As we discovered last week, snow can fall even when we don’t expect it. Few would have guessed that the first snowfall – not just a few flakes but snow that would accumulate on the ground and the roads, would arrive the last day of October. It just seems a tad early. But whenever snow falls, it forces adjustments on the wiser drivers in the Richmond area.

Not everyone makes these adjustments. Some continue driving as though Mother Nature hasn’t delivered a blow to the solar-plexis of normal Richmond driving conditions. These folks go racing around as if the roads are perfectly dry. Of course, it’s not all that uncommon to see these people in the ditch further down the road.

On the other hand, we’ll see drivers who may overcompensate for the slippery conditions. It’s probably better to overcompensate than to ignore the snowy and icy conditions. This, however, can cause hazards for other people on the roads. In particular, those drivers who ignore the new-found slipperiness of the road may get in trouble as they try to whip around the slower drivers.

Assuming that you’re somewhere in the middle, you’ll need to watch out for situations created by both types of drivers – the hell raisers and the nervous Nellies. At the same time, you need to modify your own driving to adjust for the slippery conditions.

Adjusting your driving starts with reducing your speed to a reasonable degree depending on road conditions. Keep in mind that, if you’re on a road that appears dry and clear, you may hit a patch of ice somewhere along the way. Or, you may come to a bridge with black ice.

You also want to accelerate with additional caution. Hit the gas hard from a stop sign or stop light and you may go spinning out in the middle of the intersection. On the other end of travel, you want to leave yourself more room to stop.

You don’t always know how much traction you’ll have as your trying to reduce the speed of your vehicle or bring it to a stop. Beginning to reduce speed early will give you more time to adjust if you discover the road approaching a stop is slipperier than you expected.

If you do find the need to hit the brakes hard, remember that most vehicles come with ABS anti-lock brakes. The brakes will do the pumping of the brakes far faster and better than you could manually. Don’t pump the brakes. Leave that to the ABS system.

Taken steps to improve your vehicle’s traction is not a bad idea, too. You can do this by installing a set of snow tires on the car.

If you follow these steps, you have a far better chance of getting through the coming Richmond winter without damaging the body of your vehicle. And, considering that you and your loved ones are liable to be inside the car while it drives on area roads, you may want to take these steps for safety’s sake, too.