I almost wiped out tonight

Been there, done that... Full 360+ degree spin off onto the LEFT shoulder of highway 287 here in NJ.

Same pain in the stomach and heart-attack symptoms. :)

Joe - V#8013 - '86 VN750 - joe @ yunx .com Ask me about "The Ride" on July 31, '04:

Glad to hear all is well.

I'm still trying to understand the limitations of the traction control in my '01 LW300. I have tried to get it to skid on ice to see how it recovers. So far, it is very good but my feeling is never to depend heavily on automation.

I had a similar happening some years back when I got my first front drive vehicle. Was on a snow covered interstate and was getting impatient with the slow traffic. Finally was able to get up some speed and pass the line of slow moving cars. When safely ahead, I just let my foot off the gas...**wrong**. On a rear drive that I was accustomed to, this would have been OK but on a front drive, the thrust vectors are vastly different (yeah, I'm an engineer). Should have let off on the gas slowly because it started a spin that I couldn't recover from. Made a FOOM into a freshly plowed snow bank and sat there as the line of cars I just passed smugly passed me. Luckily no damage. I had a folding shovel and dug myself out, got back on the road and drove more patiently.

Oppie

Glad everything worked out - that sensation of time slowing down during the critical moments is really strange (been there done that). I have no knowledge of snow driving, however I thought the rule about lifting off the throttle when in slide only applies to rear-drive cars? Anyone know?

Again, glad all is fine. Sometimes slow is good - think I'll do that on the morning commute today (currently raining and freezing at 55 degrees).

In a front wheel drive car, you're often better off staying on the gas then letting off. If you stay on the gas and point the tires where you want to go, the wheels will pull you right out of the slide.

My girlfriend almost had a bad one the other day. The day after this past snowstorm it was windy, and although the roads were plowed and taken care of from the day before, there was some windblown snow on the road. We rounded a bend and I saw the snow and stuff, but she decided to step on the gas more for some reason. We got right before it and I yelled at her to go easy, so she locks the brakes up.......After a few over corrects and fishtails(one of which was into the other lane with a state plow truck coming......I got scared) We ended up driving through somebodys yard. We went in right between 2 trees and ended up running over a bush. Luckily nothing was damaged, except for her pride. But, the upside is, she learned a valuable lesson that day.

Well, being in montreal I do alot of snow driving, and I find with my saturn that when trying to get out of a slide, use the gas in small pumps when turning into the slide. Each pump has a chance of grabbing some concrete and getting you back on track and is better than just riding out the slide, but you were (IMHO) correct in not touching the brakes.

But Jonnie said it best..... in those conditions, the safest thing to do is just slow the hell down :-)

Traction control is not meant for this kind of situation, it's to prevent wheelspin on acceleration only. Only a full stability-control system would provide any advantage here..

Thanks for the, Glad everything ended up ok, messages. Also very interesting experiences that you shared about driving in the snow.

Man it happenned so fast I barely had time to get the steering wheel turned hard over into the slide. Will try to remember that though...........but hopefully it will never happen again. I will be driving slow now whenever there is snow around. I guess I got over confident when driving in the snow since I have never had an accident in it. Not anymore though..........that was way to close. Scared the sh...t out of me.

It would be interesting to read more tales of close encounters while driving. :) Thanks again. Dan.

The important thing here is that you knew how to recover from a skid, and that you did it.

The first time that it snows each year I drive to an empty parking lot near me and put the car into a few skids and then recover. This lets me get my winter driving feel back. We practice for all kinds of things in life, why not skidding. This way, WHEN the idiot in the SUV does something later in the winter and causes me to have to avoid them, I don't fear skidding.

My wife, who is a musician and spends many hours during the week practicing the oboe thinks that I am insane for practicing skidding. She also thinks that I am insane for a number of other reasons, but that is a story for another day.

-David

Glad to hear it turned out well for you. I understand that with front wheel drive, you are not to "turn into the skid", but to continue turning in the direction you want to go, but without braking, and to accelerate instead. Always works for me anyway.

Brigitte

Hello all, Correct me if I am wrong. But, aren't you supposed to steer into a skid in rear wheel drive cars? and turn the wheels to where you want to go in front wheel drive cars? I alway remind myself of that because I drive both types of vehicles frequently.

Paul

This to me seems confusing. The rear end started to spin out to the right. The front of the car is now pionted to the left. To get the car going in the direction I want I have to turn the steering wheel to the right. If I had not turned the steering wheel at all I would have spun out round and around. The only other option would be to turn the steering wheel to the left.....and that is not the direction I wanted to go. Into oncomming traffic. Dan.

It also helps to not turn the wheel in large angles when in a skid. This only worsens the chance of getting steering traction. Better to turn the wheel in small steps and return it to center periodically to try to get traction.

If the rear starts to skid to the left, turn the wheel left. (into the skid) if the front skids left, steer slightly left to try to regain traction and then slowly strighten out.

Hope I got it right. Used to live in northernmost NY State and did a lot of winter driving.

Oppie