Every year when the first snows of the year hit the road, you’ll always be treated to some kind of madness as motorists struggle to adapt to the new conditions. This is especially true here in the Pacific Northwest, where our metropolitan centers see maybe a few inches of snow per year but our drivers are in no way used to the white-and-slippery stuff. Each year, when we get snow on the roads for a few days, I see the kinds of sights that make me despair for our collective automotive competency: front-drive minivans with chains on the rear wheels, rear-drive pickups with chains on the front, and 4×4 pickups getting stuck in a few inches of drifted snow. Or, as this video of Seattle drivers grappling with snow earlier this week shows, on some occasions the streets simply descend into a pirouetting symphony of low-traction incompetence. What’s the worst snow-related driving offense you’ve ever seen?
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A few years ago when I lived in Evanston,IL (touches the northern border of Chicago), I was walking home from the grocery store walking down a side street and I saw a lady digging out the back wheels of her Camry to try & get out of her parking spot. She was really going at it… shoveling hard. I watched her for a couple moments trying not to laugh. After she got in and out of her car twice, and watching the front wheels spin in the snow (at the opposite end of the wheel she was digging out), I stepped up and asked her — “Is your car front or rear wheel drive?”. She looked at me and shrugged. I told her “Try digging out your front wheels, it will probably work better.”. She obliged and still couldn’t get the car out of the spot and got out of the car with a confused look on her face. I told her. “While in park, turn your wheel all the way to the right, and then to the left, twice, then aim your wheels out towards the street and give it a little gas”.
She got out as soon as she tried that.
How can you NOT know if your car is front, rear, or all wheel drive?
How many people honestly care now a days? The general public is so ignorant now-a-days that common sense should be considered a Super Power. I definitely knew to change my driving style when hopping out of my FWD Chevy Celebrity and into my father’s 1987 RWD Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme.
I should have asked her if it was RWD, AWD or Wrong-wheel-drive, but I felt sorry for her.
“FWD Chevy Celebrity”
My man, Dan: you need a new/different car…or maybe not…???
I knew to do it. That was in the mid to late 1990s. I still miss that Oldsmobile though, bought it off the old man and then had it stolen in Detroit, MI a few years later.
“Common sense should be considered a Super Power.”
Hehehe.. I am going to use that one and tell people that I have a Super Power! :)
At my previous posting in Eastern Ontario I once saw a guy in a Solara getting absolutely nowhere in light snow: duh he was running what looked like 35-series summer tires on aftermarket oversized rims. Part throttle, full throttle, it made no difference he just slowly skidded sideways. I recognized the driver as one of my students (and not a sharp knife at that)…later I asked him what the hell he was thinking and he laughed “yeah, I should have left the car in Vancouver!”
The funniest footage I have ever seen of slippin’ and slidin’ was the footage shot during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944 where a Sherman tank was helplessly sliding cock-eyed along an ice & snow-covered road somewhere in Belgium! I have had my own funny and not-so-funny experiences through the years, too.
“I have had my own funny and not-so-funny experiences through the years, too.”
Thank you for helping me not feel so stupid about my mishap the other day. Going around a corner with glaze ice under a coating of snow and I tried to follow a curve while my car decided to go straight, right into a curb. I destroyed my rim. That was a bad day.
In the drivers defense, that had to be ice underneath a dusting of snow for the vehicles to behave like that.
Indeed, and I think that ice has been polished to a mirror-like finish with all the wheel spinning on them. Its traction coefficient is probably near zero. Even that AWD SUV can’t get enough traction. You’ll probably fell if you step on the stuff. Will snow tires helps in a situation like this, I wonder?
My STI with stock bridgestone potenze RE-070 tires will slide like some of those cars simply trying to make a left or right turn at 10mph in very very light snow.
I’m guessing most of those drivers had “summer” or “no-season” tires.
Studded tires would help in that case. There’s no substitute for small metal bits sticking into the ice. For ice and hard packed snow, they are the best solution.
@Robstar,
I have an STI and am familiar with the stock Bridgestone RE 070’s. They are great dry summer tires (e.g. LA streets).
They are DANGEROUS in inclement weather. I think they start losing effectiveness in the 40’s on wet roads.
Unless you are never in cool wet weather I would swap those puppies out… If you live in Seattle, they are terrible tires. I got much much better performance out of “value” all-season tries (Kumho Ecsta ASX).
Just another STi owner who wants you to avoid dents. ;)
DK
ETA: spelling fix
Snow tires make a huge difference on the ice. All of those sipes cut into the tread are the only thing short of studs or chains that will give you any purchase. A decent set (4) of snow tires will let you cruise along cautiously on roads you can’t even walk on (e.g. Minneapolis last Saturday night).
In fact there are 2 types of winter tires. Ice tires and snow tires. The names say it all, the snow tires are great in snow and so-so on ice, and the otherway for the ice tires. Living in northern Quebec it’s someting we all know of over here, and by the way in winter there is a law that we have to have winter tires. Saying allthat, with some good brand name ice wintertires most cars should go up that hill, no walk in the park, but you will get there. Lot’s of people do stud their snowtires, kinda gives you the best of both worlds.
That was exactly the case. I live in the suburbs near Seattle and all of the roads became ice rinks for a few days. It got just warm enough at mid-day to melt the top layer, and it would freeze into an ice sheet at 5PM. Only major roads got any kind of plowing/salting/sanding.
This city cannot handle snow, and we were pretty well paralyzed by getting a couple inches. People were stuck on the freeways for up to 8 hours a couple of days ago. (!)
In cities that DO get snow, how do people get by? Do all the streets get plowed/salted? Does everyone have snow tires and mad skillz? Because it’s like the world ends over here.
In fact there are 2 types of winter tires. Ice tires and snow tires. The names say it all, the snow tires are great in snow and so-so on ice, and the otherway for the ice tires.
Though there is no official designation for an ice tire, I suppose one could classify winter tires that way. The snowflake symbol only means they’re good on snow, so many snow tires are not good on ice. But most tires that are good on ice are also designed to be good on snow. The better studless tires cannot compete with the better studded tires on ice, but they’re just as good in snow.
What is this “snow” that you speak of?
A pain in the a$$.
Saw an SUV facing me on the DC beltway. That was exciting.
When I lived in Wyoming, I had business at a ranch outside of town. The unpaved county road could become impassable at times in the winter, but the only way to know was to drive it. Most of the time I could reach my destination. Sometimes I could not and would have to turn around. Once on a particularly marginal day, I tried to reach the ranch, but it became evident very quickly that to proceed further would be foolish. The first clue was a ratty Jeep Grand Cherokee with Iowa plates stuck in a drift in the ditch next to the road with four guys standing around outside, one of whom was wearing shorts. I stopped and asked if one of them wanted a ride back to town as that was where I was heading. The chap who came along said they were all students at a well-known local technical college and that some friends from home had come out to visit and wanted to drive on some snowy roads. “Mission accomplished,” I said.
Honorable mention goes to a driver of a two-wheel-drive Pre Runner Tacoma here in Denver that had 40-inch tires and can hardly get out of his parking spot on the lightest of snowy days.
