True, and unfortunately around where I live they do not teach driving in snow or inclement weather. It should be mandatory.

I know when I lived in England the driving schools required a certain number of hours behind the wheel and some of that had to be during inclement weather. I remember my house mate at the time failed her license test because she did not spray washer fluid on the dry window before turning on the windshiled wipers. She then had to wait another 6 months and retake classes before she could take the license test again.

 

We're getting off topic but....
With all the talk about health care reform in the USA, what's really needed is Driver Education/Licensing Reform, which would save lives, reduce insurance premiums and property loss. My son passed a 5 minute road test given by NYS but I felt he wasn't ready to drive solo, so he had to wait until he passed my competency requirements before I handed him the keys.

 

Great ideas, and I totally agree.

Now back to our regularly scheduled thread.

 

That's fantastic--some good parenting right there.

I also agree that not knowing what to do in snow with DSC turned off is a bad idea, but I've been driving in snow and slush and ice for 20 years without electronic nannies on my cars, so I prefer to be able to control it myself. For me, this means turning everything off, especially in city driving in the slushy-ice we get in eastern canada. When I'm on the highway, it goes back on.

 

From the 2009 Mini Cooper manual (pg. 59): "When driving with snow chains, or to 'rock free' in snow, it can be helpful to turn ASC off for a brief period." DTC (optional) is a special DSC that is optimized for special road conditions like uncleared snow.

 

Just my two cents: I drive on snow-packed city streets for four to five months a year up here in the UP (of Michigan). All my winter cars have Blizzaks. My SOP (seat of pants) opinion is that my 2007 justa MC's ACS is *very* conservative about wheel slippage. I've been driving FWD Blizzak-equipped German cars up here for 25 years that do not have traction control, so I'm used to controlling traction "manually". The MINI ACS cuts off driving forces well before any limits are reached. (I'm talking about taking a corner at 25mph.) My conclusion is that the ACS system seems to be very safe, and grandmothers who know how to shift a manual will like it, but you're not going to have much fun when it is turned on.

Yeah, and punch that "sport" button too, even in winter.

steve s