Winter Caught Some Napping

[special-K]

Originally Posted by rpmerf

There was a new policy that came out a couple years ago. Since I have the capability to work from home, I no longer get snow days. I'm expected to take my laptop home if it is expected to snow. If it is delayed, we come into the office late. I just take off. When we get let out early it is usually right after lunch. If it looks like we are getting let out early, I take off at the beginning of the lunch break to avoid the rush.

Most snows are only a couple inches. Might get 2-3 a year. Once every 10 years we get a 2 foot blizzard. I can get around most snows around here just fine, but I'd rather not go out unless I have a good reason for it. Not like I really leave the house much anyway. It's not me that i'm worried about, it's everyone else around me.

There seem to be 3 types of people. Extremely over-cautious, don't care, and somewhat level headed. Driving into work in the morning after a dusting of snow on the ground, there will always be someone in the left lane driving 35 mph with their hazards on while everyone else is doing 50+ mph around them just fine. Good luck getting around if you get stuck behind them. Most people don't change their driving habits for the snow. Anytime I venture out when there is a couple inches of snow, the streets are always full of people stuck that I need to maneuver around. I'll see people trying to get their FWD car out of the driveway, when the snow is up to their bumper. Where are they even expecting to go? With all the spray, salt, and plows, even my cul-de-sac is plowed within 2-3 days after a blizzard.

When it rains is just as bad down there, and out on I-70 since most are people who moved west from the city and suburbs. Running on impulse more than thought. Can't seem to slow down for anything. They go as fast as they can until they run up on a vehicle in their path. Then stay way too close rather than accept their position and drop back the safe distance we all should know. The ones who swap around the lanes to get three cars ahead, often abruptly, leaving no room for error, usually also don't signal their intentions. They cause the accidents and resulting backups for miles. And they hurt people. I have noticed the average Joe Peons with very little original thought or flair for life, who are only about point A to Point B, seem to select the nondescript silver/grey vehicles. No preference on color what so ever. And these, of all cars colors, are the ones who don't run their headlights in the rain. They are virtually (if not literally) invisible in the rain. I know this and look extra hard for them. No forethought what so ever. It is now a law to run headlights in the rain and they still don't do it. I always have since I started driving in '71. Ok, so screw considering all the others on the road they are putting at risk with their thoughtlessness, but holy cow, have they degenerated to the point they no longer have the instinct to look out for their own safety? So incredibly thoughtless it amazes me beyond belief. These are also the fools who hop over in front of the semi as everyone is braking as they approach the backup. Sit tight you fool! On the traffic report we hear, "Jack knifed tractor trailer causing backup on I-95 shutting all lanes down". Meanwhile Joe Joe makes it to his cubicle just in time. Same route every day. Same jam ups every day. But does he think to leave ten minutes earlier so he's not in such a rush? No sir, that would require a little foresight.

[blazer2007]

We got caught yesterday and there wasn,t a sand truck or a plow that I seen all day

[rpmerf]

Leaving gaps is a constant issue. I truly believe it is a major cause of the backups. Small gaps, leads to harder merging, and lane changes, meaning everyone has to adjust for any change.

No headlights I usually blame on bad design. Cars that run DRLs and dash light, but require you to manually turn on the rest of the lights. Even my wife's 02 corolla has automatic lights. Why isn't this standard by now? Even better would be for DRLs to just turn on the running lights.

[weq92f]

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But, but, but... with chains fishtailing becomes way more difficult!

I drive on the snow because it is fun and I enjoy making my truck/car ( rwd ) slide around, a lot! Ice on the other hand...gotta have chains/studs or don't go.

When people see me on the snow they must think I'm totally out of control! Quite the opposite.

-klb

[joedoh]

I wish i had a dashcam because I was out in it yesterday, rwd truck (has 4wd but didnt use it) and watched FOUR incidents that all followed the same pattern. going 55 on a 65 highway, right lane. someone comes up an onramp behind me, gets angry about my 10 under, swings into the left lane to pass and then back into the right lane in front of me, breaks traction, spins and ends up in the ditch. FOUR TIMES this happened on my 30 minute drive, all 4 were the little mini SUVs that are FWD if not AWD.

no one flipped or crashed, just softly ended up down the hill of the highway; embarrassing themselves and then waiting for a tow were the only injuries.

the only time i used 4wd is in the unplowed salvage yard parking lot.

[Sheepdip]

Originally Posted by rpmerf

Leaving gaps is a constant issue. I truly believe it is a major cause of the backups. Small gaps, leads to harder merging, and lane changes, meaning everyone has to adjust for any change.
.

A study was done a few years ago by Traffic Engineers a branch of the Civil Engineering trade, that was exactly their conclusion, was people not leaving the required spacing for the speeds being traveled.

