To use the brake during a sliding spin in wet conditions or not?

Question

I was using a circular entrance ramp to I-75 last night.
It was damp out after/during a light drizzly rain. The back tires on our 2002 Chevy Trailblazer broke loose and slid around. We ended up sliding sideways into a guard rail. When the truck started to spin and slide I took my foot of the gas and steered into the spin like I had always been taught. She thinks I should have used the brake and that would have stopped the slide sooner. It was wet but not icy, around 45 degrees. Who do you think was right?

The truck is a 4x4 but was in 2 wheel drive at the time which made it rear wheel drive, sorry I should have included that info.

Answer 1

according to the military driving saftey manuel and my extremely knoweledgeble step dad, plus my own experience. says

VINCE ZEBERTAS
FIRST U.S. ARMY
SAFETY MANAGER

FIRST ARMY SAFETY NEWS

Use Seat-Belts

Don't Drink & Drive

Eat Your Veggies

Move Over!


This Issue!
1.Safe Driving Checklist
2.Surviving a Car Fire



Expectations are the place you must always go to before you get to where you're going. Of course, some people never go beyond Expectations, but my job is to hurry them along whether they like it or not.
— Norton Juster in THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH


Safe Driving Checklist
Obey the Law
.Observe speed limits.
.Obey traffic signs and signals.
.Pass other vehicles only on the left; signal your intention before changing lanes.
.Never pass a stopped school bus.
.Yield to drivers who have the right of way.
.Never drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
.Use your seat belt (even if it’s not required by law in your state).


Drive Sensibly and Defensively

.Correctly position mirrors and seat before you start.
.Never tailgate; stay at least three car distances behind the driver ahead of you.
.Don’t insist on the right-of-way if the other driver will not yield it.
.Dim your headlights for oncoming cars and those ahead.
.Be aware of what’s happening several vehicle lengths ahead and behind you.


Expect the unexpected:

.Reckless behavior from other drivers
.People, or animals, darting into the road
.Swerving cyclists
.Potholes or debris in the roadway



Take Bad Weather Precautions



.Watch out for puddles, icy patches, and sudden pockets of fog.
.If you skid, steer gently into the turn. Do not use brakes or step on the gas
Improve visibility:

.Use wipers, defroster, and headlights.
.Counter glare from sun or snow with sunglasses.
.Clear snow from hood, roof, and all windows.
Management
When visibility is poor or roadways are slick:

.Reduce speed.
.Increase distance between you and the car ahead.
.Brake gently.


Maintain Your Vehicle

.Conduct pre-driving inspection every time.
.Be sure that scheduled maintenance checks are carried out in time.
.Be alert to below-par performance of any equipment; have it attended to promptly.
.Don’t abuse your vehicle by driving too fast over bumpy terrain.
.Don’t make unnecessarily sharp turns or sudden stops and starts.


According to AAA and the National Fire Protection Association, 75% of last year's quarter-million highway vehicle fires were caused not by an accident but poor maintenance.

Most often a mechanical or electrical failure is to blame.

The group says most fires can be prevented with an annual vehicle inspection by a trained mechanic.

According to the National Fire Protection Association Highway vehicle fires caused more deaths than apartment fires in 2004.

Last year vehicle fires killed 520 people, injured another 1300 and caused billions of dollars in property damage.

Loose electrical connections, frayed wires and cracked or ruptured fluid lines are often what caused the fire.

Highway vehicle fires accounted for 17% of all reported fires and 13% of all civilian fire deaths.






Surviving a Car Fire

According to Mike Connors, assistant fire chief for the Naperville, Ill. Fire Department, poor car maintenance is the greatest cause of car fires. Most others are caused by mechanical or electrical failure, rather than collisions or rollovers, as most of us would think.

If you attempt to put out a car fire without the proper knowledge or skills, you can put yourself or others in harm's way. Every car fire is different, so it is best to leave putting the fire out to the professionals. The first thing that you should think about is personal safety, think and act quickly. Any vehicle can be replaced, a human cannot.

