Freezing rain, windblown snow, compacted snow: It’s winter driving time

Well we have a couple of snowstorms under our belt already this year, and we have had our standard crashes that come with those storms. Just as you need to get used to your sea legs when sailing, you need to be ready for snow when driving and get used to how your vehicle will respond to different surface textures. These are the topics I want to hit on in this article: freezing rain, windblown snow and compacted snow.

Freezing rain scares me the most. I’ve been doing this job for 17 years now, and in my opinion, this one catches drivers off guard the most each year. Because a driver sees the road, speeds are usually faster, and the resulting crashes are more extreme. It comes down to how drivers perceive road conditions when the roadway surface — whether it be asphalt or concrete — is visible. This means speeds remain too fast because drivers don’t consider the road surface may be slick. Just because you can see the roadway doesn’t mean it’s safe for fast speeds. If it’s raining and the temperatures are low, that rain can quickly turn to black ice.

Windblown roads. This is when it has snowed but is no longer snowing and there are wind gusts blowing snow over the roadway. Sometimes this is only happening in specific areas, so the perception is that the road surfaces are dry. But, in fact, this area will ice up a road almost immediately, especially as the snow blows across the roadway and vehicles drive over and compact the snow even more, turning it icy. Drivers assume that since it’s no longer snowing and the roads are clear, speeds can be higher. Not always so.

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