Idiots driving on the first snow

[WTA]

Mine paid for it since the one that hit me kept on going and didn't even come back to see if I was ok.

In most states that would get someone arrested real fast. I know when I was a cop I would have tossed that driver in jail without question and he probably would never see his car again in that state either.

Not one single person stopped to help as a matter of fact. How nice the world has become lately.

 

[Bird]

In most states? I thought it was all states. Yep, failure to stop and leave ID at the scene of non-injury accidents or failure to stop and render aid at injury accidents will certainly get a driver in jail in Texas, as in other states, if or when he/she can be identified.

 

[MossRoad]

My cousin stopped to help a guy with a flat tire once. The guy stabbed him and took his car. I'll pull over in a safe place and call the police on the cell phone if I see something. I will check on folks after a wreck. But if they are out of the car, walking around, I usually wait until someone else stops so I have a witness.

As for snow driving... I got my permit when I turned 15 and drove with my folks for about a year. I had two snow seasons under my belt before I got my license. My mom would take me out in a parking lot at city park and do some donuts and skids then let me have a crack at it. We had a Volskwagon bus. I remember a cop stopping us and asking what we were doing. When he saw my mom in the car and she explained what we were doing, he looked kind of puzzled. I think he expected to find some stoneys in a VW van but was disappointed to find a parent teaching a child to drive. He kind of said, good idea, be careful and off he went.

About a year later I showed mom how to do donuts and parking brake 180s on dry pavement with dad's Nova... she wondered who taught me that?

 

[Bird]

Like most southerners, I guess, I'd always heard how folks from the south didn't know how to drive on snow and ice, and then we spent the winter of 1971-72 in the Chicago area and I found that I knew how to drive on snow and ice at least as well if not better than most of the locals. We don't have much snow down here, but we do periodically have ice storms, and yep, learning to do 360s without stopping was lots of fun when I was a teenager. Parking brake 180s were easy in the 1964 Ford sedans, and the first time I did one in a 1965 Ford sedan, the right corner of my back bumper chipped the asphalt a bit. I really liked the 1965 Fords, but those coil springs in the back instead of leaf springs made the back end a bit soft.

 

[Sigarms]

Like WTA, I've lived in numerous places, born in Maine (border of New Brunswick, pretty far up there) and now that I'm settled down, will be probably spending the rest of my life here in N.C.

First thought is it doesn't matter where you're from, driving in bad weather, you need common sense.

Yep, I hear it down here all the time how locals from the south don't know how to drive in snow. Personally, I don't think thats the case, because even if we're calling to get just an inch of snow down here, everyone runs to get milk and bread and then hides in their houses

Heck the Christmas parade got cancelled a couple years ago because they were calling for an inch of snow.

When I was in Syracuse, I heard a guy at the gym telling me how great his 4X4 jeep drove on the ice. I just had to laugh.

I did learn about "black ice" in Watertown, that's no fun to drive on, particularly when it sneaks up on you and you didn't realize the temperature drop.

I guess the problem that what most people don't realize that it's normally not the driving that will get you in trouble with the snow, but trying to stop. Only control you have over that is with your vehicle speed. Seems that most people that have four wheel drive really don't know how to use it in bad weather, or forget that four wheel drive really has no effect on your breaking (well, I guess all four wheels do slide at the same time).

Never forgot the time driving back to the parents up on I80 going east in Pa. I was in a 4X4 truck driving in four wheel drive going about 50 mph in the right lane. I swear, all these little cars just zipping past me in the snow covered left passing lane (while snowing VERY hard), then a couple miles down the road, guess what? There they are stuck in a ditch on the corner somewhere. I stopped for the first person, that was it. A normal six hour drive ran me close to ten hours, and I only did it because it was Christmas eve.

On I68, from Bruceton Mills going to Morgantown by Cooper rock state park, the road is very hilly. ALWAYS after a good snow there was at least one four wheel drive stuck at the bottom of one hill because they were going to fast and couldn't make the curve at the base. You think people would learn.

Now, where it gets real interesting is when you get to drive through your first "white out". For me, driving down from Watertown to Syracuse, got my first "white out driving experience" in I-81 outside of Pulaski. The question is do you stop or keep driving? and when you're driving and can't see anything, it can get real scary,particularly when just a second ago you knew there was a big rig right behind you.

One thing to keep in mind, I've found that down here, the municipalities don't have the snow removing equipment. Luckily, usually it's 50 degrees the next day so anything we get just melts away.

Funny though, driving home from a business meeting in Greensboro a a couple years ago on I-40. Snowing hard, snow covered that roads and I was in a 4X4 truck with not much traffic at night. Driving again around 50 MPH, another 4x4 passed me out on my left side. I never forgot thinking, "man, I must be getting old, he has a 4X4 and he's passing me out, must be getting scared in my old age". Sure enough, about four miles down the road, there is that same truck stuck in a ditch on the side of the road.

