10 Winter Driving Tips

Winter has been upon us for about a month now. Well, two months, if you include the flurries some of us saw way back on Halloween, and that means that there have already been plenty driving incidents as a result. With cold weather and freezing precipitation comes the most dangerous and most frightening time to drive. Slick roads and poor judgment make the road a real-life pinball machine, as cars slide every which way. To help you prepare for this slush-covered battlefield, we've organized a few tips both for driving and preparing to drive. The goal is to keep you and your car safe, and although some might seem super obvious to you, we want to make sure those other dummies on the road are aware. Here are our 10 Winter Driving Tips.

Related: 10 Signs You're Not Taking Care of Your Car

If you live in a reaaaaaaaallllly cold place, then there's a slight chance that your gas will freeze, if there's a tiny amount in the tank. However, this is not the main problem, and it's not why we say to keep the tank half full. When there is less than half a tank of gas, condensation is more likely to build up, which can then get into the gas lines and freeze them up. With frozen gas lines, no gas can get to you engine, and the car will not be able to run. Plus, more gas = more weight = better traction.

Slow and steady, slow and steady, slow and steady. If you take anything away from this advice, please just remember that you can't drive your car like you normally do. You can't stop on a dime, you can't floor it, and you most definitely can't jerk the wheel. Any and all of these decisions will result in slipping and sliding around the road, and likely into another car. Typically normal reactions turn into risks in the winter.

When conditions are getting worse, drive 10 less miles per hour than you normally would and drive 10 MORE yards behind a car than you normally would. It might sound like a pain, but don't try to be macho in these situations. Rear-ending somebody will be a much bigger pain than getting to your destination 10-15 minutes later. Basically, expect everybody else to suck at driving in the winter.

This is something that I've experienced, and trust me, it was probably one of the scariest driving moments of my life. The only way you're going to get up a hill is if you have enough starting momentum in the first place. If you don't have the space to do this, don't even try. I didn't have the necessary momementum (driving slowly on a curvy road), and when I started slowing down, I pressed harder on the gas. All this is going to do is spin your tires, and you're going to either get stuck or your rear is going to start slipping out.

You shouldn't be going that fast, when you're driving in snowy conditions in the first place, but using low gears will give you better traction and control. Also, there's a pretty easy way to use your brakes (your biggest snow enemy) much, much less, if you're driving a manual car: downshifting. It's much safer, as you won't risk locking up and sliding. And as a bonus, you're not wearing your brakes as much.

This really has nothing to do with driving, but we want to make sure that your car aesthetically continues the look the best it can. You know all that salt and grime that builds up in the snow? That gook is detrimental to your paint job, and if you don't remove it, damage will be done. We recommend finding a drive-through car wash that you can trust (ask around and use reviews to avoid washes that'll scratch your car), buying a monthly pass, and using the hell of out it. Unless you want to be outside washing it in the cold. We've done that, too.

This would include a blanket (or two), some snacks that won't spoil, water, a baby shovel, and an ice scraper. That way you can properly build a nice hockey rink while you're waiting for somebody to come save you. Just kidding. Sort of.

To some people it might seem counter-intuitive to open your garage and let all the cold air in, when you're trying to warm up your car. But you have to. Or else, you might die. Never warm your car up in an enclosed space, because the harmful exhaust fumes can build up. You'll be walking into your own death trap.

Many antifreezes are sold in pre-mixed 50-50 solutions already, but there are some of us out there that still make the mix ourselves. For those people, please make sure you don't have an overbalance of water in your mix. With too much H2O, you run the risk of the liquid freezing and absoultely destroying your engine. The best way to be sure is to flush out the system and replace it, before the chilly season comes.

This is similar to the concept of understeer. If you're driving and your car starts to come out from under you, let off the gas and turn the wheels toward the side that your car is fishtailing. Think about it. If you turn it the other way, it's going to propel the momentum of the fishtail and continue spinning you around.