We survived! (Rant)

[TedH]

We got hit yesterday with one of those once every few years winter storms, as Im sure a lot of you all did too. I just wish people would use their heads. Really, people have no clue how to drive, where to drive, or even IF they should TRY to drive! There was plenty of warning, we all knew this was coming. My 6 mile drive home from work last night took an hour and 40 minutes, waiting for cars to get pulled out of the ditch. Rant off.


Here's a shot of Interstate 70 at about 4:00 yesterday afternoon.

[Bill in Oregon]

Wow, wotta mess! Glad you made it home OK Ted!

[Pitchy]

That looks bad, glad your home and safe.

[AJMD429]

I'll never forget as a 20-something driving on glaze ice and thinking how wimpy everyone else was; usually people whiz by me because I'm cautious, but I was going about 12 miles an hour or so and everyone much slower. After about ten miles on a perfectly flat, straight stretch of road, not touching the steering wheel or brakes or varying my acceleration, I suddenly did about three 360 degree spinouts and wound up facing rearwards just off the road in the median... No big deal as I was driving a big old 4-door Cougar built like a tank and there was nothing to hit, and once off pavement traction was fine, but I realized all those other drivers I'd been thinking so stupid were way smarter than me.

[Nath]

Hey, we got them idiots too over here!

N.

[olyinaz]

Yep! "I can make it through that wash..." is my favorite idiot move.

[stew71]

My favorites are the idiots who put chains on the rear wheels of a front-wheel drive car. Or the knuckleheads who think they can drive their 4x4 pickups in the snow and ice at 55 MPH then wonder why they still slid into the ditch.

It gets really bad when a snow storm blows through the Lake Tahoe area and all of the Bay Area flatlanders who can't drive in winter conditions head for the mountains.

Glad you made it home safely!

[damienph]

We were prepared for much heavier snow accumulation than we actually got. It started snowing at about 5am yesterday. we got about three inches then it stopped for a couple of hours, started again and got an additional three or so. Weatherchannel had predicted 8-12" for us.
The worst part was the blowing snow limiting visibility. It took an hour and ten minutes to drive my 20 miles to work. Very hard to see where the edge of the highway ended and the ditch started.

Working for the power company, the weather is NEVER an excuse to stay home.

7am Thursday morning.



This morning at 7am, a nice, sunny 7 degrees.

[1894c]

just to let you guys know what's coming--we have a big old wind and rain storm here on the coast of the Puget Sound, which will translate into 2 feet+ of snow in the Cascade Mts., and if there is any moisture or big wind left we'll be sending it your way...ENJOY... :)

[new pig hunter]

wow, what a traffic mess ...... and being in SoCal, I am well-versed in what that looks like.

Cheers,

Carl

[Sixgun]

99% of the time, its women driving their new SUV who don't have a clue. "Oh! We have a new SUV and its great in the snow" Retarts....probably voted for obama.----------Sixgun

[Griff]

99% of the time, its women driving their new SUV who don't have a clue. "Oh! We have a new SUV and its great in the snow" Retarts....probably voted for obama.----------Sixgun

I love folks with 4WD. NOT!!!!

[Ysabel Kid]

Ouch! Glad you are okay Ted!

[TedH]

99% of the time, its women driving their new SUV who don't have a clue. "Oh! We have a new SUV and its great in the snow" Retarts....probably voted for obama.----------Sixgun

I love folks with 4WD. NOT!!!!

Yep, saw as many 4x4's slid off the road as cars. "Hey I got 4 wheel drive, don't matter if it's slick or not!" Idjits.

[BenT]

First off all new car tires are hard as rock, less roll resistance better mileage. If you live in a winter climate,buy snow tires.

The other thing that drives me nuts is people with 4 wheel drive that don't use it. They will sit there and spin their tires at a green light , by the time it turns red , only a couple of cars make it through. This backs up traffic. It's usually just a button to push. Push the button ! If you aren't going to use the 4X4 on a crappy snow day when will you use it.

I have no problem with people knowing their limitations. I come across some people going 30mph on the county road on my way to work, it's usually a pop can car with sucky tires. I'm fine with that, I go around them in a safe manner, but I would rather have that than a bunch of cars in the ditch.

