Wintertime! Yearly snow driving gripe
 

I would like to renew my every year complaint about people who do not know how to handle their car in snow, drive way too fast, apply way too much power and spin their tires all the time, and never clean their windows off so they have no idea who and what is around them. :D

It drives me nuts to see people going about 50mph down my street in slick snow, distracted, texting, fiddling with the radio, yelling at their kid, and unable to stop or turn on low traction tires. I live on a 45 degree bend in the street which is semi blind as well, and im up high and can look down into most of the cars. Down the street from the bend is a temple school. From my living room ive seen 3 or 4 fender benders this season as idiotic people speed down the straight part, and cut the corner only to run into the line of cars waiting to drop off their kids.

It only gets worse in snow. People if anything seem to be even more reckless. Saw another fender bender this morning. Roar up the street, apply the brakes, slide in the snow, hit the car in front of you, drop off your kid and exchange insurance info. No cars have been wrecked yet, but its pretty consistent that people will tap. Im waiting for some poor kid to get nailed by another parent

As a generalization (unsubstantiated claim of course), there are no worse snow drivers than southern New Englanders.

I am the a-hole driving way too slow in the snow. This is only my 2nd northern winter so I think I can be forgiven :D

You should be commended for driving responsibly! No need for forgiveness. ;)

I totally agree. We see just enough snow to assume we are experts in snow driving, and not enough to truly become experts.

Just because the road is iced and hasn't been cindered or salted and it's near white-out conditions does not mean we have to forfeit our god-given right to drive the posted speed limit. Jeez what a buncha weenies.

True dat! I was in my Suburban on the way to the hospital this morning to pick up my wife, following two ConnDOT plow trucks doing 50 on I-91, and we all got passed on the right by some DB in an Accord who just couldn't wait. Sliding and wagging his rear in the snow/slush combination cast off by the plows. I was really hoping that he'd eat the Jersey barrier. I'm sure he made it to his destination, pissing off and endangering many more folks along his way.

Clearly! :D

I love snowy days here. Quite literally, 50% of the drivers will get scared and call in sick. 45% are terrified and drive at 30-45 on the highway. %5 are transplants such as myself, and enjoy the now open road to cruise along.

I agree to all of the above.

However, I really appreciate fart can exhausts around this time of year. Especially when they're on WRX STi's and other four wheel drive "rally" vehicles. Whether they're warning me of the idiot approaching waaaaaaay too fast or calling out to the world "I'm an idiot!" revving, while trying to get their car out of the grassy median.:D

I'm glad I don't have to witness this. I'd have a stroke. It's bad enough in dry (well, non icy) conditions down here.

But, but they have 4wd!:rolleyes:

My snow rants===
They must actually teach these behaviors in driver's ed, because they happen so often--at least here in the mid-Atlantic:
1) STOP, and force all behind you to stop at the bottom of all long grades. You lose precious momentum, and then slide all over the road, and into opposing traffic trying to get traction from a standing start on an uphill grade.
2) Find the critical intersections in your neighborhood ( there must be listing on the web by zip code)--maneuver your car to block all traffic, put on your 4-way flashers, lock, and abandon the vehicle.

And not quite so egregious.. drive too slow--like 8-12 mph in the "fast lane" of Interstate highways. If you are only comfortable at 8-12 mph, then PLEASE move to the right, and allow others to drive at the reckless speed of 15-20 mph.

Oh sheesh (we were out on the roads yesterday). All this reminds me of what BC said earlier this year.

Slow in the snow?!?!

I'm that guy that's completely sideways in the snow - taking up two lanes.

Need to fine tune my driving skills.

I'm with you on these.

On my way home from Columbia on Tuesday I spent 20 minutes getting two miles from my office. Head on collision at a stoplight. Yesterday, as it was snowing pretty hard I did the same exact thing. Same light, same type of accident, but now it was in snow. 35 minutes to go the same two miles.

On the way home last night I saw two suburbans off the road in ditches, both were in 35 mph zones, no curves or hills in that section of road. Five more cars seen on the way home, yet I had no traction issues on my 18 miles commute over back farm country roads.

This morning was another story. After 4.5 inches of snow I made it a good ten miles before snow drift caught me off guard. 25 mph and braking too little too late turned it into a tank slapper, I ended up facing the wrong direction off the left side of the road in a field, right where the hard shoulder would normally be. I got pulled back on the road and had no other issues getting in this morning.

Oh, and here's a rant I haven't seen yet: cars covered with snow.