Lived in the grand state of North Carolina for a couple of years back in the 80’s. A few snow flurries in the air (no accumulation, mind you) would turn those people literally hysterical.
One day while driving home from work on Hwy. 54 in Durham, there were cars in ditches and calamities that would only be associated with a serious icestorm.
When I got to a grocery store, all of the toilet paper was sold out. Which brings me to the conclusion that snow causes widespread diarrhea.
“…snow causes widespread diarrhea.”
I’d never thought of it that way. That was good for a laugh especially considering MN and probably much of the upper mid-west is due for a happy snow, sleet, ice, rain mixy thing today into tomorrow. 30 mph on the freeway here we come.
We call it “The Idiot Trifecta”. For some reason in the DelMarVa area, people think that any snowstorm is going to maroon them in their houses for a week. So people clog the stores buying all the bread, milk, and toilet paper they can get their mitts on.
Invariably, everyone is able to get to work or the store within 2 days. Even last year, we had two different storms, 2 weeks apart, of over 2 feet of snow (a very unusual amount), and most people were back at work within 2 days, especially for the second one.
As for lunacy during snowy road conditions, usually I just see the ordinary idiots who think 4-Wheel Drive means ‘traction like it was sunny and dry’. They drive the usual 15 MPH over the speed limit, and occasionally end up seeing what the road looks like in the direction they came from out the windshield…
“4 wheel drive =/= 8 wheel brakes.”
“You’ll just get stuck farther and deeper.”
“Enough rope to hang yourself.”
Some of my sensible friends swear by 4WD for situations like getting up steep driveways. That I believe. (Good for pulling boat trailers up mossy boat ramps too, but this is a winter discussion…)
I think snow causes people to make a kind of divine offering. I often have driven in snow and remarked Holy S$$$.
“Which brings me to the conclusion that snow causes widespread diarrhea.”
As Bill Cosby famously said about accidents:
“First you say it – then you do it.”
” most people were back at work within 2 days” maybe in DelMarVa, but 50 miles away in the DC suburbs of VA it was a disaster. In Oakton we weren’t plowed out for a week, and one of my colleagues in Falls Church waited 10 days to get plowed out. No SUVs were making it through that stuff — the only vehicles that made it through were industrial/agricultural or military equipment.
Yesterday evening, in the Seattle suburbs, I saw a woman putting on chains on the rear tires (and only the rear tires) of a front wheel drive Toyota Yaris. I have now seen everything.
Both my Grandmother and Mother (mother and daughter BTW) have managed to drift a little too far to the right and drop the front tire of a FWD sedan (a hawk nosed Buick Skylark and a Chevy Celebrity respectively) off the roadway onto the stone shoulder after a snow/ice storm. Both cars did a 180 degree spin and ended up in the opposite lane facing opposite directions. The two of them managed to do this in the same month approximately one year apart. (Like mother like daughter.)
One year I switched too soon from winter tires to all-season tires on my Camry. My Wal-Mart Hallmark tires were down to 3/32″, and were absolutely useless during an April snowfall. It was surprising, because they used to be ok in winter.
I’ve since found out that you get what you pay for, and you can get better tires that simultaneously have more wet and dry grip, a softer ride, better handling, and an even more quiet ride.
Sorry to rain on your parade, Niedermeyer, but the “Pacific Northwest” is not just the aloof little spot of land between the Cascades and the Pacific. From the eastern slope to the borders of Montana and Wyoming, snow happens; we got 9″ yesterday and though early for that sort of total, it’s not abnormal (’08/09 we got 95″+ for the season).
But yes, it was entertaining to watch the Meattle-types do the driving equivalency of the “toddler shuffle.” But what’s really funny is that the Puget Sound market is saturated w/Subarus, Toyo/Lexus 4WD/AWD vehicles, Volvo XC’s…modes of transport that should easily handle this little hiccup. And yet, they still manage to spin around in circles like they have “whirling disease.”
Greasy snow with ice underneath will cause problems for any car not equipped dedicated snow (Blizzak or X-Ice) studless or studded tires. This is what we’re dealing with in Seattle. Most AWD cars and crossovers here run all-seasons year round.
I’ve been up on Snoqualmie Pass many times and most of the skiers coming from the westside are getting up there in all-seasons; that says something, considering how “third worldy” that stretch of I-90 is. Plus, it’s not like the majority of drivers on the “snowy” sides of WA & OR run dedicated snow wheels/tires; many do, but it’s not universal. Rather, I think it’s about lack of experience in inclement weather & people in too much of hurry (the old standby).
On a side note: Did the light rail system (“SLUT”?) finally run at capacity for the first time?
The Sound Transit light rail apparently did really well (a couple switches were frozen but cleared). Ditto for the Sounder commuter trains. The “SLUT” (which goes on the surface streets with cars) was blocked by stalled/stranded vehicles in several places (from what I heard on Twitter).
In a suburb outside Chicago: A newer Ferrari (F355 maybe) driving around in conditions just like in the video. Although I was driving a 300zx turbo at the time, I thought I had found the biggest idiot in the world.
Probably the wildest show I’ve ever seen on ice was me back in 1976. I lived in Northwestern Pennsylvania where 6 feet of snow on the ground was common. I was used to driving in snow. Our family was a SAAB family – I learned to drive in one- and I had a new Honda Civic (about the size of a matchbox in those days) with steel studded snow tires. Add that to the fact I was 17 and you had weather invincibility- Hell. immortality. Snow was other people’s problem.
One winter morning I was running late for work so I was screaming along the highway at about 60. The roads hadn’t been too bad till I got to where the interstate crossed over the highway I was on. Just as I entered the area where the 2 lane high broadened to 4 lanes to accomodate the entrance and exit ramps, an old Chevy came sliding down the exit ramp and bumped its nose into the median, blocking most of both lanes in front of me.
Instinctively, I hit the brakes, and found my self sliding down the highway at 60 mph, sideways, with my drivers door facing down the highway set to smash into the driver’s door of the stalled Chevy. I saw the driver’s face take on a look of realization, and then horrror. It hit me that hitting a Chevy sideways on my drivers door was probably, uhm, instant death.
I decided that I really only had three possible controls available for the car- steering hadn’t done anything and hitting the brakes had sent me sideways. That left the gas… so I punched it, hoping to at least get most of that Chevy to hit BEHIND my drivers door Please God!
When I punched the gas the studs dug into the ice enough to pull the car forward and suddenly instead of flying down the road sideways driver’s door forward, I was flying down the road passenger’s door forward but when the car had spun around counterclock wise, it cleared the tail of that old Chevy, and I went flying past it’s tail still at 60 MPH and foot flat on the gas! I missed it though…. even if it was only by a snowy inch.
Now of course I had a new problem…. the highway was going back to 2 lanes and I was in the outside lane… that was ending quick. Well Hell. The throttle trick worked once, so I stayed in it, and snapped the steering wheel to the right! The back end fishtailed out to the left, but I was expecting it this time, and I caught it and threw it back to the right and after a series of diminishing fishtag wags left and right I was going down the road straight and still going 60!
