On packed snow, you enter a corner slightly too fast and the front wheels slide straight ahead without responding to the steering wheel. What is the correct recovery?

Why B is correct

A front-wheel skid — understeer — is the front tyres asking for more grip than the surface has, usually because speed is asking for cornering and braking at once. Adding throttle deepens the demand; adding steering angle just steepens the slip angle of tyres that are already past their limit, and hard braking converts the last remaining grip into a lock-up. The recovery strips the demand back to what the surface can fund: lift off the accelerator, keep the steering roughly where it is, let the tyres bite again, and then steer with small, patient inputs.

Why the other options are wrong

A. Turn the wheel further in the direction of the corner and add throttle to pull the front through

More angle and more throttle add load to the exact tyres that are already sliding. The front wheels cannot both corner and accelerate on the grip that remains, and the request makes the slide wider, not shorter.

C. Brake hard and hold the pedal down until the car slows into the corner

Locked, hard braking on snow freezes the front wheels entirely, converting understeer into no-steer: the car keeps going exactly where it was pointed, only faster toward the same object and with steering fully disconnected from outcome.

D. Shift into neutral and let the car run through the slide unsteered

Neutral removes engine braking and engine control alike, and abandoning the steering in a slide means the car exits the corner wherever physics, not the driver, decides. The recovery is about reducing demands, not surrendering controls.

On the road

A shaded corner on a Colorado side street holds the week's old snowpack. Entry at a touch too much speed, and the front end washes wide toward the oncoming lane. The driver's boot lifts, the wheel holds its line without adding angle, and in half a second the front tyres re-engage — the corner is completed from the correct lane, having given up perhaps a metre and nothing else.

Similar questions

• After Hitting a Large Animal | CO

  At dusk on a rural highway you strike a deer that was standing in the lane. The animal is down at the roadside and your car is drivable. What is the correct course of action?

• Shoulder Drop: The Correct First Move | CO Test

  Your right-side wheels drift off the pavement onto a gravel shoulder while you are travelling at highway speed. What is the correct first response?

• Brake Failure on a Descent: First Moves | CO

  You press the brake pedal on a long downhill grade and it sinks to the floor with no resistance. What is the first thing you should do?

• Front Tyre Failure: Hold Your Line | CO

  One of your front tyres fails suddenly at highway speed. What is the correct immediate response?

• Engine Stops While Moving: What Now | CO

  Your engine stops while you are travelling at 35 mph, and the brake pedal immediately goes very hard with the steering suddenly heavy. What should you do?