What They Don't Tell You About Driving in the Snow

What they don't tell you about driving in the snow is how little control you actually have. I mean, call me a control freak, but who would willingly choose to be encased in a large metal deathbox weighing thousands of pounds that has the potential to careen out of control at any given moment?

I believe my fear dates back to my tenth birthday. My mother had driven out to my friend's house (who lived so far out in the middle of nowhere that her house had to be powered by a generator) to pick me up from a sleepover. Being a typical Maine February, there was fresh snow coating the gravel roads leading to home (and birthday presents). My mom slowed her maroon minivan to tackle an especially treacherous downhill curve in the road. Suddenly, a rare four letter word spilled from her mouth. "Hold on!" she yelled, frantically trying to get the car to follow the twist in the road, "We're gonna hit the snowbank!"
I braced myself. And then, if things weren't bad enough, a black pickup truck poked its nose around the bend, traveling right for us. My mom emitted another four letter word.
I cringed at the sound of metal on metal, as minivan and truck brushed against each other.
After the police came over an hour later, my mom explained, "I just lost control. There was nothing I could do. That's the scary thing about winter driving."

Could this have been prevented? Let's go to weather.com for some helpful tips for "Driving Safely on Winter Roads":

1. Decrease your speed and leave yourself plenty of room to stop. You should allow at least three times more space than usual between you and the car in front of you.
2. Brake gently to avoid skidding. If your wheels start to lock up, ease off the brake.
3. Turn on your lights to increase your visibility to other motorists.
4. Keep your lights and windshield clean.
5. Use low gears to keep traction, especially on hills.
6. Don't use cruise control or overdrive on icy roads.
7. Be especially careful on bridges, overpasses and infrequently traveled roads, which will freeze first. Even at temperatures above freezing, if the conditions are wet, you might encounter ice in shady areas or on exposed roadways like bridges.
8. Don't pass snow plows and sanding trucks. The drivers have limited visibility, and you're likely to find the road in front of them worse than the road behind.
9. Don't assume your vehicle can handle all conditions. Even four-wheel and front-wheel drive vehicles can encounter trouble on winter roads.

I think it is safe to say (with maybe the exception of number 9) that my mom followed all the rules... That's what I mean about the whole control thing - even if you do everything right, bad things still happen.

When I lived in Maine again for my freshman year of college, I borrowed my roommate's car. It was March. I had convinced myself (after living in snowless Oregon for six years) that maybe my mom was just bad at driving in the snow. I backed my roommate's rusty Volvo out of the parking space with no troubles at all. I confidently grinned at my nervous boyfriend who was visiting at the time. "See," I gloated "I can do it. Stop worrying. I'm not going to kill us."
As I approached the intersection between parking lot and road, I gently tapped the brakes. But the car did not slow. So I tapped them a little more firmly. The car began to skid right into oncoming traffic. Luckily, by some miracle, the car came to a stop right as the front tires kissed the roadway.
"Pull over. I'm driving."
I gladly acquiesced.
For, as weather.com so graciously reminds us: "The best advice for driving in bad winter weather is not to drive at all, if you can avoid it".