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On Winter Driving
Winter is the height of accident season, so it pays to be up on your winter driving skills. Bridgestone Winter Driving School Director and Pro Race Driver Mark Cox lives and drives through the winter months in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Among the many winter driving tips he imparts are to make sure your vehicle’s tires are properly inflated to the vehicle manufacturer’s specifications. No more, no less. Letting air out to drive in snow can reduce the gripping action of tires because the tread will not meet the road surface as it was designed to do. Over-inflation has the same adverse effect.
This is especially true for dedicated snow tires, which are very susceptible to air pressure changes and that maintaining them at the vehicle manufacturer’s tire inflation recommendations allows the tires to provide their maximum performance.
If you live in snow country, by all means put a set of true snow/ice tires on your vehicle. Snow and ice tires have a softer tread compound and a unique tread design to provide enhanced traction and road-gripping capabilities. Install snow tires all the way around the vehicle, not just on the drive axle.
Good snow tires for pickups and SUVs include Michelin Latitude X-Ice, Bridgestone Winter Dueler DM-Z3 and Revo 1, and the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 2.
Another tip, anticipate difficult situations. Studies have shown that 80% of all accidents could be prevented with only one more second to react. In many situations, this one second can be gained by looking farther down the road to identify problems before you become a part of them.
Drive smart. Your vehicle’s tires can only do one thing 100% at a time—it’s either brake, accelerate or steer. Not a combination. For example, take your foot off the brake before you steer into the curve, which allows the tires to use all of the grip available for steering.
Of course, in many driving situations, better grip or traction can be gained by placing the outside wheels toward the shoulder of the road, out of the ruts in the center. So, drive smart when its white out.–Bruce W. Smith
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