Originally posted by Lonely_soul82:
Down shift instead of slamming the brakes when you see snow, no sudden moves, black ice is shiney, stay away from shiney road surface, turn into the spin. That's about it.


AAA-YYYYYY!!!

You have a FWD car, don't ever, EVER downshift on slippery surfaces!! Downshifting only results in locking the front wheels, and you lose any steering you had - the weight of the car shifts to the front wheels (now locked), and you're in for a spin.

Winter driving is the science of avoiding stupid maneuvers (sp?) - both yours and other people's.

You have to drive very "lightly", like if you had an egg behind each of the gas and brake pedals. Accelerate smoothly, slowly, and brake in advance when possible. If not possible, just hard enough not to loose the steering (I don't have ABS nor TC on the Mystique).

4x4s are the worst: people tend to drive AWD vehicles like they are on a railroad track! As they say: 4x4s go further! Yeah right... further in the ditch.. :-)

And for the record, black ice is *NOT* shiny, and that's the problem. Black ice offers no reflection, and that makes you think the road is dry, when it's not.

J-Lab and many others from my area can tell you: we probably have the worst road system in North America, some of the worst conditions during the winter, and a whole lot of.. (how can I avoid the language filter?) err.. stupid drivers that are NOT driving. They are using a car to get somewhere, but they don't pay attention to anything: road conditions, other cars; they're on the phone, reading the newspaper or their Visa bills. Whenever we get the first-and-so-lonely snowflake, those people are simply frozen in fear, and suddenly all highways, bridges, streets are completely jammed, and _then_ accidents happen.

Kyo 1997 Mystique GS Duratec ATX -- sold 2005 Focus ST - Quicker! - Still a Duratec!