For those in the south who rarely drive on snow I have some driving instructions handed down from my grandpa that may help.

If you MUST get out on the snow, just pretend you are taking grandma to church, there's a platter of biscuits and 2 gallons of sweet tea in glass jars in the back seat, and grandma is wearing a new dress and holding a crock pot full of gravy in her lap.

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Live long and prosper

Even if a Southerner KNOWS how to drive on snow ...

He should stay home and not get ran down by somebody who DIDN'T KNOW how to drive on snow.

(Same suggestion applies to northern states also)

Biggest danger for Southerners driving in the snow is dodging all the Northerners who moved to the south & think they know how to drive in the snow.

Don

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Laus Deo! <><

I wish I had those instructions before I first attempted to drive on snowy roads back in the 1960s. It was NOT pretty and damned embarrassing.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Born and raised in New England, lived in NC for 15+ years, and I can guarantee you that folks in the South are fish out of water when it come to driving in/dealing with snow. Good grief, it’d be comical if it wasn’t so ridiculous...

Otherwise, love the South, and the folks there!

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NRA Life Member

I rest my case!!

Don

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Laus Deo! <><

I am amazed at the Northerners, that try and drive on ice & snow with bald tires!.

My wife is one of the best winter drivers I know! She drove and picked up our kids from school 80miles a day (120 if one was a kindergartener) for 15 years (until the oldest could drive). Our cars were never new, but our tires ALWAYS had very good tread! After all the most precious things in this world, to me were in that car!

My observations on her winter driving skills are:

1) gas tank is never below half full!

2) on country roads max safe speed is 45 MPH.

3) add time to normal drive times, if you get detained; SO WHAT! 45 is the max safe speed!

4) Make sure the kids know how to be quiet when told!

5) Know when to stay home, no matter if the school was open!!

Not a driving tip but it applied 6) keep the pantry stocked, so nobody has to go out for "Milk and Bread!"

Ivan

We got caught in a freak Blizzard by the Grand
Canyon once.

Talk about dangerous. “Dry Pavement” drivers
in Snow is not good. The ones with spotless
big 4 wheel drive pickups are the worst.

Luckily no one slid into us.

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SD social distanc'n since 1889

Rule #1.................

Make sure that the horse is hooked up to the wagon and

that there are four bags of grain in the back for traction !!

Many years ago (76) my wife and I were taking our first real vacation in over 5 years. We were driving to Florida from NY State.

Made it down to North Carolina and the road was blocked by a state trooper. He had orders to let no one past because of the major snow storm. Only a couple inches if I remember right.

Explained to him about our vacation and said look at what I'm driving a 73 Blazer 4X4 with good snow tires and I have over 15 years of snow driving. He laughed and said its not you Yank its our people they get crazy in this weather. He would not let us pass but did say that if his replacement did not show up he would be going back up the road to a restaurant to get a breakfast.

We turned around and went up a side road and waited, sure enough up drove the trooper and we went back on the now unguarded road and continued south. THANK YOU OFFICER!

Did see a few interesting things along the way but made it threw this "major snow event" and got to our paid for motel and enjoyed our vacation.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Here at (39° 6' 13" N / 84° 30' 48" W) we doff our caps to those states north of us where commuting in heavy snow, ice and sleet is business as usual for them. Remember, those folks have been doing it since they were 16.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

I have two Suggestions for anyone who has not developed driving on snow/ice.
1- Don't do it.
2- If you HAVE to drive, Cut your speed in half, and double your breaking distance.

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Always Stay Strong!

AMEN!

Here are required Ten Charcters

The way an old timer from Michigan told me they got around in the 30's, was to drive in pairs. The extra driving equipment was a 3x16 board was added to both bumpers of each car and a 3/4" rope 100' long.

The first Model T would get as fast as possible and drive into the 4 to 6' tall 20-25' deep snow drift (and get out of the car/truck as fast as possible). Second car/truck would get up to speed and ram the tail of the first! This worked liked "Poison" in Crochet! Then first car pulls the second car out with the rope! You had to want to go somewhere really bad!

Ivan

In my area if we get more than an inch, VDOT needs to take those electronic signs on I64 and post Hampton Roads is closed, don’t exit, just keep going.

Down here in south Louisiana, a snowstorm can qualify as quality entertainment in town at a 4 way stop. Just bring a 12 pack and a lawn chair and sit wayyyyy back from the intersection and relax and watch the action!

Seriously, if it snows or ices up significantly I try to keep off the roads if possible. I know enough to slow way down and not try any quick maneuvers but there are a whole bunch of folks down here that haven't the first clue.