I got out of the gas gently and crawled to a stop about a mile down the road from that overpass. I found a place to pull off safely, leaned the seat back and smoked about 3 cigarettes till my heart started working properly again.
The Hell with being late for work.
I remember blindly punching through snow drifts that were across country roads as a teenager. They say you gain experience as you get older and I’m not dumb enough to do that anymore… I got all my newspapers delivered on time during one particularly bad blizzard. Seems like a perfectly good reason for being out in the first place and justification for the extreme driving, right? Right? :)
I don’t think it would work out well in an airbag car. I remember hitting a few hard enough that the seatbelt would tug me back into my seat. I had to remove snow out of the way of the radiator a few times too.
Hey I once hit a drift hard enough to stop forward motion, get stuck, require a tow by my pissed off father (it was 10pm) and pack the entire engine compartment full of snow (this was an 1982 Celebrity when you could still see the ground around the 4cyl engine.)
Thirty years ago I moved to DC from the midwest. I am originally from Chicago, my wife is from a town 65 miles north of Green Bay, my mother was from Central Saskatchewan and my son goes to the University of Minnesota. I find the entire process of driving in DC between Thanksgiving and the end of March strange and see no humor in it at all.
DC traffic any time of the year is humorless
and see no humor in it at all.
I’m with you Angela. I must be missing something – I mean, what is so funny about watching other people’s misfortune from the safety of our computers on the internet? Is the ridicule supposed to imply that we are somehow “better drivers” and could overcome the laws of physics on these glazed ice hills with no traction? Why do we get so smug when we watch other people slip and slide and crash into one another? We’re all going to get our turn someday, and then someone else will witness our mistake and laugh at us about it. What’s next, laughing at retarded children or laughing at soldiers getting their asses blown off in Afghanistan?
I have some sympathy for some of these drivers – the one’s that absolutely had to go somewhere – but when it comes to the urban cowboys in their four-wheel-drives with summer tires, I think this is justice, man. Save those rigs for hauling yer horses.
Its all about the tires.
I’m thinking about a set of snow tires, but have no place to store the other set when not in use. That is the main problem I have.
Is there a good all-season with decent winter capability that isn’t too expensive? I know I’m not asking for much. :) My current tires are bottom of the barrel “Runway” something or others that have no grip even during the summer. I didn’t put them on mind you since this was bought used.
conti – dws. Only wish they came in a 15″ size. but smallest is currently 16″. Tire rack had a winter test on them, in winter they were far better then other all season
I’ve been really happy with Nokian WR-G2’s…they arent cheap tho.
Blizzaks turn my rwd 325iT into a tractor. If they were studded it would be sick. I don’t think there is a all-season compromise. Go full winter if you can. Yes storage is a bit of hassle as well as having them swapped twice a year but the safety improvement is worth it.
Me sitting on the inside ceiling of my wife’s 3 month old car. After I rolled it sliding into a ditch in sub zero weather.
I still like snow, though. I just drive in it as little as possible.
I was visiting the Grand Canyon in winter and had the good sense to rent a Audi A6 with Quattro. On the way up from Phoenix to Flagstaff, there is an elevation change and it snows. I am on the freeway as it is snowing.
A Geo Tracker POS with summer tires and chromey rims comes bearing down on me at 70mph. I move over but not fast enough for the driver. She gives me the finger as she passes me as we start on a downhill. There is a bending curve at the bottom of the hill and I ease off the gas. Genius keeps chugging along and simply plows off the road into a gentle ditch as summer rubber + no common sense come together.
Debating whether I should stop to help, I find out it’s moot. There is already a patrol car 200 meters down the road for a similar driver in a similar situation. Both cars have Arizona plates.
We need to raise the bar on driving licenses
Ladies and Gents….it ain’t just snow. Last month I was out in Corona, CA, (a bit SE of LA) and they had several consecutive days of rain for the first time since, like, April….can’t tell you how many cars I saw Tango Uniform on the Highways around the foothills out there. When I politely asked my hosts Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was happenin’, they told me what I like to call the December excuse here in the midwest. “Oh, it’s the rain. Takes some folks a couple of days to relearn how to drive in it.”
Laughed my friggin’ a$$ off….yup. California. Land of fruits, nuts, flakes and bad drivers.
Too true. I was in Culver City a couple decades ago, first rain of the season, watching a car stopped at a traffic light. Another car coming from behind him waits until it’s just a few feet from the stopped car and then nails the brakes, skids right into the the stopped car. Both drivers then get out o their cars, which are now blocking the intersection. Mind you this happened at about 5-10 mph, no major damage, they could easily have pulled over to exchange insurance info. Instead they’re blocking traffic, waiting for another idiot to plow into them. I got out of there.
This must’ve been in 1976 or so…driving a Datsun B210 wagon north on Colorado Blvd in Denver (then and maybe still the busiest street in CO), in the early evening with ice all over the road. I was in lane 3 of 6, along the median, and tried to stop carefully at an intersection, only to have the back of the car swing around in a gentle 180, miraculously not hitting anyone else in rush hour traffic. I had three blocks before my left turn to get on side street I hoped would be less slippery. So I just kept driving backwards, looking out the rear window, until I got off the main drag, because it seemed safer than trying to turn around again. Made it home, shaking. Later got four studded snows, and found the noise comforting.
Christmas day, 1992. I-94 in Kalamazoo County is nationally known as a bad road in winter weather. That was a “black ice” day…I’m driving my year-old son home to his mom’s house, around noon. Outside temp about 10 F. Black ice all around. Kenny is buckled contentedly in his safety seat, goggling at Elmo….
About 100 yards ahead I see a double-pup gas tanker tap his brakes to try to slow down on the black stuff. Jackknife city. I ease up on the gas of my car, smart enough to not touch my brakes. Trucker isn’t. He’s sashaying down I-94 east, with his pup trailers doing the watusi…..I find myself looking straight ahead at his starboard diesel tank, wondering how long after impact it will ignite, as the distance between us narrows….suddenly he hits a patch of dry road, double clutches, drops it into 3rd, and tromps it…..the trailers snap to as he surges ahead, and the second pup swings across my path from left to right and back to center, missing my front bumper by inches. Literally inches…
My adrenaline is surging at the near miss. He gets off at the next exit; heading, I think, for the nearest coffee shop to clean his shorts…I follow him for a mile or so, wanting to buy him a cuppa to thank him for his skill which saved my son’s and my life…after a while, it becomes apparent he ISN’T heading for coffee and a clean pair of Hanes’…so I turn off to deliver my son to his mom, safe and sound and oblivious.
Never saw that bloke again. Think about him every time I drive I-94 in the winter, though….
This past winter during the heavy snowstorms in the DC area my mom was stuck at work, afraid to drive home in the snow. At the time most main roads were cleared at least once though there was some slush in some places, but on our unplowed residential street snow was compacted and very slippery. I offered to drive to her work and pick her up, but she said a co-worker with a “big truck” would drive her home. When she arrived, I saw a Chevy S-10 slipping and sliding like crazy down the hill, and barely able to make it up another hill to our house, rocking back and forth many times. It was rear wheel drive, with an empty bed. And, of course, the tires were almost completely bald. She said it took one hour to get home, which is usually a 10-minute drive.
