NOTE: Several family members were brutally slaughtered recently, so I will take a break from writing. Their deaths erased my affinity for writing about politics or the economy, thus I'll later limit myself to health and brainpower in addition to completing my book on rapidly overcoming racism and bigotry. BTW, the two men who murdered my father are still on the lam; I am offering up to $100,000 for information leading to their arrest and conviction.
Snowmobile trails painted with blood
The snowmobiling industry hopes that you won't read this article
After years working as an ER doctor in Michigan, I concluded that the snowmobiling industry—from manufacturers to magazine editors—does not take safety seriously enough. My ringside seat witnessing the aftermath of snowmobile accidents provided a unique vantage point to view the carnage and draw conclusions from it.
As someone who also is working to develop the next generation of tests for neuropsychologists performing cognitive assessments, I think that industry leaders are either unconscionably remiss, valuing money more than human lives, or—in more shirtsleeve English—they're stupid, ignorant, impossibly shortsighted, or bereft of imagination when it comes to safety. A simple, low-cost, and obvious (to me) device could virtually eliminate snowmobile accidents, especially fatal ones, and help keep trails smoother. That device could be easily integrated into new snowmobiles and retrofitted onto existing ones as a condition of trail use registration.
The intellectual myopia of the snowmobile industry keeps them from seeing that a greater focus on safety could boost profits. Instead of responsibly addressing safety, manufacturers give it short shrift and exacerbate the problem by stuffing more horsepower into their sleds each year.
I am not anti-snowmobiling. Although I grew up in intermittent poverty so severe that I sometimes starved and developed diseases stemming from nutritional deficiencies, I was instantly captivated by snowmobiles the second I saw one buzzing down the road in front of my home in the mid-1960s. From then on, my older brother and I would excitedly run to the window to watch when we heard them approach, which flooded our veins with indescribable pleasure. That rapture persisted, so when I bought my first snowmobile after medical school, just thinking of riding it seemed too good to be true. I eagerly awaited the first snowfall each year like a kid dreaming of Christmas, and hearing “winter storm warming” put me in seventh heaven. As the last snow of the season melted in spring, I almost felt as if I'd lost an old friend.
There is no right to irresponsibly endanger others
The right to drive as fast as you want does not exist, period. That desire is less important than the right of others to not be injured, disfigured, or killed by your excessive speed. Snowmobilers who lack common sense and violate the Golden Rule ethic of reciprocity usually injure themselves only, but speed freaks injure many innocent people, too. I've had so many near-misses on trails that I knew it was just a matter of time until I was hit by some “no fear” snowmobiler entering a blind corner at an insanely high speed, such as 70 mph. I always travel slowly and keep to my side of the trail, but speeders oblivious to the danger they pose to themselves and others can turn careful drivers into hamburger in a split-second.
Commenting on the death of a snowmobiler killed by excessive speed, one person said “many times I've had to steer into the woods coming around a corner to get out of the way of someone out of control because they were going too fast.” Responding to that, another added, “That has happened to us several times as well. In fact, my wife has somewhat soured on her snowmobiling enthusiasm because of people on the trail that can't seem to apply common sense and courtesy with any regularity.”
Others suggested that the snowmobiler wasn't speeding even though the news report stated he “was traveling uphill and crested a hill at a high rate of speed, losing control on a corner and striking a tree stump. Worrall and his snow machine went airborne and crashed into several trees, resulting in his fatal injuries.” With some snowmobilers thinking that speed was not excessive, there is an urgent need for the device I invented that would prevent almost all fatalities and most injuries. To encourage snowmobile manufacturers to adopt this critically needed technology, I offer it at no cost; see notes.
If snowmobile magazine editors were as concerned about safety as they profess to be, instead of featuring airborne (or otherwise too fast) snowmobiles on their covers or page after page in issue after issue, they would show what a dead little girl looks like after a snowmobile pulverizes her body. Unless you're an ER doc, nurse, or paramedic, you likely can't even imagine the gruesome aftermath of snowmobiling injuries. Automobile drivers are much more protected, with better protective shells, longer crumple zones, seat belts, airbags, and extensive crash testing and computer analysis to enhance safety. On snowmobiles, it's another story: the protection is trivial, so collisions that auto drivers could walk away from without a scratch can at the same speed on snowmobiles result in horrific or fatal injuries.
