(upbeat music)
- Hi there smart drivers, Rick with Smart Drive Test.
We had a huge dump of snow here in Vernon
in the last few days, I mean a lot of snow.
We probably have 18 inches of snow on the ground.
The plows haven't quite been out yet
because it's a holiday weekend here.
It's gonna be New Years Eve and I'm just gonna go out
and I'm gonna show you how to drive in deeper snow.
So stick around, we'll be right back with that information.
(upbeat music)
Hi there smart drivers, welcome back.
Rick with Smart Drive Test talking to you today
about driving in deeper snow when you get it piled up
at the end of a lane way and what not.
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Now driving in deeper snow, as I said in the introduction,
we've had a lot of snow here in Vernon
in the last few days and it's overwhelmed the plows
because it's the holiday weekend.
Last weekend was Christmas, this weekend is New Years.
And because of that they are concentrating their efforts
on the main roads, so know that.
That's what they're doing and as well I can guarantee you
that these maintenance crews have not slept in 36 hours
or 48 hours, some of them are going pretty hard.
So know that.
Now what I wanna show you today is driving in deeper snow.
You can see here in the dash cam
that this roadway has not been plowed.
And so you're gonna be driving in deeper snow.
It's gonna push you around a little bit.
If you're on multi-lane roads you're gonna have a bit of...
A pile of snow between the two lanes of traffic.
You can see here, in the dash cam,
in front of me there's a snowbank here.
Now this is very important.
You need to get a bit of a run at that.
So you need to make sure you need to stop back and you need
to make sure there's no traffic coming and you need
to get a run at that before you go through that.
Because if you just go through that and you stop,
you're probably gonna get stuck.
So you need to make sure there's no traffic coming
and we get a bit of a run at it.
And you see I shifted into second gear there
to get over through that because if you don't do that,
that's what's gonna happen, you're gonna get stuck.
So same thing, we're gonna run up here to the alleyway
and we're gonna go into the alleyway.
Now the alleyway's not gonna be too bad
'cuz I've already been in it.
You wanna move left so you have a bit of a run at it
and try and get the vehicle straight into that,
that way it's not gonna push you around as much.
Get my gear and I go into the pile of snow,
the snowbank, and get across the snowbank.
This is similar for those of you in Australia,
in Brisbane and Queensland and places like that
and other places where you drive out onto the beach
to drive along the beach and have your beach party.
Getting across the soft sand, it's gonna push you around.
In the deep snow, it's exactly like that.
It's like soft sand with a four-wheel drive,
trying to get through that.
If you're driving an automatic just moderate throttle, okay.
Just control the throttle and again it's snow there
and you can see you got decent tires on the truck
so we can just keep going here.
All right, so we're gonna go one more place and
so you can see it's gonna push you around a little bit.
So don't get your speed too high.
Just know that the snow is gonna
push you around a little bit.
All right, so we've got the snowbank here.
We can see the snowbank, we're just gonna pull up
far enough so we can see clear on both sides.
The traffic's not coming, now we get a bit of a run at that
and we don't stop once we're committed.
Because if you stop, you are gonna be stuck.
I can almost guarantee you because what happens is
is the snow is so deep that your vehicle
is gonna hovercraft.
The snow is gonna lift up the middle between the wheels.
And especially if you're driving a car
that doesn't have a very high clearance
and it's just gonna hovercraft over that
and if you stop and don't have that forward momentum
you're probably not gonna get your car going again.
And you're probably gonna get stuck.
So make sure that you got a bit of momentum
and you keep the vehicle moving.
And be especially careful at intersections
when it's like this because you cannot guarantee
that other vehicles are gonna come to a stop.
So take your time, here's a good one.
Okay, so I got my, and I'm going.
I've got my foot on the throttle and I bang through it okay.
And know that it's gonna push you around a little bit
but if you're not going too fast
you're probably gonna be all right.
And you can see here there's a fair bit of snow
on the road as well and it's kinda pushing me around.
I'm staying in the tracks a little bit.
Okay, down into second gear.
Oh great. (laughs)
And this is the other thing, this person can't make it
up the hill in front of me so they're backing up.
You can see their reverse lights.
So I am just gonna give 'em space
so I'm just gonna go down here and I'm gonna back up
in the corner and just turn around.
I was gonna try and make it up there
and show you how to do that, actually screw it, let's go.
Okay, up the hill is another good one driving in deep snow.
You want to be in to second gear here.
And you can see I've got momentum here
and I don't let off the momentum.
You can see now I'm starting to go down hill.
So now I've got gravity, but that's what you gotta do.
