It鈥檚 OK that you need to be told how to drive when the roads get a little bit slippery. I get that now.

A little bit of snow flies in the Lower Mainland rarely. And when it does, people find a way to not drive. That鈥檚 smart! But it means that when you do hit the highway, you have no freaking clue what you鈥檙e doing. It makes sense. You didn鈥檛 grow up doing donuts in a parking lot or driving up logging roads on New Year鈥檚 Day.

So this column isn鈥檛 to belittle you. You can find that plenty of places (because, let鈥檚 be a little honest, the Lower Mainland is kind of silly when it comes to snow). Instead, hopefully it helps keep you out of the ditch when you need to hit the highway in winter.

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1. You need to know WHY going slow is important.

No one ever says just how slow, or why. It鈥檚 always something vague like 鈥淓xercise caution, and reduce your speed.鈥� What you need to grasp, though, is that you鈥檙e not just going slowly for the sake of going slowly, or so the damage will be less when you inevitably crash. You鈥檙e doing it to give yourself more time to stop and turn, because you need way more time to do both. The goal isn鈥檛 to make the crash less damaging; it鈥檚 to not crash at all.

鈥淚 know that!鈥� you say. But do you really?

Read this slowly, because Tuesday鈥檚 drive illustrated that some people don鈥檛 quite get it: If you insist on driving close behind the person in front of you, going 50 km/h on icy roads won鈥檛 allow you to avoid a crash. If you鈥檙e crawling in highway traffic in July, you can probably stick pretty close to the person in front of you. That. Does. Not. Work. In. The. Snow.

It all depends what鈥檚 in front of you. You can go a tad faster if you are driving in a straight line and there is nobody in front of you. Don鈥檛 go too fast, of course, but the point of going slow is to give you time to brake and turn, and to minimize the damage if something goes really wrong.

Physics comes into play: if you鈥檙e travelling in a straight line and are unable to stop, you鈥檒l hit the thing in front of you. If that thing is 200 metres away, you鈥檙e going to have some time to pump those brakes. If it鈥檚 10 metres from you, you鈥檙e probably doomed.

2. You might realize that most winter highway crashes are in the centre median.

This isn鈥檛 just because the people in the passing lane tend to be more reckless. It partly goes back to those physics: when someone tries to change lanes, they turn their wheel. Instead of pointing their car or truck down the road, they鈥檙e pointed at the median. Correcting course then becomes a big challenge; it鈥檚 usually icier between lanes, and conditions are also often worse in the passing lane.

So: If you鈥檙e changing lanes, change lanes exceptionally slowly. Yes, I know you want to get to those two tire tracks of relatively clear pavement as quickly as possible. Resist that urge. Remember, going straight is your friend, so take your time to get into that other lane.

(I drive regularly to the Interior in the winter, and this is why I prefer the Coquihalla in winter to the less-snowy Fraser Canyon. Yes, it鈥檚 slippery, but 鈥� so long as other drivers co-operate 鈥� if you鈥檙e going straight at a reasonable speed, there鈥檚 not all that much that can go wrong, simply because you鈥檙e driving in a straight-ish line.)

3. Keep an eye on your mirror.

Those people in front of you aren鈥檛 your only concern. This you know. Being able to stop in time isn鈥檛 going to save your bacon if the person behind can鈥檛 also do so. But there鈥檚 often no way to get them to leave proper room. So what do you do with a tailgater? You leave even more room in front of you.

You want to give yourself even more room to stop to allow Larry Leadfoot behind you to also get a grip. With someone on your tail, you need to start braking very gradually, very easily, so you can ease to a stop, and they can follow suit. It鈥檚 not fair, but it might keep your back bumper intact.

As for your brakes, you know that when you use them, you may skid. But they also send a message. If you see something coming up and there鈥檚 someone on your tail, start braking very slowly, very soon, to give them time to do the same.

Tyler Olsen is a reporter at the Abbotsford News

Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email:
tolsen@abbynews.com

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