This is not a political issue. Although I now agree with liberals on several issues, even in my most conservative days I felt just as strongly about snowmobile safety. Freedom is paramount, but Oliver Wendell Holmes capsulized its common-sense limits by saying “The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins.” Applying that metaphor to snowmobiling, one's right to drive fast ends when it potentially impacts the safety of others.
I also think it should apply to comfort, too. Most modern snowmobiles have enough power so a momentary blip of the throttle can spin its track, tearing up the trail, creating bumps that make riding much less pleasurable and even less safe (I've seen healthy young adults with spinal fractures resulting from hitting bumps, many of which are almost invisible on gray days with poor contrast). Potentially thousands of riders might traverse a bump that gave one rider a moment of pleasure creating it. Is it worth it? Anyone who cares about others would say “no,” even “hell no!”
I've spoken directly with manufacturers and found them to be as receptive to discussing safety as Casey Anthony was eager to discuss her guilt. I doubt any of those manufacturers have seen the liquefied brain soup inside the helmets of customers traveling too fast, not all of whom were drinking booze, or seen kids turned into pediatric Jell-O, with missing or shredded body parts that made them look as if they were a rag doll that went through a meat grinder with Dracula after a feast on his Thanksgiving Day.
So here is a message to executives at Ski-doo, Polaris, Yamaha, and Arctic Cat: wake up and grow up. Stop pointing the finger of blame solely at irresponsible and sometimes drunk riders. You enable them as much as unprincipled doctors who give junkies drugs they crave but don't need. You fuel the addiction for speed by giving “no-fear” drivers the overpowered tools they need to kill themselves and others. With my aforementioned innovation (which you should have invented decades ago), you could give fools the freedom to be foolish without imperiling others and shredding trails. Oh, one more thing: if you were as innovative as you claim to be, you could think of a way to minimize or eliminate the need for trail grooming yet keep trails much smoother than ever before. Stumped? Ask me.
Instead of leading as they should, snowmobile industry leaders buried their heads in the sand. They will continue to turn a blind eye to these problems until this message from an exasperated ER doctor gets through to them, or until a lawyer brings a class action lawsuit that finally gets their attention. I've seen similar unfathomable stupidity on the part of ATV manufacturers (most of whom also manufacture snowmobiles) who overlook an easy, low-cost way to prevent one of the most common fatal injuries associated with ATV use. The alarming injury rates should—but don't—inspire manufacturers to put their thinking caps on.
The yearly snowmobile death toll proves that too many snowmobilers can't safely handle all that horsepower, so giving them more is as irresponsible as giving a gun to a depressed person because of their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. As the body count rises, snowmobile leaders feign an “Oh my God, I had no idea!” astonishment that snowmobiles have many times the power they need for safe trail riding at sane speeds. Riders in the western U.S. might claim they need more horsepower for deep snow, but the 1968 Ski-doo Alpine used its twin tracks, not its comparatively lilliputian 18½ horsepower engine, to float on snow deep enough to bury a house.
As a doctor, I understand why some people get thrills from speed, but with a bit of neuroscience knowledge and better engineering, one could have even more pleasure at safe speeds. Oblivious to these facts, snowmobile manufacturers fuel the problem with more horsepower, fearing that comparatively slow or controlled snowmobiles would slow sales, not realizing how safer, more comfortable sleds and trails would draw in even more customers.
David B. Wexler, Ph.D. said that driving fast is one of the high-risk behaviors that depressed men engage in. Depressed people self-medicate not only by speeding, but also by using alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, or other mind-altering drugs. I frequently saw such patients in the ER requesting drugs they intuitively knew would make them feel better temporarily, but those Band-Aid cover-ups are not good ways to treat depression. In fact, they can make the problem worse. Addressing the root cause is imperative, yet many depressed people do not seek professional help. Thus, friends, family members, and others need to consider depression as a possible cause of high-risk activities and self-medication, and encourage affected individuals to see a physician or, preferably, a psychologist. The latter know much more psychology than virtually all physicians who don't specialize in psychiatry.