Honestly, I don't miss the snow. My wifes from Vermont and she feels the same way

 

[the_sandman_454]

I normally am the one parroting the "speed differential" kills versus high speeds. I pretty much keep that one available for reasonable road conditions.

There is no excuse for driving too fast for poor conditions though. Every moron I see doing that I can't resist hoping they end up in a ditch without taking anybody else out. Everybody forgets they can't stop on slippery surfaces even with 4wd. I suspect invariably the vehicle that impacts the other vehicle is the one to get a ticket of a minimum of 'failure to have your vehicle under control', maybe 'too fast for conditions' or other. Remember, the speed limit isn't a minimum, it's a maximum, and is expected to be considered reduced in inclement weather.

 

[scott_vt]

First thought is it doesn't matter where you're from, driving in bad weather, you need common sense.

I guess the problem that what most people don't realize that it's normally not the driving that will get you in trouble with the snow, but trying to stop.

Now, where it gets real interesting is when you get to drive through your first "white out". For me, driving down from Watertown to Syracuse, got my first "white out driving experience" in I-81 outside of Pulaski. The question is do you stop or keep driving? and when you're driving and can't see anything, it can get real scary,particularly when just a second ago you knew there was a big rig right behind you.

Afternoon Joe,
The common sense part is so very true !!! The problem is that common sense evaporated years ago especially when it comes to driving in bad weather !!!

When visibility gets impossible I just pull over and try and wait it out ! I got caught in a very bad snow squall going up through Mass on my way to my Vt property about 2 years ago and had to pull over because I just couldnt see anymore ! I waited for the squall to abate just a bit and finally a state sand truck came up the road and we were able to follow him to the Mass pike. I really knew I had to pull over because on the right side of the road was a river and there are no guard rails along that stretch going up through Sandisfield and Otis, Mass. I really didnt want to plunge my truck into those icy waters because I was too stubborn to pull over !

Yes, common sense really helps when its used !

 

[jwstewar]

I know the feeling on "Idiots" on the road. I had a pretty rough commute this morning. Left the house about 5:30 in our Honda. It was starting to snow but at this point the roads were just wet. Turned off our road (we live on the corner) and went maybe 200 yards. I was running around 50 (OK maybe I had gone more than 200 yards, but not far) then all of a sudden there is a deer standing beside the road. I slam the brakes on because I knew what it was going to do. The tires lock, but I'm still slowing down. I get right up beside the deer. He jumps right in front of me. Smack it pretty good. I pull over and call the patrol. They tell me it is going to be awhile. I tell them I'm going back home and I'll meet them there. They say fine. They show up about 6:15 or so at the trailer. Finally at 6:40 I leave for work again this time in my truck. I finally got to work about 9:20. Normally my trip is about an hour. I don't know how many cars I saw in ditches this morning. I should've just worked from home today.

 

[Sigarms]

When visibility gets impossible I just pull over and try and wait it out !

You know Scott, when I transfered to upstate NY as an adult (use to live in Rome as a child for a short time), all the locals warned me about a "white out".

Funny, because half the people told me I should keep driving at a reduced rate of speed if I hit a white out, and the other half telling me that I should stop dead in my tracks and wait it out. Something told me that if people have different opinons on what to do, this could cause a problem.

First time hitting one (white out), it was snowing like crazy but the road wasn't bad. Driving I could see what looked like a dark cloud ahead on the road. When I hit that "cloud", imagine being in your car being burried in 10' of snow. Car actually got dark inside and you were absolutely blind with a "blanket" of snow surrounding the car. Honestly, you couldn't even see outside the car where to pull over (even with the windshield wipers going on "fast", the front window went totally dark covered with snow). Hit that "cloud" doing about 40mph and it was one of the scariest rides of my life.

I'm sure it snows more elsewhere, but man, I was up in the Tug Hill area when they got around 80'' of snow in 24 hours, and if I remember correctly, over 90" in that one storm alone. Although I don't have the slopes down here like up there, it's a tradeoff I can live with.

I like it now when I can go for a run at the end of Feb in shorts and a t-shirt

 

[Bird]

The most miserable day of driving I ever had was March 26, 1991. We left Dallas early that morning and needed to get to Denver before stopping that night so I could pick up my brother at the Denver airport the next morning to help me drive to make a fast trip to Anchorage. I was driving a one ton dually, extended cab Chevrolet and pulling the 32' fifth-wheel RV. In the Texas panhandle we had 40 to 70 mph headwinds as the front was arriving. I had a Gear Vendors overdrive on the truck but in that headwind I could not get up to 50 mph even in second over. In Raton, NM, it was raining when we stopped for supper. And then when we headed north toward Denver, it changed to snow. At first I was just trying to watch the stripes on the pavement, then they disappeared, so I was just trying to see the edges of the road, and the last 50 miles or so, I could only guess where the road was. My wife thought we should stop and I agreed, except I found no exits and didn't want to stop in the middle of an Interstate highway. It was well after midnight when we got into Denver and I was never so glad to get off the road in my life, before or since then.