I mean, c'mon! It's amazing how many cars I see motoring around still covered in snow! I don't care what the car is, there shouldn't be snow on it! Not on the hood. Not on the trunk. Not on the roof. All this snow magically disappears from your car in a few days because it flies off on the highway! It either comes off gradually, blinding people behind you while you create your own personal blizzard or it comes off in chunks while probably killing the nun driving behind you or something. Semis are even worse.

I didn't have as much ground to complain on before when we only had the Corolla, but now we have a Sienna minivan with a permanent roof rack that is a PAIN to clear, but I do it anyway.

The other thing is people with snow on the hood. If you wouldn't drive with your hood unlatched, you shouldn't drive with two feet of snow on it either! And the hood is easy to clear off! EASY!

Probably the worst thing I've seen is a student leaving Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA... the whole car was covered in about a foot of snow, with the exception of a 3' x 3' hole in the windshield for her to see through. :eek:

Get the snow off your car!
Get the snow off your car!
Get the snow off your car!
Get the snow off your car!
Get the snow off your car!
Get the snow off your car!
Get the snow off your car!
Get the snow off your car!
[/RANT]
:silly:

I drive like a Grandma in the snow........

A crazy assed Grandma that is. :D:D:D

Does your car have a fart can exhaust? Because it should :D.

Duramax playing in the snow - YouTube

Driving in the snow! :D

It does my friend complete with skid marks. :D

I think it should be illegal to not sufficiently clear your car of snow/ice before driving it.

My family's first German Shepherd was killed because a teenager only wanted to clear a 2 x 1 ft "window" in the frost on his windshield. My father was jogging with him along the side of the road, the dog on the inside. So I have a personal problem with inconsiderate jerks.

The last time someone double parked me it was in the winter. The ice made it really easy to help them move their car :P


Remind me to buy you a beer if I'm ever in your neck of the woods :D

http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/b...5529868517.jpg

You'll have to explain that one to me :o.

Absolutely.

Oh man, that stinks. That just stinks.

Driving without visibility is driving impaired... I don't know why people do it.

I suppose people drive drunk, too, though...

It is in PA, I would love to see someone get ticketed for it.

On a side note, I've solved Maryland's tax shortage problem-make using turn signals, snow buildup, etc. a $200 fine.

I seriously need to get a dashcam rigged up down here, the beltway is crazy

Should be self explanatory, think about it for a while.... fart..... underwear..... skid marks....... :D

It is illegal in NJ ;)

http://www.nj.gov/oag/hts/ice-and-snow.html

" I had no idea....
http://www.nj.com/bayonne/index.ssf/2011/01/did_you_clear_off_all_the_snow.html

I had never heard that term before, but I learn from Google every day.

You win :D.
Wow. Is that the first positive thing I've heard about Jersey?

All you need to know about New Jersey is that it's free to drive into the state, but they collect a toll when you decide to leave.

I am glad I don't get to drive in it much.

It is bad enough waiting for the E300 to get up to temp when it is 27 dF around here. The lovely Ms engatwork tells me how much she likes the seat heaters in the 05 E class;).

There is a big dip in the road between my house and work. Whenever it is snowing, I stop at the top and give everybody ahead of me a few minutes to drive down into the hole and get stuck, then I motor the SD down one side and up the other, in whatever lane is clear. I've actually seen idiots step out and hold up their hands for me to stop so I can join their dumbass party.... those people move pretty quick when they finally get the message that the old Benz is just passing through.;)

I'm that guy on purpose....:cool:
But only when those lanes are not being used by others...

Rear wheel drive and slippery roads = Fun!

Wife and I were doing donuts in movie parking lot last night. Awesome! WRX still has summer tires, having Dunlop snows put on right now. Bring on the snow *****es!!

oh you know it!back in the early 80's my home town of about 8,000 pretty much rolled up the streets at night and there was a parking ban overnite.i had an old 65 pontiac catalina 2 dr post.we used to go out about midnight and drift thru town powerslidding around corners,what a blast.

An illustration of how much we, as a culture, have changed. In the winter of 1966 I was in my senior year of HS. I also was beginning to drive myself to school. 10 miles from school--a 1/2 hour drive or an hour+ on the bus.
It started snowing overnight, and about 4 inches were on the roads as I started for school driving the hand-me-down 1960 Ford Fairlane 500--this was not a mid-size in 1960, but a model in the large Ford line--in fact the widest car Ford ever made(Illegally so in several states). 292 V8 2 speed automatic read drive with bias ply snow tires.
The trip to school took over 2 hours due to the snarled traffic, and they closed schools after lunch.
About 8 inches on the roads by the time we got back home.
No accident, no driver ed. Just be careful. It was a good lesson.

