We get snow, changing to rain and then freeze on the back side of the storm here all the time. He need to sand first. At least under foot. I've slid down the asphalt driveway the same way too many times. Sometimes standing up, sometimes in a heap. I keep a couple buckets of sand in the garage dry every Winter just for the ice. The salt doesn't do much if it gets too cold. On a sunny day the sand may drill down in the ice if it is thick enough requiring some more for traction but that's OK too. Sand is free for me and most of the time all that is required.
Many driveways around here that look like that right now. It would really be nice to get a big warm-up to get rid of it. Clearing the snow while wearing ice skates is great...if you can handle the skates! Like Bill, we have lots of sand that costs us only part of the land taxes. I usually fill a few 5 gallon pails with sand in mid summer when I can be sure it is very dry, else it freezes in the bucket and is useless when it is needed. So far this year we've used 2 buckets full of sand and will no doubt use much more. But I think there are still 2 more buckets of it in the barn.
I can get sand from the town. Only downside is it is kept inside the fence at the dump so I can only grab it when the dump is open. Which means Saturdays and sometime Thursday nights (two other days it is open while I am at work). I keep 4-5 cat litter buckets full of sand in the garage. The garage rarely gets below 30*, so I can use it even if it is damp (which it usually is).
I have to watch for the transition from snow to rain/freezing rain and get out there during/just before the transition or end up with unplowable frozen slush all the time. I'll also watch for how much snow and how much rain they forecast and what is actually happening because if it is enough rain there's no need to plow because it wash away with enough rain. It's not uncommon for me to be plowing/snowblowing/shoveling at midnight so I don't end up with frozen goop that can be there for a week or ten days. No Big Deal for the Jeep. The Honda Fit sucks in the snow.
BTDT! Didn't plow the roads because it was suppose to help it from getting slippery. Instead we had 4" of frozen down ice had to use a grader to scrape it off. Go forward ten years the boss told us not to plow the snow off the roads because it was going to change to freezing rain I continued to plow. Some of the other crews did not I spent the next several days cutting ice with the grader on their roads.
