Snow -- THIS is snow

[3fingeredsalute]

I would like to remind everyone that this morning the Washington, DC area had very few accidents (no moreso than other average mornings) even though the majority of the area had some snow blowing around. It was not MUCH snow, but THIS... THIS is the snow you silly people from the Midwest, Northeast or other regions refer to when you say "snow

Comments

[sestree]

Actually *ahem* I *can* drive in the snow/slush etc. I learned how to winter weather by driving on the icestorms and blizzards in the Kansas/Oklahoma plains where ice is measured in inches accumulated and snow is just in drifts.

That's why I'm always so very careful. I'm used to going about my merry business at a very reasonable and prudent speed and stumbling across black ice for no apparent reason at all. I've also seen more than one car just slide down a driveway (from the parked position). It happens.

People think I'm stupid when I say the brake can be your enemy but truly it can be. You don't want to speed up and brake and speed up and brake. The last ice mess here I was fortunate enough to be behind someone who knew WTF they were doing and we kept a steady, safe, speed while other cars slipped and skidded along 95.

That's also why I own a standard - so I can drop it one gear lower and I get immediate reaction when I take my foot off the gas. Never quite learned that in an automatic ........

[3fingeredsalute]

I am not suggesting there aren't better drivers than others on the snow/slush/ice (I'm looking at you SUV drivers!), but the fact remains that it is controlled disaster. I have been extremely successful in driving through this region's snow/slush/ice for DECADES, other than two incidents. One, I was hit by a driver who put on his brakes over a football field's length away before he slammed into me, and two, when I so-very-slowly and cautiously accelerated as the first car through a shopping mall traffic light, turning left -- and my car simply decided to continue spinning the tail-end into a curb. I guarantee you, it was completely unavoidable. The intersection was untreated and invisible black-ice

[sestree]

Oh definitely it's like playing craps in Vegas - you can only beat the odds for so long.

However, remembering lower gears, less traveled roads (= fewer idiots) not relying on 4WD to save you when you're stupid (which I forget I even have - ask me how many times I've got stuck in the mud and forgotten about it *sheepish look*) and being sensible lowers your risk. I still say lay off the brakes - they're just not your friend in ice. All you do is make a sled out of your car.

I must admit, I much preferred the wide open spaces the few times I've spun out. *knock wood* each time I was able to recover but still ......

...and yes I drive an SUV because I wanted high clearance for the snow. When it snows 6 inches in Kansas they just close the friggin roads :D

Let us never speak of this again

[sestree]

oops?

Re: Let us never speak of this again

[3fingeredsalute]

Me, too