The idea of driving in harsh winter conditions draws forth a wide range of mixed feelings and emotions from one person to the next. Some find it nothing more than a nuisance, whereas for some people it brings forth feelings of deep fear or even panic.

A friend of mine was one of those people who became nauseous just at the thought of driving in snow or on ice. Not only does she not feel comfortable driving on slippery roads, she also (like most people) didn’t have the skills to do so. Knowing this however, she re-organized her life to avoid driving in the snow each and every time snowfall was in the forecast and furthermore she would not go driving until the roads were cleared of any snow, slush and ice.

Ok, at least she knew well enough to not go out in conditions that she was not comfortable with and didn’t have the skills to tackle (I wish more people made that same judgement call). However, this needed to be resolved so that it no longer controlled her life. Not only did she need to learn how to drive in foul winter conditions, she needed a serious confidence boost.

In comes Ian Law and his Winter Driving School (www.carcontrolschool.com). He and his highly skilled instructors – some of whom (like Ian) are Champion Ice Racers – host several Winter driving programs each season in Minden, Ontario. There aren’t many driving schools in Ontario that specifically focus on real-world training and testing on snow and ice (some of which you would have trouble walking on), but being familiar with Ian Law’s program, I knew that it was the best choice.

Our day began painfully early by waking up at 5am, so that we could get to Mindon by 9:30am in time for the in-class sessions. I was tasked with driving her up as a condition of her even taking the course (the idea of driving Ontario’s country roads while covered in snow and ice was a total turn off so I was her chauffeur there and back). In hindsight it was a better idea for me to take the wheel since the roads were a lot more snow covered than I was expecting.

Once there, we spent the morning listening to Ian’s in-class lecture which covered a wide range of topics from the differences between tire types like winter tires, all-season (aka “no-season”) and performance tires, proper mirror settings, as well as the difference between front-wheel, rear-wheel and four-wheel drive vehicles and how they all react in various types of skids (over-steer vs. under-steer).

After a brief break for lunch, the class of six students made the short trip from the Community Centre to the ice track. The students had a wide range of vehicles and personal reasons for taking the program. One 20yr old student had already been in two not at fault crashes that resulted in both cars being totalled during the winter. No wonder she needed a confidence boost. Overall, we had two Subaru Outbacks with ABS and their amazing 4WD systems (one with a standard transmission and the other automatic), a Mazda Protege, a Toyota Corolla (both without ABS), a Dodge Neon and of course my friends Pontiac Equinox (both with ABS). Half the students were equipped with proper winter tires (my friends Equinox was not one of them) but by the end of day, those who were only equiped with “no-season” tires had decided to buy the proper rubber in the near future.

As I drove us to the ice track, I noticed her normal Italian complexion seemed rather pale and she admitted that her stomach was doing summersaults. The idea that someone could be so nervous about driving on snow and ice simply made me nervous and reaffirmed her need to take this program.

The students were split into groups of two and sent to three different exercise areas (skid pad, slalom and crash avoidance). Not wanting to add to my friends nervousness by being in the car, I opted to stand off to the side, jumping around in my best efforts to keep warm. Each student took turns performing the exercises with an instructor in the passenger seat at all times. Before long the speeds increased, which made each task more difficult but everyone tackled them in stride and for the most part with success. After each student had mastered their tasks, they rotated to the next one finally ending with an emergency braking test. The worst performer was the Corolla driver (without winter tires or ABS), which was not able to reach the desired speed required for the exercise, yet still took nearly twice as far to stop as the other students.

By the end of the day, each student had a new understanding of how to drive in poor winter conditions and was armed with the skills and the confidence to do so. Now only the worst conditions would be a problem for my friend, which ironically enough is exactly what we ran into on the way home to Toronto.

Despite my encouragement that my friend should be the one to drive home (I lost out on the chance to catch some sleep while she drove) and instead I slipped behind the wheel. In hindsight, it was the right call. A snowstorm was hammering Toronto and through the very poor visibility, we observed several cars had run into trouble both on the highway as well as on the side roads. The only point of frustration for me was attempting to pass a few rear-wheel drive cars climbing hills (likely equipped with no-season tires). Although those sideways-skidding-obstacles made climbing those hills that much more tedious, the key as always, was to stay calm and smooth and look where you want to go at all times. Despite turning off the traction control on the Equinox, I was able to sail past countless cars who were slipping and slidding all over the road.

Perhaps in the spring, I may be able to talk my friend into taking an advanced driving course for the dry conditions.