"Warning slipery roads" (Bangor, Caribou: movies, school, live)

[FNolan]

Originally Posted by shadowfax1997

Funny, everyone complains about the speedy driver, when it seems to me the person driving 10 under is just as dangerous with people piling up behind them.

Yep, alot of truth there too. You can be a danger either way to others.

[retiredtinbender]

Originally Posted by shadowfax1997

Funny, everyone complains about the speedy driver, when it seems to me the person driving 10 under is just as dangerous with people piling up behind them.

Yes, they set a max and minimum for a reason. Safety. But the person chatting away on a cell or texting doing 75 has to be one of the worst. Short of a drunk or stoned.

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by RANGER.101ST

they all think they are invincible till they leave the road.and what makes it worse is while they are waiting for help they see a Lil old lady drive by in a two wheel drive having no problem at all.

Which reminds me of a couple of times over the years that I've pulled over to let someone who was riding my bumper on an icy road to pass by. Yeesh...getting somewhere quickly is more important than getting somewhere in one piece? I think not.

Usually, around a half mile or so down the road, I wave to him or her as they are standing on the side of the road scratching their head while their car is in the ditch sideways.

Of course, I'm not so cruel as to not stop to make sure they're okay if they aren't standing roadside jumping up and down cursing. If I happen to be driving the truck I might possibly stop and offer to pull them out of the ditch if they at least had the decency not to give me a rude hand gesture as they passed by me.

I usually make a point to say to someone who says "Oh, I've got 4 WD, I'll be fine." that 4 wheels are just as usless as 2 on ice. I do have to say that front wheel drive is far better than rear wheel drive when it comes to staying on the road in the snow 'tho.

Thanks for the reminder Ranger.

[RANGER.101ST]

over the years i have seen so many 4x4 warriors off the road.if i had to guess on how many it would be in the thousands.seen some real bad ones and some not so bad.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

No 2WD could have gone where I went today. I went 6 miles out into the woods to help somebody get a snowmobile started. The key switch had frozen. I got it hawed and broken loose and got that huge Arctic Cat long track triple running. The snow was 6 to 10 inches deep and the hills were steep. There was ice underneath in places.

[JC3]

How many times have I have puttered along in the slow lane and said to anyone who was dumb enough to be going too fast....go right on by, then waved to them a little further up as I see them on their cell phone calling for a tow truck from the side of the road...spun out....is numerous. I have had 4wd as long as I can remember but I never thought I could drive on bad roads like I could on good ones. As long as I see someone not injured, I have no pity for those who don't have any common sense and think they can do anything on snowy slippery roads. Of course anyone can lose it in those conditions but why anyone goes out of the way to chance it is beyond me.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

A few weeks ago we had two teens hit by a car at about 8 PM. Both kids had both legs broken and numerous other injuries. The driver who hit them was one of the the local druggies on the way home from the methadone clinic. Those two kids will never fully recover. They were walking to the local Christian teen hangout.

When will we learn that it isn't worth it to support drug habits?

[msina]

All vehicles driven by new drivers should have a bumper sticker,.......... "Caution, I don't know what I'm doing!"
Teens have a sense of invulnerability, add this to inexperience and it can lead to poor choices that can cause accidents.

[FNolan]

Originally Posted by msina

All vehicles driven by new drivers should have a bumper sticker,.......... "Caution, I don't know what I'm doing!"
Teens have a sense of invulnerability, add this to inexperience and it can lead to poor choices that can cause accidents.

That may be true but I've seen plenty of so called experienced drivers driving even more stupid than the inexperienced ones.

[Maine Writer]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

A few weeks ago we had two teens hit by a car at about 8 PM. Both kids had both legs broken and numerous other injuries. The driver who hit them was one of the the local druggies on the way home from the methadone clinic. Those two kids will never fully recover. They were walking to the local Christian teen hangout.

When will we learn that it isn't worth it to support drug habits?

I'll probably get boo'ed and hissed at for this but I'm saying it anyway.

Weren't the kids walking with traffic, not against it as they should have been? Walking against traffic is the law. This is a sad but perfect example of why pedestrians must be responsible for themselves. If they'd been on the proper side of the road this wouldn't have happened. It doesn't excuse the driver because he certainly didn't leave the legal 3' between vehicle and pedestrian but it does balance some of the responsibility. If they'd been on the correct side of the road and the driver had crossed the line they'd have been better able to see him coming and stood more of a chance of moving out of the way. I see kids and adults doing this all the time.