Yes, it’s time for our annual one-off Seattle snowstorm and the obligatory rending of garments and blaming various public works departments for inadequate preparation. Of which I care not a hoot, because my ’96 Range Rover with the anemic four liter mill suddenly becomes the prom queen. If I wasn’t so lazy I’d put on both sets of chains, grab the tow strap and go make a little money pulling the K-cars and boy racers off the medians.
Who am I kidding, those goobers don’t have any money.
I can’t top that with a car-related story. But I can top it. In the summer of 1966, my family of origin was driving through Czechoslovakia when we saw an entire train that was stuck on a very slight incline. The engineer got out, put something on the track–sand, salt, I don’t really know. He then started the train, and the wheels started turning, but the train stayed put. He jumped out of the engine, got next to it, and started to push. We watched for a few minutes as he did that repeatedly.
Snow Jam ’82, Atlanta, Georgia.
Was working my way through an industrial design degree at Georgia Tech, and left the office about an hour after the snow started for what was normally a 20-minute drive home in my ’71 Vega (first car).
Took over an hour to drive about four miles south on I-85/75, so bailed on that and came off at Tech, working my way through Techwood Homes, then downtown and southside Atlanta.
Having lived in the slightly snowier climes of Inman, SC prior, I was at least savvy to driving in snow, and the Vega was actually quite capable if handled attentively.
Was getting close to home finally, and had to climb a 3/4-mile hill but naturally some “person” pulled out from a side street halfway up and promptly spun out. I had no choice but to stop, and seemingly from thin air, a bunch of project kids materialized offering to push me up the hill for $20.
I offered a polite “thanks, but no thanks,” did a reverse 180 and drove back down the hill, again reversing a ways up the opposite hill. Gunned it, and waved cheerily as I sailed past.
Made it home in just under four hours, and called back at the office to see if my Uncle who worked there had left yet. He hadn’t, and while on the phone, I commented on the laughter in the background, asking if they were having a party? He replied that they were watching cars pile into each other at the traffic light for our building entrance, which was located about 300 feet past the top of a hill.
Have a lot of great memories of inclement weather and the old Vega. Also many when I later drove a ’64 Beetle in Atlanta’s frequent winter ice storms – I could get anywhere, laughing all the way at the 4X4s huddling together in the ditches…
Back in 2003 a freak snowstorm hit the east of England one afternoon. My commute home ended 3 miles short when I realised that every road into my home town (which was on a hill) was pretty much impassable. So I parked the car and walked. The funniest thing I saw in my two hours of trying to get into town was watching a middle aged lady in a brand new Mazda MX5 charge one of the hills at full speed, only to neeeaaarly reach the top before sliding all the way back down, bouncing off the side of the road, other cars and nearly taking out a bunch of people including me who’d decided to walk. Needless to say, she didn’t have snow tires or a clue.
People drove pretty well in NE Ohio, and up state New York. I still remember my father’s orders, “Take your foot off the brake, and steer”.
So I grew up in the midwest where there is lots of winter driving. Lots of snow on mostly flat roads.
Here in Seattle, any snow event that is a major hassle usually starts out as snow/rain mix or just wet snow falling at about 30-34 degs. The roads get slushy, and the temps fall so that the roads freeze. Not too much trouble in the midwest, but in Seattle and its surroundings there are NO flat roads, and the snow events are so rare — zero to two per winter — that there is not a fleet of snow plows, etc for the city. Compare to Madison, WI that can have the entire city plowed-out on 24-36 hours … no matter how deep the cold, dry snow is.
So, give a little understanding here. Even the best of chains, like I have for 3 of our 4 cars [the E30-LS1 simply does not go on the icy roads] are nearly useless on the steeper hills when icy.
You need the E30-LS1ix version.
Hmmm, looks like the people of Seattle think the trick to stopping is to keep your foot firmly on the brake at all costs.
But in their defense they wouldn’t get that kind of weather very often. Case in point I was in Vancouver (same climate) some years ago in a rental 323 during a freak snowstorm and I was like Colin McRae compared to the other drivers.
Living in the Great White North I can relate all kinds of snow driving madness but a couple stick out.
West of Banff on the Trans Canada I was taking it slow (70 in a 90km zone) due to the glare ice and drifting snow, when a mid 90’s Nissan Mallfinder blew by me like I was standing still.
For a moment I felt like a wimp to drive so slow when around a bend I found the same Mallfinder sliding upside down into the ditch.
Another time my neighbour’s Sienna was stuck just off her driveway, said she was hopelessly stuck and could I help her get it out?
So I jumped in and started to rock the Toyota back and forth and almost immediately it leapt out of the drift and I almost plowed into a car parked across the street.
Turns out when she get stuck she did nothing else but to floor the pedal and keep it in reverse.
My error was assuming she would so the same thing as I would.
Good times.
The other problem with the Pacific Northwest is a climate that readily forms black ice, which is like driving on ball bearings. The craziest real life ice driving I can think of is the “car pinball” episode that happened in Portland a few years ago where a Volvo XC90 caromed down a street near the Multnomah Athletic Club bouncing off several cars while somebody filmed it from a balcony and thus it spread all over youtube. My favorite intentional one is the Swedish tank drifting video, involving some bored conscripts, a frozen lake and a Leopard II main battle tank.
Some great billard ball action here:
Back around Feb 2000 or so, I was driving home from Salt Lake City to Chicago when a winter storm forced the authorities to close Interstate 80 at Kearney, Nebraska. We were stuck in a McDonald’s for 3 or 4 hours with a bunch of truck drivers until one of them heard on their CB radio that US-30 (runs parallel to I-80) was just opened. The Interstate was still closed because they couldn’t clear the road due to all of the stuck cars.
Drove east on 30 for a few dozen miles until the Interstate was open again. Got back on I-80 and the scene was surreal. For the next hour we passed hundreds if not thousands of cars off the sides of the roads, about half of which were upside down. Most of the vehicles were SUVs and trucks of course. We saw at least half a dozen car carriers with smashed vehicles driving westward – carrying what had already been cleaned up.
Surface temperature is key. There is huge difference in traction between 32 F and 35 F, between snow over sheet ice and snow + slush. Even though they look nearly the same, especially from a grainy video.
Being from New York myself, we had a pretty good time when north Florida froze up solid for a few days in the late 80s. At one point we camped out where a downhill section momentarily bumped up over some railroad tracks, then dumped even more steeply straight into a T-intersection with huge old oak trees on the other end. The cars just piled up.
Later that same day, we camped out at the far edge of the mall parking lot watching the idiot kids go sliding around in their parents’ cars. All fun and games until somebody caught the edge of a sewer grating and rolled the truck — to be immediately followed by someone else spinning into a light pole (an act which was to be repeated several times that evening).
The highways were deserted, which was nice.
