Ever drove through something slick on the road

[jtvang125]

I was making a right turn and saw something wet on the road in the intersection. I thought it was just water from sprinklers or something. My back end swung out but I was able to keep it in line as I went through the turn. Taking that turn any faster and I would have been in big trouble. Finally saw the 18 wheeler on the side of the road with the hood up and realized where the fluid came from.

 

[SyndromeOCZ]

I once hit some snow at 70mph... around a corner. All 4 tires were sliding as I went around, car didn't have ABS not that it would have mattered. I pulled out of it without any incident though. Took about 30 seconds for the reality of what happened to sink in.

 

[Ryun]

Was driving my girlfriend's '99 Elantra to the store in moderately snowy conditions on a 25 MPH street in the city. Snow had already stuck to the road pretty well with no salting or plowing done.

I had been driving well under the speed limit, and had to make a turn downhill. I was picking up speed and wanted to slow down, so I lightly tapped on the brakes... MISTAKE!

Lost control of the car for what seemed like forever. It completely caught me by surprise and I didn't know what to do. I wouldn't say I panicked so much as I couldn't really come up with a good way to react, so I kept her steady and waited it out (dunno if this was the right thing to do or not). It was so bad that by the time I regained traction control of the car it was perpendicular to the flow of traffic. Thankfully, I didn't hit any parallel parked cars and there was no one in front or behind me -- or in oncoming traffic for that matter.

I can't explain the aggressive loss of control I experienced but ever since then I'm on super high alert whenever weather conditions aren't conducive to driving.

 

[JCH13]

Hooray for black ice! That's probably what you hit. Happened to me a few times, but nothing dramatic ever really happened, just felt the ABS kick on under super-light braking and let the car coast down.

 

[AdamK47]

Garbage truck juice.

 

[_Rick_]

Black ice of the most vicious kind, just leaving a parking, and turning onto a little trafficked road in an industrial area.
Was driving my uncles early 90s Wrangler and as I turned onto the road reasonably gingerly, the back end just came round. Wasn't even making any kind of spirited get-away, just lost it.
I think I gave it some oppo, and slammed on the brakes, because I was just heading for the curb in slow-mo, but drove home in the most pussy-footed manner imaginable, never exceeding 20 mph. That annoyed some other drivers on the road, but I didn't feel like pushing my luck. Hitting that kind of ice before a red light or going into a corner at faster than walking pace, and the Jeep would become a ballistic death trap. I also did engage the diff-locked 4x4 after that, so that at least in corners I might get some grip to haul me around.

Also had ABS engage once, while rolling to a stop on snow/ice.
Literally I was doing 3 mph or so, lightly touched the pedal, and all it did was vibrate back at me. First year of driving, LWB Chrysler Voyager/Caravan on summer tires in winter.

And the Citroen C6 on the way home from my grand-parents place, wit a surprise snow. Also all-weathers/summer tires, and snowy streets. Had quite some losses of traction and rallyed that thing through some of the snow.

And finally I was ballast on the rear axle of an empty white van once, going uphill on a patch of ice. Without ballast, it would just spin the tires, but with me and a buddy sitting on the sills out back, it got over the crest.

 

[JCH13]

I did sail through a stop sign once on ice... but it was late at night and no one was around. I was doing about 20mph and just laid on the horn. Heh, lucky.

 

[ThatsABigOne]

A huge ski resort parking lot late at night. :awe:

 

[pauldun170]

Black ice on an 83 Honda CB-750...
Twas interesting to say the least

 

[SparkyJJO]

Did a 360 once due to winter crap all over the roads. That was fun (NOT). Nothing bad happened aside from rattled nerves.

Did a 180 once too. That one didn't end so well Ever since then I've been extra careful in bad weather and even when the roads appear to be only just a little damp. Sometimes a damp road can be worse than a really soaked road.

 

[pandemonium]

Only time I really had uncontrollable slipping was in the too light, Mazda 3 hatch that just had its tires replaced. I was 19, car wasn't mine and my father was doing the calling and handling the shop contacting and what-not remotely. Snow hit, and slush was built up to about 3-5 inches on the ground in Milwaukee while driving through city streets. I couldn't accelerate more than feathering the gas every few seconds and needed like, a mile of room for a 4-way stop.

I was so amazed by how horrible the new tires performed that I looked them up (they were recommended and replaced by the shop). Found out they were summer performance tires! So fail.

Luckily, since then I now own my own vehicle and do all of the research myself (and a lot of the work as well). Lesson learned: don't trust the shop; you can do better yourself.

A lot of people always mention black ice, but I honestly don't remember ever driving over it...in 10 years of living in the midwest. It's my bigfoot.

 

[Atty]

I did this in my girlfriends 4Runner once. We took a turn at the end of an off ramp on the interstate, two lanes both turning left. We were on the outside turn lane, as I got us around the apex of the turn the back end just came around and we ended up sideways in the other lane between the cadilicac that flew off ahead when they saw us start to slide and the BMW behind that I thought we were going to hit. No idea how it happened, wasn't heavy on the throttle nor was it wet out, probably oil.

 

[Demo24]

Never anything but snow. Did almost slide into a garbage bin at a gas station as it had lightly snowed then and I was on summer performance tires. Wasn't going more than 5 mph, but hitting the concrete posts would have put quite a damper on my day. Finally got some grip and managed to rotate around with awd and got back in the clear roads.

 

[mvbighead]

I've hit black ice, and that sucks!

Another time, I was behind something like an old Model T. Apparently, something opened up and dropped a load of some type of oil or trans fluid (or something), and I managed to drive right over it and found myself sliding quite a ways before it wore off and I got traction. Fortunately, this occurred as I was just starting from a green light, so I was traveling about 5mph when I went sliding. Pretty scary though when your car just drifts as though you were on the slickest of ice.

 

[iamwiz82]

On a snowy day on the freeway I was exiting my tire caught the snow outside of the ruts and took me up the embankment, sideways. Weeee.... Good thing it was a Jeep so no worries about suspension and such. I straightened it up while still making forward progress on a snowy hill with a 20% grade. Those tracks survived a long time since the snow didn't melt for quite a while after that.

EDIT: Story #2 - Same Jeep

I was on a country road doing about 55 and it was pretty dry out, expect that a few puddles had frozen in some spots, leaving 2' areas of ice. Driving over them meant that one tire was on ice and the other three were on pavement. Unfortunately for me rear end had a locker and I was on the gas a bit, so the rear end was one piece, effectively. When I hit it I immediately went squirrely. I learned quickly that with a locker you keep off the gas in those situations.

 

[Murloc]

black ice is unheard of south of the Alps, and at lake level it snows just a few times a year.

The only time I lost traction was during a course that I had to take to get my driver's license, they have a superflat paint on their section of a airstrip that when wetted with water is like pure ice. We did stops and turns on that stuff.
It was pretty cool, it puts your perception of your car's ability to stop in perspective.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I hit a wet patch coming off a cloverleaf on my motorcycle and had the rear tire slip out but I kept on the throttle and steered through it and was able to regain control. That was a butt clencher for sure.

 

[FDF12389]

I hit a wet patch coming off a cloverleaf on my motorcycle and had the rear tire slip out but I kept on the throttle and steered through it and was able to regain control. That was a butt clencher for sure.

There's no worse feeling!

I hit some sand on mine and laid her down

Luckily I was able to get away with just a new indicator and brake lever.