snow and ice

Last night, driving home over a couple of inches of compacted snow and a layer of ice underneath our van's tires lost traction causing it to slide towards a curb and a pole. While we were sliding, a very bright yellow triangle with an exclamation point lit up in our dashboard. The indicator was bright enough to make me shift my attention away from controlling the van to see what it was complaining about. To my aggravation, it was indicating that the tires could not get traction. "No sh**, Sherlock!", I blurted. I didn't have any problems getting the van under control; we didn't wreck or hit anything.