How to Drive on Snowy Roads — Nothing “Sudden,” and Plenty of Space Ahead

Before you go

On a snowy morning, in the parking lot at your accommodation, you brush the snow off the roof and set off. Before a bridge, you ease off a little, leave plenty of space between you and the car ahead, and make your way slowly along the white road.

When it comes to driving on snowy roads, what the police, the expressway companies and JAF all say comes down to two things.

Nothing “sudden” → No sudden braking, sudden steering or sudden starts

Leave plenty of space → Keep more distance than usual between you and the car ahead

Along with these, there’s something worth knowing first: the places and times where roads tend to freeze.

Places and times where roads tend to freeze → On bridges, at tunnel entrances and exits, and in the shade. Mornings and evenings, and at night

1 Nothing “sudden” If you can stop without braking suddenly, that’s good driving

Use the brakes, the steering wheel and the accelerator slowly.

Sudden braking, sudden steering, sudden starts, sudden lane changes. On snowy and icy roads, avoid any move that’s “sudden.” When you start off, speed up and slow down, the watchwords are “gently” and “slowly.”

If you brake suddenly, the car keeps sliding while the tires aren’t turning, and you can no longer control it the way you want. Sudden moves cause spins and other trouble.

Even with winter tires, packed snow stays more slippery than an ordinary road. What 4WD changes is covered in “Winter Tires (Snow Tires), 4WD and Chains.”

Situation by situation

When you start off Press the accelerator gently and pull away slowly. In an automatic car, use creep (the way the car moves forward slowly even without pressing the accelerator) to ease out gently. Some cars have features such as a “snow mode” that holds back sudden starts, and the names and how they work differ by manufacturer.

Curves Slow down before you go into a curve. If you brake while turning, the tires can suddenly lock and the steering can stop responding.

Downhill Don’t rely on the foot brake alone; use engine braking along with it. In an automatic car, shift slowly from D (Drive) to S, or to 3 or 2 depending on the car, while bringing your speed down. The markings differ by car, so when you rent, ask how to shift in that particular car.

Braking Brake early and gently, and stop without locking the tires.

Even so, if you brake hard and the ABS (the system that keeps the tires from locking) kicks in, you may hear a loud noise or feel the pedal shake. That’s the ABS at work; it isn’t a fault. Don’t take your foot off the pedal in a panic; keep pressing it, and steer with the steering wheel. But on ice and similar surfaces, ABS can sometimes make your stopping distance longer, so don’t rely on ABS alone.

Going slowly is where your skill shows

JNTO (Japan National Tourism Organization) writes in an English article that “slower is safer.”

In its English guide to winter roads, Nagano Prefectural Police writes that if you can stop your car without braking suddenly, that’s good driving.

Before you get to where you want to stop, press gently, and glide to a stop. On snowy roads, driving slowly is exactly where your skill shows.

2 Leave plenty of space Much more than usual

Keep more distance than usual between you and the car ahead.

The Hokkaido Prefectural Government writes in its English guide that in winter, you should keep at least three times the following distance you’d need in summer. The reason it gives is that if you slow down early and keep your distance, you can react calmly even to something unexpected, like an oncoming car or the car ahead spinning.

Look not only at the car right in front of you, but at the brake lights of the car ahead of it too. According to the Hokkaido Police, many winter accidents happen because drivers notice too late what’s going on ahead.

Even with automatic braking

In a test JAF carried out in Hokkaido in 2017 on packed snow and on ice, the automatic braking (collision damage mitigation braking) on cars with new winter tires activated every time, but except when the car was going very slowly on the snowy road, the cars couldn’t stop in time and hit the obstacle. The results differ by car model and road surface.

Don’t rely too much on features like these; drive at a safe speed and with enough following distance.

Snowy days on the expressway

On snowy days, expressway speed limits change with the weather and the road conditions. As you drive, keep an eye on the speed signs too.

If you come across a snowplow on the expressway, don’t pass it; stay behind it with plenty of following distance.

The vehicle ahead of you isn’t just a slow car; it’s a vehicle clearing the road as it goes.

If you get too close, snow and de-icing agent thrown up behind it come flying at you. If you pass it, the road conditions change beyond it. On the expressways managed by NEXCO EAST Tohoku Branch, a green line called the “Safety Line” is projected onto the road behind the work vehicles, and you can use it as a guide for your following distance. And behind the work vehicles, the road surface has been cleared, so it’s safer to drive on than snowy or icy roads.

Stay behind it with plenty of space, and you get to drive on the road it has just cleared.

3 Places and times where roads tend to freeze Slow down early, “before you get there”

On bridges, at tunnel entrances and exits, in the shade. Slow down early, before you get there.

These are the kinds of places that tend to freeze or get slippery.

・On bridges and overpasses

・At tunnel entrances and exits

・In the shade, and on shaded curves

・Just before the stop line at intersections

Among them, bridges and overpasses exposed to the wind, and the areas around tunnel entrances and exits, are places JAF calls “the most dangerous.” It gets colder there than in other places, so slow down well before you get there.

Shaded curves can be frozen even when there seems to be no snow, so slow down well before you get to the curve.

Just before the stop line at intersections, the road surface gets polished by cars braking and starting again and again, and becomes slippery. In Hokkaido, the areas around intersections and pedestrian crossings, just before railroad crossings, and around busy streets are also listed as especially slippery.

