Driving on Ice Downhill in your car or truck

If you haven't done this before because you live somewhere this isn't what you have to do every single winter the key to doing this well is to:

If you can afford it have an SUV or Pickup truck that is either All Wheel Drive or 4 wheel drive (either one). Then it really helps if you have one of the newer automatic transmissions where you can shift it into low in some way with the capacity to shif between all the gears through a button or lever somehow. Though stick shifts many people prefer for mileage and other reasons, actually it is usually safer to have an automatic transmission in the snow for many reasons as long as you have the capacity to easily shift it to from one gear to the other.

So, you are driving basically on a sheet of glass downhill with possibly other cars in a line. The first thing you want is that everyone else knows how to drive in these kinds of conditions. Otherwise you all might crash if any one makes a mistake on a steep enough slope.

So, unless you absolutely have to you don't want to be in this position unless you think it is sort of fun and something you just have to do or you have to drive to work or school.

The basic idea is that try to never use your brakes except in complete emergencies. So, whatever speed is safe to travel at be in the lowest gear possible so the engine is holding you back with all four wheels pulling back on the engine. Flick your eyes on the tachometer every so often too because in most cars you don't want to go above 4000 or 5000 rpm anytime you are doing this. So, be very careful shifting unless your life or someone else's life depends upon it and you are planning to sacrifice the car or the engine.

So, like I said try not to ever put on your brakes while driving down hill on a sheet of ice, especially if it isn't rocked. Or even if it is it is sort of like in many situations like today 3 inches of ice with rocks forced into it by people driving over it. It's still a sheet of ice that you can easily slide off of. So, remember what you are driving on when it is a sheet of white Ice or black ice. It's usually easy to tell in most situations if you look carefully at it especially in the daytime.

Also, remember never to drive on a sheet of ice downhill in the dark if you have any other choice because there are just too many things that could go wrong to be doing this unless people's lives are at stake and it is a completely emergency.