The Drive, when it starts to snow.

It happens every time, but it's such a fascinating experience when it does, again every time.

Rush hour commute, everyone screaming down the road at 70-90 mph. A few snowflakes appear in the air, and the few SLAM on their brakes. Skidding down to 30-40 mph, for "safety". Makes for a fun few minutes as the rest of us attempt to zip around them without crashing. Most succeed, a few don't.

Eventually, traffic settles back down, with most of the scared over in the far left lane, doing their 30-40 mph. Usually with their high beams on, wipers on fast, faces pressed against the windshield, mouth breathing.

Sigh, every...single...time. Enough to almost make one spill their coffee as they drive.

Took me a lot of years to come to terms with this phenomena. Hard to believe for this lot, but turns out there is a significant number of the driving population that is terrified every time they get behind the wheel. Add up all the old people, the OCD and anxiety-attack sufferers and realize that they are forced to use a car to survive. Now toss in the purely stupid and unskilled to the mix, and it's amazing we don't have more accidents every day.

A friend of mine used to travel about 30 miles to work down a very busy highway in Toronto area. She would go down the ramp, merge into 90 kmh traffic at about 60 km/h and sit in that lane at 60 km/h till she got off. White knuckle all the way and ready to cry from the stress and other drivers reactions. Single mother with a very high paying job and kids to support. No public transit options other than taxi. Roads are full of these people. Think of sharing the road with these people as another driving skill that we develop.

Well let's see. Here in Illinois we have three kinds of idiots on the road when it snows:

1) SUV and pickup drivers that think they are invincible with 4WD/AWD, so they drive 85 mph on the interstates when everyone else is doing 10 under.

2) Passenger car drivers that also think they are invincible because weather and physics don't apply to them. Usually you find them in the ditch or median a few miles up.

3) Semi-Truck drivers that think that because they have 18 wheels and "experience", they have better traction and pass all the folks in what people think is the right lane doing a reasonable speed when there are no visible lanes, scaring the hell out of some poor soul that ends up spinning off the highway.

Now, do those three apply to everyone? No of course not. But there are the select few that do this crap and make the roads unsafe.

When I lived in Pennsylvania, I noted an odd phenomenon: most people pretty much knew how to drive in snow, so that wasn't really the problem. The odd thing was that everybody had a favorite commuting route for normal weather, and a completely different route they only used when it was snowy. So when the weather went bad, they would all divert to some other set of roads they weren't as familiar with.

Winter driving in St. Louis was scary. When I lived there, they didn't get a lot of snow in the winter, and few people had experience with handling it. So the roads were half filled with people driving like it was sunny and 65 degrees, and the other half driving like they were on an expedition to the South Pole during a whiteout. A speed differential of 40 mph is not a safe or comfortable thing when roads are getting slick and visibility is poor.

I understand the scared to drive at any time, the scared to drive in the snow, as well the I'm invincible in the snow.

It's the "I saw a snowflake and must slam on my brakes" that fascinate me the most. Never do they simply slow down by letting off the gas, they slam on the brakes, HARD. Only takes a few to make the commute interesting for a few moments.

I've seen it other places, but rarely. Really seems it's a Maryland thing. In Maryland, I see it frequently.

Which is funny, because Maryland takes better care of their roads than any other place I've ever lived.

In reply to foxtrapper:

Some of them have good reason to be extra scared, I think. Around here, more people than not very much know how to drive in the snow. On the west side, where lake effect snow is massive, even more so.

Yet there have been HUGE pile ups in sudden snow squalls- just one one last week that took out close to 150 cars.

These people KNOW how to drive in snow, and that still happens. So when you come up on a sudden snow squall, it's pretty natural to slow quickly.

Frustrating, certainly. Scary response, sure. But it's expected based on actual accidents that have happened in the last two weeks.

In reply to foxtrapper:

LOL I was going to ask what part of Maryland you lived in.

I'll admit to taking different routes when it snows for 2 reasons 1) to avoid volume of traffic of those who can't drive in the snow 2) to avoid steep inclines on my route due to people in reason 1)

Yesterday morning a good driver, young, with a lot of dirt track experience and very fast reflexes managed this to do on his own, while doing around 40 mph on ice covered roads.

This is the same driver who managed to manhandle the MGB down the strip on 3 wheels for a 11.24 run.

