Law Would Require Cleaning Ice, Snow From Cars

The Associated Press ^ | September 15, 2005 | AP

[Exit148]

Fine with me. I've been hit. Not a good thing to happen when you are zipping along on a highway.

I keep away from all cars with snow/ice on top. Sometimes that innocent snow has a bed of ice under it, and a warm car can send it flying. I especially keep away from any van or truck with a flat top.

If people can't take personal responsibility, then the threat of of $$$$$$$ fine should do it.

Bring it on!.

[Smarti Pants]

HAHAHA!! My brother got out of his car at a stoplight once, and took his scraper out & brushed off the front & tail lights on the car in front of him so he wouldn't rear-end him!

He described the look on the driver's face as he watched this 6'+ tall hippie-looking guy with a huge afro coming toward him with a big "stick" in his hand...

I wonder if that driver ever did that again?

[wildehunt]

Common sense is not common.

You'd think it would not just be common sense but common courtesy, especially if you've ever found yourself trying to hit the dirt on your floor mats as chunks come flying at you at 75 per.

It's going to hard to shovel the roof of your semi, I betcha.

[Species8472]

I live in Alaska and this is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of. Common sense dictates that you clear your windows for visibility, but If your following close enough to be hit by ice or snow falling off a vehicle, you are following too close and deserve it! Of course, most tailgating up here limits itself to the first sudden stop where the offender rear ends the car in front of them. one car length per ten miles an hour really means something on icy roads.

[Paladin2]

Tailgating !

[kms61]

Not true. I was driving on I-20 through Dallas after a rare snow/ice storm a few years ago and one of those 50 lb frozen frisbees sailed off a car well ahead of me and landed on my roof. Fortunately it didn't hit my windshield. This is an objective hazard...fortunately we don't have to deal with it here as much as they do in snow country. People should lay off the kneejerk responses and analyze whether a law is actually necessary. This one doesn't interfere with anyone's life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness, doesn't infringe on anyone's freedome in any material way, and does make the highways safer.

[kms61]

It doesn't just fall. A frozen slab of ice peeling off the top of a vehicle at highway speeds has aerodynamic properties and can sail a long way. I've seen it happen and been hit, and I wasn't tailgating.

[Paladin2]

" If it hits your car, you are way too close and traveling at a very high speed."

BINGO!!!!!!

[Keith in Iowa]

>>>Tailgating !

Is that sarcasm???

One can be behind a vehicle with the requisite space between, and be impacted when debris flies of the front vehicle. You've never had it happen to you apparently...

[staytrue]

You exagerate. A 50 pound block of ice would be about 1 ft thick, 2 ft. by 3 ft. and it would be solid ice not the crackly, crumbly stuff normally on cars.

[lightman]

Liberal lunacy...

Nope, it's really pro-life conservatism at its best because endangering others because you're too lazy to clear off your car is just plain criminal.

I hope they also crack down on the "peephole" drivers who clear off just a tiny spot on the windshield and never even attempt the side windows.

[Paladin2]

In winter, the "rules" change. 18 Wheelers are given a MUCH larger berth after they join the highway. Smaller vehicles are given appropriate berth. Winter rules are much different than Summer rules where braking distances are the only major concern.

There are old Pilots and bold Pilots, but no old, bold Pilots.

[staytrue]

I challenge you to create a block of ice that weighs 50 lbs. and that can still "fly like a frisbee".

[kms61]

Okay, 20 pounds. or 15 pounds. Or even ten pounds. Something like that hitting your windshield at 50 MPH will ruin your day, to say the least.

[keithtoo]

New MASS law:

Shake three times, but no more than three times.

If you shake more than three times, that means you're playing with it.

[Teacher317]

So let's outlaw pebbles, as well.

[quantim]

I take it you've never been hit by a flying slab of ice while driving down the freeway.

I bet Mary Jo had she not been murdered by Fat Ted would prefer the river had been frozen over, she may have lived long enough to beat the hell out of him.  True enough 'flying ice' can be dangerous but the bigger danger is those who take the wheel in the first place, and it's not about ice, it's about personal responsibility - and that can't be legislated.  

[goresalooza]

Hey, not that my state of Florida is PERFECT...but...what are you all doing in Massachusetts about drunken drivers arrested multiple times (Joan Kennedy 4 times)? Shouldn't the MA atty general be concerned about someone who gets repeated probation but continues to drive drunk? And you're worried about SNOW?

Thanks for the article, Westlander..:)

[Species8472]

I've been driving energrncy vehicles (Fire and EMS) for 30 years up here and seen plenty of snow and ice come off of all kinds of vehicles and NEVER been hit (my area of Alaska gets 600 - 800 inches a year). Situational awareness is paramount during winter driving. Don't speed in winter driving conditions and don't tailgate snow covered trucks and you wont get hit. Take responsibility for your own safety and you wont have to deal with someone like me when you screw up.

Stay Safe!

[quantim]

a chunk of ice falling off the top of an 18-wheeler can be deadly.

True.  But you are much more likely to get killed when one of the tires shreds and goes through your windshield.