Buckle up, baby! It's s-no-w picnic out there!

It snowed!  I don't mind snow too much, I suppose.  It's the cold that gets me.  Ugh.  I start having vivid daydreams of moving south for the forever when it gets bitterly cold...shudder

But anyway, snow.

I LOVE DRIVING IN SNOW!!

I am crazy, I know.  I am also a bit of a risk taker, it seems. (One of my fellow Allies asked me on the way back from training once--"Are you a thrill seeker?")  By all appearances, I guess I am!

It snowed a good four to six inches here yesterday into last night, and I had no problem driving in it. Well, I won't say "no problem"--obviously driving in snow is no piece of cake, especially when the roads aren't plowed or aren't well plowed.  BUT...unlike most of the other morons out there, I know how to drive in the snow.  I'm not full of myself, but I DID grow up on a farm, and driving in the country in winter is a whole different game than in town.  I also had two parents, and at least one grandparent who had a fairly lengthy commute to work (over a half hour, not quite an hour).  Driving is in my blood at this point.

Why do I like driving in winter?  It's a challenge!  It's kind of fun to drive in the snow because it's the adult version of winter fun.  It's a warmer, albeit more dangerous version of sledding, if you do it right or wrong.  And honestly, it makes me a better driver.  Normal driving conditions are so automatic (especially now that I drive an automatic) so it sharpens my normally dormant super driving skills.

Therein lies the problem with other drivers though...these are not normal driving conditions.  And much like severe weather watches and warnings (that is for a whole OTHER blog entry, I tell you), people don't take that seriously.  Driving is a privilege, not a right.  And I take that seriously.  I think that's another reason I like winter driving--I have earned the privilege to do so, and I'm not gonna screw that up.

For all that is good and holy in this vast world of ours, if you are reading this, I hope you know how to drive in the winter.  But if you don't (and that's okay!), here's some tips to keep in mind from someone who has had some kind of license to operate a motor vehicle FOR OVER TWENTY YEARS. (holy crap, I am old.)

Don't speed.
This SHOULD be a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised at how many people act like the road conditions are fine and pass me like I'm standing still.  I drive slow when it snows.  I like driving slow when it snows and knowing that I'm being safer than the morons.  I'm not an idiot. Sometimes I probably drive slower than might be necessary, but I have NEVER been in a snow accident (ice, but that's not snow) and going under the speed limit helps up those odds.  Again: duh.  This should be common sense.  But...

For the love of God, yield to the plows.
Again, this should be a no-brainer.  If you collide with a plow or cause an accident with a plow, guess who wins?  The plow.  They're a whole lot larger (again, duh) and you're going to come out on the losing end of that stick. (this is not to say that plow drivers are entirely faultless, but size wise, you won't win that fight.) To that end, here's some super helpful tips from the Iowa DOT about mindful winter driving with plows.

http://www.iowadot.gov/maintenance/images/snowplowlg.jpg
http://www.iowadot.gov/maintenance/SafeTravelAroundSnowplows.pdf

TL;DR: plow drivers have big blind spots, and their field of vision is much less than in a car.  They're also traveling at a fairly slow rate of speed compared to other drivers (WHO SHOULD BE GOING SLOWER AS WELL)

Plan ahead: Give yourself extra time.
Get up earlier, leave earlier, whatever--and even if you end up running behind, better to be a little behind than a little bit in the ditch or median.

Always be mindful of your surroundings and what is ahead.
I know, there's a lot to focus on.  But if you are so focused on the road ahead, and you ignore the person in your right lane until you merge right into them, you're gonna have a bad time.  Similarly, pay attention to what is in front of you.  Don't tailgate--and you should be going slowly enough anyway that you wouldn't BE tailgating.  Again, if you are going slow enough, you should be able to anticipate anything up ahead with enough time to do something about it.

Don't gun it.  Slow and steady wins the race.
Especially going up hills and inclines--tempting though it may be, don't accelerate too quickly, or you're just going to spin out.  Now granted--sometimes that's kind of fun if you know how to do it. Whee!  I wouldn't do it if I didn't have all my years of driving under my belt, though.

In the same vein: don't gun it if you DO get stuck.
That's just going to get you MORE stuck.  Even going from forward to reverse repeatedly doesn't always do the trick.  Just try not to get stuck in the first place, and if you do...get help, don't try to push the thing out by yourself.  It is futile to even try!

If you start getting stuck, start gently turning your steering wheel back and forth.
I've gotten up many a slippery slope that way.  Slowly, but I got up there.  It's the steering

The "easier said than done" tip: RELAX.  Don't drive scared.
This one isn't such a no-brainer, and to be honest, it does come with time and practice. (I've only been driving about oh, 20 years or so now?  HOLY COW, I AM OLD.)  But seriously--if you drive white knuckled on the wheel, leaning forward in the seat, looking too quickly around you...you're going to set yourself up for an accident.  Or at the very least, you're really setting yourself up for the potential of an accident.  Now I'm not saying relax to the point where you're careless.  But don't drive scared.  If you are scared, you are tense, and when you are tense, you don't always make good decisions.  Shoot, at this point, I'm so good with driving that I will turn up the radio (when it is safe to do so, obviously) and that, oddly enough, helps keep me focused and grounded. (It's the AD/HD, I'm sure.)

Hopefully this is all old news to you and you're just wondering why I wrote a blog about winter driving--but hey, you read it! :-)  And if it can help anyone, pass it along, why not?

Stay safe out there, people!