Slow down, stay back and evaluate: Advice on driving in the snow if you still have summer tires on

CAA Quebec's André Durocher has advice for Quebec drivers forced to head out despite having summer tires in the snow.

When André Durocher was in the Montreal police traffic division, mornings like the one on Tuesday had a name.

“It was always the festival of fender benders,” he said. “Everybody gets into small collisions.”

The now head of the CAA-Quebec Foundation for road safety says that many of the vehicles that wind up in the ditch after the first big snowfall could have avoided the fate.

“Among the most frequent situations we see are people that are following too close, and also people who do not clean up their cars,” he said. “Those extra couple of seconds can really make the difference between a collision or no collision.”

Summer gum, no winter fun

The deadline to swap summer for winter tires is Dec. 1, but many of those on the road on the weekend were scrambling to get it done earlier due to the flakes in the air.

Many, undoubtedly, are on the road with summer tires.

The Michelin tire guide says summer tires have a shallower tread pattern and a stiff, sticky tread compound that grips well on dry and wet surfaces when temperatures are above 7 degrees Celsius.

Durocher said that the colder it gets, the sooner the rubber gum on summer tires will get hard and tires lose adherence on slick, cold surfaces.

“Keep in mind that if you do not have winter tires, try to avoid going out as much as you can, unless it’s strictly necessary,” he said. “That could be dangerous.”

Winter tires have distinctive tread patterns with many deep cuts to improve traction and are made of materials that stay soft enough to grip the road even when it’s freezing, according to Michelin.

Due to it being hard to predict when the first big snowfall will come and knowing that tire change shops will book up fast, Durocher advises drivers to always plan to swap tires as close to the beginning of November as possible.

He knows, however, that sometimes those appointments are impossible to make and drivers wind up navigating the winter roadscapes in less-than-ideal conditions.

Forced to drive

For those that are forced to drive this week before swapping tires, Durocher advises slowing down, keeping a wide distance between other cars and evaluating the road conditions.

“For example, if there’s no one behind you, you could sort of like very slowly press on the brakes,” he said. “Immediately, you feel your anti-lock braking system.”

In addition, he said, avoid sudden manoeuvres.

“What happens, particularly in curves, when you’re in a curve, if you start sliding at some point, no matter how much you brake, how much you steer, you’re going to keep on going in the direction you initially started to, so avoid locking your wheels,” he said.

He said it’s best to put the car in neutral and tap the brakes to try to regain control.

“I know it’s something that could be easier said than done if you’ve never practiced that, but it’s good to condition yourself and think about it ahead of time,” said Durocher.

He added that even those with winter tires should follow the advice above and be more cautious because driving in the cold means adjusting behaviour, regardless of tire tread.

“Having winter tires is not going to make you invincible,” said Durocher. “Unfortunately, we see it a lot in the winter, on the highways, with people with SUVs, they go faster because they have SUVs. One thing they could be sure of is they’ll go further in the ditch than non-SUVs.”