I grew up in northern Indiana, where we get a pretty fair amount of snow and ice in the winters. In the middle of my senior year of college, I had a job delivering pizzas. I used my 71 Plymouth Scamp. One night about midnight, some freezing rain started. Within about 20 minutes, the streets were shiny with ice. I was making the last delivery of the night and was slowly (15 mph) driving down a main street. No sudden moves, and everything will be fine. About 30 yards ahead of me was a VW beetle (the old rear engined kind) going about the same speed. The beetle must have stepped on the gas too hard, because the rear end of the car swung out and started to pass the front. This got my attention. I got off the gas and started planning where I could steer to stay away from the VW. To my amazement, the VW did a complete 360 degree spin then straightened out and continued down the street as if nothing had happened. Damned thing I ever saw.
My worst pet peeve, anyway, is someone who is “very confident” about their vehicle but has bad habits and little inclement weather experience.
After living in MN for 11 yrs, and growing up around ice to boot, I now live near Seattle. So I get to see people in over their heads regularly.
What particularly chaps me is someone in take-your-pick-of-a-high-performance-vehicle (rural guy in a jacked 4×4, typical suburban expensive SUV, Volvo wagon AWD) tailgating me on ice because they “have a 4-wheel drive”. Like that helps them stop or control it much better…
Actually had a BMW 3-series RWD tailgating me on marginal refrozen snow a few days ago. Downhill. Criminy.
I *love* the comment about common sense being a Super Power. I just think people are so out of touch with physical world and “consequences”… Just more magical thinking.
Love the vid… I’m not far from the site in question. ;)
Having once owned an AWD car (Subaru SVX), I’d say that AWD cars can actually be more dangerous in inclement weather. Because of the extra traction starting up, drivers often don’t realize how slippery the road has become. In 2WD cars the wheel spinning upon acceleration would tell them. With AWD the car just accelerated as normal. It’s not until it’s time to turn or stop (where AWD had little or no effect) did they realize they were going too fast for the condition. And it’s often too late.
Ok, I live in Norway, we invented winter. The bad side (when it comes to funny stories that is) to this is ,most people know about winter tires (you will get a ticket if the cops find you on summer tires on snow here) , and have learned to drive on snow/ice. The good thing (again,stories) is those who don’t respect the winter fail miserably. My first winter driving experience (in 98)was a tough one, and gave me two good stories (beside the fact that I twisted the chassis on a Audi up the face of a hill) First day on a two day trip home for christmas, I came across a parked car on the side of the road with it’s emergency lights blinking. I thought it looked like he had just parked there, but I stopped, and walked over to ask if they needed help, but they replied help was allready on the way. I asked what the problem was, as the car was running, and looked completely OK, and the guy on the passenger side said, Oh, it’s not this car, it’s that one, and pointed towards the railing of a small bridge. Then I suddenly saw four tires sticking up from the small creek that run under the same bridge. The car was up side down in a 6 ft deep ditch.
Teh next day, after horribly twisting and breaking the passenger side subframe on my Audi, me and the guy driving the recovery truck stopped at a gas station to some me food. We saw a early 80’s Escort, very good looking car, from the drivers side. The guys standing by the car asked me as I was walking by if I had a crash too.’Me Too?’ I said, confused. ‘Your car looks perfect?’ Well, turn out they had tried to overtake a bus on the slippery roads, and as they were almost past it, they had started slipping, and went right into the side of the bus, and slammed into it several times, including hitting the wheels of the bus. The passenger side of the Escort looked terrible. Like it had been attacked with can openers and sledgehammers. The door was nearly ripped off, and there were big black swirl marks along the whole side of the car. other than the obvious economic loss, and a hurt pride (and having to scrap a car I’d owned for three days), the trip was an enjoyable experience, with loads of more stories that wont fit here :)
The husband half of a couple we know is a native Norwegian who gets quite a kick out of Seattle snowstorms. He also has a propensity to own huge pieces of Detroit iron. Eighteen years ago when we got about a foot of snow and dire “do not drive unless it’s an emergency” warnings were bleating from the media, he took to the streets with his late ’70s Cadillac Coupe DeVille to deliver Christmas presents to friends. We saw the tire marks later on our driveway hill and wondered who had the brass to be out on our street let alone our driveway. He had to sheepishly admit after several frontal assaults he had to do the Walk of Shame the last fifty feet to our front door.
This is an easy one. I was traveling north on Telegraph Road in the left lane going by the I-96 entrance when there was maybe six inches of snow on the road. Some idjit in a 4WD pickup entering Telegraph evidently got frustrated by the speed of the car ahead of him and decided to go bounding across the concrete divider separating the ramp from the highway. He caught a little air, then went fishtailing down Telegraph for about 100 yards before collecting it together again.
I just eased my foot off the gas and prepared myself for what to do if he ended up crossways in my lane, but luckily no evasive maneuvers were needed.
My most amazing experience, I think, was watching my carpool driver come down a steep, somewhat frosty hill toward our meeting place in her 1971 Econoline van and doing, so help me God, a perfect 360. I am sure that it was also her most amazing experience.
Now I live nearly at the top of that hill, and the 09 Accord with Ice-x tires drives up the packed-ice-and-snow-covered hill without difficulty.
1. ICE is ICE – no modern winter tires = no chance of success.
2. It’s obvious most people don’t know 6/32nds of tread is a MINIMUM for winter driving with All Season OR Winter donuts.
3. I’m from Buffalo, so I’m qualified to comment.
Yeahhh, you need a snow-blower that has been ported & polished, with a Holley 65ocfm carb if you live in Buffalo
we had an oval shaped parking lot in high school – on snowy days before basketball practice we would have the snow drift 500 – until coach came in one day and said if he found any more drifting tire tracks we’d be running sprints til we puked.
Was in Seattle visiting friends last month (cross country journey). Amazing how hilly that town is. Not a flat surface in the joint.
Got a good rain story – living in Florida during the rainy season. Pouring – huge puddles everywhere. A lady in an appliance is stuck in a deep one. I have a lifted pickup and pull up next to her and roll down the window. She is hysterical screaming the rain is up to the door and starting to come into the car – she can get out and walk to the curb. I offered to get behind her (wink, wink) and push her out of the puddle. I provided the disclaimer that my bumper was bigger and higher than hers and I might cause some damage (nudge, nudge) but she was willing. I got her to safety – nobody drowning in a puddle on my watch – but I’m pretty sure she needed some new taillight lens and other backend parts by the time I was finished. Good times.
Driving in a Lake Effect snow belt area in NW Indiana for 34 years, driving in the snow is old hat. Three or four winters ago on the day after Christmas, I had to work. I have a 20+ mile commute that can either go straight through town or there is limited access bypass that adds a few miles. It had been raining overnight and as the temps dropped, morning brought a smooth thick coat of ice over everything. I think due to the holiday, the plow trucks had not been out spreading their salt yet. I run Blizzaks all around and these were the slipperiest roads I have ever seen. Once I realized how slick it was I decided the by-pass was my best bet. I worked my way to the highway entrance and as I went up the ramp there were 5 or 6 vehicles piled up blocking it. I stopped and turned around before anyone else came and crashed into me, went down the ramp the wrong way and went up a clear ramp for the traffic coming the other direction. Once I got on the open road with no over hanging trees or wind breaks it got really bad. People were coming down the ramps to the highway, sliding across both lanes and hitting the concrete divider. I drove the whole way at 30 mph just watching the damage unfold before my eyes. Next time that happens, I’m calling in whether I lose my holiday pay or not!
