I almost wiped out tonight

I was driving home from work during a 4" snowfall. The roads were slippery and
I was driving too fast for the conditions. The road I was on was a four
lanes.....two each way. The speed limit on the road is 40 mph and I was going
about that fast.
I was in the left lane.......the right lane was open and someone pulled out
from a side street onto the road but even though the right lane was open they
had to go over to the left lane right in front of me. This of course ticked me
off. I was in a hurry to get home. So I just moved over into the right lane
to pass this car.
After I got about 2 car lengths ahead I started to move over back into the left
lane.
When I started to change lanes I noticed a build up of snow between
lanes.......too late. As soon as my car got into the build up of snow the rear
end lost it and started to slide to the right. I immediately cranked the
steering wheel all the way to the right.....turn into the skid
right?..........the car almost went into a spin but held at about 45 deg. to
the road and slid....it seemed like forever.......right down the road. Finally
I felt the car come out of it but it was happening so fast the rear end went
totally the other way.....I immediately cranked the steering wheel all the way
to the left......steering into the skid yet again. The car almost went into a
spin.......it was so close....but held at about 45 deg to the road sliding down
the road. BTW at the first sign of the rear end loosing it I got off of the
gas pedal and did no breaking. By this time the speed of the car had gone down
enough so I then didin`t over correct. I put the steering wheel in the
straight forward position and the car slid right and left abit and the settled
down. I was then back in the left lane. The rush of adrenaline that hit me
was such that my heart was racing and pounding so hard.....I got a pain in the
pit of my stomache.
Just a story I wated to tell here ............97 SC2. After that I drove the
rest of the way home so slow. Man I got lucky. If I had gone into a
spin I don`t know what I would have done.....there was oncomming traffic in the
other lanes.
Dan.

 

Been there, done that... Full 360+ degree spin off onto the LEFT shoulder
of highway 287 here in NJ.

Same pain in the stomach and heart-attack symptoms.

Joe - V#8013 - '86 VN750 - joe @ yunx .com
Ask me about "The Ride" on July 31, '04:
http://www.youthelate.com/the_ride.htm

I'm not a total idiot... I am after all, missing parts.

 

Glad to hear all is well.

I'm still trying to understand the limitations of the traction control in my
'01 LW300. I have tried to get it to skid on ice to see how it recovers. So
far, it is very good but my feeling is never to depend heavily on
automation.

I had a similar happening some years back when I got my first front drive
vehicle. Was on a snow covered interstate and was getting impatient with the
slow traffic. Finally was able to get up some speed and pass the line of
slow moving cars. When safely ahead, I just let my foot off the
gas...**wrong**. On a rear drive that I was accustomed to, this would have
been OK but on a front drive, the thrust vectors are vastly different (yeah,
I'm an engineer). Should have let off on the gas slowly because it started a
spin that I couldn't recover from. Made a FOOM into a freshly plowed snow
bank and sat there as the line of cars I just passed smugly passed me.
Luckily no damage. I had a folding shovel and dug myself out, got back on
the road and drove more patiently.

Oppie

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=========

 

Glad everything worked out - that sensation of time slowing down during the
critical moments is really strange (been there done that). I have no
knowledge of snow driving, however I thought the rule about lifting off the
throttle when in slide only applies to rear-drive cars? Anyone know?

Again, glad all is fine. Sometimes slow is good - think I'll do that on the
morning commute today (currently raining and freezing at 55 degrees).

 

Glad everything worked out - that sensation of time slowing down during the

In a front wheel drive car, you're often better off staying on the gas then
letting off. If you stay on the gas and point the tires where you want to go,
the wheels will pull you right out of the slide.

My girlfriend almost had a bad one the other day. The day after this past
snowstorm it was windy, and although the roads were plowed and taken care of
from the day before, there was some windblown snow on the road. We rounded a
bend and I saw the snow and stuff, but she decided to step on the gas more for
some reason. We got right before it and I yelled at her to go easy, so she
locks the brakes up.......After a few over corrects and fishtails(one of which
was into the other lane with a state plow truck coming......I got scared) We
ended up driving through somebodys yard. We went in right between 2 trees and
ended up running over a bush. Luckily nothing was damaged, except for her
pride. But, the upside is, she learned a valuable lesson that day.

 

Well, being in montreal I do alot of snow driving, and I find with my saturn
that when trying to get out of a slide, use the gas in small pumps when
turning into the slide. Each pump has a chance of grabbing some concrete and
getting you back on track and is better than just riding out the slide, but
you were (IMHO) correct in not touching the brakes.

But Jonnie said it best..... in those conditions, the safest thing to do is
just slow the hell down

 

Traction control is not meant for this kind of situation, it's to prevent
wheelspin on acceleration only. Only a full stability-control system would
provide any advantage here..

 

Thanks for the, Glad everything ended up ok, messages. Also very interesting
experiences that you shared about driving in the snow.

Man it happenned so fast I barely had time to get the steering wheel turned
hard over into the slide. Will try to remember that though...........but
hopefully it will never happen again. I will be driving slow now whenever
there is snow around. I guess I got over confident when driving in the snow
since I have never had an accident in it.
Not anymore though..........that was way to close. Scared the sh...t out of
me.

It would be interesting to read more tales of close encounters while driving.

Thanks again. Dan.

 

The important thing here is that you knew how to recover from a skid, and
that you did it.

The first time that it snows each year I drive to an empty parking lot near
me and put the car into a few skids and then recover. This lets me get my
winter driving feel back. We practice for all kinds of things in life, why
not skidding. This way, WHEN the idiot in the SUV does something later in
the winter and causes me to have to avoid them, I don't fear skidding.

My wife, who is a musician and spends many hours during the week practicing
the oboe thinks that I am insane for practicing skidding. She also thinks
that I am insane for a number of other reasons, but that is a story for
another day.

-David

 

Glad to hear it turned out well for you. I understand that with front wheel
drive, you are not to "turn into the skid", but to continue turning in the
direction you want to go, but without braking, and to accelerate instead.
Always works for me anyway.

Brigitte

 

Hello all,
Correct me if I am wrong. But, aren't you supposed to steer into a
skid in rear wheel drive cars? and turn the wheels to where you want
to go in front wheel drive cars? I alway remind myself of that because
I drive both types of vehicles frequently.

Paul

 

Correct me if I am wrong. But, aren't you supposed to steer into a

This to me seems confusing. The rear end
started to spin out to the right. The front of the car is now pionted to the
left. To get the car going in the direction I want I have to turn the steering
wheel to the right. If I had not turned the steering wheel at all I would have
spun out round and around.
The only other option would be to turn the steering wheel to the left.....and
that is not the direction I wanted to go. Into oncomming traffic.
Dan.

 

It also helps to not turn the wheel in large angles when in a skid. This
only worsens the chance of getting steering traction. Better to turn the
wheel in small steps and return it to center periodically to try to get
traction.

If the rear starts to skid to the left, turn the wheel left. (into the skid)
if the front skids left, steer slightly left to try to regain traction and
then slowly strighten out.

Hope I got it right. Used to live in northernmost NY State and did a lot of
winter driving.

Oppie