Stay Off The Brakes - When descending a steep slope, the natural reaction is to hit the brakes. Often times this causes the tires to lose traction and the vehicle to slide wherever gravity and fate take it. With a manual transmission, it is easy to use compression braking to hold the vehicle back and keep it from going too fast. With an automatic this is more difficult, but you can still shift the transmission manually into a lower gear. If you do start sliding, point the front tires downhill and accelerate to straighten the vehicle out. It might seem counter-intuitive to hit the gas when you are headed downhill out of control, but this is the best way to regain traction and control.