One of my friends, now deceased, was a snowmobile dealer (one of the first ones, in fact) with clever ideas for improving snowmobiles. He was related to the head of R&D for one of the Big Four snowmobile manufacturers, but he said that his relative refused to even listen to any of his ideas. That arrogant close-mindedness is not just ethically execrable, it is sheer insanity from a business standpoint and borders on criminal negligence regarding their moral obligation to safeguard customers. However, manufacturers think they've done enough when they give lip service to safety. They keep blaming others and hope none of us are bright enough to notice what they aren't doing.
Another friend was a member of Al Gore's staff when he was Vice President. Her job mandated that she accompany him everywhere, so she went to the White House and attended meetings with him and President Clinton. During one meeting, Clinton was yukking it up so much that Gore lost his patience, screaming at him to “Get with the %*@%#&^ program!”
I have a similar message for snowmobile industry leaders: Get with the %*@%#&^ program! Stop patting yourselves on your backs for the baby steps you've made to foster safety, and show us what intelligent, creative, and responsible leaders can do when they are committed to safety innovation. Make this the last year that snowmobile trails will be painted with blood. If you cannot rise to the challenge, do the world a favor and go out of business. The vacuum left by your departure will draw in new manufacturers with new ideas.
In the decades that snowmobiling still excited me, I eagerly awaited to see the innovations released each year. By mentally comparing my folder of snowmobile inventions and thinking of others that must surely exist in the homes of millions of snowmobilers, I was routinely disappointed by what I didn't see. I primarily saw minor tweaks and a perennial overemphasis on ever more horsepower and speed, lauded by magazine editors and writers who evidently haven't a clue what they're missing. By seeing their pictures and reading their words, they clearly glorify speed and tacitly suggest that the path to fun is paved with horsepower. By glossing over the eyeballs and other body parts rolling down trails, they give a deceptive image of snowmobiling safety, except for a recent issue of one magazine that was filled with a depressing number of snowmobile injury obituaries yet no clarion call for safety. If that wouldn't make them wake up, what will? Will we ever see a Silent Spring of Snowmobiling?
Snowmobile magazine editors do many things commendably well, yet every one I've seen doesn't remedy obvious omissions, such as complaining about throttle thumb fatigue yet not measuring and routinely reporting throttle force. Or they use nebulous terms to describe ride quality, such as soft, smooth, comfortable, or plush. So what is better? Smooth or comfortable? Soft or plush? I graduated in the top 1% of my class in medical school, yet I could never read those subjective terms and know what is best. Or editors may try to pull the wool over our eyes by quantitating a subjective assessment, such as ride quality, instead of measuring it.
To give them a way to present data objectively (not subjectively), in the 1990s I created a snowmobile histographic accelerometer that quantitated the differences in snowmobile (or other vehicle) ride quality, permitting the production of graphs that clearly indicated how various machines respond to bumps of diverse size. Only one snowmobile magazine bought my device, but never published data generated by it. I've since developed considerably more advanced ride quality analyzers, but I refuse to waste my time begging editors to use them.
I am not the only subscriber who thinks they intentionally pull punches and blur distinctions to not anger the Big Four that gives them advertising dollars and free snowmobiles to use. Considering snowmobile prices, one would need to be penny-wise and pound-foolish to not pay much more for Consumer Reports-like snowmobile magazines in which editors could do more objective testing and freer reporting.
If snowmobile magazine editors wrote a personal ad for Casey Anthony, they would say she's gorgeous, in great shape, very clever, great at telling stories, knows how to fix problems with duct tape, and has a killer smile.
I waited decades to see a head-to-head comparison of utility machines (hint to snowmobile editors: the most interesting articles in Car and Driver focus on unusual vehicles), but that article turned out to be yet another big disappointment. They didn't test one manufacturer's obvious wide-track machine, nor did they measure pulling force, which is as vital for utility machines as muzzle energy is for elephant rifles. The problem of variable snow conditions can be mitigated by running multiple tests on a variety of conditions, but they're evidently in too much of a hurry to complete that article so they can rush to the next half-assed one. Oh, but if I cared about power, I could find reams and reams of data with elaborate, precise reporting down to the nearest one-tenth of a horsepower. As if it mattered!
All that horsepower gives nightmares to many folks and thrills to others who don't realize that it can rarely or never be safely used. One might think that a frozen lake would be one exception, but Murphy's Law has ended the lives of many people who encountered unforeseen dangers. A snowmobiler racing down a local lake struck a pressure ridge, which killed him. The last seconds of his life were filled with sheer terror and unimaginable pain as his body was ripped apart in places and crushed in others.
