Where I live it doesn't snow much. Really, about a week a winter is normal. Last two winters were quite extreme and we had about two months of snow, but this year we haven't had any snow yet.

That said, two years ago (almost to the day in fact) I got caught in a snow storm. I was driving home from a dance competition and the snow just hit when I still had 30 minutes to go (which turned into 60 minutes because of the bad roads) and two of my dancers in my car with me. I made it home without any damage to me, my dancers, or my car (unlike lots of other cars which I saw slip and slide all around me), and by just forcing myself to stay calm and clear-headed till I got home. I swear, I was literally telling myself I was going to be fine, or I would have freaked. I told my dancers that their parents would have to come and pick them up, or they could sleep over, but I wasn't driving a yard more than I had to. They both got home safe, too, BTW, so apart from a mental scare, we all made it home fine.

Ever since that night I'm terrified of driving when it snows. Last year I solved it by taking public transport to work when there was snow, but I know there are situations when that option simply won't work. I drive a tiny car (Toyota Aygo, weighing less than 1000 kilograms, even with me in it). I cannot afford a bigger, heavier car, and it would be stupid anyway to buy a bigger car for that rare bit of snow we have, right? I have winter tires, but they almost seem an extravagance since I flat-out refuse to drive in snowy conditions (I know they're for cold weather on the whole, not just snow, but cold weather is no problem for me, as long as there is no snow).

On the whole I'm a decent, confident driver, in fact, I like driving a lot. I have no problems driving in any kind of weather other than snow, and I have no anxiety problems. But just *thinking* of driving in snow gets me close on hyperventilating.

Any tips? I simply cannot imagine having to go through this every winter. I have a competition tomorrow and last week I already started compulsively checking the weather forecast, just to see there won't be any snow -- and I'm not even driving tomorrow! I swear, I could think of emigrating if it meant no snow, even when such a thing is totally illogical and never going to happen.

I've never driven in snow - only passed my test in February last year, lessons were cancelled during the snow, and then no snow this year. I've been obsessively looking for advice and the general consensus is:

High gear - pull away in second if you can
Low revs - obviously that slows you down, too
Use gears to brake - brake gently and change down gears to slow you
Skidding - steer into the spin, not out. Apparently easier said than done as it's instinct to steer away
Braking - if you don't have ABS, pump the brake
(mahahaha) rather than applying continual pressure.

Who knows whether I can put any of that into practise...

Obviously always worth keeping wellies, a shovel, water, food, torch, blanket etc in car over winter in case. I have nothing but de-icer in my boot, d'oh.

I feel you. I am also terrified of driving when it snows... but we have like 6 months that have snow-storm potential.

What helps me:

Having REALLY good winter tires. It might seem extravangant to pay that much but think about how they make you feel. When I'm stuck on an icy road with crappy tires I always think: I'd be willing to pay so much to be able to drive normally in those conditions.
So I just buy nice tires every winter and sell my ''used'' ones so it's not that much of an expense. Plus, they are cheaper on smaller cars.

Practicing!I just test my car in an empty parking and learn how to control it if I ever slip and slide. Or If I have to brake at the last minute. It helps to know your car.

Understand winter driving. You should NOT drive the same way you drive during summer. Some common mistakes:
Follow other cars too closely. Since you cant brake fast when it snows, leave a good distance between you and other cars. So if THEy Ever slip, you can just slow down and dodge them easily instead of hitting the brakes like a maniac and end up on the opposite side.

Try to slow down without hitting the breaks. Then just ''pump'' the brakes. Like hit the pedal, release, hit, release... SLOWLY. Apparently it's called the threshold technique. Skip to 1:06 www.youtube.com . . . IT WORKS.

Another tip I have is when I lose control of my vehicule I release the gas pedal and change gear to neutral. It REALLY stabilizes your car and will keep the wheel in a straight position that is easier to manage. Test it in a parking lot to see what I mean. When the roads are all ice I use this technique whenever I have to stop my car. Slow down, neutral, brake, stop, go back to drive, etc.

