Traction and caution are critical when driving in a McHenry winter

Snow and ice of a McHenry winter offer a

serious challenge to traction when you're
driving that could land you in trouble. But
there are things you can do to improve your
traction and adjust your driving.

You walk into the kitchen of your McHenry home, unaware that someone in the family has washed and waxed the kitchen floor and it’s still wet. What’s going to happen?

In one scenario, your feet slide out from under you, and you land flat on your back. In another scenario, as your arms windmill frantically, your feet and legs splay out wildly in every direction as you struggle to stay upright.

What you lack in the scenario above is traction. Merriam-Webster dictionary describes traction as: “the adhesive friction of a body on a surface on which it moves.”

We count on traction with nearly every step we take. And no one likes to be caught by surprise without traction when they need it.

Well, traction isn’t just something we enjoy when walking; it’s also something we want when we pull our car out of our McHenry driveway.

A loss of traction when walking can be painful. A loss of traction when driving can be more than that. It can be painful. In some situations, it can even be fatal.

Winter’s nasty trick that makes roads slick

Winter has more than one nasty trick up its sleeve when it comes to eliminating traction. Those tricks involve snow and ice. Winter can even layout patches of ‘black ice’ to confound even the most cautious drivers (the tricky thing about ‘black ice’ is that it’s so hard to see).

A thin coat of snow can cause a significant loss of traction. A thin coat of snow on top of a thin coat of ice is an accident waiting to happen.

A heavy coat of ice is, potentially, a big problem. And, if it has ice underneath …, well, ‘OH BOY!’

With thin coats of ice and/or snow, you can find yourself spinning and sliding out of control. That’s a very uncomfortable feeling as, lacking control, you never know where you’ll land or how hard.

Thick or thin, slippery conditions make stopping a potential calamity. And getting going can prove troublesome, too.

Adjusting to the slippery driving conditions of winter requires the application of considerably greater levels of caution. Try not to do things too suddenly. Reduce speed further in advance of a potential stop.

You can also ensure that your tires have the correct air pressure so that the maximum tire surface is fighting to gain traction with the road.

Speaking of tires, are you tires ready for another winter? Even if you have good tires on your vehicle, if you want an additional edge in the battle for traction, you may want to consider a set of snow tires. You’ll still need to drive with caution but snow tires provide more traction and give you better odds every time you pull out of your McHenry driveway.

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