The main reason not to drive in the snow is the way other people drive in the snow.
Instant traffic, just add water!
You’ll think that right up until you’re the guy that started sliding into on coming traffic while screaming internally, “I wasn’t going that fast!”.
Streets are partially cleared, there’s some idiot in a truck that isn’t AWD doing 60 down a 30 to show off before he ends up in a ditch.
Or the asshole with awd/4wd that doesn’t realize it doesn’t make your car magic and still ends up in a ditch
“All the cars have 4WD braking.”
Heavy cars slide sooner and longer.
Yup, what that does is help with situations I have where I’m snowed in and cannot get out because the snow is deep enough that I bottom out trying to over it. My rear wheels were on concrete but all my power was in the front.
Yesterday, on a 65mph limit highway that had been completely cleared of snow and ice (there was zero black ice) I encountered multiple cars going 55mph or slower. In one case about 35. I don’t understand.
Do you know there is zero black ice before you hit the road? Do you know the condition of their tires? Did they have winter tires or summer tires? Are they good drivers or inexperienced?
Lots of reasons different cars would want to go slow. So long as they stay to the right, whatever.
If they are such an inexperienced driver or their tires are so unsafe that they can’t drive half the speed limit they shouldn’t be on the road
It was a completely sunny afternoon with a clear view of the highway (stressing afternoon which means the high had been in full sun all day to especially melt any possible ice), with the snow pushed aside two days ago, the highway salted on the days before the day in question; not a puddle or dark spot in sight on the highway.
No need for snow tires as it was direct tire to asphalt contact with no snow or ice on the highway itself. It was the best possible visibility for driving. If somebody is going 35 in those conditions on a 65 highway, they should not be driving.
I’d much prefer if the majority of people was driving too careful. Being 5 minutes late is not a problem. Speeding is.
I disagree. If you fall too much below the speed of traffic you stop being safe and become an obstacle. My rule of thumb is, if semi trucks pass you you are being dangerous. If you want to go slow and still be safe, follow a semi and keep a distance. You will always have more brakes and more grip than a semi, if it can do that speed so can you
OP you are absolutely correct.
Unfortunately this also applies when there isn’t snow.
I love to drive in the snow, it’s the only time of year I am able to do sick drifts while not feeling like I’m burning my tires.
But you are other people to the other people.
Yes, and if I am not on the road there are fewer people on the road. And therefore risk is reduced.
That’s lucky for them. I’m the the least of their worries (although statistcally, they have no worries, because they are scrolling TikToks while doing 12 over the speed limit)
In eastern Norway there is always a bit of chaos at first snow fall, but that’s just for the first day. The next few meters of snow throughout the year is no biggie. Come on guys, there has been ways to handle a cute, little blizzard with a car for a century now. Get with the program.
Yup. I’m in Texas right now.
Watched a pickup truck run a red light, or should I say “skated” a red light. Fucker was going 40 (5 under the speed limit, but it’s ice, fuck ICE) and tried to stop a car-length away from the light…
fuck ICE
Watched a pickup truck
physics grads who put all the weight over the non drive wheels.
It doesn’t really make a difference which wheels are driven seeing as the truck was braking, not accelerating. And having all of the weight in the front makes sense if the bed is actually used for hauling stuff.
Plus A/T tires with no bite on ice. Those huge blocky chunks of rubber may be good in mud, on ice you need lamella.
Got tailgated by a Genesis on the way home from family’s today going 55 down a highway that is 55, but on which people regularly get away with going 75. Eventually an F150 squeezed in between us and if you can believe it (and you should because luxury car drivers often outdo full-size truck owners in driver cuntiness) actually gave me a little more space than the Genesis. But regardless, they were both following like…less than 20 feet off my ass? I mean that wouldn’t be safe in 70-degree weather with no salt or moisture on the road.
I am not a perfect driver. But I do know that practically everyone else on the road is a worse driver than me. Staring at their cell phones. Close follow distances. Short stopping distances. Stupid fuzzy fucking things strapped over their wheels to guarantee the worst possible grip in an emergency situation. Not signaling and cutting off, of course. Just all of it. And the same solipsistic elements in a person’s personality that lead them to behave that way under desirable road conditions gives them the self-confidence to go out there and drive in 7 degree weather with thick clumps of packed-down snow and invisible ice on the salt-slicked roads with the precisely-same behavior as they would on any other day.
Fuck 'em.
I need to get to work. I would miss half of winter from work if I didn’t drive when it snowed
I like driving in it when nobody else will. It’s kind of relaxing and zen to be in a little snowy bubble the size of your headlights.
Yeah, going slow, feeling the slip into the distance you expected to. I’m not a good driver, but I lose a lot less driving ability on ice than most people because I’m acutely aware of how my car will act on it. That said I live in the PNW these days so no more lake effect snow, not much freezing temps, and my ice driving skills only apply on flat land, fuck driving on snowy mountains.
I hate having to drive in the snow.
I love getting to, especially when it’s fresh, fluffy stuff, undisturbed in an empty parking lot.
When life hands you a snowy parking lot on a quiet day, it’s pretty cool.
My first job was at a rather large shopping mall.
Closing up a big box store during a blizzard. Huuuuge parking lots. Plows.
Like 4-8" on the ground. Lamp surrounded by and unholy amount of plowed powder.
Just flooring it, cutting the wheel, spinning, spinning, and softly plonking into a big giant snowbank.
Being 17 wasn’t that bad.
True. More than once I’ve had to bail from a plowed (but still somewhat slick) freeway and take the unplowed backroads somewhere. Yeah, the backroads are slicker for me, but I’m the only one there, and I can trust my own winter driving skills - I know the limits of my traction and I know how to stay within them. Out on the freeway? Once I pass the second or third or fourth car stuck in the median I start to get a little nervous that the next one will take me with it embedded in my trunk and then I’m anxiously looking for the next exit.
