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"Letting go"
04/08/2003 Entry
There are all sorts of situations in which the idea of letting go may cross one's mind.. various types of obsessions or stressors, who knows. Yesterday, I had a different type of letting-go moment. It was one of those cases where you better do it right away, best to do it before you even thought you should or it will be too late. I was driving, and I'm so glad I had the wherewithal to let go of the brakes.
After the kind of snowy winter we've had this year, I didn't think I'd be posting about a near-miss snow driving incident a week into April. But that's the core of the story. We had several inches of snow. It turned into slush pretty quickly which may have been deceiving. I didn't realize how slippery slush could be. It turns out it can be incredibly slippery.
So there I was driving in the rain (yes, by then it was rain) and suddenly I lost complete control of the car. I wasn't on a slope, I wasn't turning, I was just going straight ahead, or so I thought. I didn't even realize there was much of anything on the road there. It was certainly that blend-into-the-pavement type of slush. Suddenly the car started swirling. On my right a few feet ahead parked cars. On my left an oncoming car. What to do? Let go of the brakes. Just let the car figure out what it is doing. I was lucky that there were no parked cars right there and I was lucky that the oncoming car figured out that it should slow down. I never actually swirled into its path, but it was one of those cases where you just couldn't know. There was nothing I could do but let go and try to steer at moments when I felt I may have some control over the car, when I felt like it may let me guide it just a little bit. After about 10-15 seconds (and actually two separate slip-and-slide incidents) it was all over. But those were a few very long seconds.
So the lesson: let go of the brakes. It may be counter-intuitive, but it is an important lesson to remember.
Other times when you shouldn't have your foot on the brakes include sharp turns and going over bumps in the road and potholes. I probably should've figured these out on my own but I actually picked them up from friends of mine who are expert drivers. I was sure glad yesterday that I had paid attention in the past and have internalized these driving skills.
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I've been taught to PUMP the brakes on slippery roads - it worked a BIT on the test course, but the main lesson learnt was really that you can't control the car when it's really slippery. The lack of control is a LITTLE lessened by not braking or pumping the brakes. Slamming the brakes on is lethal.
I don't know whether many other countries require a slippery surfaces course before you can get your licence? It's probably rather a good idea in a country like Norway...
Posted by Jill @ 04/08/2003 10:50 AM CST
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