Snow + Summer Tires

Good morning all.

Last night we had snow. In April. Living in Canada, that is no surprise. One day it would be nice and sunny; the next day there's a snowstorm. Weather can be unpredictable sometimes.

The weeks leading up to April have been a mix between sunny, rain, strong winds, snow, sunny, rain, more rain. And now snow.

Yesterday, the day started off as so: nice and sunny. I could run and do some errands while it's still sunny outside so I did. As the day progressed, I could see some snow flurries here and there but then it would disappear. So I didn't think much of it. I knew it would snow, but at the same time, I didn't really believe the weatherman.

I remember when they kept saying the GTA would get a huge dumping of snow back in February 2011, calling it the worst storm of the century "Snowmaggedon". School boards closed down all the schools the day before, same with school bus cancellations. Everyone was freaking out. The day came, and Toronto was dumped with about 10cm of snow. It was ridiculous. At that time I was in Hamilton and they got dumped with 30cm of snow. Now THAT was a crazy drive. I had the coupe at that time, first winter ever with her, and I got stuck coming out of the driveway. Hadn't even made it onto the road yet, and I was on winter tires too. RWD problems yo.

So that was my attitude yesterday about the weather: yeah cool it will snow, but they're making a huge deal out of it. Just drive safe and all is well, especially on summer tires.

Well, I was wrong.

I was in the west end (typically it would take an hour drive back home on good weather), when the snow started to pick up its pace. At that time, it was still fine to drive, because there was no snow on the ground. It would hit the ground and melt. Because I wasn't in any huge rush to get home, I could take my time.

About 25 minutes into the drive home on the highway, visibility was limited due to the snow picking up its pace. I could already feel the coupe starting to slide a bit, and I knew it would not be safe to continue the journey home via highway like this, so I got off the highway, and took the local road home. From previous travel time, it would take about 45 minutes to get home via the local road in good weather. I knew it wouldn't be 45 minutes. I had to prepare myself for a long commute home.

By this time, there was probably about 3cm on the ground. Not a lot. But with summers on, it becomes a scary drive. Summer tires start losing grip below 7 degrees Celcius (weather was starting to hit the negatives at this point), so that mixed with snow, they become hockey pucks. You hear that term a lot, and you think "well that's pretty fun! drifting time!". But seriously, when you are in a long commute home, it's not fun.  It pretty much becomes life or death. One wrong move and everything can fall apart.

I think the predicted snow would accumulate between 10-15cm as the night progressed, so I knew I would be in trouble. But I couldn't rush. There was a few options: get a tow and tow the car home, or crash somewhere for the night and continue tomorrow. Problem is: waiting for a tow at this time in this weather will take a few hours due to accidents already on the roads. Crashing somewhere seemed ideal. However, the cleanup wouldn't be done till next day and I had work the next day. Conclusion: get home somehow.

I continued heading east. By this time, roads were covered in snow, temperatures had dipped, visibility was bad. And I was slipping at every moment.

At this point, you really have to know your car well to handle it in conditions like this. You cannot freak out. You cannot have any distractions. You need 100% attention to your surroundings.

To summarize the rest of the ride home, it was hell. I had a few near misses, and thank God there was no one around, or they weren't close to me. Accelerating from stop to go was a mess. I wasn't going anywhere. If I was, I was going sideways down roads. Thankfully traffic behind me stayed back and didn't want to pass me in case I hit them. My rear end at this time was pointed towards the curb, and the front was pointed at the lane divider/next lane. The rear tire had bounced off the curb a few times, but I needed that for momentum and control. As long as it was not the rims or anything else, I was good.

Stop lights became my worst nightmare. I had to time myself and slow down, but coming to a complete stop was impossible. The car would still move and slide. If the lights were red, I had to time myself and slow the car down, so by the time I reached the traffic light, it would be green and I can continue to go without stopping. I needed ample time and space from the cars ahead of me if I wanted to avoid them. Traffic on the main road I was taking home was jam packed. It wasn't moving. I was basically in trouble because I couldn't stop properly, so at the next available side street, I took it. People may say it's a bad idea because there is more snow in neighbouring roads, but at this point, it was better than sitting in traffic. I had to keep the car moving.

Thank God for that because on the main road just before I turned, there was a huge down hill. There was no way I could make that hill. And there was no way I could stop. So I had to avoid it.

Eventually I made it home safely by taking small streets, without hitting anyone or injuring myself. The journey should've taken an hour. It took 3 hours in this weather. Not bad. But at the end of 3 hours of attentive driving and maneuvers, my brain was exhausted.

