Habits are hard to brake, and brakes are hard to do without. But, I'm going to ask you to drive with a new habit that does without your brakes. Let's remember what it means to be a safe winter driver.So, last week we had our first real frosty morning of the season with a bit of sleet and a bit of ice. It didn't take long for the first slippery car wrecks of the season. Pretty normal they were, too: oops, I'm not on the road any more. Now, we always say the same thing each year: everyone forgets how to drive in the winter until we have a few days of ice. And, it seems that it is indeed true that everyone forgets how to drive in the winter until we have a few days of ice.
But, is that really true? Can someone that has lived in Michigan for years and years really forget that when the road might be slippery you need to drive differently? Nope, it's not true. We simply are too stubborn to admit that no matter what the calendar says, or how many months of non-slippery roads we've been driving on, if road conditions are different today we need to change how we drive today. It's as simple as that. It's the exact same stubbornness we have in the spring after most of the winter weariness wears off us along with the icy crust on the roads. We shift back to our summer driving habits and refuse to go back even for the last random ice events of the lingering winter.
So, let's review my one very simple rule for how to drive when the road might be slippery (no matter what the calendar says), and it has nothing to do with packing an emergency kit with flares and kitty litter: Drive as if you have no brakes.
Yup, if you drive as if you have no brakes you'll naturally slow down, allow more space between you and all other vehicles, plan ahead for turns, plan ahead for intersections, plan ahead for hills (up and down), plan your trip, leave earlier to get there on time, leave much later and just tell 'em you'll be late, eliminate all other non-driving activities in the car, perhaps decide not to go today at all.
Slippery roads do not normally cause crashes any more the clear/dry roads normally cause the crashes that occur on them, or that the bright yellow orb rising over the eastern horizon each morning causes. It's normally just that darn human behavior and our stubborn habits. Now, that deer that I didn't expect at all, well now, that might be the cause of a crash.
Be safe.
