1998 Chevrolet Prizm Owner's Manual - Page 177

Driving on Snow or Ice Most of the time, those places where your tires meet the road probably have good traction. However, if there is snow or ice between your tires and the road, you can have a very slippery situation. You'll have a lot less traction or "grip" and willneed to bevery careful. What's the worst time for this? "Wet ice." Very cold snow or ice can be slick and hardto drive on. But wet ice can be even more trouble because it may offerthe least traction of all.You can get wet ice when it's about freezing (32 O F ; 0"C) and freezing rain begins to fall. Try to avoid driving on wet ice until salt and sand crews can getthere. Whatever the condition -- smooth ice, packed, blowing or loose snow -- drive with caution. Accelerate gently. Try not to break the fragile traction. If you accelerate too fast, the drive wheels will spin and polishthe surface under the tires even more. Unless you have the anti-lock braking system, you'll want to brake very gently, too. (If you do have anti-lock, see "Anti-Lock" in the Index. This system improves your vehicle's stability when you make hard stop on a a slippery road.) Whether you have the anti-lock braking system or not, you'll want to begin stopping sooner than you would on dry pavement. Withoutanti-lock brakes, if you feel your vehicle begin to slide, let up on the brakes a little. Push the brake pedal down steadilyto get the most traction you can. 4-25