I also put the radio on because it calms me down.

Drive SLOWLY. There is not point in driving fast.

Also, having a bigger car would not necessarly help you.

good luck

My husband has a friend who races cars but in his off time he works for a company that has a snow driving course.
Can you see if there's something like that near you? A class for driving in winter weather that would take you out and give you a safe way to confront and beat your fears?

I don't drive a stick, so I don't know about the "changing gears" business, but I live in an area where we drive fast and get an unfortunate amount of snow. I've also got my own unfortunate snow driving story - first time I drove in the snow, I ran off the road and came within inches of wrapping my car around a light pole. It was two years before I'd even bother attempting it again.

Drive slow. On a clear, bright day, I'd think nothing of going 80 mph down the highway, on a day when it's actively snowing as I'm driving, you're lucky to see me going over 60. And yes I know that means it takes twice as long to get anywhere, don't care.

I also tend to take the surface roads rather than highways when it's actively snowing. In my area, the surface roads seem to be straighter, as weird as that sounds. So that eliminates problems of going around the corners and what not.

Also, be ready to let go of the car. I fishtailed a couple of weeks ago. When that happens, take your foot off the gas and your hand off the wheel. Remain calm.

On the car handling thing - I went from driving a Pontiac Sunfire to driving a Chevy Equinox (so I went from a small car, to a small SUV), and outside of the fact that the Equinox fishtails much easier than the Sunfire ever did, it does handle much better in cold weather. But I didn't upgrade because of the winter weather, I upgraded because I needed to haul a kid, hah...

I mean, I don't drive in snow if I don't have to, but I'm not scared of it anymore.

Sounds like you live in a climate similar to me, it snows so rarely that when it does, people don't really know what to do and the city isn't really prepared to deal with it. When it snows/ices here, basically everything shuts down - we're just not equipped to deal with it. So I've got no good advice for you, but go slowly, if you fishtail, turn into it, follow the tracks made by other drivers on the road. The two or three times I've had to drive in snow, I give myself a ridiculous amount of travel time and try to follow the places where trucks have driven. ((hugs)) I know how scary it is especially when it's not a regular occurrence.

There have been a lot of good suggestions, but I'm going to add another: when it does snow, take someone who is comfortable driving in snow and will remain calm, and find a big, empty parking lot. Then <i>make</i> your car fishtail. It's going to make your stomach drop, but it's a lot safer to go through it in an empty parking lot than on the street/highway. Check your brakes- practice the gradual stopping, feel how the ABS kicks in and the pulsing you feel (a lot of people panic when it kicks in and take their foot off the pedal, so if you know what is going on when it happens, you're less likely to panic).

Even though I've been driving in snow (northeastern US) my entire driving career, it's still useful to practice this once in awhile!

Take a deep breathe, you'll be OK!

Rowingj has some solid advice. Although I now live in an area where snow is fairly rare, I learned to drive in the snow belt...NE Wisconsin... where we had both snow from the west and snow from the "lake effect" of Lake Michigan...my home town was a Lake Michigan port city. My dad made me practice sliding when he found and open area such as a parking lot so I knew how it felt and how to recover from a "fishtail." The fact that one's car is an automatic does not prevent someone from changing gears. Though most of the time when we drive automatic transmission cars, we simply put the car in "drive", every car also has lower speed gears. (If you didn't have them, you'd never get away from a stop light...that is the "automatic" part of and automatic transmission. You start in a low gear and progressively the car automatically moves through the gears. But if you really need a low gear and need to keep it there, you simply put it into Low or First gear or even second gear where the shift lever say 1 (or L), 2, and D or Drive. (These will vary on many cars and some cars have an "over drive" which means that your car's engine is turning over at a rate slower than the speed you are traveling compared to straight "Drive". You don't want to use overdrive in a snow storm...Overdrive is for "cruising" on comparatively flat surfaces. Many cars will go into overdrive automatically.