Rule 1 - if you don't absolutely have to go - don't
Rule 2 - there are very few things you have to do

I used to plow snow and have done my share of driving in bad weather. I remember when I got my first 4-wheel drive pickup truck. Getting going isn't the problem, it is stopping. Even using studded snow tires with weight in the back it is always the stopping that is the problem.

My dad taught me to drive in the snow in a big parking lot. It was fun and served me well.

And if you have a 4wd truck, drive like you don’t. Your vehicle can still slip and slide. You will slide on ice like a sedan

Actually I started in the Black Hills at 12.

Where I live and grew up you have little choice. You can say what ever you want about northern drivers thinking they can drive on snow, but let me ask a couple things.

How many hours did you spend driving across empty parking lots and frozen lakes doing things like locking the brakes cranking the wheel to send yourself into a spin and figure out how to stop it, Seeing how fast you could turn without spinning, learning how to power the rear end int a controlled slide around a corner. How quick you can stop. How to keep straight during a stop. How many Jackrabbits did you chase down in an old car on a farm road with snow berms on both sides? Ever do turtle drags? Set up on a frozen lake and have drag races. It has nothing to do with power and everything to do with figuring out just how fast you can accelerate without spinning. How many thousands of miles have you driven on black ice. How many drifts have you plowed through. How many hundreds of miles have you driven with 6 to 8" drifts every few feet, some all the way across some part way. How may grades have you gone up with one wheel running on the shoulder where it is just snow and not pure ice.

I was on the coast in Washington a few years back and there was a snow storm. Work, schools all shut down. I drove about 40 miles and although there was hardly any traffic I saw 6 or 7 cars in the ditches. Same day, back in Montana even bigger snow storm,nothing shut down. My wife drove 250 miles to and from Billing and saw 1 vehicle off the road.

4x4 are a learning experience to. Dropping your foot off the throttle in a turn is a NO NO. Front wheels skid just like locking up the brakes and they loose traction and you slide straight, a bump of the throttle will make them catch and turn.

I do agree with the gentle touch method. Sudden anything, turn, throttle brake is never good.

I must say the SUVs with traction control 4 wheel are pretty good. Anti lock brakes adjusts power goes to which ever wheels are not spinning by dragging brake on spinning wheel. My Escape was hard to make slide sideways.

1970,top of Loveland pass,icy,snow packed,whiteout. Hairpin turns all the way down.The old man stops the station wagon,hops out

“Your turn”

Anyone who thinks they can drive on ice is a fool, northerners too. Snow, yeah, ice, hell no.

A Zamboni does not count.

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Sure you did

I got to experience that last year here in S Texas. All my trucks are 4x4, and it still wasn't fun. The Sheriff gave instructions for all of his staff to drive 2-wheels on the road, 2-wheels on the shoulder - and that is with 4x4 Tahoes!

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On the Oak Savannah

Anyone who thinks you can't learn to drive on ice is wrong.

People do it all the time in this state.

The last time I recall being owned big time by ice was a few ago up on I-25 near Walensburg, CO.
Did a a complete 360, never left the ice coated pavement.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

Driving on Snow for southerners

My suggestion, that I believe should be mandatory; To help prepare people, of any age, in any area, to drive on snow covered roads; Before an unseasoned driver ever tries to drive on a snow-covered road, a designated instructor, should be required to take a student, or an unseasoned driver, to an unoccupied parking lot, with a snow-covered surface, and under supervision, require that unseasoned driver to experiment with all the aspects of driving on that slippery surface. Until that requirement has been met, I believe that a driver’s license, should stipulate, this driver is unqualified to drive on snow-covered roads, and subject to a substantial fine, if caught driving in violation of this restriction.

That is what my dad did with me in the parking lots. Once you get a feel for it and know the right inputs based on how the vehicle is reacting it is actually fun. I like to go out in my truck after a heavy snow just because, my wife thinks I am nuts.

Learned the one wheel off the road trick a long time ago for ice. Haven't used it for snow.

Driving on ice is another skill and the one thing you need to learn is to read the ice. The toughest is of course the smooth black ice, you can drive on it albeit it very slowly, but rough ice is pretty simple. People forget about the yaw axis when driving on slick surfaces. It is basic physics, if you get lateral inertia you need to understand how to correct and most have no idea what to do especially when it is an off-camber situation. Hitting the breaks is not the right thing to do. Driving on ice is a bit of controlled chaos and you can't fight it you have to go with it.

