Winter Driving Experience in 10 Minutes

[rrich]

I had never driven in snow until I was 29. I had moved from New York BL (Before License) to California and then with stops in Florida, Arizona before finally living in the small town of Delaware, Ohio.

We had a big Chevrolet, rear wheel drive station wagon or what would be called a cross-over today except for the rear wheel drive. It did have snow tyres. During the day, Sunday, we had gotten about 2 inches of snow and the roads were mostly wet slush by late evening. I took the car down to the Jamesway parking lot. (A rural discount store similar to K-Mar that was always closed on Sunday.) The parking lot was without those silly bumpers that were designed to prevent pull through parking.

The parking lot had not been plowed and I was just spinning the car and recovering. By about the third spin I was steering with my foot on the accelerator. After a few more spins I had garnered about 10 years of winter driving experience in 10 minutes. As I'm just ready to leave the local authorities arrive with flashing lights.

I drive over to the police vehicle and roll down my window. The officer starts the conversation, "What the eff do you think that you're doing?" I explained that I had never driven in snow and that I had just gotten enough experience that I feel safe driving on snow. There was that "pregnant pause" before the officer said, "Get out of here."

As I drove away I noticed that the officer was spinning his vehicle and recovering just as I had done.

So mates, if you have that flat and wide open car park that is covered in snow, go out and practice. It is amazing how much of that 'winter driving feel' you can acquire very quickly and safely. This method is so much better than being on the road and discovering one of those "Oh, shoot" moments on a slippery road.

[Tonyz]

I hear you mate, been there done that. Oh the days of empty shopping centre car parks. When dad was (trying) to teach me to drive we used these. One sunday afternoon we counted over 20 people all doing the same.

Roll on a few years I had a Mini Cooper BMC of course. Group of us went up into mountains of South Isl. NZ and there was this famous lake about 3 acres in size and in summer you could walk across it and not get your knees wet, so imagine the joy of this solid ice lake smooth as a babies butt. We took a movie of my mini doing handbrake turns. The best way was slowly circle around lake get up to about 40MPH turn into middle of lake hit the throttle, take hands off steering wheel and grab handbrake, best number of spins 35! also advantage was closing your eyes....didnt get quite so sick. But I knew how to drive in snow, ice and mud later in life.

Gawd Iam now 65 and just had a mid life crisis ...want to do it again.

[DavidG]

Same. Mini Deluxe on clay pans out from Pilliga. NW NSW

[wheelinround]

Mind you it still scares the crap out of you when you hit Black ice going down the mountain and the rear end is trying its hardest to over take the front end.





In NZ

[rrich]

Gawd Iam now 65 and just had a mid life crisis ...want to do it again.

My teenage son, who KNEW everything about driving, had just wrecked his third vehicle before graduating from high school. (12th year?)

So SWMBO and I insisted on a defensive driving class. He insisted that I go with him. (Remember he KNEW everything about driving.) I'm sure that he was thinking, "I'll show Dad a thing or two." The class was an adjunct of a Drunk Driving school.

We had gone through several hours of classroom stuff and were into the exercises with the vehicles. One of these was an obstacle course with several parallel parking stops. At one point during the obstacle course my son said, "Jeeze Dad, you're good at this." My only thought was, "Finally, I'm winning."

First was the three lane exercise. You drive at 25 MPH and the three traffic lights over each lane change. You have to pick the one that is green. If all switch to red, you have to stop. My son managed to get his speed up to 28 MPH and still make the correct lane change. I managed to get up to 37 or 38 MPH and still make the lane change. Afterward I was talking to the instructor and asked what speed were the instructors able to go through. He says that they have one instructor that can do it at 44 MPH and does it for the drunks class. I sort of exploded and questioned about still having the need to possibly stop for three red lanes. He says "No, No, No. It's just a lane change. We don't do the full stop in the demo for the drunks." LOL!

Then we're on to the skid pad. (An asphalt oiled but cured part of the car park, 10 or 12 bottles of dishwashing detergent and a fire hose with water.) We were supposed to go out onto the skid pad and set the car into a spin with full recovery. After the first spin, I found it was more fun to just steer with my foot. The instructor flagged us in and told my son to get out and he sat with me as I'm instructed to go out and spin. After a bit the instructor pulled on the hand brake. I'm confused because I'm loosing control. About the third forced spin, I caught the instructor pulling on the hand brake and yelled at him, "Oh! You're doing that. I'm out here steering with my foot." The instructor was visibly shocked that I yelled at him and after a few seconds he recovers and says, "Let your son drive, you don't need this."

That was almost 30 years ago and it was probably the most fun (whilst staying fully clothed) that I ever had in a motor vehicle. If you ever have the chance to force your teen agers into one of these classes it is well worth the money in both respects, fun for you and education for the teen.

Here these classes are an off shoot of the drunk driving schools. The main focus of the drunk driving schools are to teach the drunks that they can't drive while drinking. And while the defensive class is not court mandated it is a lot of fun for experienced drivers. For the teens it is very humbling. We paid $75 each back then. I would guess that the cost is $500 to $750 today. Even today I would insist that the teen go through the course. If nothing else it teaches the teen that there is so much more to driving than they ever realized.

[Chesand]

If you ever have the chance to force your teen agers into one of these classes it is well worth the money in both respects, fun for you and education for the teen.

Could not agree more about the benefits of a defensive driving course. Shortly after getting their licences, I sent my three on a three day defensive driving course (no options - you are going) and they all agreed that it was well worthwhile. Later, when faced with a potentially serious situation while coming down a mountain our son said that the experience of that course enabled him to make the right decision.
About 16 years ago, just for the experience, I went and got my heavy vehicle licence. It made me think about my driving and I believe it made me a better driver.