He walked away but the lesson is there for anyone who wants to see it, we are all vulnerable in bad weather.

Amazing how a three lane goes to two when it snows. Usually with some pinhead loping along with the flashers on trying to help your night vision.

Where is "here"?

Based on the amount of cars I see in the parking lot at work with bald tires, crappy tires, and summer tires, I'd say a number of these people have a reason to be scared. Unfortunately it's one that could be fixed fairly easily.

Also I may be confusing cars, but I swear there is a BMW out there now that was running snow tires in the summer and is now running Nexens (all season or summer, not sure which).

One reason why I am an advocate of yearly government BASIC safety inspections. Windshield wipers that work, sprayers that work, turn signals/headlights that work, tires with tread.. Brakes with pad left...

It's my ass if I get t-boned by someone who is "less prepared" for this stuff.

alfadriver wrote: In reply to foxtrapper: Some of them have good reason to be extra scared, I think. Around here, more people than not very much know how to drive in the snow. On the west side, where lake effect snow is massive, even more so. Yet there have been HUGE pile ups in sudden snow squalls- just one one last week that took out close to 150 cars. These people KNOW how to drive in snow, and that still happens. So when you come up on a sudden snow squall, it's pretty natural to slow quickly. Frustrating, certainly. Scary response, sure. But it's expected based on actual accidents that have happened in the last two weeks.

I have to wonder,

Is it the slippery roads that cause the pile ups like that, or the addition of people that panic and slam on the brakes to slow down suddenly causing those around them to panic in the slippery conditions?

In reply to jstand:

It's a good question- but the video that someone made of the pileup in west Michigan makes it appear that the slippery area came up on them very, very suddenly. Speeds that people were sliding off the road were pretty darned quick.

That, and based on the accident aussie posted, I bet that slamming on the brakes when not needed didn't start that accident. I was once a rider in a car that hit a hidden patch of ice, and befire we knew it, we were in the median. Thankfully, we stayed there, and got stuck instead of comeing out and getting hit.

Bet that crashed car didn't have winter tires.

Obviously he did something wrong in spite of his "skill".

In reply to iceracer:

In the build thread he noted the car was on Blizzaks. Young driver moved over slightly to let someone else go past, caught the snow bank.

The lesson is stay in your spot - it is the responsibility of the overtaking car to do so safely.

When I lived in Southern Ontario, I noticed strange behaviors:

1. People told me I was "wasting" money on winter tires. Bull E36 M3!
2. When we would get snow, either they would head to the slow lane and do 50 km/h. Or;
3. They would get in the fast lane and do 140 km/h, thinking they could "drive out of it". This was influenced by the issue that the area I travelled through received a fair amount of Lake Effect snow.

I would continue along - drop the speed down from 120 km/h to about 90 and motor home quite safely.

The folks in item 3 above were typically found within 10 kms spun along the centre median having collected all 4 sides of their cars along the guardrail.

This is a great thread- bash people who drive to fast for the conditions and bash people who drive to slow for conditions.

alfadriver wrote: This is a great thread- bash people who drive to fast for the conditions and bash people who drive to slow for conditions.

What's the problem with that? "Appropriate speed" is a thing, and so are "too fast" and "too slow".

Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac? George Carlin

alfadriver wrote: This is a great thread- bash people who drive to fast for the conditions and bash people who drive to slow for conditions.

Duke wrote:

alfadriver wrote: This is a great thread- bash people who drive to fast for the conditions and bash people who drive to slow for conditions.

What's the problem with that? "Appropriate speed" is a thing, and so are "too fast" and "too slow".

Because it changes all the time. that's the point- the slow drivers are preparing for the bad conditions, the fast ones are ignoring it.

On my drive to work this moring, there were big sections that it was 70 easy- dry. Then you come up on what looks like fog, but is really a squall that iced over the road- and 50 is barely safe.

This thread bases the ones who are preparing too much for and not enough for the 50.

The next squall was 40mph safe. After that, there wasn't one.

aussiesmg wrote: He walked away but the lesson is there for anyone who wants to see it.

There sure is a lesson; don't drive on bald-ass all seasons in the winter. Proof is your pictures.

slowride wrote: Based on the amount of cars I see in the parking lot at work with bald tires, crappy tires, and summer tires

Ding. A local car forum has a smilie which says "Mandatory Winter Tires!"