Driving on Black Ice

While this safety tip is being written, the Midwest portion of the U.S. is experiencing snow and cold temperatures. The forecast for most of the northern half of the U.S. shows a lot of freezing temperatures. Winter has not yet passed. Winter driving is still a concern.

After the winter driving tip from last month, one of our Safety Tip Faithful in New Hampshire responded with the following story:

“Black Ice Looks Exactly Like Wet Pavement! It can easily fool an overconfident driver. On one occasion I spun out on black ice on the highway, due to a car that spun out really bad in front of me. The weather was cool and misty, but apparently the temps dropped quickly. I slammed on the brakes as the other car went right across in front of my car but contact with my car somehow did not happen by inches. The other car with 5 passengers went right across the front of my car sideways and we probably were still doing 55 miles per hour. There were no sliding or skidding sounds as I ended up spinning out myself. I will never forget the faces of those 5 people in extreme fear. No damage to my car and no serious injuries, fortunately, but I had to stop due to the situation (and to calm my nerves). I opened my car door and looked at the pavement and it looked exactly like wet pavement, but when I stepped on it, the pavement was slippery enough to use ice skates.”

We are thankful that our reader survived that experience! He also offered a few more safe winter driving tips. We wanted to share them with you as the tips come from a lot of personal experience.

1. Think like you have no brakes. Use even, constant pressure on the brake pedal. Shift into a lower gear if your vehicle has that option.

2. No sudden turns; gently turn the steering wheel.

3. Go easy on the gas pedal, slowly accelerate and decelerate.

4. Try not to change lanes, but if you must change lanes, slow down before doing so, particularly if you are crossing piles of snow and slush.

5. Keep the radio turned way down and listen to the road. If it sounds wet, that is good. If it doesn’t sound wet, but there is any mist to snow conditions, or possibly wet patches on the road, slow down as the road probably has black ice.

Weekly Safety Challenge:

What is your winter driving “near miss” story? Share it with your coworkers, and talk about safe winter driving.

From the U.S. Forest Service, here’s a link to a downloadable document on driving on black ice: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd488148.pdf