These 3 winter driving tips could help save your life

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According to a recent survey commissioned by Michelin, nearly 70 per cent of drivers who properly prepare their vehicles for the winter travel season are still worried about winter driving anyway.

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I’m going to share with you three wintertime driving tips that have saved my skin on more than one occasion over the past half-million kilometres of real-life winter vehicle testing I’ve done through Central and Northern Ontario.

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Carl Nadeau, Michelin’s winter driving expert, provides some insight and perspective on these age-old tips, as well as some advice on helping drivers practice them more consistently. A professional stunt-driver, race car driver and performance driving instructor, Nadeau has a long career of teaching people advanced winter driving techniques.

Of course, these tips and advice assume you’re driving a properly-prepared vehicle that’s riding on a quality set of winter tires. Popular models in Ontario this year include the Michelin X-Ice, Bridgestone Blizzak, and Gislaved Nordfrost 2000. We’ve got a fuller run-down on popular winter tires in 2020 , too, including the winter tires I run on my own vehicles.

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Tip 1: Look Up, Up, Up!

Training drivers to keep their eyes far up the road ahead is one of the first things Nadeau teaches his students. It’s also one of the best ways to protect yourself from hazards in winter driving. “I use repetition a lot in my coaching,” he says. “I want my students to hear my voice saying ‘Hey, lift your eyes,’ even when they’re alone.”

By keeping your eyes trained as far up the road as possible, and seeking to look through or around other vehicles in traffic, you give yourself precious extra seconds to react to danger in inclement conditions. This might mean the difference between stopping safely, or causing a crash.

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Looking far ahead can be tricky in practice. Ensuring you have an upright and non-slouched seating position can make it more comfortable to keep your face upright, and looking up and away from the road just in front of your car. This gives you more time to react to a hazard up the road, more time to think, and more time to plan. Even an extra second of braking can prevent a crash, after all.

“If drivers look farther away, everything tends to slow down,” Nadeau adds. “If you’re looking too close, everything seems to be moving faster. Raise your eyes, and things come at you more slowly.”

Proper vision can help you feel more relaxed, which is a key factor in fighting dangerous tension at the wheel. “If you’re tense, you can’t control the car precisely,” Nadeau says. “When drivers are relaxed, it’s easier to control the car, and easier on the driver.”

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Tip 2: Guard that Gap!

A healthy gap between you and the vehicle ahead is a precious commodity on slippery roads. Going hand-in-hand with keeping your eyes far up the road, a large gap gives you more margin for error, more room to stop, and more room to make decisions if a hazard presents itself.

Keep and maintain a healthy gap at all times where feasible. I like to visualize one or more transport trucks between me and traffic on icy roads, representing the absolute closest I want to be following another vehicle. If a car cuts into your safety bubble, lift the accelerator until the gap is regained.

It gets easier to do this consistently if you play a game of “keep-away.” Pretend the car ahead of you has cooties, and don’t get too close to it. If you can read the license plate, you’re probably too close.

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You’ll want to read the road, though. “When you tailgate, you can’t see much of the road itself,” Nadeau says. “But if I leave that gap, I can read the road for clues—does it look different, do I see ice?”

All said, leaving a healthy gap gives you more time to react, and gives your brain more information about the surface of the road ahead.

Tip 3: What’s Going On?

One evening while driving some friends on the highway to go to a movie, my vehicle was struck by ice from the roof of an oncoming transport truck. In a fraction of a second, I was driving blind at 100 km/h.

Situational awareness is the practice of knowing exactly what your motoring environment looks like at all times. Frequently sweep your eyes over your mirrors, and take note of the shape and condition of the roadway ahead.

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Keeping your eyes far up the road ahead is one of the best ways to protect yourself from hazards in winter driving

Though I couldn’t see, I knew the road ahead, and was able to safely and confidently move off the road without causing a collision. That situational awareness, as taught by a driving instructor just like Nadeau, may have saved my life, and the lives of two passengers.

Your squishy eyeballs are your vehicle’s number-one safety feature. With strategic, frequent glancing around, drivers can be constantly aware of which adjacent lane they could safely swerve into if required, or how they might exit the roadway safely if they suddenly had to.

Motorcycle riders are well practiced in situational awareness. “When I’m on a motorcycle, I’ve got to be constantly looking around for threats,” Nadeau says. “You’ve got to keep your eyes moving and working. The more information you have, the better decisions you’ll make.”

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Carl Nadeau’s Bonus Tip

Your vehicle’s hazard lights can be used to send a powerful signal to traffic behind you, if something is seriously wrong.

“Drivers should be able to activate their hazard lights without taking their eyes off of the road,” Nadeau says. “Most drivers can’t, but your hazard lights send a more powerful signal back down the road than regular brake lights. Drivers shouldn’t abuse their hazard lights, but when appropriate, they’re a powerful way to communicate with other drivers.”

Nadeau says all drivers should be able to instinctively work their hazard lights if needed, almost like honking the horn. Practice makes perfect. If you had one second to turn your hazard lights on, could you find them?

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The Common Thread

To recap: We’ve discussed setting yourself up with proper winter tires from a reputable brand you trust — and from there, working on being an expert driver in snow by maintaining a big gap, keeping your eyes trained far up the road while glancing around strategically, and being highly aware of your surroundings at all times.

When you do all of those things together, the common thread between each of these tips becomes apparent: you have confidence. Following these tips consistently means you’re more confident, more aware, and more at ease. You’re benefiting from more information about your driving environment, and more time to process it. All the while, you’re creating a safer and less stressful driving environment for yourself.

A confident driver is a relaxed driver, and a relaxed driver is a safer driver. Safe travels this winter!