If a fire occurs while you are moving on a roadway:
•Signal your intentions and move to the right lane.
•Get onto the shoulder or breakdown lane.
•Stop immediately.
•Shut off the engine.
•Get yourself and all other persons out of the vehicle.
•Get far away from the vehicle and stay away from it. Keep onlookers and others away.
•Warn oncoming traffic.
•Notify the fire department.
•Don't attempt to try to put out the fire yourself. (The unseen danger is the possible ignition of fuel in the vehicle's tank.)

While the vehicle is stopped in traffic or parked:
•Shut off the engine.
•Get far away from the vehicle.
•Warn pedestrians and other vehicles to stay away.
•Notify the fire department.
•Don't attempt to put out the fire yourself. (The unseen danger is the possible ignition of fuel in the vehicle's tank.)


Some additional tips from Tim Sendelback, training officer for the Missouri City Fire Department:
•Stand up-wind. "Some plastics on today's cars can produce a cyanide gas."
•Never stand in fluids that are running out of the car.
•Stand at a 45-degree angle to any bumper on the car. "Some bumpers are fluid-filled. When heated, the pressure could blow the bumper off and cause serious injury to anyone standing nearby."



notice, it says "If you skid, steer gently into the turn. Do not use brakes or step on the gas" so you were completely right according to the army...if you need more info e-mail me and i can give you the army's website that came from...i just dont want to put it on here.

Answer 2

The trick to deciding when to "convert" to a "panic" braking maneuver is, "which direction am I going to slide if all four wheels are locked up?" In your case, you had already bought the farm when you entered the turn at over the maximum speed to maintain traction or even the slope of the curve... To have locked up your front wheels would only have resulted in a slide toward the guardrail, but without control... In my opinion, maintaining control, even while you hit something (...that's why the guard rail is there!) is better than locking up your wheels and defending yourself later like there was nothing you could do... One time, however, when I recognized that I would rather have the car hit something going backwards, I allowed my truck to spin 180 degrees, so that when I hit a snowbank, I did it with the rear bumper, and not the quarterpanel or grill... That wasn't so much about safety as it was the cost of repair! In your defense, I watched a goofy kid lock up his wheels while speeding toward me in an intersection, do a 360, and slide into my front bumper with his passenger side door... Moron..... That's what locking up your wheels and "panicking" can do! To your girl, say that when she's the captain of the ship, she can make the call.... This hindsight is a stupid way to fight! Good luck with that "makin' up" kiss!

Answer 3

The moment you took your foot off the gas you were done for. You gave the back tires no reason to do anything else but slide. You should have left your foot on the gas because you were not in snow so there was nothing to help slow you down. The force whipping the back of the truck would have caused you to hit it whether you hit the brakes or not. Hitting the brakes could have caused it to be worse because it would have kept the front wheels from moving. Even more force would have been used by the back to whip you around causing even more damage.

Answer 4

Sorry to hear about the accident, but I'm glad to hear that you're both ok.

Kudos to you for doing the right thing at a time where most people would panic. If you steer in the opposite direction of the skid, your truck may have caught traction and swung around the other way. Your best chances are to turn into the direction of the skid to try and straighten yourself out.

ABS brakes "supposedly" give you the ability to turn while sliding, but I have never found them to actually do that. They stop my truck better in the rain/snow when I'm going straight, but not in a turn.

Answer 5

The rule I always use with front wheel drive is to brake or steer but not both together. since this action does neither one.

Answer 6

you did the right thing .by locking up your brakes you would of had no control of your vehicle . then who knows how you would have ended up .it could of been far worse . remember the technique you used appies on wet or icy pavement and does not promise that you wont have an accideht it only helps you lessen the possibilty of one and lessen the damage. also watch your speed on wet roads

Answer 7

if you were already hydroplaning, the brakes would not have done much for you. Be thankful you and your girl ar okay and tell her to quit arguing the issue. What's done is done.

Answer 8

DON'T USE THE BRAKES IN THAT INSTANCE!!!!!
YOU WOULD HAVE FLIPPED OVER!!
IT HAPPENED TO MY BROTHER'S FRIEND.

Answer 9

you must have done the right thing no one died