Driving On Snow Or Ice - Chevrolet Venture 2003 Owner's Manual

Driving on Snow or Ice

Most of the time, those places where your tires meet
the road probably have good traction.
However, if there is snow or ice between your tires and
the road, you can have a very slippery situation.
You'll have a lot less traction or "grip" and will need to
be very careful.
What's the worst time for this? "Wet ice." Very cold
snow or ice can be slick and hard to drive on. But wet
ice can be even more trouble because it may offer
the least traction of all. You can get wet ice when it's
about freezing (32°F; 0°C) and freezing rain begins
to fall. Try to avoid driving on wet ice until salt and sand
crews can get there.
Whatever the condition – smooth ice, packed, blowing
or loose snow – drive with caution.
If you have traction control, keep the system on. It will
improve your ability to accelerate when driving on a
slippery road. But you can turn the traction system off if
you ever need to. You should turn the system off if
your vehicle ever gets stuck in sand, mud, ice, or snow.
See If You Are Stuck: In Sand, Mud, Ice or Snow on
page 4-30 . Even though your vehicle has a traction
system you'll want to slow down and adjust your
driving to the road conditions. See Traction Control
System (TCS) on page 4-8 .
If you don't have a traction system, accelerate gently.
Try not to break the fragile traction. If you accelerate too
fast, the drive wheels will spin and polish the surface
under the tires even more.
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