Hold the ICE! (Franklin, Star: live, things to do, car)

[QuilterChick]

Originally Posted by WeLuvNC

What about Wilkes county? Is that as icy as the asheville area?

Wilkes County, North Carolina Relocation Information

[ShipOfFools42]

Originally Posted by Asheville Native

The solution, don't drive when it snows. I had to use 4 wheel drive on some really slick roads to get home this past Monday evening. But I stayed on the back streets, as the main roads were littered with minor wrecks. First thing I do when the roads are bad is get off the main roads, and especially the interstate, both densely populated with idiots without a clue how to drive in snow/ice.

Black ice is one of the things that occurs a day or two after a snow, also when we have freezing rain, and the one that really surprises people when it is foggy and below freezing.

Spoken like a true Southerner: "Don't drive when it snows". Give me a break, some people have places to be, whether you think they're dumb or not. Also, most of them don't care how dumb you think they are. I drive a Honda Accord (4 cyl, 5 speed manual), and I drove all over creation on Monday with the snow on the ground with no problems. The only time I even broke traction at all was when I was first pulling away from where I was parked when it started snowing. I don't know where you were that you needed 4x4; I have been house-sitting ON a mountain up a really curvy road, and I had no problem getting up.

Staying off the main roads is much better advice than "don't drive". There are two kinds of bad drivers in snow: the ones who go way faster than they should, and the ones who go 10 mph. Neither one of those is safe at all. Go too slow, you will get plowed into because the person coming up behind you can't stop soon enough. Go too fast, you're likely to go off the road. The best things you can do for your safety are to practice driving on snow (try a deserted parking lot and practice correcting a skid/spin; make sure the parking lot doesn't have light poles everywhere!), and to buy a stick shift. I know a lot of people don't want a stick anymore so that may not be practical, but you can at least put your auto transmission in a lower gear to help you slow down with less brake usage.

All of this boils down to experience. If you have a lot of snow driving experience, you will be good at it. If you just stay home whenever it snows, you will never learn, and you will always be a bad snow driver. And then, when you need to get somewhere, you're screwed. So I strongly advocate learning how to drive on it rather than just ignoring it and hoping it goes away.

[fmors]

You may want to consider the TN border counties of Madison and Yancey. We have lived in Burnsville (Yancey county) for the past four years. Burnsville gets considerably more snow than Asheville and the only ice I ever encountered was from the melting snow, not from ice storms, which are prevalent in South Asheville. Also, Yancey county does a good job of snow removal and road treatment. We are in the process of moving, due to my job being relocated, and we will greatly miss Burnsville.

[Asheville Native]

Originally Posted by ShipOfFools42

Spoken like a true Southerner: "Don't drive when it snows". Give me a break, some people have places to be, whether you think they're dumb or not. Also, most of them don't care how dumb you think they are. I drive a Honda Accord (4 cyl, 5 speed manual), and I drove all over creation on Monday with the snow on the ground with no problems. The only time I even broke traction at all was when I was first pulling away from where I was parked when it started snowing. I don't know where you were that you needed 4x4; I have been house-sitting ON a mountain up a really curvy road, and I had no problem getting up.

No spoken like one that is experienced without the need to feed the ego of I can get any damn place I want. Cause you can't.

4 wheel drive was prudent and necessary Monday because I had several false routes home, when I found the way blocked by stuck or wrecked vehicles, and had to go yet a different way.

Every time I failed to get where I am going is because the road is blocked by idiots that should not be out. Do you have push bars on your Honda to push a a 6,000 lb. Ford Expedition with a fool at the wheel out of your way?

I also live on the side of a mountain, and have seen all roads to my house blocked for a day or longer, in fact just last year, by vehicles stacked up like cord wood. Please carry a camera, would love to see some shots of your Honda pushing them out of your way. Honda might even want to see them for a publicity campaign.

I have even come across a stuck SUV where the driver couldn't figure out how to get it into 4 wheel drive. That would be because he bought the 2 wheel drive version. But he had the road completely blocked. Thanks idiot.

[kelleybell00]

Originally Posted by fmors

You may want to consider the TN border counties of Madison and Yancey. We have lived in Burnsville (Yancey county) for the past four years. Burnsville gets considerably more snow than Asheville and the only ice I ever encountered was from the melting snow, not from ice storms, which are prevalent in South Asheville. Also, Yancey county does a good job of snow removal and road treatment. We are in the process of moving, due to my job being relocated, and we will greatly miss Burnsville.

Thanks so much for the input! I actually applied to Yancey and Madison school districts

[ShipOfFools42]

^^ I think it's pretty crazy that you ran across that many wrecked vehicles. I didn't see a single one, and I was driving on Riverside Dr., then Old Leicester Hwy, then New Leicester Hwy, and that was just on my way home. Not a single SUV blocking the road, none of that. Do you live in a part of town where that is more likely to happen or something? I'm just surprised you saw that many is all.