I'm convinced that problem might only be solved with all the new tech coming out on these self driving/adjusting cars with all these new
distance/braking and lane changing sensors.

We all get those idiots which no matter how much space you leave they horn their way in with no signal and then immediately apply the brakes for whatever reason.

[1976gmc20]

I must admit that I got caught napping once by road conditions …

This was up in Alaska. I lived down by Chugiak and worked in a finish lumber mill in Wasilla. It was dark every morning and dark every night. There hadn't been new snow in days or weeks and the highway had been consistently dry. One night driving home dead tired after humping lumber all day, I came up on a car going a lot slower. I touched the brakes and immediately swapped ends with my pickup. Slid into the ditch backwards, partway up the far bank, and then back down to the bottom staying on the wheels all the time.

What had happened was that around Cook Inlet these little fogs can move in off the salt water and then dissipate and leave black ice on the roads. I had been inside the planing mill all day long and didn't have a clue.

I was fortunate to slide off in one of the "cuts" along the highway rather than at a "fill" where my pickup would have gone off a steep bank. I got out into the deep snow, locked in the hubs, put it in 4wd, and drove right out and made a U-turn and continued home at a much slower pace.



Oh, yeah - and back when I was younger I also had a couple near misses on slick winding roads because of tourists stopping in the middle of the damn road to gawk at wildlife

I learned that just because I can drive that fast doesn't mean that I should

[weq92f]

Originally Posted by joedoh

I wish i had a dashcam because I was out in it yesterday, rwd truck (has 4wd but didnt use it) and watched FOUR incidents that all followed the same pattern. going 55 on a 65 highway, right lane. someone comes up an onramp behind me, gets angry about my 10 under, swings into the left lane to pass and then back into the right lane in front of me, breaks traction, spins and ends up in the ditch. FOUR TIMES this happened on my 30 minute drive, all 4 were the little mini SUVs that are FWD if not AWD.

no one flipped or crashed, just softly ended up down the hill of the highway; embarrassing themselves and then waiting for a tow were the only injuries.

the only time i used 4wd is in the unplowed salvage yard parking lot.

This has happened to me an unusual number of times as well...just minding along and somebody decides they want to go faster. Then their own lane change maneuver causes them to lose control and go offroad! Gotta be gentle with the wheel and be ready to counter steer in a hurry!

Lots of YouTube vids of the same...must be a very common mistake people make.
-klb

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by weq92f

This has happened to me an unusual number of times as well...just minding along and somebody decides they want to go faster. Then their own lane change maneuver causes them to lose control and go offroad! Gotta be gentle with the wheel and be ready to counter steer in a hurry!

Lots of YouTube vids of the same...must be a very common mistake people make.
-klb

Right after we got married, her younger brother was catching a ride back from college for Turkey Day. So the evening before we drove up from C.Springs to Castle Rock in her VW bug to pick him up. It was a miserable trip, cold and scraping ice off the inside of the windshield.

The traffic was terrible and we saw numerous vehicles in the ditch but we just kept putt-putting along. Just before getting off I-25, some guy decided we were going too slow and tried to pass. He got up right beside us in the left lane and then I heard this horrible scraping sound. I looked to the left and the car and driver just slowly moved away sideways until he spun off into the median. To hell with the idiot; we just kept going.

[weq92f]

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It's like people that do this don't think they will ever get sideways, like it never happened on dry pavement it's not going to happen on this snowy road either.

Then...BOOM...they find themselves not pointing straight and they simply have no clue what to do about it. Usually they hit the brakes immediately, which renders control inputs useless.

If you don't know how to handle a slow sideways yaw on a snowy road due to your heavy right foot or heavy control input, you should not be driving on the snow.

-klb

[1976gmc20]

Nowadays in a front wheel drive if you find yourself going a little too fast on ice and back off the gas, you are likely to just swap ends from the compression braking on the front wheels

Give me a RWD any day. It will just straighten out when you let off the gas.

[weq92f]

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

Give me a RWD any day. It will just straighten out when you let off the gas.

...unless you're in a turn...


-klb

[rpmerf]

In a FWD, you can CAREFULLY apply the e-brake a little bit to slow down using the rear tires. A lot easier if you have the e-brake in the center console, rather than on the floor. It would have the same effect as letting off the gas or downshifting in a RWD car. I certainly prefer my 4wd Suburban in the snow, but choosing between my pickup and Integra, I would take the Integra. Point the wheels where you want to go and hit the gas. Back end falls in line. Weight distribution helps also.

[Stocker]

Our first FWD car was a new 1979 Honda Accord hatchback. I was quite impressed with that little car's abilities in snow, on an unplowed narrow winding mountain road, with the original highway tires. No place to turn around so I kept going uphill as the snow kept getting deeper. I finally got turned around as we were starting to high-center. A real white-knuckler for me but we made it, something I could never have done in a RWD car with street tires and no chains. Granted, the design has its limitations, and I'm convinced I tested them....