If I could summarize some driving points in terrible snow weather while on summer tires:

1) If you don't have to go anywhere that day, just stay home.

2) If you are already out and need to get home, think of options: a tow, overnight stay at a motel, stay at friend's place, get someone to pick you up but leave your car out of harm's way somewhere that allows overnight parking (and come back next day to pick it up).

3) If you're already on the road, allow yourself AMPLE of time. At this point if you're late for a meeting or something important, call them up and ask to reschedule. Don't ever rush yourself or force yourself to make it within a time frame. If you are in no rush to get home, even better. Take your time, and I really mean it.

4) Stop signs and traffic lights will become your worst enemy. Coming to a complete stop will be impossible on RWD cars with summer tires. You WILL still slide even when you're at a standstill. Handbrakes are useless; even though your brakes are all locked up, your tires don't have any grip whatsoever on the road. It's resting on top of ice and snow, so it will slide. Which brings me to...

5) Timing. You will need to pay attention to every traffic light ahead of you when it turns red, and stop signs too. You will need to time yourself and the distance from where you're at, to the traffic light or stop sign. Start early, because by the time you get to the traffic light, it will be green, so you won't have to stop. Start braking early; about halfway down the pedal, or even 1/4 of the pedal. No hard braking, and no sudden braking. A lot of people get into accidents because they don't allow themselves enough time or distance to brake, so when they freak out and slam the brakes, their cars go sideways into a ditch or into other cars.

6) Distance. I've already mentioned it above, but I will say it again. ALLOW ENOUGH SPACE BETWEEN YOU AND THE CAR AHEAD OF YOU. At least 6 car lengths or more. These techniques will NOT work if you are bumper to bumper with the car ahead of you. You WILL crash into them if you don't allow enough space.

7) Hills also become your second worst enemy. Going down hill will be scary, so once again, allow yourself enough space around you. No sudden braking, and no hard braking. Going up hill will be a nightmare. You will struggle to climb. From my experience, I was going sideways up the hill. I had to milk the accelerator, but not too hard otherwise the car will slide out. Once you feel the car starting to slide, get off the accelerator, but once it starts to slow, give it some gas. On RWD with summers on, you will not be able to go up a hill in a straight line, no matter how much you force it. You will be going sideways.

8) Attention. No talking to passengers, no music, no talking on the phone, no eating or drinking, no daydreaming, no make up. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, except focusing on the road and those around you. If you cannot focus 100% on the road or you feel half sleepy, pull over and call it a night.

9) Keep calm. DON'T FREAK OUT. A lot of people start freaking out when they drive into snow conditions. And that's where the sudden braking happens, because they think if they brake and stop, then all will be good. In RWD cars, you will be screwed if you don't stay calm and you will hurt someone if you don't stay calm. By far and from my experience, RWD cars are the absolute worst to drive in snow conditions, especially if you don't have any winter tires on. They are literally hockey pucks on roads. If you can't stay calm, then don't be on the road.

10) Counter-steering and accelerator. There will be a lot of this going on because the car will not stay straight. There will need to be a balance between this, and the accelerator. Keep the foot off the brake unless you are coming to a (complete) stop. Otherwise it's balance and control between counter steering and accelerating when driving. These two skills become your best friend when driving in snowy weather.

11) Look where you want to go. I've seen that emphasized many times on Canada's Worst Drivers TV show. If you want to go straight, and your car is going sideways, keep your eyes on the road ahead of you, because that's where you want to go. If you focus on the curb, your car will kiss the curb and probably stay there if you keep looking there.

12) Know your car and how it responds. This might sound weird, but you really have to know your car and how it responds to certain conditions. I know that my coupe will react when the roads are wet if I accelerate too hard or take a corner too fast. With snow, it's even worse, and I know I will be going sideways. If you already have that knowledge already, that's great. Now you will need to apply the skill set to prevent anything bad from happening.

13) Please drive according to conditions. At this point, you have to put your ego away (yes, for some people it's so difficult to do unfortunately), and just focus. This is not a race to get home. This is not a show off thing to show people how cool you are drifting on main roads. No, it's a scary situation to be in and one wrong move will lead to disaster.

14) Your life and the lives of others depend on your driving. If everyone could think like that, people would be more careful. This is how I approach driving, either by myself or with a passenger. If you have that mindset, you will take precautions and be way more attentive. If you don't, then best to stay off the road for everyone's sake, including yours.