Manufacturers and editors have convenient excuses for why snowmobile sales have plummeted: high snowmobile and gasoline prices, the poor economy, and low-snow years. However, people weren't exactly rolling in the money in the late 1960s and early 1970s when sales peaked. Decades later, when the population was larger and people had more disposable income, sales were a fraction of what they once were even when snow and cheap gas were plentiful.
So what is really responsible for the decline in sales? Consumers aren't stupid. Disappoint them long enough and they'll wise up, spending their money elsewhere. I'm now into tractors and am selling one of my snowmobiles (and my Sea-doo and a shed) to raise money to help a deported person reenter the United States. I purchased several snowmobiles years ago, including one I bought for neighbors to use, but I have zero interest in buying another. If snowmobile manufacturers and magazines can alienate me, it isn't surprising that they succeeded in antagonizing countless other potential customers. They've gotten in bed with the speed freaks and have figuratively given the finger to those of us who dearly care about safety, so I am returning the favor, voting with my wallet, and delivering long-overdue but eminently justified criticism.
A wise businessman said that he genuinely appreciated criticism of his products because it gave him a chance to improve. He viewed them as his best customers; the worst were the ones too apathetic to complain.
It takes maturity to value people complaining about a product or service. Does the snowmobile industry have that maturity? We'll see, but I am not holding my breath. In interfacing directly with manufacturers, the ones at Arctic Cat struck me as being very nice, while the others infuriated me with their arrogant close-mindedness, convinced they had all the answers. Wrong, Einsteins.
Metacognition is thinking about thinking, so metaignorance is ignorance about ignorance. Snowmobile manufacturers aren't just ignorant; they are metaignorant: they don't know they don't know.
The Dunning–Kruger effect manifests as the metacognitive inability to recognize one's mistakes, which gives unskilled people illusory superiority while the highly skilled underrate their abilities, producing illusory inferiority. Thus the least competent tend to be the most confident. Incompetent people overestimate their ability yet fail to recognize genuine ability in others, thus explaining why snowmobile manufacturers think so highly of themselves and so little of others with better ideas. They need to read Dunning and Kruger's paper (Unskilled and unaware of it: how difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments), but their metacognitive defects blind them to the need.
Manufacturers get away with neglecting safety because people tend to possess an “it won't happen to me” mentality that provides a false sense of security. They often forget that a sane speed includes a margin of safety for unseen hazards and unexpected events, such as a mechanical failure or a deer jumping across a trail. While test driving a new car, professional formula driver Ken Gushi almost struck a wild deer who ran into his path. His razor-thin miss demonstrates how even professional drivers need a larger margin of safety. Had the deer been a bit slower, or stopped and stared as many deer do, he would have plowed into it.
Snowmobile drivers also fail to consider that kinetic energy (and hence the potential for injury) rises exponentially with increasing speed, not linearly. All of this points to a need to make slow-speed snowmobiling more fun. That's a no-brainer for anyone who understands neuroscience and engineering. I hope the snowmobile industry is wise enough to seek a long overdue second opinion, but I forecast that they'll just keep congratulating themselves as the death toll continues to rise.
Based on what they aren't doing, it is easy to assume that snowmobile manufacturers do not hire doctors or scientists. A smart and innovative physician-scientist would make snowmobile CEOs slap their foreheads and exclaim, “That's a great way to improve snowmobiling! Why didn't we think of that?”
Why? Because they are not physician-scientists, and not as innovative as they think they are.
Apart from the oft-neglected safety aspect, snowmobiling is primarily about fun. Relatively few snowmobiles are used for purely utilitarian purposes; for the rest, the raison d'etre is fun, period. Snowmobile manufacturers gravitate toward speed as a means of amplifying fun because they aren't sufficiently knowledgeable to optimize fun otherwise. They are as misguided as women who think that marked breast augmentation will make them better wives.
Smart and innovative physician-scientists know how to improve the recipe for snowmobiling fun. Unlike speed, the secret ingredients are healthy, to use a food analogy, and make people hungry for more—unlike snowmobiling, that doesn't tempt most potential customers into even taking a sample bite. Why should they? Too many folks have heard of the lingering bitter aftertaste that snowmobiles can bring.
