I agree.

Coeur d'Alene, ID here. My advice to "new to the area" people when the topic of snow driving comes up is "go to a parking lot...put your car into a slide, spin, etc". It gives you a very good idea of what the car is going to do on the road and more importantly...allows you to learn how to recover from those situations at a time where you are less likely to have panic set in.

It really only takes a few minutes to get the feel for how the car will react. Learning those things in a controlled situation is a very good way to develop the "instinct" to correct without panic. Most of the time hitting the brakes is the wrong thing to do...that is not natural to a panicking driver.

My parents had me do a driving school that specializes in inclement weather training. A few years ago, I did one at ProDrive at Portland International Raceway, and they have a car on a sled that reduces traction that is REALLY good for teaching kids this.

Definitely worth looking into in the PacNW.

My favorite is to pull the e-brake and have them drive the car. Basically, they will need to continuously counter steer. Works after a few minutes, and it all clicks.

Next slide will see them execute the correction on instinct.

> Since they all have to learn to drive a stick (manual), we learn how to brake via downshifting too.

Something to be aware of when shifting down on stick shift is that certain carts are really unbalanced when braking on the gear. You won't notice in the summer, but on slippery roads just releasing the accelerator carelessly while in a low gear can send you on a sled ride.

Just did this with my 15yo today in Bellingham - it works!