The most wonderful time of the year, the holiday season, can also be the worst time of the year. This is because of the slipping and sliding that occurs on winter roads. The individuals who lack competence for winter driving make the experience both miserable and dangerous. For the sake of fun pop-culture reference, this article will categorize drivers into one of three descriptions: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Despite the organization of descriptors previously mentioned, bad drivers will be highlighted first, followed by ugly drivers, with good drivers listed last.

Bad winter drivers are terrified the instant they see a snowflake. A wet road sends them into a panicked state of mind that makes 10 miles per-hour seem like traveling at the speed of light. 

The bad drivers attempt to keep heart attacks at bay by driving so slow that others may question any connection between their foot and the accelerator. If, at any time, they begin to show any discernible forward momentum, bad winter drivers will brake with urgency, certain they’re narrowly avoiding death.

Unfortunately for anybody sharing the road with such terrified travelers, bad winter drivers do not care if there are other vehicles around, or specifically behind, them before randomly and frequently applying the brakes. 

The panicked braking at the very least endangers the bad drivers themselves. Their terror of losing control can become a self fulfilling prophecy. Ice has a low friction coefficient, so when a heavy vehicle moving in a specific direction has its wheels stop spinning, the momentum will keep the vehicle moving forward anyway, except without any control from the driver. Once control is lost, it’s not easily regained.

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If other vehicles are near to the braking drivers, they may also need to brake to avoid a collision. If they lose control, a collision may still occur, or they can end up careening off the road while the bad winter driver carries on their terrified way, unaware of what transpired behind them because they are too scared to look anywhere but forward.

Now for the ugly winter drivers. Such drivers achieve the nearly impossible task of creating a bigger hazard for winter driving than the bad winter drivers. They do so by completely ignoring the existence of snow or ice on the road.

Behaving as if they are driving in the dry part of summer, ugly drivers zip along winter roads at speeds entirely too fast for road conditions. Either convinced of their driving superiority or falsely believing themselves to be immortal, such drivers recklessly endanger everyone on the road.

Typically, such drivers are behind the wheel of a four-wheel drive or all-wheel drive vehicle. They think the ability to have more than two wheels spinning gives them the god-like ability to completely overcome physics. They’re wrong.

Four-wheel drive enhances the ability to gain traction but it doesn’t guarantee it can be found. Every year, ugly winter drivers discover that four wheels spinning out of control is just as bad as two wheels do so.

The reason ugly winter drivers are worse than bad winter drivers is again a matter of physics. The greater the momentum when traction is lost, more distance is travelled in an out of control state. While out of control, the speeding vehicle may bounce off other objects or vehicles at devastating speed. 

Through out of control sliding at high speeds, ugly drivers put not only their own lives at risk, but the lives of anybody unfortunate enough to be near them. Driving too fast for road conditions kills both reckless drivers and innocent travelers every year.

The fact that bad and ugly winter drivers share the roads with each other is terrifying. The two combine to form the perfect recipe for disaster.

Finally there’s the third category: the good winter drivers. These drivers neither crawl nor fly on winter roads. They actively assess the feedback from road conditions and drive accordingly. They also try to maintain a safe distance between themselves and other vehicles, which allows them to avoid having to brake unnecessarily for deceleration.

The problem good winter drivers face, other than the challenges presented by driving on a slick surface, is the need to share the road with bad and ugly winter drivers. With the bad and ugly becoming increasingly more prevalent, the good must be hyper vigilant to avoid a collision. 

Most readers will probably assume they fall into this last category. It’s always easy to see oneself as blameless and others at fault. However, there’s a high likelihood they’ve deceived themselves.

Honest self-reflection, while hard, is the only way to determine where an individual truly falls. While driving on winter roads, be sure to pay attention to habits. Is the rate of travel appropriate for conditions? Is there enough room between vehicles? Is brake application safely performed? Those and similar questions ought to be continuously analyzed during travel. Conditions may constantly change, so drivers need to constantly pay attention.

Be a good driver and help others do the same. Reducing the bad and the ugly drivers makes everyone safer.