An open letter to my fellow drivers in winter weather

[kate_nepveu]

Dear fellow drivers in winter weather:

Despite what you may have been told, driving in winter weather is not actually that complicated. Keep these two simple rules in mind and you will be fine:

1. You must change speed over a much longer distance than usual.
2. You must change direction much more slowly than usual.

(The observant will note that these themselves are simply applications of the fundamental rule, "You will have much less traction than usual.")

Everything else follows from these rules. HTH. HAND.

ETA: here's a corollary that I really thought would go without saying: do not brush snow off your car in the middle of a residential street immediately after pulling out of your driveway.

Comments

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

How true.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

The Massachusetts Snow rule appears to be "Drive as fast as possible. The snow will blow off! Traction means nothing!"

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

True that. I also love the thing where no one even tries to help the wind take the snow off before getting into the car.

[kate_nepveu]

When you don't even bother to brush your own hood off, then you move from "a danger to others" to "Darwin Award wannabe."

[montoya.livejournal.com]

It blows off quick!

[skwidly.livejournal.com]

Here's one: if a sheet of ice is on top of your SUV, and then you crank your heater to maximum, and then you get on the highway, that sheet of ice is going to lift off the top of your suburban assault vehicle and fly into whomever has the misfortune of being stuck behind you! Get a smaller vehicle, a bigger garage, or just stay home, please.

[kate_nepveu]

Or a really long-handled ice scraper.

But yes, I hate that too.

[sraun]

Ah, the first snowfall of the year. This is when I'm really glad I work a weird schedule. In Minneapolis, MN, we're just finishing our first big storm of the year - it started with light snow yesterday afternoon, dumped overnight, and is trailing off today.

I got off work at 7pm last night. By that time, most people were home - if they had the option, they'd left work early and got home about on time. The roads were in decent shape without much traffic after about 2" of snow.

Today is the first day of a four-day weekend. I don't have to leave the house today, except to shovel the walk and take out the garbage. I didn't have to deal with morning rush hour. I am so happy about that! Oh - Minneapolis declared a snow emergency. That means that my car has to be parked on the other side of the street by 8am tomorrow. My wife has expressed an interest in going to a movie tonight - if she does, I'll get her to put the car on the other side when she comes home.

[missysedai.livejournal.com]

I see you've met my neighbors.

[kate_nepveu]

I didn't know you lived down the street from me!

[missysedai.livejournal.com]

It's a rather

long

street, but I'm sure if I hiked up on my roof and busted out the telescope...

You should come for tea!

[khavrinen.livejournal.com]

My two favorites are the "rules" ( note quotation marks )that everyone seems to believe in most fervently:

1. If you are trying to accelerate -- especially up a hill -- and your wheels start to slip, the only possible reaction is to rev the engine as fast as you can. [ I don't know, maybe they're trying to use friction to melt through to bare pavement. I saw one woman on the news one winter who revved her engine so hard it overheated and blew a radiator hose. Needless to say, she didn't get up the hill after that, either. ]

2. If you are trying to brake, and your wheels start to skid, the only possible reaction is to stomp on the brake as hard as you can. [ Isn't there a line in one of the Vorkosigan books like "It didn't work; we need to do it harder." ? ]

[montoya.livejournal.com]

See, this is why modern cars are awesome: If you try to do 1 on a car with traction control, it will override you; and trying to do 2 on a car with ABS is perfectly fine.

[redrose3125.livejournal.com]

Also, 4 wheel drive means all 4 wheels slip independently on ice!

[jerusha.livejournal.com]

4 wheel drive is great; however, it does not come with an equivalent enhancement to stopping ability. There are a number of drivers in ditches who are apparently quite surprised by this...