Mea Culpa.
I was in a hurry. I was in my Haflinger. I was not going to wait for what I saw as an overly cautious driver with just 3″ of powder on top of some hard packed snow.
I passed him.
My Haflinger’s top speed is less than 40 mph and I was traveling an indicated 30 at the time (~50kph on the dial). I run snow tires year round on the thing as I have found them to work well in all conditions, and the low dry road traction is actually preferred to offset the tiny truck’s narrow track and prevent tipover while cornering. In dirt, mud, snow and ice conditions, they effectively equalize everything, making any track, trail or road surface more than 10′ wide a superhighway for me. I’m also a bit of a masochist as I run summer doors year round and have no heater mounted in the cab. Winter is fun for me; lots of layers and I still get to hang my arm on the sill.
As I moved past the crawling car, I noticed the familiar very melted shape of an Audi sedan. I’ll assume seeing what to the driver was a toy truck passing him like he was standing still was an annoyance of the “how dare he?” variety; a couple of blocks later as the surface conditions improved slightly, the Audi tore past me at a decent clip, likely around 40-45 mph and directly toward the major intersection at which the light had just turned red. With brakes slammed on, the car immediately began to rotate and ended up sliding across the intersection, coming to rest only after high centering on the ramped median on the other side.
Many years prior to that, I was surprised to actually see my unshaven mug on the evening news during a nasty night of freezing rain and dozens of crashes in the Colorado Springs area. I had just exited my Suburban at a station and was filling the tank when a roving camera team questioned me about conditions, why I was out (I was on the way home and just wanted to get the tank filled in case I was needed to help pick up any stranded friends who called for extraction) and what I thought the real danger was. I mentioned the lovely frozen, pebbled surface of ice on asphalt plus modern automobiles as the biggest problem. I believe I stated, “these people think they’re invincible in their all wheel drive whiz-bang, so they put themselves into situations where even the Saint Christopher medal on their dashboard can’t save them.” I’m still surprised my comments made it on the air; I was feeling mean that night.
I just wonder if I’m the only one that notice the absence of ABS actually working in any of these cars, my guess is that ABS will not work when all wheels are locked, as if the system tend to think the car is not moving.
Anyone?
ABS doesn’t work when all four wheels are locked, particularly on ice. At that point, you have to try pumping the brakes to regain a little control.
December 92..? We were living on a small unplowed, residential street, when we had a huge early winter storm. A bunch of us had organized a “push party”. With beers in the snow banks, and shovels in hand we were pushing folks out to the plowed main street. A good 100 yds or so. The schools and GM were having a “snow day” However some folks haf’ta to get out.
The Nurse across the street tells us “I gotta get to work ,emergency surgury” Her school teacher husband, two big sons, myself,and two other GM guys frantically dig out her Z28 Camaro with summer tires.
We dug,we pushed, we shoved,we cursed, and finally got the Z moving. We stopped traffic on the main street. She gets the Camaro halfway across the huge bank of snow left by the plow, and doesn’t she f–kin STOP dead. Down goes the Z window ……”thanks guys” I thought hubby was going to have a heart attack.
Ok, couple things
1) After a couple minutes of filming this ridiculous scene, why didn’t this lady go to the top of the hill and tell people to stop attempting it? I think its pretty horrible to see this happen over and over (with damage to property, and possible injury to people on sidewalks) to just sit there filming away.
2) ABS comment I agree. First several cars I just figured maybe they didn’t have ABS. But I’m pretty sure I caught a late 90’s early 2000’s MDX with locked wheels as well (or does ABS not work if going backwards??)
I still can’t get over how that lady could have prevented several accidents if she had just walked up to the next corner….grrrr.
Maybe you don’t live in a snowy area, but simply watching such events unfold is fairly common. There may be a psychological term for it.
Judging by the wind, snow, and ice, it was probably about 20 F with a 0 F windchill – not very inviting to run outside waving your arms at low-speed drivers whose responsibility is to drive defensively. There was little risk to life and limb in this situation. It’s the highway pileups that are terrifying, and much harder to prevent.
ABS doesn’t work when all four tires are locked, because the car thinks it is stopped, and no tire is reporting rotation out of sync with the others.
This is Seattle… We don’t talk to our neighbors, much less strangers.
+1 to horseflesh’s comment. This is passive-aggressive central.
1. The very first time I ever drove a van (83 full-size Chevy) was in a heavy snowstorm, as a young driver, after tuning it up for my pastor. I will never forget the sight of a telephone pole approaching in the mirror as the van slid backwards down a hill while in Drive. I managed to rotate it around by ricocheting gently off the sloped curb and pointing the nose toward a safe spot.
2. I once slid my Pinto backwards into a house, brushing the siding very gently as the car lost forward momentum up a cramped city hill in Pittsburgh.
3. My Lebaron GTS once did a 360 after merging onto the freeway too fast (black ice). I never contacted another car, and just kept driving with wide eyes and a thankful heart.
To those wondering why ABS seems absent in the video, most common abs systems check the speed of each wheel, and if one wheel rotates with a different speed than the others (or if one wheels stops, and the others don’t) then the brake on that wheel will be ‘released’ a bit, this makes the braking more controllable, and works quite well, since there is rarely any occasion (on non-abs cars) where all wheels will have the same grip, and rear and front brakes react differently . This is one of those rare occasions. If all wheels stop and start to slide, the abs system will believe that the car has stopped completely, thereby letting them stay locked.
I love driving in the winter :)
We have the same weather here (Sweden) as in the film.
Here it´s illegal to drive with summertires when the roads are like this.
You can easily kill yourself and others.
If you´re going to buy real wintertires, you should go for studded tires.
Make them as narrow and high profile as you can fit.
I´m using Nokian Hakkapellitta 7.
They´re very good.
I used to live near where the video was shot, and drove that stretch of E John St every day (between 13th and 14th Aves E). Many times I had to drive it when it was snow covered, in both rear- and front-wheel drive cars without ABS.
In my CRX, I would just creep down the hill in 1st gear with my foot off the gas and brake. Simple. In the ’72 Grand Ville, I’d pop it in Low and do the ol’ right foot ABS the whole way down. Not as simple, but still effective.
Before we snicker too much at Seattle drivers in the snow, recognize that Seattle is the second hilliest city in the U.S. after San Francisco. It’s the hills here where most of the street mayhem occurs.
I once saw a guy right next to me on I-94 just north of Detroit in a Honda Accord. This guy was in his 40’s I would say. Old enough to know better. The rear end of his car started to fishtail and clear as day, I watched him turn the steering wheel right out of the skid.
I hope I am explaining this right. The rear end of his car slid to the left and he turned the wheels to the right thus making his car do a 180.
I would have understood if it was a young kid but this guy was too old to not immediately react to this skid in the right way.
I never understood this “turning into” or out of a skid thing. Just steer where you want the damn car to go. That’s it. Simple, no?
