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I drove through a lot of snow in when I lived in Denver... however the city sanded the roads (sand/dirt mix), and I had snow tires + studs in the winter.
This is a big deal. Hope everyone gets home safely before the ice gets bad...
INSANITY!!!!! I never wanted to smack so many petrified, ignorant people in my life as I saw out there today.
The cluelessness of your post eclipses that of the drivers, so maybe sit and ram your head into a phone pole for a couple of hours to satisfy your smack desires.
There are so many reasons that it gets bad during winter weather around here that go beyond what your "snow training" idea presumes to solve. Winter driving skills are use-it-or-lose-it. It doesn't matter if you learned how to do it once in your life, if those skills are only tested once a decade, they won't help much.
Add to this, the fact that road maintenance here during weather like this also causes a lot of folks in the DOT to do things they were told they might need to do one day but they don't put it in practice often enough to be efficient at it.
Even at some car dealerships, you cannot easily buy the same models that are sold up north without a special order hassle... two wheel drive (often rear wheel drive) cars with summer tires are often what dealers stock on the lot here. Want the all wheel drive model with all season tires like they sell up in NY? Well you might find you need to order that one, depending on the vehicle.
The hardware stores had limited sand/salt for driveways, because from an inventory management perspective it would be foolish for them to spend a lot on this kind of thing in an area that gets infrequent storms.
Are you starting to get it? It's not how much snow you get that matters. Its HOW LITTLE snow you get that matters. If it snowed here often like it did up north, the entire area would be geared to deal with it we wouldn't have the same problems. We also wouldn't have the problem of clueless transplants thinking they know something the locals don't.
First, even if people were trained to drive in this weather, if they didn't use that training but once every few years, they'd probably forget it. You need to have lived in this stuff for a longer period of time to drive in it successfully each time.
Also... we simply do NOT have the same road-clearing equipment here that people have in places that get more snow and ice, so the roads are trickier here.
I can tell you that when I lived near Chicago, I remember a storm like this where things got bad quickly and I was sitting there at a stoplight and every car in that lane started sliding toward the ditch. EVERY SINGLE ONE. And I know that everyone there wasn't some yobbo from a Southern state.
LOL.
I agree that drivers who are inexperienced in snow/ice driving are going to fare worse, but still...
Yeah, when that happens, stopped cars start sliding, its cause the rain is frozen and freezes on the ground. It's like a wet ice rink at that point. When that occurs, all bets are off and you can't even walk or stand up on that type of condition. However, what you're having out there right now, is not those type of conditions. And driving should be normal. If this weather were happening in say, Michigan, it would not even be talked about and people's days would be 100% normal. I understand this is not Michigan here, but this idea that the entire city has to come to a stop and shut down everything for a week is ludicrous too. IMHO.
There aren't enough people in Alaska for it to happen, or for anyone to care if it does, I think.
Quote:
Originally Posted by meh_whatever
Let's think about this reasonably.
First, even if people were trained to drive in this weather, if they didn't use that training but once every few years, they'd probably forget it. You need to have lived in this stuff for a longer period of time to drive in it successfully each time.
Also... we simply do NOT have the same road-clearing equipment here that people have in places that get more snow and ice, so the roads are trickier here.
I can tell you that when I lived near Chicago, I remember a storm like this where things got bad quickly and I was sitting there at a stoplight and every car in that lane started sliding toward the ditch. EVERY SINGLE ONE. And I know that everyone there wasn't some yobbo from a Southern state.
LOL.
I agree that drivers who are inexperienced in snow/ice driving are going to fare worse, but still...
One of the mitigating factors with this storm is how sharp the boundary was. It went from nothing to more than an inch of snow in maybe fifteen minutes, whereas most of the time it begins gradually and then slowly picks up steam. I think that's what most people were expecting; that they'd have time to get home once things got going before it started really getting bad. Not so in this case. Good lesson for next time.
I just read this on WRAL's website and thought it might be helpful for someone out there somewhere:
UPDATE 3:36 p.m.: The Streets at Southpoint in Durham is opening its doors to take in people stuck on Interstate 40. People can get off the roads and stay inside the mall for as long as needed, the general manager said.
Yeah, when that happens, stopped cars start sliding, its cause the rain is frozen and freezes on the ground. It's like a wet ice rink at that point. When that occurs, all bets are off and you can't even walk or stand up on that type of condition. However, what you're having out there right now, is not those type of conditions. And driving should be normal. If this weather were happening in say, Michigan, it would not even be talked about and people's days would be 100% normal. I understand this is not Michigan here, but this idea that the entire city has to come to a stop and shut down everything for a week is ludicrous too. IMHO.
My husband is from Michigan and he won't drive in this mess here because we just don't have the proper equipment to deal with it.
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I didn't really want a 4WD when I was shopping for a used Highlander earlier this year but now I'm kind of glad I got one! It handled really well on the drive home today. Yes, I know 4WD isn't a magic bullet but having grown up in NY and lived in DC for 25+ years, I do know how to drive on snowy/slippery roads.
That said, I'll be working from home tomorrow assuming the power stays on.
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