I once thought the sun rose and set in Valcourt, Quebec (where Ski-doos are made), but their neglect of fun and emphasis on speed alienated my affection for a sport whose leaders don't have enough education, but they have enough cash to give them heads big enough to dismiss others who know more than they do about safety and fun.
Pity them, and pity us, the victims of their close-mindedness.
I will post an update next year to report how industry leaders respond to this challenge. Some snowmobilers reading this article won't be able to read that report card because their blood will be painted on a trail. It's not always the other guy. It could be you, your neighbor, or this child:
Children depend on responsible adults to keep them safe. Kids cannot properly assess risk and implement strategies to mitigate danger, so we must do it for them and for others with the child-like conviction that “it won't happen to me.”
In preparing my upcoming book on overcoming racism and bigotry, I've pondered their roots, one of which is an abominably egocentric valuation of oneself as greater than others. I think snowmobile and ATV manufacturers similarly trivialize the lives of their customers, deeming them less important than their profits and their selfish need to ignore innovations so they can continue to delude themselves into thinking they have all the great ideas. That is the Dunning–Kruger effect in action, generating illusory superiority, not the innovations we need. Thus these manufacturers need to drink more coffee, wake up, and “get with the %*@%#&^ program!” That may be an inconvenient truth, but it is the truth.
UPDATE: I mentioned to a snowmobile dealer why I was not interested in purchasing another snowmobile. I explained the deaths and injuries I'd witnessed as an ER doctor, and told him of the near-misses I had on trails when speeders almost hit me. I inquired if his manufacturer ever discussed the speed problem at dealer meetings; not as far as he knew. After saying that he enjoyed speeding while snowmobiling, he suggested that I might want to buy a snowmobile with less power—perhaps their entry-level model with about 60 horsepower.
He didn't get it! First, I wasn't in the market for any snowmobile. Second, getting one with less power wouldn't slow other riders; I was clearly worried about THEIR speed, not mine!
When I fell in love with snowmobiles, the fastest models had less than 20 horsepower, and no one ever fell asleep from boredom while riding one. A few years later, in the early 1970s, a snowmobile magazine discussed a new model with 50 horsepower—outrageously powerful, they felt, and perhaps too much for anyone but a professional driver (some of whom have been injured or killed by speeding, proving that even they can't safely handle all that power). Some people called that overpowered sled a “widow maker.”
Just as Michael Jackson did not know when to stop with plastic surgery, the snowmobile industry didn't—and doesn't—have enough common sense to know when to stop with horsepower. More isn't better; in this case, it is much worse. When today's relatively Lilliputian snowmobile engines have more power than the “widow makers” of yesteryear, someone isn't tuned into reality—and it isn't the ones in the 1970s who questioned the sanity of fast sleds.
During my teen years, a snowmobile dealer gave me a short test ride on a 28-horsepower snowmobile while he drove it (in those days, two-up sleds were common). We topped out at 55 mph, which was absolutely terrifying as a rider, just inches from the snow. 55 mph is hardly slow in cars traveling on smooth, wide roads.
I can hear the he-men now: “Pezzi afraid of 55 mph? Ha-ha-ha!” Years later, when I drove a modern snowmobile with a suspension better able to “soak up” bumps, I hit one that catapulted me from the seat, onto the trail. Fortunately I wasn't going very fast. Had I been buzzing along at 55, I could have been seriously injured or killed. Not ha-ha-ha.
Many of today's riders want to go much faster than 55 on trails so narrow that one icy spot or bump could launch them into a tree, or into the path of an oncoming snowmobile—perhaps one with a child riding as a passenger.
While ski carbide runners and track studs enhance control, they can dull and lose effectiveness. If skis are airborne, they can't steer, period. The laws of physics haven't changed from the 1960s. I had great fun snowmobiling at 20 mph. Raise that speed to 80, as many current drivers want to go—or faster, and the kinetic energy (KE) of the snowmobile rises 16-fold, since KE = ½ mv2. The potential for injury rises even more than 16-fold, because humans have a certain breaking point, or threshold. Below that, no injury results. As the injury threshold is approached (which can easily be exceeded with old 12-horsepower sleds that topped out at 40 mph), a minor addition of speed can make the difference between no injury and spending the rest of your life in a wheelchair, or worse.