He in our state there are large lumps on the landscape. These are mountains. Driving in these on snow packed roads is entirely different than driving in Dallas when an ice storm goes through. The real problem I see too often whether on snow or dry roads is, so many of us have not had any kind of continuing education since we got our drivers license 50 years previous. A LOT has changed in the last half century. I would guess you could call me a professional driver as I have nearly 2,000,000 miles under my belt and hold every drivers license known. There is one thing that is so often the cause of road rage, improper passing, head on collisions, and hard feelings. That is the lack of courteously. If you don't have the skill or your vehicle is not up to the driving conditions, go slow. But for the sake of the rest of us that have spent the money to have vehicles with good traction tires and have the skill that don't want to go 30 in a 65 zone. Pull over and let traffic by. Drive for every other person on the road and not just yourself.

My worst driving experience, 40 miles of black ice west bound on I40 in New Mexico. Slow and steady I made it fine but lots of vehicles in the ditch and the median. Every time some idiot passed me I'd pray he didn't go into a slid/spin in front of me. I've driven everything from little sports cars to 1T 4x4s in the Iowa winters for 60 years and that was the only time it stressed me out.

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Super Snooper

Let me make a slight alteration to your post:

"Biggest danger for Southerners is dodging all the Northerners who moved to the south & think they know how to drive in the RAIN. "

Worst driving experience of my life.

I had started working on a Drilling rig on the North Dakota border just out side Sidney, Montana. I had days off and was in Miles City about 140 miles from the rig. It had been down around 20 below for days. Then, a warm front went through and it rained for a couple hours then dropped back cold. The ground not the road surfaces ever got above freezing and the rain froze as it hit the ground. I loaded a heavy tool box in the trunk of my 75 Trans Am and headed out about 3 am. About 12 miles out, on 2 lane, I came up on a semi, loaded with pipe, in my lane that was sliding backward down the grade unable to stop. I went across the road, grabbed the shoulder with driver's side wheels and having posi made it past as he kept sliding. Nothing I could do for him. Made it back over to right side. 35-40 mph was about all I could manage. North of Glendive the was a spot where there was a car parked on my side of the road facing up a hill. I was going as fast as I could and when I got close I went to the other side and made it, but when I tried to go back over I didn't make it. Came to a stop and started sliding backwards. Worked the brake and the wheel and got a rear tire on the shoulder, braked and the car swung around to point down hill. Went down the hill past the parked car and up the other side, Stopped on shoulder slid the car around and tried again. I made it on the 3rd try. I made it to the rig a bit late, just after 7 am. Most of the rest crew only had to come 20 miles from the man camp on the other side of the river. They were later than me as they ran a crew cab 4x4 off the road. LOL

I remember one time years ago seeing nothing but the rear end of a car sticking out of a snow bank after a plow had gone through.

Another time in the late 70s when I was fixing copy machines . I left Baker MT headed for Glendive 35 miles away. It was snowing hard, then it began to blow hard. It was so bad in the cuts all I could do was hold it straight and pray I made it. Could hardly see and drifts were getting bad. About 5 miles out of Glendive I caught up to a snow plow, let go of the seat with my butt, it had been ahead of me the whole time. Once I was going there was no way I could have stopped because anything behind me would have plowed into me before they could have seen me and stopped. The road was closed for a week after that. Ever cut had blown full of snow some 30' or more deep. The next year on the other side of Baker a minister and his wife and 2 adopted kids met God when a semi went completely over the top of their car in a whiteout.

Ice sucks. But you get a bunch of dry snow on the ground in semi open country and the wind suddenly begins to howl it is terrible. White out. You can't see nothing and you don't dare stop for fear of what might be on the road behind you. Just play am I still on the road and keep moving forward and avoid any lights coming at you. Makes fog seem good.
In some parts of eastern Montana there nothing between you and the North pole, but a couple of pine trees and a bunch of sagebrush and cactus. and when it blows out of the north hang on.

While stationed in Texas every time there was snow or freezing rain I was assigned to drive since I am from Minnesota. The only problem was nobody else on the road was.....

Driving a paved two lane in eastern Colorado with my bil looking for pheasants years ago my truck was handling badly on the curves. I pulled over to check if a tire was low and my feet almost went out from under me.Pavement looked bone dry,nastiest black ice I’ve come across. I’ll take snow over that stuff anytime lol

Expecting to get dumped on here in SW Va. tonight and tomorrow. Learned to drive in the snow at an early age and honed my skills as a uniformed LEO in the 1970's-1980's. Rear wheel drive sedans. Extra harsh conditions, the chains went on.

Best vehicle I ever had in the snow was a Subaru Outback Wagon as long as it had clearance underneath it went!

Nothing against all wheel drive and 4X4's PU Trucks but I am sure there will be the usual number in the ditches along I-81 from folks who don't slow down and don't know how to drive them.

Stay home unless you are are a critical worker / first responder and stay safe.

