Rule No. 1 - Do not drive unless your journey is really necessary. This is common sense! It may be good fun driving on a skid pan, but there are no obstructions such as farmer’s tractors, 40 ton trucks and other road users on a skid pan. Nor are there dry stonewalls, trees, cliffs, rivers, lamp posts for you to hit if you get it wrong. Simply, if you don't need to use your car, then don't.

Perhaps though there's no alternative, how can you then avoid hitting all those aforementioned obstruction? Put it simply, you can't guarantee not doing so, but you can reduce the chances.

1. On the arrival of snow or ice find a nice empty car park at the first opportunity and do some deliberate skids. Just drive into a big open space,  give it full lock while hitting the brakes. When the dizziness subsides you will know what causes a skid. Now, do it again and again trying to control the skids by releasing the brakes and steering into the skids. Now, when it happens for real you will know what to do.
2. Quadruple your braking distance. You would be amazed at how far you can slide on black ice! Should some joker then think he will fit between you and the vehicle in front, fine, don’t call him a 'numpty!' He can't hear you, just back off again.
3. Never do anything sudden. Sudden braking, hard turning, acceleration will all precipitate a skid. If in spite of great care you go into a skid, then always turn into the skid. In spite of the fact that you may now be heading for a darned great truck, don’t panic and break, you will just lock the wheels and rotate the faster. If all else fails try pumping the breaks gently while turning into the skid. This has a better chance of slowing you down than simply standing on everything as you were taught to do in an emergency on dry roads by your driving instructor.
4. Maintain a steady speed. The actual speed depends very much on the conditions and the location but in general 20 to 25 mph is slow enough to avoid major damage in case of a collision and fast enough to let you plough through small drifts etc. Too slow and you will get stuck on the first hill you approach, too fast and you will have some explaining to do to the traffic cop after the inevitable.
5. Finally, remember rule no. 1! If there is an alternative, such as the Metro, railways or aircraft, leave the roads to those who have no choice.

A couple of other tips for your safety:
Carry a shovel, thermos flask, blanket, length of hose (if stuck someplace in deep snow your car will pretty soon become a large snow drift. Leave it and you will die of exposure, stick the hose out of the window and poke it up above the snow to give you air to breath), and something to eat that doesn't need cooking, just in case.