When you get stuck, the worst thing you can do is spin the wheels by gunning the engine. In snow country we were taught to "rock" the car back and forth by shifting between low and reverse repeatedly. While easier to do on a manual transmission, it still can be done with an automatic.

I find rather deep snow...6 or 8 inches... easier to drive in than one inch of snow which compacts and gets slippery. The worst traffic jam in Washington was in a one or two inch snow where cars could not get a grip (the fact that it was during rush hour didn't help either.)

Ice is a much different story. I was once a passenger in a car which was demolished after sliding on ice and hit a tree. I was uninjured but my girlfriend (now my wife) and her mom were seriously hurt. I have always opted to stay home if I had a choice in an ice storm, though I once was caught in one while traveling. I went mostly under 20 mph but I did get home safely.

You also must recognize when it is simply impossible to travel. Unless you have a four wheel drive powerful vehicle with high ground clearance (a big SUV or truck) don't even think about trying a two or three foot snow until plowing has occurred.

Jon

I live in an area where, like you, we don't always get snow in the winter. When we do, people usually panic and that is fairly acceptable seeing as our city just isn't prepared to handle snow when it comes. We don't have enough plows, people don't have snow tires and chains, etc.

This is my philosophy on snow, if you don't have to drive...DON'T!. There is no rule saying that if you don't want to drive in unsavoury conditions that you are some sort of wimp. I especially stress this if you have a vehicle that isn't suited for snowy weather, like you. You can have all the skill in the world but if your light little car and it's all-season tires don't want to stick to the snow there isn't anything you can do about it. The other thing to think about is that your skill often has very little to do with getting in a weather related accident. There a whole lot of other people sharing the road out there with you that don't give a damn about the safety of themselves or others.

So, while this may not seem like it was helpful, I think it was realistic given your situation.

Don't drive if you don't have to. Isn't that what the weather people always recommend during storm season?

unlike lots of other cars which I saw slip and slide all around me

A good part of your problem is that so many others on the same road don't know how to drive in the snow. You need to widen your area of responsibility to include those other drivers.

This has been an unusually mild winter but most years we have snow several times a week from October to April. As much as I would like to just sit it out and stay home, I'd miss half a year if I did that.

All of the suggestions above are good. I would just add "the big three". Leave early, take your time driving, and keep your gas tank full. The extra weight of the full gas tank helps and if you get stuck on a highway for hours you'll have plenty of gas...one less thing to worry about. You might also keep a bag of rock salt and a bag of sand in the trunk. One bag over each rear wheel helps the traction, and if you do get stuck, you have "products" to help you out.

If you keep your focus...your goal is to get from point A to point B alive....the distraction of all the other factors will fade. Just like dancing, the more you do it , the better you get. I have actually gotten to a point where there are certain things I like BETTER in bad weather. Doctors appointments, for example. When there is snow, so many people cancel their appointments the waiting room is almost empty. Lots of good parking spaces, and the doctors have more time to spend with those who actually show up.

I wish you the best of luck.

Keep On Dancing*

Thank you all for taking the time to respond!

Those who suggested that over here we're not used to driving in snow are totally right: one snowflake and the entire country grinds to a shuddering halt. People simply don't know how to drive in snow. I for one never took any driving lessons in the snow.

Anyway, I'm currently looking into maybe getting some professional training. We had a tiny bit of snow today (and I mean tiny), and I thought for a moment about going home by bus, but I drove home myself since it was still light out. Sounds kinda silly, but I was very happy to find I didn't even get nervous.

Anyway, thank you for your tips, I'm trying to see what I can implement now and what I may have to do later, but I totally appreciate it!

^ We're supposed to be getting snow here sometime this week too - I admit, I'm nervous! If it comes overnight then I will be a big girl and try to drive in it - I only work 5 miles from home, and while it's all country roads they do get quite busy so hopefully all the cars will have churned up the snow and made it less treacherous by the time I leave the house. Perhaps that's something you could think about as well - setting off a bit later so that you can drive through other's tyre tracks rather than trying to forge a new path by yourself?