Today schools would have been closed before anyone even left their houses.

Today schools would be closed the night before, before the first flake fell. ;)

Can't fault the schools for that.
Considerably more congestion on the roads now than 1960's and every other car is a late-for-work-douche who would gladly try and pass the line of cars behind the school bus.
Not to mention the sue-happy mentality that would prevail if little junior's bus was involved in a minor snow-related accident.... he would be scarred for life...:rolleyes:

When I was a kid, I had to walk to school through 3' of snow, uphill both ways....;)

People forget that it's that simple-just slow down. You can get around in an unladen 2wd truck with bald tires if you go slow enough

meh.... not always. Certainly not if you have to stop for tweedle-dumb who couldn't drive through flurries with a HumVee...
I've lived in places where you simply were not getting home unless you had four wheel drive or chains, and a pick-up better have weight in the back or even the chains won't do it.

All valid reasons....but--what are we teaching our kids? Then--should we be teaching that to our kids?

The bold part is the primary reason.

Somehow folks in...say...Buffalo or Aroostook County or MN or pick any location with regular, real amounts of snowfall can figure out how to get a school bus around without incident. Or maybe they just don't get sued as often?

Might very well be an indictment of the mentality of the fine residents of the mid-Atlantic/southern New England states. :o

I will say this one thing is defense of some of my Mid-Atlantic brethren....
The snow here is ofter of a different character than snows further north, maybe more ice crystals? I don't know what is the difference, but friends who moved here after living in the snow belt--and mocking drivers here, remark that the snow is "different".
Still, that doesn't account for the stupid behavior of drivers, or more correctly, impeders of traffic flow.

No, it's not. I'm from a bordertown with Canada and MD snow is the same as Canadian snow.

My theory is that we don't get enough rain, which means the junk dripped/ sprayed/ ground into the roads starts to loosen up when the road gets wet. Since it never really gets cold here, the snows are always wet and melt quickly. Bam, wet road, loose grime, lower temperatures-you've got reduced traction on the road.

Add in panicky drivers who drive too fast and brake too late, then you're all set for some great people watching.

On a brighter note, I did encounter someone who let me have their parking space the other day AND they blocked a "spot stealer" for me, so we're not all bad down here

There is no defense of my southern-New England brethren and sistren on the roads, the majority just $uck driving. Period.

Not me, of course. :D

You think it's bad there, Philly is at least 10x worse. Worse drivers to start, then throw in clueless and generally a pissed off demeanor, mix with snow and there's real reason not to go out on the roads during or after storms.

I have no problem believing that whatsoever! :D

straight forward, those regions have the yearly snowfall to justify the investment in the equipment to handle it.

Lots of places dont, and don't have a fleet of plow trucks available to handle an unusually heavy snowfall.

If one thing is definitely true, its that you are damned if you do, and damned if you don't. Lets say the township of swampyankeedom buys a whole bunch of plows after a hard winter where the roads didn't get cleared and people flipped out, and then suffers 3 or 4 mild winters where the plows didn't get used and people flipped out at the cost involved. :D

You'd think that increased prevalence of ABS, 4WD, DSC, Traction Control, etc would improve things. Somehow, it doesn't really.

I think the problem is that all of those systems just manage traction -- they don't create it. Appropriate tires create traction. 20-30 years ago, it was common to swap on winter tires in November -- now, it's less so.

I haven't owned a FWD car in years -- it's been RWD "clunkers" since 2003 or so. So I spend the extra few hundred for a set of snow tires and mount them in winter. Haven't had a problem getting around yet, even when chumps in SUVs are sliding all over the road.

I grew up in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. Yes, there were plenty of powerful people from Washington living there and yes it's one of the richest counties in the nation, and yes we had plenty of plows and they'd be out the night before. But it seemed like the School Superintendent would close or delay school if he even smelled snow the night before.

I walked about 3/4 mile to Middle School and while I walked (I got a car my senior year) to High school it was 1.34 miles (I counted my steps many times). I can personally think of at least 8 times where I walked to school only to discover it was closed.

I don't know of a single youth who walks to school these days.

But in Canada the snow probably stays snow.

We get "wintry mix" here in the DC area, which is the weather station's nice way of saying "freezing falling crap."

It falls, melts that day or the next, then freezes again, then turns into slush. The problem I think is that it doesn't appear to be frozen so people think it won't effect traction.

+ idiots.