Column: Winter driving sometimes requires nerves of steel

This winter has been a real test of my driving skills. I can only hope that the thaw that has fallen upon us gives us some respite from the hazardous roads.

The snow mountains that have piled up on every corner of my town have been a major issue. I’m a librarian who supervises the school libraries in my district. One of these schools is located several streets off a major north-south road. One day I left this school to go to a meeting about 2.5 miles away. I gave myself half an hour, knowing the challenges I might face.

First I had to crawl through the neighborhood to get to the road. Then, it was literally impossible for me to see beyond the snowbanks unless I cautiously stuck the nose of my car beyond them. That’s when a car whizzed by, seemingly out of nowhere, because I had no visibility.

Finally I made it out. I headed down the long hill, which mercifully had been well-plowed. However, parking spaces had not been completely cleared, so cars were parked halfway (laterally) in the street. It seems to me that if a car is impeding my ability to safely travel in my lane, then I am the one who needs to stop until a break in traffic allows me to pull into the other lane. And vice versa.

I don’t think everyone knows this is the procedure to be followed.

Because the sidewalks hadn’t been cleared, people were walking in the street. I couldn’t blame them; they had nowhere else to go. When I reached downtown, and a traffic light, I realized my hands were nearly glued to the wheel, I was that anxious.

I arrived for my meeting only five minutes early.

Driving a small car in the winter, in Maine, has its pros and cons. We have a Prius, and switch to snow tires in the winter. We used to also have a small SUV, and that’s what we usually drove when there was snow on the ground. For some reason, however, I once decided to drive the Prius to work on a stormy day back when we still had two cars. This was before we had decided snow tires for the Prius were a good idea, and may even be the reason we’ve been using them ever since. I got stuck on a hill that day and held up traffic; a good samaritan had to help me out of my predicament.

The snow tires definitely improve the Prius’ performance in the snow, but it’s still not an SUV. One day recently I was headed to the elementary school in my neighborhood. It is midway up a steep hill, which I was dreading driving up. But before I had to deal with that, I had to get to the hill.

So here’s the deal. There is a long street that bisects five hills. At each intersection, there is a stop sign on the long street. So every time I stopped and then pulled ahead, I would skid just a little. But I made it to the hill, which had not been very well plowed. I took a deep breath and zoomed up, afraid if I stopped, I would be stuck.

On the other hand, having a small car means I can find a place to park even when space is at a premium. At one point, we had snow piles so huge, one of the schools lost a full row of parking spaces.

Another school has a small parking lot to begin with, so I, along with other colleagues, frequently park on the street. However, the streets in that neighborhood are narrow, and the piled-up snow made them narrower still. One day, a bus came through when there apparently wasn’t enough room to do so. Several parked cars were damaged.

Luckily, I was at a different school that day.

My favorite winter driving story happened when I first moved to my current community. As I have suggested, it is a town of many hills. I had gone to the market because a storm was predicted. When I came out of the store, the snow had started to fall. I panicked. The main road was a series of rolling hills, punctuated by traffic lights. I decided I would take what I thought of as “the back way.”

As I took this other route, I immediately realized that there is no way to avoid hills in this town. But I had forgotten that the street I was approaching was one of the worst of them all. I would have to traverse a steep decline and then a steep incline. In other words, there was a small valley in the middle of this street.

I let myself go. What else could I do? Luckily, no one else was around. I headed down the hill at top speed, as I didn’t want to hit the brakes and risk a skid. Then, when I reached the valley, I slowly, steadily, accelerated. I made it home, but as I went down that hill I was sure I was going to have to jump out of the car.

I try to make better decisions nowadays. In the course of writing this column, the department of public works has visited our street to remove snow from the sides of the road. I am pleased, except that they perform this noisy “snow ballet” around midnight. Maybe tonight I’ll sleep better, knowing the coast is clear. For now.