Grrr so many drivers forget how to drive in the snow

[gailc]

Yesterday afternoon started our first snowfall of the season.

My first mistake is that I should have looked at the highway before turning in the direction of the ramp. Traffic all backed up and almost at standstill.
I still wanted to merge in though and no one, yes no one would let me merge in. The merge lane continues to the next exit so I was stuck going in the same direction as I had just come from. I vehicle actually passed me (why?) on my left on the shoulder of the highway.

Since all traffic was diverting off the highway the next merge was also a long wait but drivers were more polite and let me merge in. This less than one mile segment took me over 20 minutes.

Continuing on to the street that hooks up to the exit I usually take took over 20 -30 minutes due to heavy traffic. So many people were pulling out in front of me too. My horn got used a lot! No one behind me and someone try's to pull out in front of me-simply unbelievable. Visibility was fair people just in a hurry-grrrrrrr

My 17 mile usual 23 minute drive took me 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Another snow is coming tomorrow I hope drivers are better....

Any other snow driving nightmares?????

 

[darlili]

People always forget how to drive in the first snow - but, hey, I thought Wisconsin drivers were supposed to be more polite than Chicago area drivers - I usually do manage to merge. Although, I too hate the folks who have to pull out immediately from the side streets instead of waiting for just a few more seconds til they have a clear passage.

Then again, look at Paris - what, three-four inches of snow and the whole country comes to a halt - sort of like the American south when it snows

To be fair, it's hard to cope with conditions you're not used to, or that you don't have equipment to deal with - like southern cities and snow.

 

[strange_wings]

What? No wrecks? If not that was a plus.

Look up what last winter's snowfall did to Oklahoma City and Tulsa. They got over a foot and it shut down interstate traffic for a bit. People who went off the interstate had to wait until it melted some to recover buried vehicles. There were several wrecks, too.
Noone knows how to drive in it here unless they're relocated from a northern state. I myself have problems, though having a camaro doesn't help...

 

[capt_jordi]

living in the south, none of us know how to drive in the snow!

But that is also because it rarely snows enough that we have to worry about it. And because of that we dont have the proper equipment, like snow tires.... sorry dont spend the money on them for the two times a season it snows.
But then there is also the whole probably of highway equipment. There were a few bad snows last year (first time it has snowed that bad in about 6 years) and the entire eastern part of the state was completely out of road salt! They were using water softner to give people some grip! And many counties only have one or two snow plows so main roads are about all that get plowed.
Snow in the south.... not fun!
And actually now that we are talking about snow, I really dont think we even have a snow shovel....

 

[gailuvscats]

Boy, I am glad we don't get more than two or three heavy snows, cause the drivers in philadelphia area don't need snow to drive like maniacs. I get serious road rage around here. Too many people in a major hurry, mostly young stupid males in their big ass trucks, or you have the opposite end of extremely senior citizens driving down the middle, taking two lanes, and going around 20MPH. LOL

 

[darlili]

I live near Chicago and I don't have snow tires - do have a front wheel, small Saturn, all season tires, and traction control. Then again, I tend to drive on pretty well-traveled roads, and they're all pretty flat. I'd have no idea how to drive in, oh, Colorado in the mountains.

I do get annoyed at the SUV folks who forget that the laws of physics apply to SUVs as well, though!

 

[3catsn1dog]

Geeeeeeez people suck!

I don't drive worse during snow just slower because we get lotsa black ice in our area so instead of 5 over I might go 5 under depending how the temp and how much snow had melted since it stopped snowing and a lotta other factors. But driving when its snowing.....no biggie as long as there's fair visability. We got like 3 in this week and the next morning people were driving soooooo slow on perfectly clear non icey roads!! Boneheads!

 

[rubsluts'mommy]

Originally Posted by darlili

Then again, look at Paris - what, three-four inches of snow and the whole country comes to a halt - sort of like the American south when it snows

To be fair, it's hard to cope with conditions you're not used to, or that you don't have equipment to deal with - like southern cities and snow.

Not just the south... Where I am now (NW) the whole area screeched to a halt when we had a decent snow storm a few years back. I'd lived in Chicago and upstate NY for a total of 5 years before coming here... I knew how to drive in snow... what really gets me wondering is that people around here forget how to drive in RAIN... this is the Pacific NW... we get a lot of rain. Yet, people get stupid when we get anything more than a light drizzle... and even then, some still get stupid. I'm glad I no longer have a car.

 

[gailc]

Well we are in for a major storm today and tomorrow (12" lots of wind). Lets see if people drive any better. We will be using the truck anyway so maybe people will actually see me vs the baby car.

 

[starryeyedtiger]

In my delightful Southern city, we completly shut down if we get so much as an half inch of snow....In the past they have actually closed down schools/businesses because there was snow FORECASTED (note that there wasn't even any on the ground then haha). People around here can not drive in the snow and panic. I just try to stay in or hitch a ride with Jack when that happens (he has a huge truck that handles the weather better than my car.) One thing that we do get an excessive amount of though is ice. It makes our streets a nightmare and we have lost power to our city soo,soo many times because of ice storms- ugg! Even though I do know how to drive on ice, I avoid it at all costs because other idiots around here do not!

 

[libby74]

GailC, you've hit one of my biggest pet peeves right on the head. The first snow of the season makes people lose IQ points. Really, this is the midwest--we get snow and ice every winter. If you can't remember to use a little caution, you have no business being behind the wheel.