From all the crashes on snow and ice on dash cam videos drivers in northern latitudes "think" they have it all figured out but it appears many do not. And when things go bad they do so in a big hurry.

I grew-up in the deep south where there were only clay roads.

There is an art to driving on those roads (if you could call them roads) in rainy weather.

It was entertaining to have someone knocking at your door, late at night asking for help. Then get the farm tractor to pull them out of a ditch.


,

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Death? Smile back...

Being a WI native, when I was living in NC, I was talking with a local about snow driving. He said that the way one got out of a skid was to close your eyes, let go of the steering wheel and slam on the breaks as hard a possible. I thought he was kidding but it turns out, he was totally serious! I think if he did that that, he would be dead serious.

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Bill

4 wheel drive doesn't exempt you from the laws of physics.

My cousin used to say that 4 wheel drive means that when you get stuck, you will have a longer walk back.

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Common sense isn't so common.

In defense of us southern drivers, we had a huge snowstorm years ago during my son's Christmas break from college. The college called and said they were having classes anyway and any absences would be treated as unexcused. I put some big old rounds of oak in the back of my pickup and off we headed to Shenandoah University from near Norfolk, VA on snow covered roads. Most of the cars we saw in the ditches had NY, MI, Ohio, and PA plates. Most of the southerners were smart enough to stay home.

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Why duck?? It's a 9mm!

NEPA'er here. I've been driving in the snow since 1983. I'm OK with it. I will not drive in ice , period.

The thing missed, is WHY are you out in a storm? The one thing that used to piss me off to no end is when I was working the counter at a plumbing wholesale company the amount of idiots that would show up during a major snowstorm.

"My faucet is dripping". Oh, so you waited for the worst storm of the year to come in to fix a drip?

"My toilet is running" Well, you better put your snowshoes on and go catch it.

No heat calls are one thing, no brain calls are another.

Thank God I do not have to deal with the public anymore.

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BTDT, Got The T-Shirt

Winter.....Another reason I've got my Plastic Jesus right there on the dashboard of my car.

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SOS USA

Used to fly into Chicago to work in suburbs or fly to Peoria. Other times into Detroit, talk about Snow. Dad told me how to drive in snow ect. so not bad if one uses their head. Was amazed how some locals up there drove…….

As an apartment maintenance man, I know what you mean! I got called out on a "No Heat" call on Christmas morning. (the furnace fan motor was totally burnt out, bearings fused, windings toast) I ask if the furnace motor had been making noise the last few days? Not since it quit working 8 days ago, was the answer.

Ivan

That counts triple in Vegas. 2-3 months of no rain then a day of drizzle and it is greasy weasel time.

Even funnier is when we had some freak heavy mist here in Vegas. The news channels were screaming "fog", and maybe in strict nautical/aeronautical terms it was. But I've driven in proper fog in England, and what we had in Vegas wasn't it.

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Release the Kraken

I remember walking to school in fog so thick you could drink it.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

You can waste a lot of time watching Russian crash videos. Some of those are really funny!

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Common sense isn't so common.

I learned to drive on snowy roads. Got caught out in the blizzard of 78, but had my dad's 66 Ford Fairlane with steel studded tires. I've had to use tire chains before.

What's most humorous is watching people from up north trying to drive on the beach when the sand is nice and soft. They always floor it and bury their car or truck to the frame.

In 20 years I've not got stuck on the beach, and 10 of those I had a 2 wheel drive truck.

This is the actual best way to get around in the snow. Kind of fun That's me on Orange.

Attached Images

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Some collect art; I shoot it!

My second worst winter driving day was the day the blizzard of 1978 struck. We had been working indoors in central Connecticut and hadn't seen how bad it was getting. At quitting time there was a foot of heavy wet stuff on the ground, and I was driving a 1-ton Chevy pickup with 2-wheel drive. The worst combination, as the automatic dropped into first gear whenever it got below 30 mph. Going north on the interstate people would stop in the travel lane to clear their wiper blades, and I'd go sideways trying to get rolling again. Finally a big rig from Vermont roared past in the fast lane, and I just followed his taillights at 50 mph all the way to MA and home.
The craziest winter driving experience was going over the Brenner Pass between Austria and Italy on ice and snow. On a motorcycle. Young and crazy and lucky to survive that one.

I got my drivers license in North Dakota when I was 12 years old. I learned how to control a car on ice by driving on loose sand in the summer left over from the droughts of the 1930's which acted very much like ice. I took a citizens /police class a few years ago where we drove police cars with bald tires on a wet surface. I was the only one in the class who didn't spin out. The key to is to slow down before curves and carefully apply the brakes . It's easier now with abs.

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I like Ike.