Four-wheel Skidding

A typical example of four wheel skidding is when on ice or snow.

All four wheels lose traction, at which point the car can simply slide along forwards or sideways, spin or act like a pendulum (swinging back and fore). To regain control you need to do three things as soon as you recognize that you are skidding - immediately:

• Take your foot off the accelerator. This removes the power to the drive wheels.
• Clutch in. This enables the drive wheels to spin at the same speed as the car is travelling.
• Steer gently so that when your speed has dropped to the point that the front wheels regain traction, the wheels are pointing in roughly the direction the car is moving.