Last week we covered black ice and braking, this week what happens if you skid or lose traction?

If you skid, turn into it.

One of the biggest mistakes people make if they actually start to skid is to jerk the wheel around over-correcting themselves while having their foot planted firmly on the brake pedal – the better method of attack is to turn into the skid and pump the brakes. This can be very hard to do if you’re panicking, however, so it is important to remember to stay calm in these situations – it can be hard, but you can do it!

Look at How Others are Driving

Do you see people in front of you losing traction for a few seconds? Are drivers in front of you slowing down a lot? Are you in an area that black ice can easily form? If you answered yes to some of these, then you may have found a black ice patch… or rather others found it for you.

Pack an Emergency Kit

We’ve talked about emergency kits many times before here (if you missed those articles, head over to autorepairminthill.com to catch up on some of our prior articles run in this paper!) and they’re crucial in a skid situation. While we hope you never crash in a skid, it’s always a possibility. Having chained tires, snow tires, or anything like that won’t give you more traction on ice… just snow. If you already have a good set of all-season tires on your vehicle, don’t waste money on new tires you don’t need – spend it on making a good emergency kit instead, because if you do crash, you’ll need one!

As always, practice safe judgement every time you plan to go on the road – if you don’t feel you can do it, don’t. Your life is more important than getting somewhere on time.

As always if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call Ken Manchester at 704-545-4597 or stop by Manchester Auto and Tire of Mint Hill.