• The Bridgestone Winter Driving School at Steamboat Springs, Colorado equips good drivers with the skills they need to become even better drivers when winter arrives. Students learn about grip and weight transfer, how to stop a spin before it happens and how to stop as quickly as possible, even on an ice, and how to steer around an obstacle if you simply cannot stop. And, hey, at this school you not only learn, but you have a lot of fun doing it.

I slowed the SUV I was driving as I approached a right-hand turn I'd made so many times before. But I guess I was still carrying a little more speed this time or perhaps the road's icy surface had gotten slicker as traffic polished its surface. Even with four-wheel drive engaged, all I could do was hold on while the car pirouetted 180 degrees before coming to a stop while facing the wrong way in traffic.

Fortunately, there would be no collision, no damage to my vehicle or my passenger, and only minor bruising to my ego, because I was driving not on public roads but at the Bridgestone Winter Driving School just outside Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Begun 22 years ago by a couple of French rally racers and sponsored for the last nine years by Bridgestone, the winter driving school offers half-, full- and even two-day classes from mid-December through mid-March in the proper techniques for driving on snow and ice-slickened roads.

In addition to the occasional student who comes out for a half-day break from Steamboat Springs' famed ski slopes, 96 percent of the school's students come to this town tucked amid the mountains that surround the Yampa Valley near the Colorado-Wyoming border primarily for driving education. That includes professional racecar drivers, auto company engineers, the Secret Service and even the military's Special Forces units, who do their driving after dark while wearing night-vision goggles.

Sure, it's fun to slide around on snow and ice in someone else's vehicle, but driving through winter weather is serious business. Not just sheetmetal but lives are at stake.

"The number one rule is to adjust your speed for the conditions," says instructor Morgan Kavanaugh. He adds that he's not just talking about the weather and road surface, but reminds us to scan the lay of the land, to pay attention to the angle of each corner and to whether the road is banked or falls off camber, encouraging a vehicle to slide toward on-coming traffic.

"A good driver reacts, a great driver anticipates," he says.

The winter driving school equips good drivers with the skills they need to become great when winter arrives. Among the keys are understanding grip, the traction between your vehicle's tires and the road surfaces; how to enhance that grip by being able to transfer weight from front to back or back to front (or, for advanced students, from side-to-side); stopping a spin before it happens, and stopping as quickly as possible, even on an ice, and knowing that if you can't stop how to steer around an obstacle.

Modern vehicles often are equipped with advanced computerized technologies, antilock brakes and dynamic stability controls that seem to take over in bad weather and help a driver keep a vehicle under control.

But school director Mark Cox notes that, "even with all the technologies in the world, you can't overcome the laws of physics. The technologies only give you a buffer. If you've already made a mistake, all the technology can do is to try to keep it from becoming catastrophic. You as the driver are not off the hook. You should never evoke these systems."

We learned in our full day of instruction, you can drive confidently even in winter conditions, replacing panic with preparation.

As Kavanaugh stressed, you have to adjust your speed for the conditions, but that doesn't mean you have to creep along the road. You can drive at a reasonable rate, provided you pay attention to grip - the traction between your vehicle and an icy or snow-covered road surface.

For example, roads usually are more slippery when the temperature is around 32 degrees than when it's down in the teens or even zero or below. Why? Because ice may appear to be frozen solidly at 32, but the weight of your vehicle and the movement of your tires will cause enough melting to create a thin film of water on top of the ice.

All-season tires are designed to help maintain grip throughout the year, but winter tires are specifically designed for cold season conditions and a set of four is a lot less expensive than a visit to the body shop or hospital.

Obviously, Bridgestone is the winter driving school's primary sponsor and all its vehicles are equipped with that company's Blizzak brand, but the school's staff barely mention them. I will: Several years ago, I drove a Mazda Miata, a lightweight and rear-wheel drive sports car that was nearly unmanageable on icy Michigan freeways until a set of four Blizzaks was installed. Suddenly, the car performed like a snowmobile.

But Blizzaks aren't your only choice for a suitable winter tire. The Tire Rack is a national tire retailer with an extensive testing program and its website provides good comparisons of various brands of tires.

But even if your vehicle is equipped with winter tires, its driver needs to be equipped with winter driving techniques. These include an awareness of the weight transfer your vehicle undergoes as it accelerates, slows and turns.

"Your natural instincts are the devil's temptation," instructor Kavanaugh reminds us as he emphasizes that in winter conditions, a driver needs to make a conscious effort to separate braking, steering and acceleration to maintain grip and control.

To illustrate, Kavanaugh had us induce a slide, then keeps reminding us to wait and then wait a little longer, until the car had slowed enough to regain grip, before we start to make corrective maneuvers with the steering wheel.
The technique works, and the school provides a setting for learning and practice.

Proper braking also is crucial. We practice with antilock systems off and on. Even with ABS, stopping distances may not be shortened, so we learn when and how to look for an escape route even while braking.

Even how you place your hands on the steering wheel is important. The school stresses the 9 and 3 o'clock positions for left and right hands, and shuffling the wheel rather than getting into a situation where your arms are crossed, because you won't be able to steer properly even if your vehicle does regain traction.

Not everyone can attend the school. For those who can't, but who want to improve their winter driving techniques at home, the school offers a summary in VHS or DVD format for $24 plus shipping through its website at www.winterdrive.com or by calling (800) 949-7543 (WHY SKID).