Posted January 06, 2017
White knuckles driving if literal is a bad idea, you have to go with the flow. Swerving will cause fish tailing and losing control. Brake and accelerate with the wheels pointing straight help minimize this. Punching the brake and throttle pedals are also bad. It's kind of counter intuitive to driving on tarmac. When you put too much torque on the wheels and causing them to spin faster you will lose grip, so you need to ease the pedal to get going. For braking, if you punch the brakes, you will lock the wheels then your car will just slide toward the direction of its momentum, release the brake to in order to regain control.
If you're really confident you can use the snow to slow down, as the main driving line can get compacted or icy, but you can block your radiator with snow or drive into a snow bank if not careful.
Hunched over the steering wheel and hanging on with a vice grip and just hoping some idiot doesn't nudge you in the rear end or side swipe you,speeding past.
I'd agree with your points. After many years of driving on the roads, I've learned a few simple lessons as well while driving in bad conditions. Like you said, tap the brakes, never hit them hard, attempt slow downs on inclines rather than declines, and if a light ahead turns red and you have time to make it just coast through. It's better than run the risk of running a red than attempt a fast stop and end up sliding through the entire intersection and losing control.
Most bad road conditions are do-able, it just takes patience, a slower drive, and as always WATCHING OUT FOR OTHER DRIVERS. You might be doing everything right, but that doesn't mean that soccer mom in the suv next to you is.
