There is a direct correlation between snow and and instant stupidity. The more snow, the stupider people become.
Posted on 11/30/2015 5:40:43 PM PST by rickmichaels
"SUV lost control, drove into oncoming traffic," ran the recent headline. Pretty amazing SUV, if you ask me, that it can come unmoored from its pinnings in some driveway or parking lot and make its way onto the roadway, and then lose control.
Unless we get to quote Stephen King from his novel Christine, can we please get back to understanding that cars don't lose (or take) control and kill people? For the purists, there is a slight chance of a mechanical defect occurring, but don't put your money on that. It's driver error; I'm sure by now everybody is sick of my ranting that there are no car accidents, just collisions and crashes, but it's that magical time of year when people will once again start bashing into each other (and things), and start blaming their cars. Or the roadways. Or the weather.
(Excerpt) Read more at driving.ca ...
Waive waving?
Yep, when I lived up north it was a common misconception that just because a all-wheel drive vehicle could “go” it could also stop. Every year many drivers needed to re-learn how to drive in ice and snow. And, every year we were regaled with stories by those who were shocked that their all-wheel drive SUV/truck didn’t violate the laws of physics.
I believe that the spate of early-season accidents has something to do with the fact that the roadbed has not yet frozen solid. When you have snow falling on such pavement at 20 degree temperatures, there exists a thin melt layer between the warmish pavement and the cold atmosphere that wants to freeze into ice.
Later in the season, you don't have this struggle between the warmish ground and the cold atmosphere, so you don't get this ice-ish layer.
The later season road ice may have a different character - spikier ice crystals, with a higher coefficient of friction?
Depends on what you mean by ice. If you can't walk on it and your car won't even stay put if it's stopped on a slope, you can't drive in it. Not without cleated chains or studded tires at least, and those are banned in many states for all but emergency vehicles due to damaging the pavement.
See my post 23. I agree that you have to “re-learn”, but I also think there’s a seasonal transition state in the plane between the road and the atmosphere.
When I lived in Minnesota, I had to make a number of service calls to pipeline terminals during blizzards. I was driving a Subaru Forester at the time. I still had to slow down either due to the snow on the road, visibility, or both. I saw a lot of pickup trucks pass me at speed, only to pass them because they were in the ditch or pulled over by a deputy. Once I was pulled over by a deputy, and he asked me why I was driving in such conditions. I gave him the business reason, adding that the terminal was having trouble with their propane truck loading. He replied “Well it’s going to be cold and people need their propane. You be careful and get there safely.”
Wave...
There is a direct correlation between snow and and instant stupidity. The more snow, the stupider people become.
I drive a Wrangler with limited slip rear axle, auto locker front axle and excellent tires. It will go through about anything but won't stop an inch shorter than an ordinary car on ice. Four times zero is still zero.
Great
Another reason to keep my 98 Suburban for a bugout vehicle and stay in Florida.
I can do ya one better.
I remember back in Jr. High in a school near Chaaaaaah-ston, S. Carolina. They closed school one day because "somebody saw sleet".
My best winter vehicle is a big, heavy Ford F250 4WD Diesel extended-cab pickup with narrow tires. This decreases the footprint on the slippery road surface which increases the traction. Add studded Mud/Terrain tires and I’m ready to go - at a reasonable rate of speed (especially on curves).
When I worked in the Alaska North Slope oil patch all of the trucks wore narrow tires and the frozen gravel road surface was scarified. You had to really work at it to run off the road in those condition but it still happened.
The worst tires are big, wide “monster truck” tires on a jacked up short-wheelbase vehicle. You can swap ends really well with that setup.
True. The only thing that helps braking on ice or packed snow is studed tires.
Well, yeah, the minority I was talking about is idiots who have never seen snow.
I was going to mention sheet ice but didn’t want to make my post too long. If you can’t walk on it, you can’t drive on it. I remember seeing some footage of a Sherman tank helplessly sliding down a street during the Battle of the Bulge. So much for tracks with rubber pads.
Back in the old days, starting off in second gear was the best way to get traction on snow or ice. I don’t know if today’s positraction rearends help or not.
The biggest danger I see isn’t “idiots” who’ve never seen snow, but idiots who see no downside in jabbering away on a cell phone while in traffic and at the wheel.
So what are these self driving cars? Christine LIVES!
Just came home and saw an SUV wrapped around a tree. I don’t know how they did that at 40 mph.
Does ABS help?
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