{"id":21725,"date":"2017-02-15T12:22:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T20:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/?p=21725"},"modified":"2023-04-10T07:47:39","modified_gmt":"2023-04-10T14:47:39","slug":"braking-on-ice-while-driving-off-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/braking-on-ice-while-driving-off-road\/","title":{"rendered":"Braking on Ice 101: When Rubber Meets Ice on the Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; da_disable_devices=&#8221;off|off|off&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221; da_is_popup=&#8221;off&#8221; da_exit_intent=&#8221;off&#8221; da_has_close=&#8221;on&#8221; da_alt_close=&#8221;off&#8221; da_dark_close=&#8221;off&#8221; da_not_modal=&#8221;on&#8221; da_is_singular=&#8221;off&#8221; da_with_loader=&#8221;off&#8221; da_has_shadow=&#8221;on&#8221;][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.16&#8243; custom_padding=&#8221;|||&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; custom_padding__hover=&#8221;|||&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.18.0&#8243; background_size=&#8221;initial&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_left&#8221; background_repeat=&#8221;repeat&#8221; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221; sticky_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243;]<p>There is nothing more panic inducing than braking on ice and feeling your front or rear tires go out from under you as they lose grip with the trail or pavement. It&#8217;s an unnerving sensation for even the most seasoned driver, and correcting out of a skid requires minimizing panic and maximizing proper technique.<\/p>\n<h2>Braking on Ice: Where to start<\/h2>\n<p>If this topic is new to you, take 13 minutes and watch this YouTube video by Dan Robinson. Dan uses footage of real world skid outs to demonstrate point by point the proper techniques to maintain steering and braking on icy surfaces. It&#8217;s extremely educational and a great investment of your time.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How to correct a slide on an icy road (and how to prevent them) - Winter driving education\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TZQXuWzBC18?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The important thing to remember is to always steer into the skid.<\/p>\n<p>We come about this subject matter honestly. A few years back our very heavy truck hit a patch of ice on a downward sloping trail at night. We were instantly transformed from casual overlanders to bobsledders for about 10 seconds, and the experience left our nerves on edge.<\/p>\n<p>After we safely returned home, OB member Bruce Robertson, reached out and shared some basic info on threshold braking. He worked for years as a driving instructor for Young Drivers of Canada, and his feedback was greatly appreciated.<\/p>\n<p>From Bruce:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI learned this back when I became a driving instructor\u00a0for Young Drivers of Canada and taught it to many new drivers.<\/p>\n<p>First of all, when your tires lose grip <strong>they won&#8217;t steer or stop<\/strong>. If you can keep your tires rolling, you can use the grip <strong>you do have<\/strong> to steer. Once you are pointed away from the cliff, tree (or granny crossing the road), you can use the small amount of grip to try stopping again.<\/p>\n<p>Another factor while skidding is that you are asking your front tires to do two things at once &#8211; stop and turn. If you give up the stopping, you should regain the steering. This article below is mainly for the racing world, but applies the same at low speeds on slippery surfaces. It&#8217;s all about friction anyway!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.drivingfast.net\/threshold-braking\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.drivingfast.net\/threshold-braking<\/a><\/p>\n<p>And don\u2019t forget to look where you want to go! It&#8217;s surprising what your hands and feet do automatically. Never look towards what you don&#8217;t want to go towards &#8211; you&#8217;ll end up there.<\/p>\n<p>I hope it comes in handy! Try it out on some flat ground with lots of space around to get a feel for it. It&#8217;s easy to lose this skill in a world of ABS, but as you have found, ABS isn&#8217;t always there to save you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>We hope this helps you the next time you find yourself in less than ideal conditions. And remember, keeping calm and minimizing panic is your best bet in any bad situation.<\/p>\n<p>Let us know your experiences driving in snow and ice in the comments below. Any additional feedback and advice welcome.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is nothing more panic inducing than braking on ice and feeling your front or rear tires go out from under you as they lose grip with the trail or pavement. It&#8217;s an unnerving sensation for even the most seasoned driver, and correcting out of a skid requires minimizing panic and maximizing proper technique. Braking [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":39434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"This article is&nbsp;a starting point to learn more about threshold braking. We hope it helps keep you rubber side down on the trails!\n\nAs many of you know, Michael and I had an \u2018interesting\u2019 experience in Moab recently that involved our rig hitting a patch of ice on a downward sloping trail at night.\n\nSpoiler Alert: We were instantly transformed from overlanders to bobsledders for about 10 seconds, and the experience left our \u2018California climate\u2019 nerves on edge.\n\nRight after we (safely) returned home, Bruce Robertson (Overland Bound Member #4045), reached out and asked to share some basic info on threshold braking. He worked for years as a driving instructor for Young Drivers of Canada, and his feedback&nbsp;was greatly appreciated.\n\nAnd because Bruce is an above and beyond kind of guy, he shared a few links with us, AND created a short YouTube video demonstrating the technique in his Land Cruiser outside his shop in Canada. Read on to learn more!\nThreshold Braking 101\nFrom Bruce:\n\n\u201cI learned this back when I became a driving instructor&nbsp;for Young Drivers of Canada and taught it to many new drivers.\n\nFor your reference: <a href=\"https:\/\/en.m.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Threshold_braking\">https:\/\/en.m.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Threshold_braking<\/a>\n\nFirst of all, when your tires lose grip they won't steer or stop. If you can keep your tires rolling, you can use the grip you do have to steer. Once you are pointed away from the cliff, tree (or granny crossing the road), you can use the small amount of grip to try stopping again.\n\nAnother factor while skidding is that you are asking your front tires to do two things at once - stop and turn. If you give up the stopping, you should regain the steering. This article below is mainly for the racing world, but applies the same at low speeds on slippery surfaces. It's all about friction anyway!\n\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.drivingfast.net\/threshold-braking\">http:\/\/www.drivingfast.net\/threshold-braking<\/a>\n\nAnd don\u2019t forget to look where you want to go! It's surprising what your hands and feet do automatically. Never look towards what you don't want to go towards - you'll end up there!\n\nI hope it comes in handy! Try it out on some flat ground with lots of space around to get a feel for it. It's easy to lose this skill in a world of ABS, but as you have found, ABS isn't always there to save you!\n\nSafe travels, enjoy the great outdoors - I'm waiting for spring!\u201dThanks again to Bruce for putting all of this together!\n\nBeen there? Done that? Let us know your experiences driving in snow and ice in the comments below!\n\nOutfit &amp; Explore!<a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/OBStore\"><\/a>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35,26],"tags":[45,47,59,60,31,49,38],"class_list":["post-21725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-getting-started","category-news","tag-adventure","tag-overland","tag-overland-bound","tag-overlanding","tag-rigs","tag-survival","tag-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/39434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}