Winter and snow are facts of life in my corner of the world, but you do see some odd things from time to time. Here in British Columbia it is an article of faith that no one who lives in the greater Vancouver area has even the slightest clue how to drive in winter. It is amazing the number of Range Rovers, Cayennes and BMW X-whatevers that end up in the freeway median or over banks on the road to Whistler ski area when even 5 cm of snow falls. Seattle I am sure is no different.
The oddest thing I ever saw was in the mid 80’s when I lived up north. I was north of Prince George in the middle of a very heavy snowfall and extreme cold snap, which is par for the course in that area. I had my hands full keeping a 4×4 crew cab truck on the road and seeing where I was going. There was very little traffic on the road and it was cold enough that a breakdown or crash could have fatal consequences and I was equipped accordingly. It was starting to get dark. I came around a corner and saw a small red glow, which turned out to be the tail light of an MG Midget, from California no less. He was still moving forward at about 30 km/h but snow was starting to come over the hood . Eventually I passed him and then slowed so as to keep him in sight. The guy was bundled up like Nanook of the north and all I saw when I went by was two eyes looking through a balaclava. He followed me to a place called Mackenzie Junction and when I next looked back he was gone.
I’ve always wondered what the hell anyone would be doing in an MG midget at that time and place and if he (she?) ever got where they were going.
I think the moral of this video is that, when the grade exceeds the coefficient of friction, you’re done.
Several years ago, in my town, a bystander videotaped a fire truck as it did a 540 coming down a similar hill.
The drivers who disgust me are the ones who lose control, due to their own incompetence, where everyone else gets through without problems.
funniest snow related driving instance I saw was a guy driving a pickup truck having trouble getting traction, the rear wheels kept spinning on the icy road, so he had his female companion (his wife, I assume) get out of the car and climb into the bed of the truck to put extra weight on the drive wheels. I’ll bet he paid for that big time when they got home!
Keep your foot on the gas people. Torque = traction. As soon as you take your foot off the go pedal you’re at nature’s mercy; power through it. If you have to break, slam on it and let the ABS do its thing.
Last year while headed down to Florida for a family Christmas get-together my Wife and I hit a major snowstorm in the Cumberland’s in Tennessee, right on I-75. This is mountainous terrain, obviously and I watched in both amusement and horror as nearly every single driver powered up the hills only to get to the top, realize momentum was taking them faster than they wanted, then try to feather the breaks.
Brake-lights. Fishtail. Spinout. Ditch. Every time. FWD, RWD, 4WD, trucks, cars, SUVs, even semi’s making the same mistake with the same result.
Control your speed with the pedal on the right, not the one on the left. With AWD and common sense I made it through going 70 in the left lane as usual. Stability Control came on twice though, I love stability control, and ABS.
While driving in bad conditions in South Dakota my wife and I came to the aid of a couple that had just flipped their van off a slick road. They must have watched plenty of movies where the car explodes post wreck so they came out of it like mice out of a hole with a snake in it. Well enough, but then they counted heads they came up one child short. The two year old was still inside with the doors locked and no idea how to open them. No one outside had keys. He must not have been in a safety seat as he was standing up on the driver door and looking worried. About this time his mother became hysterical and wails nonstop “My baby! My baby!”. That upset the child. Thanks for that! I talk the Dad out of smashing the window. No need to get glass in his boys eyes. Get his brother and sister into our truck so they can warm up and wait for more help. Five minutes later a cowboy has shown up with a slim jim and got the door open, child out. Everything gets sorted quickly.
When things start going wrong people remember to keep your heads if only to stop terrifying children.
While driving in bad conditions in South Dakota my wife and I came to the aid of a couple that had just flipped their van off a slick road. They must have watched plenty of movies where the car explodes post wreck so they came out of it like mice out of a hole with a snake in it. Well enough, but then they counted heads they came up one child short. The two year old was still inside with the doors locked and no idea how to open them. No one outside had keys. He must not have been in a safety seat as he was standing up on the driver door and looking worried. About this time his mother became hysterical and wails nonstop “My baby! My baby!”. That upset the child. Thanks for that! I talk the Dad out of smashing the window. No need to get glass in his boys eyes. Get his brother and sister into our truck so they can warm up and wait for more help. Five minutes later a cowboy has shown up with a slim jim and got the door open, child out. Everything gets sorted quickly. When things start going wrong people remember to keep your heads if only to stop terrifying children.
I’ve lived in Illinois, Texas, Montana, Washington state (in Seattle and points north), the UK, and now Central Oregon. I can state with complete confidence that snow west of the Cascades is the absolute WORST to drive on. As others have said, there is NO flat ground in western Washington, and snow is ALWAYS preceded by weeks of warm temps and rain. You go from wet, to frozen ice, to snow in a matter of hours, and sometimes mere minutes.
Nobody has studded tires or even all-seasons because 99.999% of the time you have rain and wet conditions and buy your tires for that.
Smart folks get the hell home at the first sign of change in the weather. Idiots think “oh yeah, it is just snow, I can drive in this” or “I’m from back east/the midwest/etc, I can drive in this.” Bullsh*t. Your average ice hockey rink affords far more traction than a Seattle road on the first day of a true winter storm!
These conditions rarely, if ever happen in other regions. You just don’t get that same mix of WET and rapid cold found in close proximity to the ocean. Throw in hills and you have what you see above.
+1. I’ve lived in WA, OR, OH, CA, and NM. Pacific Northwest snow, on a bad day, offers maybe 1/3 the traction of the snow here in NM or in OH. It’s very wet snow, and freezes into a sheet of ice once it hits the road. If you stop on a corner, I’ve been in conditions where you slide down the banking off the side of the road. (Of course, it’s only possible to stop if you’re driving up hill)
A few years ago, as the temperature dropped late one cold, rainy night, I was stopped on a 4-lane divided highway on an overpass as someone had had an accident/slid off the road. As I and a relatively small line-up of cars waited, we watched as fast-moving traffic traveling in the opposite direction would realize, too late, that the road was freezing over on the overpass.
About every tenth vehicle or so (mostly SUVs) would get sideways as they exited the area past the overpass. They would begin sliding before the concrete barriers ended and the lucky ones made it past before they ended up in the median. They’d collect themselves for a few moments, then get back on the highway, hopefully traveling a bit slower.
But a few weren’t so lucky and would bounce off the concrete barrier before they got past. Fortunately, I don’t think any of them crunched their SUV badly enough where it wasn’t drivable, but watching these yahoos driving too fast for conditions slide all over the place was the most entertaining time I ever spent sitting at a stand-still on the highway.
Northwest snow is the worst (I’ve live in OR, WA, OH, CA, & NM). It’s high-water-content, and the temp is usually right around freezing. The roads can literally be as slick as a skating rink.
This weekend in 1994, in high school, I was descending Mt. Hood. It was so slick that you would slide down the banking of the corners. By FAR the worst conditions I’ve ever seen.
However, one time when I lived on the central coast of CA, it hailed enough to mostly cover the road (slickness was no big deal for anyone who has driven in snow- 35-40 mph on the highway was appropriate). On my 10 mile drive up hwy 1, there was a car ON IT’S ROOF every half mile or so. No idea how the driver’s could be that bad.
