right thing.
P.S. pack a warm blanket, take a thermos flask! \\o/
P.P.S. snow (and to a lesser extent slush) is different, but for that you really, really, cant beat just going to a big car park and teaching yourself.
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Sliding down an icy hill: Assuming the lack of grip means you're way beyond help from brakes and engine braking, the car is probably irrecoverable, so it's best to slew the car into a wall or something early on before it gathers speed.
Edited by Sofa Spud on 23/12/2009 at 18:30
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You could always jump out the door ;0)
I always remember as a kid controlling the direction of a sledge by creating a bit of drag on one side with ones toes/feet. So perhaps if you are two up in the car you could each stick a leg out the door and do like wise.;0)
.
Keith
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There is no easy way to stop, the best way I've found is to steer into the kerb and slush to slow you down. That only works when the camber is in your favour. Anticipation is the best but even then things happen which you can't expect.
Can you do some research on "What to do when the car in front starts to slide backwards"
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I remember in 1968 seeing the Mini coming towards me on a narrow road suddenly start to spin . There was black ice. The Mini was going down the hill towards me. I braked very gently - I was going uphill, pulled as far into the side as I could and waited for the crash.#
It stopped about 10 metres away.. So I restarted gingerly and continued - I had winter tyres on the A35.
#
Under those circumstances you have a choice two things to do: keep your eyes open and witness the crash or close them.
I kept mine open.
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Absolutely spot on piece of advice.
I remember driving through Hertfordshire almost exactly ten years ago - it had snowed heavily overnight, and the strong wind had meant a good crust of ice had formed on many of the minor town roads.
Approaching the top of one hill about 800 yards from work, the car became increasingly difficult to control (a FWD Ford Puma). I spotted a space at the side of the road and proceded to park the car.
Astonishing the number of people who were losing control on the flat bit at the top who then decided to tackle a long downhill stretch. It was either slide-slide-slide-bounce-BANG as they hit one kerb and bounced into the path of car trying to come up the hill, or scrape-scrape-scrape-scrape-BANG as they attempted to slow the pace of the car by riding the tyre on the kerb, followed by hitting the car in front.
Madness!
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Its actually quite easy to maintain control on ice. The secret is to keep momentum up.
Of course this plan soon falls to bits on the road when you run out of room, cos you aint stopping it where you thought you might.
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I'm such a pessamist :-)
There is a slight chance you can influence, if not recover, a slide on ice. Here's how.
On ice, you can have some traction by keeping the wheels turning at the speed you are travelling over the surface. The easiest way to do this is to disengage all brakes, disengage drive (removes engine braking) by depressing the clutch / selecting neutral, and point the steering into the slide (e.g. straight ahead if you're heading down a hill).
In all but the slickest of "black ice" (ice formed with no trapped air, which leads to it being perfectly smooth) your wheels will catch up with your speed, and you will even have a small amount of leftover traction.
You do "spend" some of your available traction just by allowing the friction of the surface turn the wheels to match your speed - which of course has a slight slowing effect on you, but not one you're likely to be able to measure.
You can then "spend" any leftover traction you're fortunate enough to have, on very slight turning or very slight braking. Given the amount of traction we are talking about, brakes are almost certainly a waste of your precious leftover traction.
Key point == don't engage any brakes on ice, in a runaway condition. You're throwing away your traction for no benefit.
Extremely light turning away from the skid to a safer place (grassy verge, rub against a kerb, crash into a solid fixture) would be your only option. If you're lucky enough to steer to a place with more traction (pile of snow / slush?) you might just be able to apply some brakes.
Your car is built to protect you much better in a head on collision, so drive straight into a fixture where possible.
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Wonder if these eco-tyres are worse in the snow and ice ?
I spread some salt from a roadside bin at the end of my lane this morning - The Ice there was classic sheet ice - absolutely lethal - you couldn't stand on it. The effect of the salt was instant, the ice crackling like fried bacon as it connected and was drivable in minutes.
