Stopping on ice can be nearly impossible. Learn how to stop on slippery roads here.

CLICK for HOW TO BRAKE ON ICE & SNOW Video in Winter

Closed Caption

Introduction

(upbeat music & title slide)

- Hi there smart drivers, Rick with Smart Drive Test talking to you today about how to get your vehicle stopped when you’re not stopping as you're approaching the intersection.

And there are vehicles stopped at the intersection.

Winter Stays Late

Yes, I was somewhat optimistic that I would stop doing videos on winter driving because it's the beginning of March here in the Okanagan.

And by this time, we're usually enjoying spring-like weather as opposed to flurries and a near white-out condition, as it was this morning as I was driving the kids to school.

Gravity & Hills

So, as you can see here in the dash cam, we're heading down the hill towards the roundabout.

And as I got a braking distance of what I thought I was going to start slowing down before I got to the roundabout, hit the brakes.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa (laughs).

That is icy.

Icy, icy, icy.

- Dad.

- C'mon truck, get some grip there.

And the vehicle was not coming to a stop.

It just kept sliding forward on the ice, to the point where the distance had closed up enough between me and the stopped traffic in front, that I was beginning to run scenarios in my head of how I was going to get the vehicle over to the left side and actually get it stopped.

And I was actually considering, as an option, that I was going to run up on the curb of the divider there, the concrete divider at the entrance to the roundabout and hit the sign to get the vehicle stopped, as opposed to running into the traffic in front of me.

Get OUT of the Travelled Portion of the Road

Fortunately for me, as soon as I got out of the tracks of the vehicles and over off to the left a little bit, as you can see here in the dash cam, the vehicle got a bit of traction and came to a stop before I actually had to take evasive emergency actions to come to a stop before I rear ended the vehicles in front of me.

So, know that in the wintertime, when the temperature is around zero, it is going to be extremely slippery, especially now as we're approaching spring, with a bit of snow on the roadway there.

And these are some of the techniques that you can put into place.

Don't just hold the brake pedal down and hope and pray that the vehicle is going to come to a stop.

Start moving the vehicle one way or the other, that way you are going to get it out of the tracks of the main vehicles and you might be able to get some traction and I've had this happen before in previous incidences, actually have driven off the road into the gravel and gotten traction on the gravel.

So that's techniques you can put in place.

And as you know, I have good snow tires on the truck.

I have steel-studded snow tires on the truck and still wasn't able to get any traction.

So that's one of the techniques that you can put into place in the wintertime when you encounter slippery conditions and the vehicle isn't coming to a stop.

I'm Rick with Smart Drive Test.

Thanks very much for watching.

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Good luck on your road test and remember, pick the best answer, not necessarily the right answer.

Have a great day.

Bye now.

(upbeat music, other videos & outro)

Learn how to brake on ice in the winter and avoid a skid.

Closed Caption

Introduction

Hi there smart drivers.

Rick with Smart Drive Test talking about skid recovery on snow.

Stick around we'll be right back with that information.

[INTRO & UPBEAT MUSIC] Hi there smart drivers, welcome back.

Rick with Smart Drive Test talking to you today about skid recovery on snow and ice.

And as you'll see here in the footage, one of the vehicles did not recover from the skid.

Fortunately it wasn't fatal and there was a crash that resulted from that.

Now if you're new to Smart Drive Test, be sure to subscribe, be sure to hit that thumbs up button.

Smart Drive Test helps new drivers get a license, veteran drivers to remain crash free, and CDL drivers to start a career as a truck or bus driver.

So be sure to subscribe; be sure to get all of the great information that's available here on the channel.

So skid recovery on snow and ice.

We're gonna head over to the computer here and we'll give you some information about how to stay safe when the temperature is around freezing and there's a bit of snow and ice on the roadway.

Major Roads are Better Maintained...for the Most Part

[NARRATING DRIVING]

So I'm just looking down the road here.

I'm not going very fast as you can see in the dashcam, I'm doing less than 50 kilometers an hour; 30 miles an hour.

The road has been well sanded, but obviously there's a crash down here somewhere.

You can see the vehicle.

It's upside down in the ditch on the right here.

You probably can't see it in the dashcam.

It's in front of the the big truck here.

Many drivers are under the false impression that when they're on major roads and there's a bit of snow on the road that it is dangerous.

And sometimes it can be.

But often, these are well-maintained as opposed to these residential roads when it starts to snow.

These are one of the last to get sanded or salted.

And this roadway goes down to a roundabout on a hill.

It became extremely dangerous when the temperature dropped to around zero.

Now watch the car under the arrow here that fortunately loses control, but is not involved in a a crash because the driver was going slow enough and there wasn't any other traffic.

So the driver gets the vehicle straightened around and comes back down the hill without incident with just a little bit of lesson.

But what happened was the driver held the brakes on.

Driver Loses Control

And when the driver held the brakes on, the back end of the vehicle lifted up shifting the weight to the front.

The driver continued to hold th brakes applied and lost control as vehicle and skidded going downhill.

Now you can see the van up at the back there that kind of loses control a little bit coming down the hill.

Many of the cars here are going in on to the shoulder of the road there.

You can see that van right out into the snow to work to get traction and maintain control of the vehicle and be able to brake as they're coming down the hill towards the roundabout where they have to slow or stop to enter the roundabout.

And that's one of the techniques that you can use when the temperature is around freezing and there's a lot of precipitation.

And what happens when the temperature is around zero (32°F) you get a layer of water on top of the ice which makes it even more slippery during these periods of precipitation when you get a lot of snow.

Like wet snow coming down the roadway.