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I went home this past friday (from philly to the jersey shore) for an ugly sweater party my cousins were throwing. I planned on staying the weekend, but my GF called up from philly saying she needed to stay at my place saturday night because her mom wouldn't be able to pick her up because of the blizzard. I look up the weather and sure enough it's gunna snow all day... and the worst of it will be this thin strip from where I am on the shore, to Philly.... great... it said it didn't pick up until 2pm, so I decided to play it safe and leave home at 8:30 and give me lots of time. (since she had to be out of her dorms by 3pm.)
So I hug my folks goodbye the next morning and make my trek out. the roads were terrible, as I expected, but the snow was light and I was in no rush to get to philly. I could go 30MPH the whole way and would still have plenty of time to spare. but the idiots I ran into on the way was... amazing.
it has been a while since we have had this much snowfall at one time, so I guess people forgot hot to drive in the snow. about 15 minutes out of town I got this big hulking SUV riding right up behind me.... I swore up and down about how much of an idiot he was and flipped him off. he proceeded to pass me on the right, nearly loosing control doing so (because there was a lip of snow inbetween the lanes) and pass me as if snow wasn't there.... ok... I hate people in SUV's, because they think they are made for the snow, when they are not. they are gimped SUV's with normal tires, so they handle just as badly in the snow as a normal car does. I could tell he didn't have all wheel drive because when he almost lost it one of his wheels was spinning wildly while the rest were just kinda free floating. they don't realize you need to change a bunch of things on an SUV to even make it suitable for off roading, especially with the tires.
ok... 2 hours pass and I am half way to philly. I have been behind a 4 door sadan for a while and we have been cliping in about 30-40mph depending on the road, so smooth sailing in my book. eventually I lose my traction buddy and I am all alone on route 70. as I come up to a light (green for me) i see in the corner of my eye a buick speed up to the turn right lane and looking like her was gunna go... or atleast going way too fast to stop. I honk my horn and he aburptly stops and raises his arms in frustration at me. I was amazed he was able to stop, but i have a feeling if I didn't honk, he wouldn't have.
3 hours pass... I'm getting closer to philly and am now in cherry hill. mall territory. it being the weekend before xmas everyone had to shop no matter how bad it was outside. being the smart shopper I am, I did it all online and 3 weeks ago. by this time route 70 turned from a 2 lane into a 6 lane... or a 4 lane since all lines were lost in the snow and everyone was kinda... scattered where there were tire tracks to follow safely. but again, this is where I ran into more tailgaters in my whole trip. normal cars, SUV's, trucks, they all would tailgate me or anyone going under 35 mph at points. as if there was no snow and couldn't understand why people were going so slow. I'm sure they caused quite a few accidents and I witnessed alot of them fail to stop at intersections and just coast through against their will. they were lucky it was right when it turned red and not while the cross traffic was in full speed.
Not to mention the whole ride up, the sheer number of people without lights on, was astounding. the worst was with people in white cars with absolutly no lights on. with only about 50-20ft of visibility, those cars were near invisible. I tried to flash a few people, with my brights and hazards (ones behind me) but apparently those signals are lost on people. I have always known those signals to mean your lights aren't on, or a police officer was coming up. but these people just seemed to ignore it.
I finally made it into the city and most of the main roads were bearable, though my neighborhood was a disaster. I couldn't parallel park well because the snow was throwing up my perception of the curb, so i got frustrated... and got out and pushed my car (literally) into place. it was so icy that I was able to do it with relative ease. we then shuvled my walk way to my house 3 times in the night while it was snowing to avoid the ice the next day. and come next day, our walkway was completly clear, while I watched everyone bashing shuvles into ice on the walkway because they didn't do what we did. tsk tsk.
it was... a long day.
So I hug my folks goodbye the next morning and make my trek out. the roads were terrible, as I expected, but the snow was light and I was in no rush to get to philly. I could go 30MPH the whole way and would still have plenty of time to spare. but the idiots I ran into on the way was... amazing.
it has been a while since we have had this much snowfall at one time, so I guess people forgot hot to drive in the snow. about 15 minutes out of town I got this big hulking SUV riding right up behind me.... I swore up and down about how much of an idiot he was and flipped him off. he proceeded to pass me on the right, nearly loosing control doing so (because there was a lip of snow inbetween the lanes) and pass me as if snow wasn't there.... ok... I hate people in SUV's, because they think they are made for the snow, when they are not. they are gimped SUV's with normal tires, so they handle just as badly in the snow as a normal car does. I could tell he didn't have all wheel drive because when he almost lost it one of his wheels was spinning wildly while the rest were just kinda free floating. they don't realize you need to change a bunch of things on an SUV to even make it suitable for off roading, especially with the tires.
ok... 2 hours pass and I am half way to philly. I have been behind a 4 door sadan for a while and we have been cliping in about 30-40mph depending on the road, so smooth sailing in my book. eventually I lose my traction buddy and I am all alone on route 70. as I come up to a light (green for me) i see in the corner of my eye a buick speed up to the turn right lane and looking like her was gunna go... or atleast going way too fast to stop. I honk my horn and he aburptly stops and raises his arms in frustration at me. I was amazed he was able to stop, but i have a feeling if I didn't honk, he wouldn't have.
3 hours pass... I'm getting closer to philly and am now in cherry hill. mall territory. it being the weekend before xmas everyone had to shop no matter how bad it was outside. being the smart shopper I am, I did it all online and 3 weeks ago. by this time route 70 turned from a 2 lane into a 6 lane... or a 4 lane since all lines were lost in the snow and everyone was kinda... scattered where there were tire tracks to follow safely. but again, this is where I ran into more tailgaters in my whole trip. normal cars, SUV's, trucks, they all would tailgate me or anyone going under 35 mph at points. as if there was no snow and couldn't understand why people were going so slow. I'm sure they caused quite a few accidents and I witnessed alot of them fail to stop at intersections and just coast through against their will. they were lucky it was right when it turned red and not while the cross traffic was in full speed.
Not to mention the whole ride up, the sheer number of people without lights on, was astounding. the worst was with people in white cars with absolutly no lights on. with only about 50-20ft of visibility, those cars were near invisible. I tried to flash a few people, with my brights and hazards (ones behind me) but apparently those signals are lost on people. I have always known those signals to mean your lights aren't on, or a police officer was coming up. but these people just seemed to ignore it.
I finally made it into the city and most of the main roads were bearable, though my neighborhood was a disaster. I couldn't parallel park well because the snow was throwing up my perception of the curb, so i got frustrated... and got out and pushed my car (literally) into place. it was so icy that I was able to do it with relative ease. we then shuvled my walk way to my house 3 times in the night while it was snowing to avoid the ice the next day. and come next day, our walkway was completly clear, while I watched everyone bashing shuvles into ice on the walkway because they didn't do what we did. tsk tsk.
it was... a long day.