How To Drive In The Snow

CONSIDER THIS YOUR CRASH COURSE—OR ANTI-CRASH COURSE, WE SHOULD SAY— IN HANDLING WINTER ROADS WITH NARY A SKID, SPINOUT, OR FREAK-OUT.

- Yolanda Wikiel

1 IT’S PRACTICALLY A WHITEOUT.

Before you venture out, refill windshield washer fluid, clear snow from the roof, windows, windshield wipers, and front and back lights, and turn on low-beam headlights (high beams reflect off the snow and into your eyes). Once you’re on the road, don’t tailgate. “It can take up to nine times as long to stop in ice and snow, compared with ideal weather,” says Robert Sinclair, media relations manager at AAA. Your rule of thumb: When the car ahead of you passes a road sign, start counting; if you reach that sign before you get to 8, you’re too close.

2 OMG, I NEED TO PULL OVER!