So...I was driving to my uncle's place last night around 10 pm and it starts snowing and getting windy. I'm like ok, it's fine still keep on goin. Then I get on the 131 and everyone starts to drive in a line because there's freshly packed snow on the ground. After a while ppl start going faster and some start going slower and the line split up.

Then I'm just driving at like 50 mph and the rear gets loose and wiggles a little bit. I got it back under control fine and start slowing down to like 40. Then all of a sudden a gust of wind comes from my left side, and i try to turn the wheel towards the wind a little to stay straight, and that's when all hell broke loose. While my front was going left, my rear was going right, and i started sliding. So then i try to correct it WITHOUT USING THE BRAKES and i start sliding harder in the opposite direction. After sliding back and forth twice across the road, I end up sliding in the ditch in the middle of the freeway sideways. I thought I was going to flip!

I was freaking out, first time ever sliding into anything!! While I try to get out, ppl keep on driving by and nobody stops. Thanks! Then I realize that I'm stuck, so I shift it into 4wd and I'm still spinning tires. (btw I wasnt' in 4wd cuz something is still wrong with it, I just need time to figure out what) So I try rocking it back and forth and finally got out. Scared as hell.................I finish my drive at 25 mph the next 40 miles. Still a bit shaken.

 

Glad your ok!

When my buddy and I went up to Oregon last year in January, we hit some heavy ice on the freeway. It was wierd because the roads were fine and then all of sudden ice was everywhere....we were going probably 60 mph when the ice appeared and I thought for sure we were screwed. Luckily I was able to slow down enough to where it wasn't dangerous, but I think all the weight we had in the back of my truck (baggage and stuff) was what saved us.
We were cruising after that at like 20mph because you couldnt see the lane dividers on the freeway, and all of the sudden this ricer flies past us. I remember counting down 3-2-1 and bam....he did a 720 right into a snowbank on the side of the road. We actually pulled over to help him out.

 

ya, glad ur ok. similar thing happened to me, me and my fam were going to ohio last thanksgiving and it was nasty on 90 traveling west from albany. big snow storm. im driving my dads land cruiser, going about 35 and a ricer in a little civic flies by me doing 55, im like, damn, hes gona get it. about 5 car lengths ahead of me, he starts sliding to the left and boom! into the guard rail and then after he bounced off of it, he started to come towards me, i missed him by inches. that idiot put not only his life on the line, but other people on the road too.

 

I'm glad that i have not had an experience like that yet, but this is only my second year driving in snow...glad you are okay. I'm also glad i read this post because it reminded me to get something to put weight in the back of my 4runner for the upcoming snowfall(at least i hope snow will be coming soon, i've been waiting forever!) I also have two questions...1) what is a ricer? 2)can i drive in 4wd on the highway and up to what speed? I have a '91 4runner if that makes any difference.

 

I've done that so many times now it's an automatic reaction of mine to grab the transfer case shifter as I lose traction. Saved my ass a few times

 

When I go to WV to visit family and the roads are bad...i usually lock it in 4wheel hi and go no farther than 40mph. never ran it more than that...so 40 was good for me and 4 wheel drive still works fine.

 

would 4wd have helped against the sliding?

 

it helps alot....that way one end isn't passing up the other in some instances...

 

dude I was in MI that night too! I was in Pontiac and drove through ann arbor! I was in that snow too!

 

yeah those arent fun experiences they get the adrenaline going. I was a passenger in a Rodeo that did a spin like that at 60 freakin crazy and my buddy was counter steering way too much. we were lucky to drive away from that.

 

There are also a lot of cases when it will make it much worse. Unless you can unlock your center diff, i would never recomend driving on icy conditions in 4wd. Snow yes, ice no.

Glad to hear you are alright, loosing it on the highway isnt to fun.

 

I agree. Those of us that are not locked, the back end tends to want to come around and take the lead anytime the road is slick. Putting it in 4 hi and driving under control will help keep it pointed in the right direction.

 

A ricer is someone who puts tacky appearance mods on their vehicle with no performance to back it up. (Think of all those Civics with huge wings and coffee can exhaust tips.) Usually you see them in import compacts, but they also have been known to 'modify' American makes and even trucks.

 

Whenever I drive and the roads look like possible black ice I always test to see how slippery it is by giving some throttle to where I think my truck will break loose. Of course I do this when there are no corners ahead of me. It's tougher on a automatic, I generally will drop out of overdrive to check it. I have never gone off the road or crashed in my 21+years of driving in the snow/ice, as a matter of fact I haven't had but one accident in my life when I was 16...

Oh ya, I'm the a$$hole that will drive 70-80 on hard packed snow on the highway... It's all about feeling the road and what your vehicle is telling you...

 

i know from experience that vsc wouldve helped you in that situation. i was going 40 and something nearly like that happened... back end skidded out a bit, so i countered, and vsc took over from there, stopping me before it could get worse.

 

we had some scary situations like described above around here last night. out on the interstate there were dozens of accidents, and several overturned vehicles. a neighboring rescue company lost a truck and nearly2 firefighters last night to the ice. they came down the road a bit to fast and slid on an icy section of road, rolled the truck 4 times. both were ejected. all I can recomend as a firefighter is if you think there is ice, drive slow. who cares if people pass you, but 95% of the accidents we saw happen last night, were from people driving too fast for the conditions.

 

You should have been in 4wd in the first place.

I have been in a very similar situation, and it was very scary. I was going up Snoqualmie Pass and hit ice in 2wd. All of the sudden I was careening all over the place and nothing that I could do would get me in control again. Luckily I just slid to the shoulder. I put it in 4wd and it was perfectly stable the rest of the way over the pass and back again under worse conditions.

 

I used to live in WV and as we all know...it has hills! One hill which I was always scared to go down had a bunch of curves in it. I learned if you just put it in 4wheel hi and let the vehicle coast and lightly "pumping" the brakes will keep you from skidding down hill and will maintain a decent speed so it doesn't make yer butthole pucker up so tight!

 

4wd helps only if you maintain a decent speed for conditions. I woke up today with 3" of snow with ice underneath. My 2wd pickup did just fine because I keeped my speed way down. Kept it under 40 on the highway. The news said that there was over 500 accidents in the 3 county area that I live. Funny thing, most of them were 4X4 pickups or 4x4 SUV's. 4X4 will not save your ass if you drive like an idiot.

 

amen to that, slow down, unless you are in a hurry to get to your own funeral. leave earlier, take the city streets instead of the high/expressway, take public transit or stay home. no job (emergency services excluded) is worth risking your life over. the men and women that work in e/s will thank you, they dont want to go and clean up any more carnage than they already do.

lee