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Driving home yesterday in the snow sucked. The roads were terrible. The combination of the wet sticky snow to start and the temps dropping to freezing, plus the roads had not been treated yet.
I picked up a friend at Logan Airport in Boston, and the proceeded to drive her to pick up her car in Attleboro. From there, about 15 miles back to my house. The snow was coming down pretty good - big flakes, all sticking to everything. There's a left turn to make to get to my house (2+ miles back road), or I could go straight on a more main road for an extra mile.
I decided to take the left because I was confident my Chrysler 300C AWD Hemi could handle anything, which since 2008 it has. There is an uphill section which was my only concern. I was going 20, and as I hit the hill there were 3 cars on the right stopped with their blinkers on. I had momentum, but because I couldn't see over the crest of the hill and with the slippery roads I wasn't sure what was going on - accident, etc. At the last second I was thinking there was nothing and keep driving to the left, but I chickened out and stopped. I quickly found out why they were stopped. Duh, the snow and ice. Even my AWD couldn't make it up the hill. I tried a couple of time but started sliding to the left. Ultimately was stuck in the middle of the hill. I wanted to attempt to back up down the hill, but the car behind me had slid into a telephone pole, and twice I tried but felt I might slide into his car, so I stopped.
Called AAA. 1.5 hour wait. Then I though to myself this car has never been stuck, and it wasn't going to happen now. So I turn the engine one, and try to go uphill. But this time, I kept the door open, and accelerated so slowly to make the tires barely move even a dimes worth. The car crept. My though was I had to go so slow to gain traction, and it worked. I made it up the hill, and I bet the other 5 stuck people swore at me.
All this because I hesitated and just didn't drive past everyone.
Driving home yesterday in the snow sucked. The roads were terrible. The combination of the wet sticky snow to start and the temps dropping to freezing, plus the roads had not been treated yet.
I picked up a friend at Logan Airport in Boston, and the proceeded to drive her to pick up her car in Attleboro. From there, about 15 miles back to my house. The snow was coming down pretty good - big flakes, all sticking to everything. There's a left turn to make to get to my house (2+ miles back road), or I could go straight on a more main road for an extra mile.
I decided to take the left because I was confident my Chrysler 300C AWD Hemi could handle anything, which since 2008 it has. There is an uphill section which was my only concern. I was going 20, and as I hit the hill there were 3 cars on the right stopped with their blinkers on. I had momentum, but because I couldn't see over the crest of the hill and with the slippery roads I wasn't sure what was going on - accident, etc. At the last second I was thinking there was nothing and keep driving to the left, but I chickened out and stopped. I quickly found out why they were stopped. Duh, the snow and ice. Even my AWD couldn't make it up the hill. I tried a couple of time but started sliding to the left. Ultimately was stuck in the middle of the hill. I wanted to attempt to back up down the hill, but the car behind me had slid into a telephone pole, and twice I tried but felt I might slide into his car, so I stopped.
Called AAA. 1.5 hour wait. Then I though to myself this car has never been stuck, and it wasn't going to happen now. So I turn the engine one, and try to go uphill. But this time, I kept the door open, and accelerated so slowly to make the tires barely move even a dimes worth. The car crept. My though was I had to go so slow to gain traction, and it worked. I made it up the hill, and I bet the other 5 stuck people swore at me.
All this because I hesitated and just didn't drive past everyone.
So in this scenario what do you imagine was the dumb decision?
Sure, you made it up the hill, but you could easily have been stuck or slid off the road. I still say the dumb decision was taking a back road to avoid an easy extra mile. You got away with your dumb decision this time, but did you learn enough to know that staying on the better road is the more reliably smart choice?
Driving home yesterday in the snow sucked. The roads were terrible. The combination of the wet sticky snow to start and the temps dropping to freezing, plus the roads had not been treated yet.
I picked up a friend at Logan Airport in Boston, and the proceeded to drive her to pick up her car in Attleboro. From there, about 15 miles back to my house. The snow was coming down pretty good - big flakes, all sticking to everything. There's a left turn to make to get to my house (2+ miles back road), or I could go straight on a more main road for an extra mile.