[piller]

About 25 years ago I was going back to college after the Christmas break and for whatever odd reason, I looked ahead and actually noticed that there were a bunch of cars off the road at one place. I was on a 4 lane divided highway and in the far right lane. I slowed down by taking my foot off the gas. A driver in a Mustang coming up behind me accelerated and passed me so fast I felt my big Ford LTD shake from the wind of the Mustang. About 100 yards ahead he suddenly hit the black ice and spun about 3 full spins and went off the road backwards. He crossed the median, the other 2 lanes of traffic, a ditch, took out a fencepost and about 1/4 of a mile of barbed wire, and was stopped by a tree. I had time to see this because I had slowed down to a crawl by the time I hit the ice. I also noticed a man with a Tow Truck out there making money. If I hadn't been looking ahead for some reason, I would have been there, too. I was 21 at the time and that was not my normal driving behavior. Maybe my Guardian Angel had just slapped me upside the head and told me to look. The last big snow we had here in the Dallas area was about 12 inches, and I had no trouble with it as I drive a Camry now. That is, no trouble until I got to my street and found that PillHer had gone and cleaned every driveway on the block and thrown the snow into the road. I had to leave my car at the end of the street for the night since the pile of snow in the road was too big for even the City of Red Oak to remove without the use of a front end loader. It took 10 scoops for the pile PillHer made to be cleared. She was very proud of her work. We live on a horseshoe shaped road and she had spent the entire day making 2 piles, 1 at each entrance. I asked her how she thought we were to get home? She said, "Well, I got the driveway cleared for you."

[Griff]

... PillHer had gone and cleaned every driveway on the block and thrown the snow into the road. I had to leave my car at the end of the street for the night since the pile of snow in the road was too big for even the City of Red Oak to remove without the use of a front end loader. It took 10 scoops for the pile PillHer made to be cleared. She was very proud of her work. We live on a horseshoe shaped road and she had spent the entire day making 2 piles, 1 at each entrance. I asked her how she thought we were to get home? She said, "Well, I got the driveway cleared for you."

Oh... I SO recognize that!

My earliest encounter with the slippery stuff I was 19, living/working in Omaha, NE, two jobs, and my second boss invited me out to his house for Christmas dinner. Anyway, I had a '50 Chevy sedan deliver with a '69 Z-28 302 & 4-spd... As I drove past the U of NE, the road drops about 100 feet, for about ¾ of mile. Snow tires, but no studs. I'd slowed to about 25, and was one of the very few cars in either direction on six lanes... about halfway down I felt I'd picked up too much speed for the stop light at the bottom... so I tapped my brakes... rear end slewed the left, I corrected... then slewed to the right... corrected again... then started a slow spin to the left that ended up being about 2 complete 360s... Luck entered the picture because altho' I was spinning, my direction of travel kept me on my side of the road, but completely uncontrolled. As I entered the intersection, the light turned green for me... and I came to a stop, facing as tho' I had made a right turn... Since I'd have had to make it a right turn there anyway... I proceeded in that direction... for about another mile where city maintenance had stopped plowing, so I turned around and went back to my lonely apt. and had my Christmas dinner with my landlord.

[Old Time Hunter]

What's the big deal????? And why would anyone worry about a four-wheeler's snow traveling capability.

Where I am from, we expect the four wheelers to get into the ditch and out of the way of the snowmobiles.

[Malamute]

I love 4wd, it's much better than 2wd of any sort on snowy roads. The problem is the driver. I think I've only owned one 2wd vehicle in the past 35 or so years.

All season tires are generally plenty for snow if they are decent tires. I about tore the back off a Bronco that was stuck in snow with my 3/4T Ford F250 with all season tires. I was pulling the guy out from behind in fairly deep snow. He wrapped the spare rope over his spare tire mounted on the rear door/tailgate. I said "I wouldnt do that" after he made a knot on his hitch and wrapped the spare rope around the spare tire. He said "it'll be OK". His knot came loose, I had great traction with my truck with the all seasons and 4wd, and about tore the skin off his tailgage from the spare tire mount. I never bought snow tires after that.

I chain up if it gets deep enough to start plowing snow with the axles, or too icy.

I dont mind driving in the snow, it's the other drivers I worry about.

[2ndovc]

We got the tail end of that system. about an inch of snow with a 1/4" of ice on top. I got on the highway and realized that was a mistake, next interchange the tail lights were gathering. I was able to get off the highway but could see about half dozen cars in the ditch. One of which had passed me going way faster that they should have been.

It's not just the 4 wheelers. The front wheelers are just as bad.

jb