We just got about 6 inches of snow and I work tomorrrow morning! I'm so nervous!

Good luck, I'd be terrified!

Louise: I'm a teacher so I'm not free to decide my own times. I have to be at school by 8 am, so while I do drive in rush-hour and the snow isn't fresh, I don't have the luxury of waiting for the roads to be cleaned and daylight to be there.

Anyway, today was the first day of temperatures rising steeply, so while there was a bit of slippery roads this morning, we'll probably be fine now till next winter. Fingers and feet crossed!

We get A LOT of snow here. My car caught a rut once and was thrown into a section on the road where the snow was up to my bumper. Needless to say I got very stuck.

Some things I have learned in my snowy adventures

1. If you start sliding, take your foot off the gas until you regain control THEN slowly step on the brake. Too many times people here will start to slide, slam on the breaks right away, and then hit something because they have no control.

2. Leave LOTS of space between you and the car in front of you. A lot of people here drive normally in the winter and all it takes is a small patch of black ice and BAM you hit the car in front of you. If you leave a lot of space then that gives you room to slide without hitting the vehicle in front of you.

3. Drive slow. I once had to go to my cousins grad in a snowstorm on the highway. The speed limit was 110 km/hr but I stayed around the 60/70 km/hr mark. I had really good winter tires on so I was actually passing people doing that speed. Took me twice the amount of time to get there, but I got there safe.

4. Slow down for turns. I mean REALLY slow down. I had an embarrassing moments a couple weeks back after we got our first batch of snow. I was driving a guy to work in the morning since we started at the same time and I took a right hand turn at the speed I normally would. I ended up sliding through the intersection and almost hit the median on the street I was turning onto. Needless to say I slowed right the heck down after that one.

I have a little two door pontiac sunfire so I don't have a beast of a car, but I have never been in an accident even with the crazy amounts of snow and ice we get here. I would do like the others suggested and head to an empty parking lot. The more you practice the calmer you will be and the better you will be able to react if a situation arises.

You have gotten a lot of good advice already. I live in Northeast US, where last year we were PLOPPED on. This year there's been hardly any snow at all. I'm actually sad about that.

Anyway, I taught my sister in law last year how to drive in snow, and I took her to various places were there were open parking lots (was icy, and compacted snow), and made her spin the car around in doughnuts, slam on the brakes, and had her practice "engine braking" which is what you would automatically do with a manual. (She was driving my car, an automatic).
She did great, and drove back home in all the slushy snow.
My very first year driving I ended up in a snow bank. It was slushy roads, and I was going very slow, but had to turn (curve in road), and my tires slipped and bonk! in the snowbank.
My car was a front wheel drive, and you guessed it, front wheels in the snow.
I had a little shovel in the trunk, so I tried shovelling as best I could, but it got me nowhere. Eventually a kindly gentleman came along that had a plow on his truck, and he pulled my car out with a rope.
Lesson learned: stash kitty litter in the trunk! the clay kitty litter will help you get some traction on your tires if you ever get stuck.
Always try to stay calm too, because it's when people freak out that they do stupid stuff on the roads (especially people inexperienced in winter driving, hate to say).
I've also "spun out" before. Some idiot put his brakes on very quickly to turn into a doughnut shop, and it made me brake fast, but I had the wherewithall to take my hands off the wheel. I spun a 180* but people around me were able to stop and give me room, so I just steered my car around, and went on my merry way. (while muttering under my breath about the idiot in the truck haha).

Just try to keep your wits about you, practice if you can to gain some confidence. And also try to stay on the main roads since they tend to be cleared first.

Allow me to qualify Felsa's statement: Head to an empty parking lot that you know. If the lot contains V-blocks or planting beds, you want to know where they are.