It is said that Black Ice can’t be seen so there is no way to avoid it. Well you may or may not see the ice itself you can recognize the conditions where black ice can occur.

Firstly, lets take a look at road colour. If the road is grey, then it’s dry. However, if the road is black or wet looking, this should raise some big alarms for drivers. If the road looks black, then it is either simply wet or it is indeed black ice. Another clue is looking for water spray coming off the tires of the vehicles near you. If there isn’t any…you are all on black ice. Ideally you want to be looking well down the road looking for spots where the surface looks wet and slow down well in advance of it. Once you are on black ice don’t make any sudden movements. If you suddenly lift your foot off the gas you to may loose control of your vehicle. Applying the brakes, accelerating or swerving may have the same result. If you think you are on black ice, slowly and ever so gently, ease off the throttle just a little bit (not all the way) and your car will slow just a little. Then slowly ease off just a little more.

Second, if you think it is only water, and you see water spraying from the tires of the cars ahead of you, don’t assume that it’s just a wet road. There may well be a layer of water on top of a sheet of ice. This is just as bad as being directly on the ice.

Third, and this one is key, is the outside temperature. If it’s below freezing and the road looks wet, odds are its black ice. This holds true though if it’s only just a couple degrees above freezing if the temperatures are warming up. For example, it was sub-freezing all night and its starting to warm up. This can result in the top layer of ice beginning to melt leaving a layer of water on top of the still frozen ice below.

Watch out for puddles too. Quite often snow along the side of the road may melt leaving puddles in the curb lane. Vehicles passing through the puddle will spread that water out and if the temperatures are falling again, that patch of water beyond the puddle will freeze very quickly in the form of black ice. Another point to remember is that bridges do freeze and ice over faster than surface roads.

In closing, there is a general rule of thumb that you should follow; if the air temperature is near freezing and the road looks wet, always assume its black ice. Make sure you are looking well ahead so that you can spot the possibility you are coming up to an icy area and slow down before you reach it. I would rather assume it’s ice ahead and be wrong than the other way around.