You are driving across a straight, icy bridge at night when your vehicle's rear wheels lose traction and the back end slides to the left. In what sequence should you perform the following actions to safely recover control of your vehicle?
- 1Smoothly ease your foot completely off the accelerator without pressing the brake pedal.
- 2Focus your vision down the road toward your intended target path.
- 3Steer smoothly to the left in the direction the rear end is sliding.
- 4Counter-steer back toward center as traction returns to prevent fishtailing.
Answer
The correct order of actions is: 1) Ease off the accelerator completely without braking, 2) Look down the road toward your intended path, 3) Steer to the left (into the skid), and 4) Counter-steer back toward center as traction returns.
Recovering from a rear-wheel skid requires immediate release of the accelerator without braking to let rolling traction return, maintaining visual focus on the intended path, steering into the skid (to the left), and counter-steering as the vehicle straightens to prevent secondary skid momentum.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Rear-Wheel Oversteer Skid Recovery