Skid Road Winter Roads Present Challenges For Newbies Behind The Wheel

The roads may be bare now, but ice and snow lurks around every corner in these winter months. It can make driving a terrorizing experience for teens.

To non-drivers like myself, winter is a lot of fun. With all the cold and snow comes the chance to sled at the local golf course or ski at a big resort. All you have to worry about is slipping on the icy sidewalk in front of the whole school population. This is mildly embarrassing, but the injury is slight and once another person falls, your pride recovers.

But to drivers, winter is another matter entirely. To a driver, winter means snow and ice under their wheels, making driving a midsize car somewhat more difficult than riding a camel across a brick road. This is especially true for teen drivers. For many teens, winter driving is a new experience, one that they are not prepared for. Most adults take difficult driving conditions for granted, having a lot of winter experience under their belts. For newly licensed kids who took Driver’s Ed in the spring or the summer, however, winter driving is something out of a horrible nightmare.

The first time I became aware of this was when my friend and I were attempting to drive to school a few years ago. My friend had just gotten his license the previous summer, and since this was the first big snow of the year, he had no winter driving experience.

At first, he seemed fairly confident about it. This lasted until we actually got the car started and on the road. I noticed the car was beginning to weave a little around corners. My friend assured me that this was normal, and he had it under control. I assumed that the expression of sheer fright on his face was perfectly normal also, or at least just a joke to frighten me.

I remained calm until we rounded a sharp corner, and the car failed to stop. My friend looked like a rodeo rider hanging onto a bronco for dear life (obviously what they taught in Driver’s Ed, I thought). We ran smack into a curb going about 10 miles an hour. We then drove to the bus stop going about 5 miles an hour the whole way, parked the car and took the bus to school.

There was nothing much wrong with the car that $2,000 couldn’t fix. I left that episode with a healthy fear of winter driving and a new-found respect of those who manage to do it.

This winter being especially harsh, it has already claimed more than its share of teen victims. Calen Boutilier, a senior at West Valley, was driving the family Dodge Caravan down a hill in his Northwood neighborhood when the car refused to stop. Calen said he saw the slide coming but could do nothing about it. The car went off the road and over a rock. The rock did a number of things to the underside of the car, causing around $2,500 worth of damage.

Calen had been driving for three years, but was unprepared for a real winter, since previous winters had been so weak. He was surprised at the slickness of the roads and how uncontrollable the car became.

Brandon Kafflen, a junior at Lewis and Clark, also had a bad experience. He was driving home with his dad in a Suburu Outback without four-wheel-drive. He hit a patch of ice on the infamous Palouse Highway and freaked out. He tried to correct, but instead over-corrected. He then tried to correct the over-correction, but that just made it worse.

The car ended up hitting the guardrail, doing about $1,000 worth of damage. Brandon also was totally unprepared for the challenges of winter roads. He felt that Driver’s Ed did little to prepare him for winter.

Of course, there is also the flipside. One of my friends actually enjoys driving on icy roads. Winter seems to bring out the daredevil in him. He drives his four-wheel-drive, snow-tired Suburu like a madman. This causes his passengers to emerge from the car white-haired and whimpering.

This is not the course for rational people to take, however. Teens need to drive carefully until they get used to winter, but they should get used to it as fast as possible.

It’ll cut down on repair bills and, for non-drivers like myself, it makes the sidewalks a whole bunch safer.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: BAD-WEATHER TIPS Newly licensed teens almost never get experience in snow and ice driving unless their parents take them out on the road during those adverse conditions. Chuck Filippini, a drivers education teacher at North Central High School, offers these tips to new drivers on treacherous roads. Most importantly, slow down. Filippini’s favorite lesson is to tell kids “Speed kills.” It’s up to drivers to turn that around and “kill speed,” he says. Make sure your vehicle has good tires, with adequate tread and inflation. If you find yourself in a slide, steer in the direction you want the car to go. For example, if your car is sliding toward the right, turn the wheel to the left. The worst thing you can do is hit the brakes. That locks the wheels and assures you’ll wind up off the road or in a wreck. Keep your wheels moving, pointed away from the slide. If you get stuck, don’t spin your wheels. Hitting the gas will only get your car deeper, faster. Instead, accelerate slowly and rock the car back and forth. If you’ve got rear-wheel drive, put some weight in the trunk.