Winter Driving Amnesia

[BrenDAnn]

So, winter has struck once again, as it usually does this time of year, here in the Hawkeye State, and, as happens every year, people seem to get amnesia when it comes to winter driving. They seem to forget that you need to slow down, allow extra room between yourself and the car in front of you, and just use caution in general. It snowed most of the day Thursday, and I needed to go out Christmas shopping (yes, needed--I couldn't find any of the 500 sets of clear lights we have around here), and so I ventured out in the seasonal weather. The whole way to the store and back, people were riding my bumper and passing me. Perhaps I was being overly cautious, but I'd prefer not to be the one everyone sees on the news that ended up upside down in the ditch, thank you very much! All over the news there are reports of people going into ditches, even one woman rolling her Blazer. All I want to know is why? Why, when you live in a state that gets snow EVERY FUCKING YEAR, do you suddenly forget how to drive when said snowfall arrives??

[AccountingDrone]

So, winter has struck once again, as it usually does this time of year, here in the Hawkeye State, and, as happens every year, people seem to get amnesia when it comes to winter driving. They seem to forget that you need to slow down, allow extra room between yourself and the car in front of you, and just use caution in general. It snowed most of the day Thursday, and I needed to go out Christmas shopping (yes, needed--I couldn't find any of the 500 sets of clear lights we have around here), and so I ventured out in the seasonal weather. The whole way to the store and back, people were riding my bumper and passing me. Perhaps I was being overly cautious, but I'd prefer not to be the one everyone sees on the news that ended up upside down in the ditch, thank you very much! All over the news there are reports of people going into ditches, even one woman rolling her Blazer. All I want to know is why? Why, when you live in a state that gets snow EVERY FUCKING YEAR, do you suddenly forget how to drive when said snowfall arrives??

No idea, but last year our roommate reported that the crown princess of East Kingdom [SCA] said that she was thrilled she got an SUV as she was able to drive there in a storm at 50 miles an hour, even though there was no visibility [Phlip reported that when she was driving there, and the snowfall hit visibilty dropped to about 25 FEET ]

See, I grew up in the western NY snow belt. I learned to drive in the snow. I respect Mother Nature and I fear all the other drivers on the road

Although there is this one weather guy on tv here, who I wish would get fired, or move to Buffalo for a few winters to learn about winter conditions. In CT we pretty much do not have a winter. We get a tiny snowfall and it melts away pretty much within a couple days. Every damned year he gets these panic attacks if there is a snowflake on his windshield when he comes in in the morning. He panics and his sheeple followers panic and all of a sudden with less than a quarter inch of snow on the road the traffic all drops to about 5 miles per hour. If the temp is hovering around 20, he panics about black ice. Unfortunately black ice needs either well below 0 fahrenheit or just hovering at 32-34 fahrenheit to form.

I love it when I go home to visit and it snows. The traffic just sort of slows from 80 down to 60 ... instead of coming to a complete crawl for no good reason.

[smalltownclerk]

I live in the lake effect snow belt of Lake Michigan in lower Michigan. I, too, have learned how to drive in snowy, icy, windy weather. When I used to have to commute 15 miles to work every day, I had all sorts of 4-wheel drives passing me, only to be seen in the ditch a mile up. There's one tv station here, also that goes into panic mode when it snows. We only get about 100 inches of snow a year. I just want to say, "quit panicing, people!" It's going to snow, we'll live through it. Just remember to pick up your milk, eggs, bread, and toilet paper on your way home and you'll be fine.

[blas]

Last week, we had the "sugar" snow almost all week (just hits and misses here and there, nothing really to make a mess) and then on Friday, unexpectedly, it just kept snowing and snowing.......it really only snowed about an inch or so, but that sugar snow can be a real pain on busy streets.

See, with sugar snow, on deserted roads, it just blows away. On busy roads, it gets pounded down and down and gets slick.

Bf and I had to cancel our plans after I decided the roads were too crappy to be tootling all over town. We went out to eat and I was having a hard time getting up a small hill to go to Applebees.

On the way back to his place, we stopped at an intersection where some kid had taken the right turn way too quickly and had smacked into the cement median thingy that the stoplight sits on.

An SUV had been tailgating me ever since Applebees, and even after seeing that accident, and yes, truly, the roads WERE not that safe....it still tailgated me and HONKED at me when I slowed down way beforehand to make a turn.

I mean, the roads were so crappy even in that little snow that, when the light turned green, I just let off the brake, didn't even touch the gas pedal, and the ice was pulling on my tires and I was having a hard time getting through.

[LillFilly]

Around here people panic at the first flake and start salting. Which is fine, but they drive like normal, thinking the salt protects them. I've seen people drop to 15MPH below the limit in the rain, but they go like crazy through the snow. I see so many winter accidents it's not even funny, and always in the same couple of places.

[Stormraven]

I grew up in Kansas. We could get some snow, and most of us learned to drive in it. I currently live in CA - the SF Bay Area, to be precise. I fear what would happen if we ever did get snow - even a light dusting would probably result in twenty car pileups.

