i'm not a hot pocket

Make time to scrape off your car before you go. Scrape off all of your car. This means the roof and the rear windshield as well.

If the road looks wet but you’re not sure if there’s black ice, look at the wheels of the car in front of you. If you can see droplets flinging up, the water on the road is not frozen.

Your stopping distance will increase exponentially with how bad the weather is. Give yourself at least twice as much room to stop as you normally would.

If your car is going out of control and you HAVE to hit something, aim for something soft (snowbanks are softer than trees) and hit that thing at an angle.

Never get in the car without a coat, hat, and gloves.

If your car is out of control, look and steer where you want your car to go.

Take your car to an empty parking lot with snow in it and purposefully lose control. This will teach you how to handle your car.

If your car is real wheel drive, put something heavy in the trunk to give you better traction.

Take 5mph off the speed limit for bad weather, 10mph off for really bad weather.

For automatic transmission cars, the N in PRNDL stands for Neutral. This is the gear that your car should be in if you are trying to push it.

If you need to use your windshield wipers, your headlights also need to be on.

This button is your defroster: 

Please use your defroster if your windows are fogging up.

Ultimately, please just stay safe. Do these things not only for yourself, but to protect others on the road.

When braking, you should not only allow much more distance for braking (as above) but also lightly, rapidly, and repeatedly tap the brake pedal with your foot. This is called feathering the brakes. Even if you have anti-lock brakes, feather them. Source: Personal experience.

DO. NOT. GO. FAST.

If your car begins to swerve and/or spin, do not use either the accelerator or the brakes. Doing either will put more energy into the situation and you will swerve and/or spin more. Which way is the butt of the car going? Turn your wheel in that direction a little bit at a time. Let the car slow down on its own. Unless it is headed toward your doom, do not get out. You are safest inside its crash protection. (Not applicable to Tesla vehicles, antique cars, or anything that is on fire. Do not drive any of those three in icy winter conditions.)

When you can feel that the car is once again on Not Ice, assess the situation. If it is safe to drive away, accelerate very gradually and turn gently. Pretend you are transporting an assembled wedding cake.

Even if the rest of the highway is not icy, the bridge or overpass will be icy. Drive accordingly.