Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray,IN
Good video with one exception. At the 2:30 mark it says to manually downshift on slippery(icy) road conditions to slow down.
WRONG! That's a great way to lose control with only the rear wheels slowing your speed. Now it they said to use your service brakes they would be correct.
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I heartily agree. I was bringing my elderly aunt back to Boulder from a doctor's appointment in Denver one afternoon driving her car which was rear wheel drive with an automatic transmission. The strong 90° crosswind was blowing surface snow across Hwy 93 completely obscuring the pavement and freezing the snow on it to ice.
When cresting the last hill into Boulder we were faced with a long line of stopped cars with the closest about 100 yards in front of us. Having recently moved to Colorado after 28 years living in San Diego I was not yet used to driving in adverse weather conditions and I was not used to driving an automatic.
I decided it might be a good idea to downshift like I was used to driving a stick shift. I picked up some speed while the transmission took its own sweet time to downshift. When it finally did the rear tires immediately lost traction and we found ourselves sliding sideways down a long icy hill.
Fortunately, the traffic light at the bottom of the hill changed to green and I got it straightened out and slowed down before redesigning her car or any others.
I have downshifted cars and school buses on slick pavement many times since then but only in carefully selected and controlled places and conditions. I do it to learn the handling characteristics of different vehicles in different conditions which I teach to family members and interested friends.
I guess I can't give up old habits from my flying days.[emoji57]