I decided to take the left because I was confident my Chrysler 300C AWD Hemi could handle anything, which since 2008 it has. There is an uphill section which was my only concern. I was going 20, and as I hit the hill there were 3 cars on the right stopped with their blinkers on. I had momentum, but because I couldn't see over the crest of the hill and with the slippery roads I wasn't sure what was going on - accident, etc. At the last second I was thinking there was nothing and keep driving to the left, but I chickened out and stopped. I quickly found out why they were stopped. Duh, the snow and ice. Even my AWD couldn't make it up the hill. I tried a couple of time but started sliding to the left. Ultimately was stuck in the middle of the hill. I wanted to attempt to back up down the hill, but the car behind me had slid into a telephone pole, and twice I tried but felt I might slide into his car, so I stopped.
Called AAA. 1.5 hour wait. Then I though to myself this car has never been stuck, and it wasn't going to happen now. So I turn the engine one, and try to go uphill. But this time, I kept the door open, and accelerated so slowly to make the tires barely move even a dimes worth. The car crept. My though was I had to go so slow to gain traction, and it worked. I made it up the hill, and I bet the other 5 stuck people swore at me.
All this because I hesitated and just didn't drive past everyone.
Sounds to me like you made the best possible decision with a bad situation. You stayed put instead of attempting to get out of it on your own and causing more damage to your car or others. This stuff happens to everyone at some time.
Sounds more like a close call than a dumb decision?
I've had many close calls but don't recall any dumb decisions. I was driving in a remote mountainous area following the GPS directions when I got stuck in soft sand. I knew I should've listened to my intuition and took the other road but trusted the GPS. Each time I stepped on the gas it would just dig further in to the sand so I dug the sand away and managed to reach off-road which was solid dirt. Drove on it until reaching the other road.
I was on the freeway during what was like a monsoon with limited visibility when I came up on an accident with a huge pickup turned around and blocking 2 lanes including mine. I immediately slammed on the brakes which caused the tires to lock up and began hydroplaning towards the truck. As I was about 5 feet from slamming in to it, I somehow managed to steer away towards the shoulder. Would've fell in to the ditch but the dirt shoulder stopped the car a foot from falling over. I was pumping my fist like Kirk Gibson after his walkoff World Series HR after that one. When I turned around all the cars were stopped dead and watching me. I was very very lucky.
So in this scenario what do you imagine was the dumb decision?
Sure, you made it up the hill, but you could easily have been stuck or slid off the road. I still say the dumb decision was taking a back road to avoid an easy extra mile. You got away with your dumb decision this time, but did you learn enough to know that staying on the better road is the more reliably smart choice?
My OP was a rant just because the ride home was miserable. You nailed my dumb decision. Side roads in the snow are hazardous, and my over confidence in the AWD put me in a precarious position. Other cars could have slid into me as I was stuck on the hill. Thankfully I thought of the inch worm technique and got myself out.
Location: San Ramon, Seattle, Anchorage, Reykjavik
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Dumb decision may have been to not get winter tires. Given how long they last, I'm surprised that more people in the northeast don't buy them the first winter they get their car. A set is less than the deductible for your first accident so seems worth it to me.
My OP was a rant just because the ride home was miserable. You nailed my dumb decision. Side roads in the snow are hazardous, and my over confidence in the AWD put me in a precarious position. Other cars could have slid into me as I was stuck on the hill. Thankfully I thought of the inch worm technique and got myself out.
I was driving in the same storm last night on my way home from work. There wasn't much accumulation, but it was coming down hard at 6pm and the snow was covering a sheet of ice from the sleet/drizzle we had in the afternoon right before the snow started. My commute home is 10 miles, all curvy backroads through Weston/Wayland/Sudbury (it's either that or sit in traffic on Rt-20). My traction control was coming on every 30 seconds. It sucked bad, I need to get a set of winter tires.
Anyway, I don't think you made a mistake. You've taken that backroad a million times, so why not? Also, you were right to slow down because you just don't know what's over the hill. If there was a disabled car just over the crest, you would've caused a serious accident sliding into it while trying to brake on the ice.
I had a girl giving me "fun time" while driving once, in retrospect it was incredibly dangerous.
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