You gotta get a bit of a run at it and don't let off.
(laughs)
It's gonna move around, just let the throttle off real quick
and then back on the throttle because as soon as you let
the throttle off and the tires stop spinning
and regain traction, then back on the throttle.
So really briefly off the throttle,
and then back on the throttle and hit it again.
That's what happens when you start
to lose a little bit of control in deep snow.
Just off the throttle and then hit it again.
Because as soon as you stop the tires from spinning,
it's gonna regain traction and it's gonna go again
and it's gonna straighten out.
So that's what you gotta do,
you gotta manipulate the throttle while you're doing that.
Okay, and again I don't wanna get up here too close.
And I'm just sneaking up and now I'm going.
Now I'm committed.
And you can see on a manual transmission
I'm shifting into second there
as soon as I get a little bit of go
because I get more torque to the wheels
and it reduces the spin on the wheels.
So the faster you can get into a higher gear
the less likely the wheels are going to spin.
You can see the Dodge here having trouble
with the two-wheel drive.
All right, so we're going out what used
to be called Suicide Hill here in Vernon.
It's a very steep hill but you can see
that they've kept it really salted. (laughs)
Otherwise vehicles spin out on the hill there.
So this is almost bare and there's a reason
it's almost bare 'cuz they put an enormous amount of salt
on it for cars coming up there so they don't spin out.
Because people get spun out on the hill
and then they don't know how to back up down the hill
and they get into trouble so they try and keep it clear.
So again, we're into the snow here.
And you can see the big pile of snow right at the end here.
They piled it up with the snowplow
so you just don't stop, just bang into that.
And we're back into the deep snow
because they haven't plowed the residential roads
in the neighborhoods and suburban areas and what not.
Because they're concentrating all of their efforts
on the main roads, to get those cleared
and keep those cleared for the holidays.
And the other thing you gotta be careful there,
I don't know whether you saw that in the dash cam or not,
I didn't see it until I hit it because of the white color,
was some homeowners will plow their snow
out into the roadway and that's essentially
what the person did was they plowed their snow
out into the roadway and I hit it and there's another one.
All right, so this is gonna be
a bit tricky here because we're going uphill.
And there we go, and you see that I didn't stop.
I just kept going because if I'd stopped
I would've got stuck in the snow there.
So make sure that you keep your foot on the throttle
and keep a bit of momentum in the vehicle
otherwise you're gonna get stuck.
And gravity's either gonna help you out
or it's gonna be a liability one way or the other.
So just know that if you're going up hill
you're gonna need more of a run at it
because gravity's gonna hold you back
and make it tougher for you to get through the deep snow.
If you're going downhill you won't need as much momentum
to go forward because gravity's gonna help you.
So think about that too while you're driving
in deep snow, uphill, downhill.
And you saw when I went up the hill there
I needed a fair bit of throttle
to get the vehicle to go up the roadway.
Quick review of driving in deep snow.
Know that in the winter time if there's
a lot of snow all at once,
the crews are gonna be overwhelmed.
They're gonna focus their attention on the main roads.
The residential streets are gonna have banks of snow
that they've plowed across the front of them
and you're gonna have to get through that.
Because if you don't get through that with a bit of momentum
your vehicle is gonna hovercraft over top of that.
Essentially the snow is gonna build up
underneath the belly of your vehicle.
It's gonna lift it off the ground
and if you don't have enough forward momentum
you're gonna get stuck.
So know that you gotta have a bit of momentum
when you go through that deep snow.
And also pay attention to uphill, downhill
'cuz that's gonna impact how much throttle
you're going as well.
And when you saw going up the hill there,
when you're going up the hill and there's lots of snow
and it could potentially be slippery
give it lots of throttle.
If it starts to deviate left or right,
take your foot off the throttle
and then hammer back down on the throttle again.
Because as soon as you take your foot off the throttle
it's gonna regain traction and then go again.
But you don't wanna lose that upward momentum.
So you gotta kinda work the throttle.
Question for my smart drivers.
Have you got stuck in deep snow
because you're vehicle has hovercraft
over a bank of snow and lifted up the middle of the vehicle?
Leave a comment down on the comment section there.
All of that helps out the new drivers
working towards getting their license
or veteran drivers working to be crash free.
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I'm Rick with Smart Drive Test.
Thanks very much for watching, good luck on your road test.
And remember, pick the best answer,
not necessarily the right answer.
Have a great day. Bye now.
(upbeat music)
Put some heat on my toes here, (laughs) it's cold.
And I'm sure the Go Pro's doing all right there
on the side of the car, it's pretty cold out there.
(upbeat music)