Of course my Honda doesn't have push bars to move cars out of my way. I never said anything like that. My Honda isn't a beast in the snow like my old V8 4Runner was, but it certainly does well as far as traction and holding the road. I just have regular Touring tires on my car, I'm not even sure if they're all-season; they're just what was on there when I bought it. They do say M+S on the sidewall though, and that means something, but in reality, it means very little. All I'm saying is that most winter driving is up to the driver's skill and his ability to recognize the conditions and whether they are safe for travel. I would say that in Asheville and the surrounding area, 9 times out of 10, the roads are safe for travel as long as the driver is experienced. And when I say safe for travel, I am saying that on some parts of the drive, vehicles like mine may require chains, but they are not at risk of becoming stuck in the snow. If the snow depth is significant enough or the ice is abundant enough, I stay home.

Ice is, of course, the problem here, and even chains aren't going to completely save you on the ice. Problem with ice is that normally, you don't know it's there until you are really close to it. At that point, you focus, feel the reaction of the car, and just do your best to correct the car's trajectory if you lose traction. You really can't call someone an idiot for losing traction on ice and hitting a guardrail; everyone who drives in winter weather on a regular basis has a high chance of it happening to them one day. Even my friends up in New England who had driven on the stuff for 20 years had had an accident or two.

[Asheville Native]

Originally Posted by ShipOfFools42

^^ I think it's pretty crazy that you ran across that many wrecked vehicles. I didn't see a single one, and I was driving on Riverside Dr., then Old Leicester Hwy, then New Leicester Hwy, and that was just on my way home. Not a single SUV blocking the road, none of that. Do you live in a part of town where that is more likely to happen or something? I'm just surprised you saw that many is all.

First, what time were you driving home? It really didn't get slick and cause problems until about 7 - 7:30. Second, I didn't go that way, but Biltmore Ave, South Charlotte, had wrecks. If you really bothered to read, I did NOT say that I found a road blocked by an SUV Monday (wrecks and police yes), but I have in the past, humorous cause the idiot thought all SUV's were 4x4 and he is the one that plunked down his money for a 2 wheel drive Ford Explorer.

I seemed to miss the part of how your superior snow driving was going to get you past a road blocked by stalled wrecked cars though.

[garth]

Originally Posted by ShipOfFools42

They do say M+S on the sidewall though, and that means something

M+S = Mud and Snow

[ShipOfFools42]

^ Yeah, I know, but if you read up on it, the requirements for that rating are not very high. It's pretty simple stuff, and it doesn't actually mean a whole lot, as I understand it. What you want for winter is the mountain/snowflake symbol. That's the new standard for tires that are acceptable for use in bad winter weather. The difference between M+S and mountain/snowflake symbol is that, for M+S, it is just geometric requirements with no testing involved, and with mtn/snowflake, the tires are actually tested in bad weather conditions. That symbol looks like this:

Originally Posted by Asheville Native

First, what time were you driving home? It really didn't get slick and cause problems until about 7 - 7:30. Second, I didn't go that way, but Biltmore Ave, South Charlotte, had wrecks. If you really bothered to read, I did NOT say that I found a road blocked by an SUV Monday (wrecks and police yes), but I have in the past, humorous cause the idiot thought all SUV's were 4x4 and he is the one that plunked down his money for a 2 wheel drive Ford Explorer.

I seemed to miss the part of how your superior snow driving was going to get you past a road blocked by stalled wrecked cars though.

I was driving home at around 9:30 PM. I'm not surprised that Biltmore and Charlotte had wrecks, the people who generally drive on those roads tend to be pretty oblivious. I can't even tell you how many times I have almost been sideswiped on Biltmore Ave. My mistake for misreading your post; still, it does seem like you had your route blocked several times, which I thought was unusual.

As far as me having superior snow driving skills, I have never stated that they are superior, I just have learned how to drive on snow and ice, so I have a functioning knowledge of how to do so. It does help; I don't find myself breaking traction much, if ever, when I'm driving around town in snow. It doesn't get me around blocked roads - and I have encountered them - I just believe that people who live in a place that gets bad road conditions should be educated on how to drive in those conditions.

[Shooting Stars]

Originally Posted by ShipOfFools42

What you want for winter is the mountain/snowflake symbol. That's the new standard for tires that are acceptable for use in bad winter weather.

I have zero winter driving skills, so I avoid it. Luckily, I work at home now.

I once wildly fishtailed all over Highway 64 between Franklin and Hayesville in the dark of night during winter, until the voice in my head said "Turn in the direction of the skid". I came to an abrupt stop and had to park for a while to catch my breath.

I also watched a truck come around a long curve on 64, skid on ice, hit an embankment, and roll several times on it's side, coming to a stop 10 feet in front of me. I had my hand on the car door in case I needed to exit if he didn't stop rolling. Several cars were stopped in both directions witnessing the whole thing. Once he came to a stop, a nurse ran over to him and shouted at me how lucky I had been because my car was in his path. The driver had blood pouring from his scalp. No one could get their cell phone to work because we were too high.

(I had to be on the road because I was going to and from a job at the time. The ice wasn't everywhere. It only takes one patch to change your life.)

Ice scares the hell out of me.

But thanks for the tire information!