Times Mornings and evenings, and at night

A road that’s only wet during the day becomes slippery at night, when the temperature drops. In the cold mornings and evenings, and at night, drive as if it’s a completely different road from the one you saw in the daytime.

Even if you don’t see snow when you set off, the road conditions keep changing as the place and the time change.

Roads that look black and wet (black ice)

Drive as if a road that looks black and wet might be frozen.

When the surface of the road freezes and looks black, as if it were just wet, it’s called black ice (called ブラックアイスバーン in Japanese). Because it doesn’t look white, it’s hard to notice that it’s frozen, and it’s the road surface to be most careful of on snowy roads.

In a test JAF carried out in Hokkaido in 2013, black ice looked almost the same as a wet road, but its surface was frozen, and it was just as slippery as an icy road. At night, it’s especially hard to tell apart.

The places that tend to freeze are always the same familiar faces. When you see a bridge, when a tunnel exit is getting close, before a shaded curve. If you know where to be ready, driving on snowy roads stops being something you brace yourself for the whole way, and becomes something you do while looking out for the next “before you get there.”

4 When it’s hard to see ahead Slow down, and watch the markers at the edge of the road

If you feel it’s getting hard to see around you, slow down.

Snowstorms, snow whipped up by strong winds, and snow thrown up by oncoming trucks can make it impossible to see ahead.

When visibility in a snowstorm or ground blizzard is so poor that you can’t even see the lights of the car ahead, and you’re down to almost a crawl, NEXCO CENTRAL’s guide to winter expressways says to flash your hazard lights as well as having your headlights on, to let the cars around you know where you are. This is guidance for letting others know where your car is; whether to keep driving is a separate question. What to do if a snowstorm leaves you unable to move is covered in “Japan Winter Road Conditions: Where to Check Road Closures in English.”

Markers at the edge of the road

Use the arrows and the reflector poles at the side of the road, which show where the road’s edge is, as your guide. On the Tohoku Expressway and some other roads, there are also “strip guide lights,” which light up the line of the road shoulder with green light.

Build breaks into your itinerary from the start

Winter roads take a lot of concentration, and poor visibility from snowstorms and the like can go on for a while, so your body tires easily. Take breaks early, at service areas and parking areas.

Build breaks into your itinerary from the start.

If you plan your stops ahead of time, that time becomes part of the trip too.

Sunny days are dazzling

On sunny winter days, the glare off the snow is very bright. Having sunglasses with you makes it easier.

That’s how bright a sunny day in snow country is.

5 Before you set off, and when you park In the morning, get to your car a little early

In the morning, there are three things to do before you drive off.

Clear the snow off the roof.

Brush off the snow around the tires and on the soles of your shoes.

Give yourself time to melt the ice on the windows with the heater.

At night, there’s one thing to do when you park.

Leave the wipers raised.

If you drive with snow on the roof, the snow can slide onto the windshield when you brake, and you may not be able to see ahead.

Snow stuck around the tires (the hollows in the car body where the tires sit) gets in the way of steering, and snow on the soles of your shoes can make your feet slip off the pedals while you drive, so clear it off before you set off.

In a test JAF carried out in 2014 at Sugadaira Kogen in Nagano Prefecture (one car, after being parked overnight, with a low of minus 6.3°C), when the heater blowing warm air onto the frozen windshield (the defroster) was used, it took about 10 minutes until you could see ahead. If you pour hot water on the ice to melt it, there’s a risk that the temperature difference cracks the glass, or that the melted water freezes again right away.

Wet wipers stick to the window when they freeze. When you park somewhere cold, leave the wipers raised off the window.

In the morning, get to your car a little early. While you wait for the ice on the windows to melt, it’s time to take in the snowy morning scenery.

If you’re not used to snowy roads Choose how you travel

If you’re not used to snowy roads, you can choose how you travel instead.

Driving slowly on snowy roads means everything takes longer than usual. If you keep the distance you drive each day on the short side, you can drive slowly without being chased by your schedule.

If you’ve never driven on snowy roads, another option is to leave travel within snow country to trains, buses and tours, and use the car on the stretches that are easier to drive.

For more on this in English, JAF has an English page, “What to be careful of on snow-covered and icy roads.” Nippon Rent-A-Car also points to this page in an English notice, for how to drive on snowy and icy roads.

If you split your trip into stretches you drive and stretches you leave to trains and buses, you can take in the snowy scenery both from the driver’s seat and from the train window.

Related articles

・The whole picture of a winter road trip (where to rent, when to drive, what to do on days you don’t drive) → “Driving in Japan in Winter, Hokkaido Included“

・Winter tires, 4WD and chain restrictions → “Winter Tires (Snow Tires), 4WD and Chains“

・Road closures, roads that close in winter, and what to do if a snowstorm leaves you stuck → “Japan Winter Road Conditions: Where to Check Road Closures in English“

・If you get stuck in snow, and when to fill up → “Breakdown, Flat Tire, Dead Battery, Locked-In Key, Out of Gas“

・Quick answers for when something goes wrong → “Snowy Roads and Winter Driving Q&A”

・The Japanese on electronic signs and road signs → “A Mini Japanese Dictionary for Snowy Roads”

For now, just this

No sudden braking, sudden steering or sudden starts.

Keep more distance than usual between you and the car ahead.

Slow down early, before you get to bridges, tunnel entrances and exits, and shaded spots.