Having just totalled my car in a 2mph accident on an icy snowy road, I can say two things: 1) Four wheel drive won't do a darn thing to stop you if the car in front of you spins out on a patch of ice. You need chains to stop in those conditions, and 2) drive into a snow bank (for gosh sakes!) if you can't stop and are going to hit something else. The snow is a lot more forgiving than the bumper of a 2002 Toyota Tacoma!

You must know if your car is a rear-wheel or front-wheel drive car. Chains go on the drive wheels. I have seen cars go up the mountain skidding all over the road because the chains were on the wrong wheel, and can't figure out why the chain control people did not catch it (I'm talking about California official chain control on mountain roads). Speed is limited to 30 mph (50kph), legally in California and sensibly if not imposed by law. Going up hill is not much of a problem. Take the foot off the accelerator, and the car comes to a stop. Downhill is a different matter. As others have mentioned it, downshift and never go higher than third gear.

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For starting always use low gear - even if you have an automatic - once your tires start spinning you're lost
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i disagree...in a standard transmission car, avoid using first gear to start. always start in second gear if the roads are slick. first will give you too much torque and your wheels will spin...as the poster says - once your tires start spinning you're lost

Hi

I had to learn in a foreign country. After a couple of days, it is easy.

The best solution is studded tyres. They even work on sheet ice provided you drive aggressively (drive slow & the studs don't cut into the ice).

Not sure that studded tyres are legal in Germany.

Compromise is newish high tech rubber friction tyres (the rubber hardens, and performance deteriates after a few years) . I used them for 6 winters in Sweden with no problem, but they are not as good on sheet ice.

The rules are :

practise in a (big) car park
go slow
anticipate
if all seems lost, put your foot on the clutch (i.e. no brakes or changing down) and you will normally regain traction

Peter

We have all discussed at great length the tyres/chains bit but we have all forgotton to mention what happens if it is snowing heavily as well. On the same trip I mentioned previously we drove from Vienna to Salzberg in December. It was the most frightening experience, it was snowing VERY heavily and visibility was next to zero, yet cars and trucks kept plowing on at a fair clip, I had one eye open and my heart in my mouth the whole time. Not trying to put you off Nicol, but be prepared for conditions that you have never even thought about driving in before. The aussie snowy mountains are a walk in park compared to driving in Europe - apart from dodging the kangaroos of course!!!

Nicol,

Generally speaking, snow tyres are a necessity for winter driving, while chains are only needed if you want to drive during a major snowstorm or on unplowed roads or very icy and steep roads - these conditions rarely last more than a few hours.

If you cause an accident driving on a snow/ice covered road with summer tires, you might be sued by your liability insurance for negligence.

In your case, I'd agree with Ira: don't do a driving tour of the Bavarian Alps in December. In the winter the Alps are there to be skied, not driven around in.

Hope this helps,
Andre

Simplest, best advice I ever got - and it's served me well for years of Minnesota winters: "Think egg."

Act as if there's a raw egg between your foot and the accelerator and your foot and the brake. Press too hard, you'll break it. Back off too fast, it will fall. Turn too sharply, it will fall off of its perch at the top of the steering wheel.

Just take care of that egg and you'll likely be fine.

(Thanks, Dad.)

A thousand thanks for all your detailed and thoughtful replies. I think Ira and Flanneruk have ruled the day...I am taking the train!! Aside from dealing with driving on the 'wrong side' of the road with jet lag, the whole notion of black ice, skiding into oncoming traffic etc etc has really made me shiver. I had no idea there was a whole new world of driving challenges that some of you intrepid northerners face each year. We normally travel by train in Europe, but some of the places I wanted to see in Bavaria, like Neuschwanstein and the Weisskirche didnt seem to be on a train line. But I guess there must be buses, although I hope I don't have to resort to 'tour buses'. Thanks for the suggestions about learning to drive in Aussie schnee, but I live in Perth, which is closer to Indonesia than it is to the Blue Mountains. Thanks again for so much shared experience. It stopped me making a terrible mistake.