[thackney]

Another thing to consider. As the ice is forming (and during breakup) Separate ice pieces, some massive, get pushed up onto shore. Combined with wave and ice action, it rarely is is a smooth surface to transition to shore as you may find on your pond or lake. It may often look like this:

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Definitely not ideal driving conditions. I saw piles of ice like this in Michigan City Indiana. I stopped on the way through just to see if the lake would freeze.

I guess the wind piled it up, some of those chunks were bigger than houses.