Besides the exponential increase in kinetic energy and the quantal effects of the easily exceeded injury threshold, snowmobilers face another risk: their reaction time doesn't get any quicker when they speed. Reaction time is generally about 200 milliseconds in young, healthy people under controlled laboratory conditions. Put on a helmet, bulky suit and gloves, add in half-frozen hands, a beer or two and perhaps other drugs that depress CNS functioning, and reaction time could rise to a second or more. And you wonder why so many snowmobilers are injured or killed? I don't!
Reaction time is also critically dependent on attention. If the snowmobiler is daydreaming about the hot waitress he just flirted with, it may take him even longer to shift his attention from her beauty to his dangerous situation. Many accidents happen so fast that snowmobilers don't react until after the collision. That's too late.
I've seen grown men crying in the ER, bemoaning their injuries. One kept screaming for people to feel sorry for him, because he was now paralyzed. He broke his back, severed his spinal cord, and won't ever walk again, make love to his wife, or even normally control his bladder or bowel. An hour before, he was full of testosterone, loving speed and horsepower, until it shattered his body and life.
It was too late for him, but it's likely not too late for you. If you want to continue snowmobiling with much less risk of injury, contact manufacturers and pressure them into implementing my invention that would safeguard you while giving speed freaks the freedom to be foolish. And they will.
Notes:
- To encourage snowmobile manufacturers to adopt my invention that would prevent almost all fatalities and most injuries, I will give them a license to use it at no cost. Manufacturers may contact me for more information.
- Unrealistic Optimism Prompts Risky Behavior
- Blame 'Faulty' Frontal Lobe Function for Undying Optimism in Face of Reality
- Fearless Children Show Less Empathy, More Aggression, Research Finds (probably fearless adults, too)
- Concerned Families for ATV Safety
- When a mother contacted Yamaha “to notify them of my daughter’s accident and to advise them how dangerous this vehicle was,” she “was met with a very unconcerned cold attitude and almost immediately the blame was shifted to the occupants of the vehicle.” That's exactly what Yamaha did when I discussed safety with them. Operator error unquestionably causes or contributes to many accidents, but most injuries could be prevented if manufacturers added common sense safety innovations. Read more stories from families whose children were killed or injured on an ATV.
- An excerpt from All Terrain Vehicles: Gear Up Before Revving Up ATVs: “Rociel was not badly hurt and went for help. Upon her return, she found her unconscious brother being pecked at and his severed ear being eaten by vultures.”
- Adult-Sized ATVs Are Not Safe for Kids, Startling Statistics Show
- The American Academy of Pediatrics describes snowmobile and ATV use by children as “the perfect recipe for tragedy.”
- ATVsafety.gov
- One of many examples of how manufacturers overlook obvious safety innovations: A snowmobile safety site said, “At night, the headlights illuminate your path about 200 feet in front of the snowmobile. Be careful not to over ride the headlights.” Yes, but more than a few drivers violate that precaution. Since many customers do dangerous things, whenever feasible manufacturers should implement safeguards. The danger of overriding headlights could be prevented by a simple addition costing about $1.
- An excerpt from People Who Really Identify With Their Car Drive More Aggressively, Study Finds: “Those who view their car as an extension of themselves have stronger aggressive driving tendencies.” Might this apply to snowmobilers, too?
- Macho Men a Liability On Roads, Study Finds. And snowmobile trails, no doubt.
- Multiple Riders, Lack of Helmet Use, and Faster ATVs Contribute to Pediatric Injuries, Studies Find
- Surprise: Two Wheels Safer Than Four in Off-Road Riding and Racing, Study Finds
- Injury Report Shows All-Terrain Vehicles Not Child's Play
- Pediatric Hospitalizations for ATV-Related Injuries More Than Double
- Dramatic Increase In Number Of Injuries And Deaths Caused By ATVs
- ATV and Motocross Sports: High Velocity Toys Merit Caution, Experts Say
- Head and Spine Trauma from ATV Accidents Cost $3.24 Billion Annually, Study Finds (Is it that manufacturers can't afford to produce safer vehicles, or are they too penurious to pay inventors who have safety inventions their engineers do not?)
The driver appeared to overcorrect and was likely killed because he or she didn't know how to safely recover in that situation. I had a similar experience my first month of driving on snowy roads, but after snowmobiling, I knew exactly what to do without thinking.