There aren’t many hills of any kind around here, it’s about as flat as it gets, but I went on a very scary ride on one of only a couple I can think of about 23 years ago. I was on my way home in my then new 1986 Iroc Camaro with 45 series Goodyear Gatorbacks, and it was raining. It was getting dark and the rain was freezing in some areas, according to the radio, but I didn’t see any yet. I reached the top of the hill, and saw green highlights reflected back from what should have been black pavement, and had about one second to think, “What’s the green stuff?” before I smelled antifreeze! As I went down the hill, the car gained a lot of speed and I tried to stop, but antifreeze and ice made that totally impossible, and as I went into the intersection, I spun 180 degrees, and waited for the first of what I expected would be several vehicles to hit me, as it’s a VERY busy intersection. Somehow, I made it through with only one near miss, a pickup just missed me as I cleared the intersection. I went into the parking lot of the store that was on the other side and slid about 100 feet before I could stop. I just touched a light pole, with no damage whatsoever. I called 911 to report the antifreeze (Dumped by an old Ford pickup that was sitting about 50′ from me in the parking lot with the hood up) and the treacherous conditions, but long before they could respond, I saw one minor wreck, a white Cutlass slid down the hill and hit a pickup on the passenger door, turn into a huge one about 5 minutes later when a delivery truck slid down and whacked the Cutlass, trapping the woman driver inside, and that in turn wrecked the pickup. The woman wasn’t hurt badly, but what a mess it was. She was in the car for about a half hour. The police closed the hill off from traffic until they sanded it and put down salt, and finally used the jaws of life to cut the woman out of the car. Once the salt trucks laid the salt down, I slowly drove home, taking the slowest side streets I could and made it home in about an hour. It’s a 15 minute drive most of the time.
Not really a snow story, but one Christmas while on a road trip with my sister and one of her friends we happened upon a young man who had just slightly low-centered his compact pickup in a shallow ditch in the median. (The ditch didn’t look quite so bad in the dark and he had intended to make a U-turn.) We told him we’d help but only if he was going to push and let one of the ladies drive. He paused for a moment (stickshift truck) but his inner gentleman and better judgment agreed to let my sister get behind the wheel. I told my sister to give it barely any gas pedal and in just a few seconds we all got his truck unstuck with very little drama.
The pickup truck guy was polite and thankful. I told him that complete strangers had helped me get unstuck at least once, pass the favor along to the next guy sometime, and that yes, I was the one who taught my sister to drive a standard.
This would’ve been December of 2004, I believe. I was a Junior in high school in normally nice Raleigh, North Carolina. If you’ve been down here, you know snow is to southerners as kryptonite is to superman. We had a particularly nasty situation – it snowed in the morning, warmed up and melted some of the snow. Then the temperature dropped and the water froze. Then it snowed more.
At the time, I was driving a 1997 Volvo 850 sedan. Non-turbo, automatic, and yeah boy – heated seats. We had a set of dedicated snow tires for the car – Blizzak WS-50’s – since the car had come with my family from Pittsburgh, but they were tucked away safely in our basement, since there was nothing about snow in the forecast.
This was an AWFUL snow storm for Raleigh. It wasn’t deep but there was no grip, and driver’s here are just a few IQ points away from mentally retarded when it snows. The snow-on-ice combo just killed it. Busses couldn’t move, there were hundreds of kids that got to have sleepovers in their public-school libraries that night, etc.
So I’m rolling on all-season tires (thankfully nice fat 195/60/15 Goodyear TripleTreads, great A/S tires) but i have a lot on my side. One, an 850 is one seriously front-heavy FWD car. There’s traction control, not great TCS but it will prevent wheelspin below like 15mph pretty effectively, and the secret weapon – winter mode. It will start the transmission off in 3rd gear and gradually lock the converter. You could basically climb an ice-covered snow pole with this car.
Normally I took three other kids home from school. One was the dork who lived across the street, and the other two was this girl I really liked and her sister. So I take the girls home first, without incident. Having spent 7 years in north indiana and 4 in Pittsburgh, I get the theory of snow driving pretty well. I get them home safely, with the only iffy moment being the traction control going nuts getting going from a dead stop on the hill in front of the house. On the way out of the McNeighborhood, a Grand Cherokee turns left in front of me, the back end swings around, and all four tires spin as he careens backwards into the curb at low speed. sigh.
The best part was coming up the main road to my neighborhood. There’s a long, gradual hill with some decent lead-up to it. I’m stopped at the front of a red light, and a lady in a white (E36) 328is takes a right turn out of the shopping center. which quickly becomes her making a U-turn, which then becomes her making a left turn. So she spins the car back around and gets going up the hill.
It’s maybe 400′ long to the top of the incline. On her first attempt with no head start momentum, she gets maybe a third the way up it, then the tires spin, and she slides back down. By this time I’ve pulled through the intersection, and a guy pulls out behind me in a tacoma, spinning around backwards. Sigh.
She gets ready for attempt two, and backs up to the intersection (maybe 100′ from the start of the hill.) Gets going steadily, is maybe at 15mph when she hits the hill. Gets half way up it, wheels spin, she slides back down. oh boy. Nice BMW, lady!
So she figures third time’s the charm. Backs way up, well past the intersection, and I hear the sweet symphonic wail of BMW straight-six churning up snow. she blasts past me, tires still spinning, rear end skipping around, probably 35mph. Halfway up the hill again, the wheels spin, and I suppose she says “F*%$ it.” Reverses into the curb to stop movement, and just parks it up.
At this point I decide it’s safe to go, and as I drive by her, I wave.
a friend of mine had an E46 325i with Bilstein/H&R suspension and sways, a diffsonline LSD conversion, and 3.46 gears with 245/40/18 Z-rated summer tires. He would lose me in a minute on backroads in the dry, but he described the car as suicidal in the winter, even with VDC or whatever BMW calls it.
-James
I commuted from Ann Arbor to Dearborn at 5am for about four years. Traction was never a problem (thank you Blizzaks; have had four sets now), but my fellow commuters were. What I don’t get is why folks will tailgate you on snow-covered roads at a distance that wouldn’t be remotely safe in dry weather. One morning a particularly aggressive Riviera driver attempted to push me along for about five miles. Yeah, I was in the left lane, but was hardly impeding traffic. At the airport exit, his headlights suddenly disappeared, and in my mirror I saw him go spinning into the wall of snow on the berm. The car was still there, mostly buried, on the commute home.
Vancouver (BC) experienced an early and fairly heavy* snowfall last week, and I caught this photo on my way to work, which I hope will show up:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=466059340107&set=a.294984870107.158227.592280107
That is a nice white Nissan GT-R, on stock non-snow tires. California plates, too. Moments after this shot, the young owner got into the car, did a very gingerly U-turn (with minimal tire slippage) and deposited the poor car in an underground lot on the same block.
Having that car out and about considering the weather predictions? Bad idea. Immediately parking it, presumably for the day? Pretty good idea!
(BTW, I took this photo while riding my bicycle to work; on bad snow days like this, I find the bike is more reliable than transit or getting stuck in traffic with everyone else).