Re: A couple of things my dad taught me about driv... - Page 4

RedTop · ‎09-01-2010

Living very rural here in southern WV, winter driving is quite the challenge. When I learned to drive in the early 70's, road graders were still used to plow our roads, and this area was very low priority. We were snowed in quite often, and we also used chains a lot. The most important thing my parents taught me about driving in snow, was that when your tires have enough traction to go, focus on steering, keep your foot steady on the gas, do not slow down, or stop, just keep going. This wisdom was shared as the trick to getting up the 4 challenging inclines on this road, in order to get to the main road. My first winter of driving was after I graduated high school, and I was working for an attorney. I had new studded tires on my Chevy Nova, and headed out for work one very nasty, snowy morning. I made it up the first two hills without slipping or sliding, although I could see where several people who went out before me had some trouble. Got to the bottom of the 3rd incline and saw a car in the ditch, but I went by without any problems. The last hill was the absolute worst. Mom's best friend lived at the bottom of that hill, at the spot where you had to get your running start. She was waiting at the road to warn me people were stuck, but since I'd already gotten that far, I was going to try it. I drove up that hill without a slip, slide, or spin, right past both men who were stuck, and didn't have a single problem getting to work that day. My dad also went out an hour after me that morning without any problems. The 3 people who had problems that morning, were the same people who had problems every winter, because they just couldn't drive in snow.