Winter is the most wonderful time of the year! The streets are aglow with beautiful lights, and everyone is happy and content with each other.

But this time of year also brings some concern. While the winter season brings a lot of fun, happy activities, it also is notorious for the snow.

Snow is what defines the season! Snow is beautiful — when it’s not in our way of driving. It can pile on thick, and the ice makes the roads slick.

I drive to my job nearly every day, which is 30 minutes from my house. Thankfully, the weather hasn’t been too bad, but there’s no problem in being prepared and in remembering you need to stay alert, stay in control and just plain slow down when driving in the snow.

Here are five winter driving tips I’ve picked up, and also some I’ve had to learn from experience.

1. Stay home if you can. I have a car that can’t function in heavy snow, which means sometimes I’ll have to skip school or work if needed. If possible, stay home during snowstorms. Even if you have four-wheel drive, staying home can limit the risks, and it’s always much safer than going out and trying to drive in all that.

2. Always be ready for anything. The weather changes a lot, and sometimes without any of us knowing. Lots of people stock up their car with warm blankets and bottles of water, just in case their car breaks down and they need to stop. Even if you aren’t going that far, always keep a coat or a jacket with you. You never know when you might need it!

3. Drive smart. This one sounds a little dumb, but it’s so true in so many ways. I still attend high school, and teenagers are notoriously bad drivers. Sometimes when it snows, our school parking lot doesn’t get plowed, so we have to make our own parking spaces due to not seeing the lines.

But especially with the early onset of darkness, drive carefully. There’s a crosswalk at my school and no one ever stops for it. I’m terrified to use it, because I know that someone is going to get hit one of these days. Along with this, make sure you accelerate and brake slowly in the snow. If you try to punch the gas, you’re going to go nowhere and simply skid around in circles.

4. Don’t tailgate. I wish people would always use this tip, because tailgating is annoying! But in the winter, it’s simply dangerous.

When normally you’d stay two seconds behind a car, it’s better to stay at least five to six seconds away from them in the snow. It gives you more time to brake in the event of an accident. Last winter, my friend was following too close to a truck, and because of the ice, he couldn’t brake fast enough and slid right into the truck. Everyone was fine, but he got into a lot of trouble.

Keep a good distance between yourself and the car in front of you, so not every single car slams into each other like a bunch of dominoes. There may even be some instances where you simply can’t avoid bumping into someone, in which case don’t try. If you can’t stop, then don’t stop.

5. Stay calm. Again, this sounds a little strange, but if you’re relaxed and content, then everything will be OK. If you’re freaking out while driving in the snow, it’ll show. Any little thing can set you off, and if you’re too jumpy, you could end up causing an accident.

If your car starts to slide, don’t panic. Simply remove your foot from the accelerator, because as I mentioned before, you’re not going to go anywhere. Don’t slam on the brakes, because that could make everything worse. Try and steer away from the ice, but don’t over-steer to avoid sliding even more. If you need to, park on the side of the road while you try and gather your composure again. A panicked driver is a dangerous one.

There are a lot of things about winter I like, in fact, I love the snow, and I wish it’d snow every single day. But driving in it can be a little annoying sometimes. Hopefully this winter, we’ll all get snowed in so much that everyone can just stay home! But if not, there’s nothing to do but to be prepared out on the roads.

Taylor Jenkins is a senior at Weber High School and loves to write. If you have questions or want to chat, email her at jenkinsta2@wsdstudent.net.