[Magpie]

The first snowfall of the year always slows all traffic to a crawl as people remember how to drive in the winter. I know a number of people who find it incredibly annoying that everyone else seems to forget over the 8-9 months since the last major storm. I'll take my skis if I'm going somewhere and I know that the sidewalks won't get ploughed in that time, and I've had people yell from their car windows that they'll buy the skis, because I'm moving that much faster than they are (remember, this is my first time out for the year too, so I'm hardly at peak form). One of these days I'll take them up on it, if I'm using my old beat up skis...

[mikoyan29]

Gah winter driving. I always wonder why the side of the road is littered with SUV's after a huge snowfall. and then it dawns on me as I look in my rearview mirror and see the reverse Ford, Chevy Bowtie or Dodge Ram staring at me. Meanwhile, the person in front of me only wants to do 30. Me, I just want to drive a safe speed where I'm not fishtailing.

[Cat]

In CT we pretty much do not have a winter. We get a tiny snowfall and it melts away pretty much within a couple days. Every damned year he gets these panic attacks if there is a snowflake on his windshield when he comes in in the morning. He panics and his sheeple followers panic and all of a sudden with less than a quarter inch of snow on the road the traffic all drops to about 5 miles per hour. If the temp is hovering around 20, he panics about black ice. Unfortunately black ice needs either well below 0 fahrenheit or just hovering at 32-34 fahrenheit to form.

I love it when I go home to visit and it snows. The traffic just sort of slows from 80 down to 60 ... instead of coming to a complete crawl for no good reason.

How long have you lived in CT? We've had some nasty winters here (granted, not as bad as our buddues Northward) but I remember many a time being snowed in w/ roughly 2-3' snow drifts

But yes, I hate to say CT boasts the some of the worst snow-drivers...like we al forgot last year

[eltf177]

Here in the Washington DC metro area drivers are a bad lot to start with, and ice/snow makes things a _lot_ worse.

My favorite was a 2-lane road packed bumper-to-bumper in morning 'rush' hour traffic in January. Mr. SUV punched the gas to run the east/west light. He made it, and you can guess where this is going. Hit the brakes and found out snowy pavement doesn't decrease your stopping distance. Took out at least six cars in front of him, I was going south through the intersection and quickly went through before the inevidable road closure happened. I'm sure there were a _lot_ of angry commuters that morning, not to mention Mr. SUV's insurance company!

[BrenDAnn]

We're due for a pretty big snow storm starting after midnight tonight, going through Wednesday. Luckily, I'll get to miss this one, as I have tomorrow off, and plan on staying put and just watching it snow, but I'm sure the news will be full of nothing but "a wreck here", "a pile-up there", etc. My father taught me the rules of winter driving when I first got my license. Slow down, don't hit your brakes, don't tailgate, etc. My cousin, who I work with, however...not so much. It was snowing last night, enough to muck up the roads, and I told him to be careful leaving work to go home. His response was a snorted laugh and a sarcastic "Yeah...sure." and he proceeded to tell me it was no fun being careful. No, but it's no fun ending up in the damn ditch either, fucktard!

[AccountingDrone]

How long have you lived in CT? We've had some nasty winters here (granted, not as bad as our buddues Northward) but I remember many a time being snowed in w/ roughly 2-3' snow drifts

But yes, I hate to say CT boasts the some of the worst snow-drivers...like we al forgot last year

Moved here in 1990. 3 foot snow drifts, come on. I used to sled out of a third floor window in western NY as a kid in the 60s. 3 feet is what we used to have on the ground commonly. If it snowed 6 inches we did not miss school for a snow day it commonly took at least a foot overnight.

mrDrone did sub school here in the early 80s and has commented on how the weather was warmer in the winters here in the 80s compared when he was here in 84/85.

There was a reason I could make it in to work driving 50 miles one way when people living less than a mile away couldn't make it in. Wimps.

[blas]

We are preparing for the first huge snowstorm of the season tomorrow and into Wednesday. It looks like a whole bunch of states are going to be suffering this blasphemy!

I don't have much faith in people.

Last Friday, there was the accident I described, and last night at work I spoke with a few weekend coworkers who said that they saw multiple accidents last Friday night on the way to work, and this wasn't even an inch of snow....and it was sugar snow, not wet packy snowman snow.

[mikoyan29]

I'm not going to worry until I actually see the snow on the ground. One nice thing about living in Michigan is that sometimes the Lakes veer the stuff south, so Indiana and Ohio get hit.... Not that INdiana and Ohio don't deserve that. However, it does tend to get made up that when we do get hit, it's pretty nasty.

[BarbieGirl]

My only experience driving in the snow (before today) has been the Seattle area. And let me tell you that sucks! They refuse to salt/sand the roads because it will hurt the eco system too much, but they have like maybe 10 plows for all of king county. If it snows there WILL be black ice under it. Last year I braved it a little since I actually had a good suv with all wheel drive compared to the crap I was driving before, but mostly I would just hunker down and not go anywhere because I didn't want to deal with it all. But today it snowed here in Boise and I had to get out or I would go insane (DH is in Mexico for 10 days for work and I'm stuck here with 2 toddlers) And it was a pleasant drive. Nice and flat not much in the way of ice and everyone slowed down a bit and I didn't see anyone tailgating. I kind of enjoyed myself!

(I will get semi panic attacks in severe weather, June of 05 DH and I were driving in Utah and it started raining and snowing really hard and we hydroplaned a couple times and ended up flipping our car three times and landing on the other side of the freeway)