Maintaining Control When Your Car Skids

Maintaining Control When Your Car Skids

“Turn left to go right left,” was the Doc Hudson‘s advice to Lightning McQueen in the Pixar movie Cars when he skids out of control. Doc Hudson’ knew what he was talking about. There will be times when maintaining control when your car skids whether because of snow and ice or sand and gravel will be required. What can you do? Not to worry, there are certain things you can do to regain control. The Art of Manliness describes how to regain control of your car when it skids. (Don’t be fooled by the name of the website, this information is also useful for those of a less manly persuasion.)

The Manly guys break the skids down to four categories: The Wheelspin, The Wheel Lock Up, The Understeer, The Oversteer, and the Countersteer, or Fishtailing. It all boils down to either the acceleration or deceleration is too abrupt for the wheels to gain any traction on the slick surface. Many skids can be alleviated by either easing off the gas or easing off the brake.

As the folks at Alaska ePost say, “skids can best be avoided by anticipating lane changes, turns and curves; slowing down in advance; and by making smooth, precise movements of the steering wheel. Regardless of the type of skid you encounter, to regain control of your vehicle, do not panic. (They know what they are talking about, there are plenty of icy roads and slick conditions in Alaska.)

Once when I was in my late teens, I was driving out of a canyon after a long day skiing, I was driving on an overpass that veered to the left. I took the turn too fast and my car started skidding. After what seemed like an eternity, and some frantic turning of the steering wheel, I gained control of the car and continued to drive on our way. With my heart racing and my palms sweaty my friend and I laughed nervously and were very grateful that no one was hurt. Good thing my driver’s ed teacher had taught us how to regain control of the car after a skid.

Have you had some close scrapes when you lost control of your car? What did you do to regain control? Tell us how you did it. For detailed information on how to regain control of a skidding car, click here: http://www.artofmanliness.com/2014/01/21/watch-out-for-that-snowbank-how-to-recover-from-5-types-of-skids/ and here: http://www.usarak.army.mil/AlaskaPost/Archives2008/080919/Sep19Story21.asp

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