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by Stocker

Our first FWD car was a new 1979 Honda Accord hatchback. I was quite impressed with that little car's abilities in snow, on an unplowed narrow winding mountain road, with the original highway tires. No place to turn around so I kept going uphill as the snow kept getting deeper. I finally got turned around as we were starting to high-center. A real white-knuckler for me but we made it, something I could never have done in a RWD car with street tires and no chains. Granted, the design has its limitations, and I'm convinced I tested them....

Probably a lot narrower tires than what comes on newer cars.

I changed our FWD car from 215/50r17 to 205/65r15 and it's better in the snow but still it stays parked about six months of every year.

Our old 2wd 4 speed Suburban would just go right through snow. We carried chains but I only recall using them twice. Once, when getting a tractor on a trailer out of a snow covered field, and another time after we moved to MT my wife had to put the chains on when she got caught on a back road in a rainstorm. We bought the 4wd Suburban not too long after that.

[PanelDeland]

When I was younger, my buddy would come by and we would get out and pull the 4X4 idiots out of the ditches with his Dad's 49 Chevy 3/4 ton wrecker. That stovebolt 6 and granny 4 would grind so slow we could outwalk it but it would go anywhere a crazy teen wanted to take it. As I got a bit older, I drove on the snow, ice, whatever, usually first to pick up a buddy in case of a slide. Usually the slides were just fun but sometimes you had to have a bit of help to get out of a spot. Now days, I'm a bona fide member of the "Buy up all the milk bread and TP club". I don't get out because of "THEM" They can't drive in the dry, do worse in the rain and I'm just not going to trust them in the slick.

[Stocker]

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

Probably a lot narrower tires than what comes on newer cars.

I changed our FWD car from 215/50r17 to 205/65r15 and it's better in the snow but still it stays parked about six months of every year.

Our old 2wd 4 speed Suburban would just go right through snow. We carried chains but I only recall using them twice. Once, when getting a tractor on a trailer out of a snow covered field, and another time after we moved to MT my wife had to put the chains on when she got caught on a back road in a rainstorm. We bought the 4wd Suburban not too long after that.

Yessir, that little Honda had tiny donuts for tires -- 165R-13.

Which reminds me of another skinny tire experience or two... or three.

In 1967 I had a '62 VW Beetle which, in winter, was dreadful and wonderful at the same time. The heater & defroster may as well have not existed at all. But with (skinny) snow tires it was virtually unstoppable in snow.

The other was my '65 Corvette which I believe had 6.70-15 tires. Snow tires transformed that car into a wanna-be tractor of sorts. It would scrape its floorpans and keep going, pushing snow until it packed up and you couldn't push any more.

My '66 Corvette was about the same. As I recall, it had slightly wider tires than the '65, and later upgraded to radials. Both of those cars had great balance & stability, and an uncanny tendency to want to keep tracking straight instead of sliding sideways on snow or ice. They were wonderful drivers' cars no matter the weather or road conditions. Just something about them..... I wish I still owned one (or both!).

Don't miss the old Beetle, though. What a horrible little car that was. For a short time I owned a 1954 Ford, V8 (272 IIRC), 3-speed with overdrive. Cost me all of 50 bucks and it was heaven after the Beetle. It had a very effective, functioning heater & defroster! The VW's was like a hamster blowing through a straw.....

[rpmerf]

My father has owned VW Things since the 70's. His latest one, he got in the early 80's. He put a 3" body lift in it. Always had aggressive tires either all around or just in the back. That combined with the flat floor pan make it pretty decent in the snow.

As for the heat, it has a gasoline powered heater under the hood. It gets incredibly hot, like melt the plastic elbow hot. But only where it comes out of the vent. The doors that don't seal up what-so-ever don't exactly hold the heat in.

[67C10Step]

Had to go to Bartlett, TN yesterday which requires a ride along I-40 through Memphis. I didn't get to town until about 9:30 and they were still cleaning up the mess on the big flyover at exit 12. Guess it froze up overnight and those early drivers had some issues. One person in a Challenger even got past the original pile up, got back in the left, frozen lane and managed to smash into the wall creating a second accident scene. Good grief, Charlie Brown. Did you not just see the cars piled up and notice the shine on the roadway?

[1976gmc20]

I used to take off the inside duals from my old two ton log truck in the winter, and run a set of single chains on the remaining outside tires. The chains were easy to drop on the tires since there were no fenders and not even a bed. That would go like crazy in the snow, at least until the snow got so deep that it was snow machines, skis, and dog sleds only