One of the theories I suggest is that every driver should be compelled to ride a motor-bike for 12 months. I learnt invaluable lessons about different types of ice in the big freeze of 1981 when my 250N was my sole means of transport. I learnt about the different types of road ice, everything from twinkley frost all the way to week old compacted snow and ice - this has (touch wood) held me in good stead. Ironically in April 1981 when the spring broke out, I had a celebratory trip on the bike and collided with a dog in a village and fell off. But joking apart I learnt to feel the weather and even smell snow when it was coming. I was stopped by a traffic car one night on the way home from a GF's flat - he stopped me as I was the first bike he'd seen in weeks and assumed I was either drunk or nuts (which I was neither !)
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>>every driver should be compelled to ride a motor-bike
I couldn't agree more.
A lot of them would be, erm, annhilated, thus making the roads much safer for the rest of us who have fallen off and do wonders for the organ donor waiting list.
The last time I found ice on two wheels was when I was 'top-sided by a tank-slapper' on a Mobylette, of all things, one May morning. Who would've expected that. Certainly not me!
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Remember a vehicle travelling in a straight line does not slide unless one invokes part of the vehicles system that puts this out of sync. i.e. heavy braking, harsh steering, too low a gear giving a lot of power to the wheels etc etc. Softly, softly and careful should be the approach.
dvd
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When at school I once rode a bicycle several times across a frozen pond.
If you went absolutely dead straight without trying to turn or go faster or slower it was possible to go 100 feet like that.
Eventually though I fancied just a bit of wheelspin. I don't think the base of my spine has ever fully recovered.
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I was taight on my off-road course that going down a hill, you should accelerate until the wheel grip again - that's when you regain control.
Seemed the wrong, and un-natural, thing to do until I tried it - and YES - the guy was right. It works!.
Mind you, I was in a Landy Defender at the time...............
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Remember a vehicle travelling in a straight line does not slide unless one invokes part of the vehicles system that puts this out of sync. i.e. heavy braking harsh steering
Not always ture. I have driven on ice, where it was traveling in a straight line till the camber of the road cuased it not to.
On ice, there is so little grip that other external factors can come into play
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You can slide while going in a straight line downhill or even uphill. Say you're going down the hill at 10 mph in 2nd gear - the wheels could start to slip even then. I've been going up an icy hill and the front wheels started to spin and the car came to a stop and started to slide backwards.
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For the ace drivers amongst us, it is frustrating because you think that surely there's *something* you can do - power out of the slide etc. I've done those courses on skid-pans etc and it seems easy once you get the hang of it.
But you've only got to watch rally drivers and even F1 drivers - once it goes wrong beyond a certain point there's no going back. And of course on the road the main problem is that you just haven't got the space to play with before you hit something.
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well a bit like the estate agents and their :location , location, location.
For ALL drivers, it should be: observation, observation, observation.
Using ALL senses and looking ahead.
And anorak that I am, in tricky conditions I drive with the radio OFF.
PS
now last night on Drumrammer brae, Terrydoo Rd, Co Londonderry, it solid white ice and snowing. Steepest bit certainly 1;7 perhaps/probably 1;5
i waited for the car in front to get well started, but because the ninny was trying to creep up she got stuck, this by applying too much throttle at the steep bit, so we both had to reverse, She got turned ( eventually!) and went the other, long way round.
I built up to not more than 30 in third and maintained traction, just on the point of spinning, a higher gear would not have worked due to the steepness.
And made it comfortably.
see
Farmers son at work again
Sniff
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Yeah I saw that yesterday, it makes you wonder how some people get through life doesn't it? :-)
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If you're going to get into an ice slide, the only thing that's going to get you out of it is to discover that you bought your car from the Ant Hill Mob and dig your heels in.
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Using ALL senses. In tricky conditions I drive with the radio OFF.
Too right. And the heater fan down to a silent speed.
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Too right. And the heater fan down to a silent speed.
Pet hate of mine about my job OC...almost every car i jump into that has some form of climate control (what a stupid term dreamed up by a marketing dept) and fires the fans straight up on full blast, of course the radio follows suit, can't hear yourself think.
Takes ages sometimes to find the right button to turn the things down.
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Radio off, heater down to minimum and... could I "add window open a crack" too?
Being able to hear what's happening/about to happen can make a difference to chances of survival: the amount of soundproofing in a modern car ends up insulating us from every single noise, smell and occasionally sight around us.
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>>... could I "add window open a crack" too?
Of course you can. I was waiting for that comment. Also very useful in thick fog where sheer terror brings every sense into play and eyes out on stalks.
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