Idiot Drivers in the Snow

[Anne Neville]

Washington Post article about idiot drivers in the snow. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/09/AR2010020903522.html)

My work is on a hill, not a particularly steep hill for Pittsburgh. On Monday, I saw three cars in a row, all stuck on the hill and trying to get out. I know the two last in line could see the stuck car in front of them before they tried to go up the hill.

Yesterday, I saw an SUV with a huge "snow-pompadour" on top of its roof, where they hadn't cleared the snow off. The snow on the roof was at least a foot deep.

Anybody else seen any particularly idiotic or funny snow-driving moves?

[badbadrubberpiggy]

This latest snowfall most people seemed OK, but it was warm enough that it wasn't sticking to the roads, and it was light & fluffy so even the people who didn't clear off their cars weren't bad, since it flew off before they could get far enough to inflict it on people.

Last time, however, I saw no less than three cars in one morning who cleared off exactly one square of their cars, on the driver's side windshield. Not the back windshields, or the sides, just one tiny square.

Apparently, you don't need to see to either side or the back when you're driving.

[FairyChatMom]

I watched one particularly sharp individual driving with the entire roof, back window, and trunk completely covered in snow. They tried to back up on a snowy, slushy slope. So not only did they neglect to clear the snow off their vehicle and back window, they tried going in reverse into an intersection. Where's Darwin when you need him?? Instead, they eventually drove off, most likely with their reproductive abilities intact. :rolleyes:

[panache45]

I see this all the time: people clearing a tiny area of their windshield, then driving along as if they're the only car on the road. And the people who are driving during a "white-out" with no lights on. I wonder how many accidents these people cause, that they're not even aware of. And where are the cops (and Darwin) when you need them?

[Napier]

My favorite is people who, when trying to slow down or stop on slippery pavement, will furiously stomp again and again and again on the brake pedal, maybe 2 or 3 times a second, apparently having heard you're supposed to "pump the brakes". Instead of backing off whenever they start to feel the wheels slip, they are doing everything they can to force a skid, albiet not for long.

[smiling bandit]

My favorite is people who, when trying to slow down or stop on slippery pavement, will furiously stomp again and again and again on the brake pedal, maybe 2 or 3 times a second, apparently having heard you're supposed to "pump the brakes". Instead of backing off whenever they start to feel the wheels slip, they are doing everything they can to force a skid, albiet not for long.

Odd question: I was under the impression that it was a good idea to, well, not stomp, but tap the brakes several times and brake gently thereafter, particularly if you were uncertain how slick it was. Is this wrong, or am I just right and stomping is the bad thing?

[NoClueBoy]

Remember, it doesn't matter how well you think you drive in poor weather. It's how badly they drive that can make even the shortest drive a problem. And there's a big chance we aren't nearly as safe a driver as we think we are.

[Greg Charles]

Hmm, come to Southern California. We can barely handle driving in rain.

[Edward The Head]

I've never understood how people can drive with all the snow on their cars. It's not like it's that hard to get the majority of it off. The other day I took my car about 100 feet so I could get the 2 feet of snow off of it, even with half the windshield uncovered t was hard as hell to drive. I hate driving around here in the snow (and rain, and wind, and well just about all the time.)

[Scarlett67]

Here's a public service announcement: Four-wheel drive != four-wheel stop. Your fancy off-road underpinnings won't do a thing on sheer ice. You still have to use the old wetware and drive appropriately for conditions.

If I had a nickel for every monster-truck SUV I've seen in a field with its wheels in the air . . . well, I'd have about thirty cents. But I still shake my head every time I see it.

[elmwood]

Anybody else seen any particularly idiotic or funny snow-driving moves?

Around here, people are pretty snow and ice-aware. You still see some idjits around, though.

For example, someone with a rear-wheel drive Mustang parallel-parking on a hill. They were [i]that close[/i[ to starting a chain reaction that would have sent parked cars tumbling down the street Newton's Cradle-style.

[Ignatz]

Heard on the weather channel this eve from a MD public agency spokesperson: "We're having blizzardlike conditions." DUH. When does it become an actual blizzard?

[cochrane]

My favorite is people who, when trying to slow down or stop on slippery pavement, will furiously stomp again and again and again on the brake pedal, maybe 2 or 3 times a second, apparently having heard you're supposed to "pump the brakes". Instead of backing off whenever they start to feel the wheels slip, they are doing everything they can to force a skid, albiet not for long.

Odd question: I was under the impression that it was a good idea to, well, not stomp, but tap the brakes several times and brake gently thereafter, particularly if you were uncertain how slick it was. Is this wrong, or am I just right and stomping is the bad thing?Don't a great percentage of cars, if not the majority, have antilock brakes nowadays? When I used to live in Denver (which I don't anymore, thank FSM, I live in southern Arizona now) I heard it was advisable to press steadily on the brake and let the brake system take care of the braking itself, while attempting to steer around any obstacles you're likely to hit. Of course, that goes out the window if you're driving a car not equipped with antilock brakes.

[Lute Skywatcher]

Heard on the weather channel this eve from a MD public agency spokesperson: "We're having blizzardlike conditions." DUH. When does it become an actual blizzard?When wind speed and visibility meet the required meteorological conditions: sustained winds and/or frequent gusts over 35 MPH with ¼ mile visibility for at least three hours.

[Napier]

More on the whole stomping brakes thing:

It's true, with antilock brakes this becomes somewhat moot.

If you want to know how slippery the roads are, and you are in a safe place to do so, jabbing them tentatively will give you a sense of how hard it is to start a skid.

The point is that there is advice out there saying to pump your brakes if things are slippery, and it should be more detailed. The advice should say that you get the most stopping power when your wheels are not skidding but are close to it, and also that you get steering ability only if your front wheels are not skidding, and so you should learn how to feel when they start to skid, and when that happens you should back off the brakes to let them catch again. By "pumping the brakes" we really mean constantly seeking that maximum braking force and backing off as soon as we exceed it. This does entail the brake pedal going up and down somewhat, but in response to the behavior of the wheels as detected by the driver through the feelings of motion, and not just as an abstract motion itself. It's like the way you keep turning the steering wheel a little one way or the other as you drive, in response to where you see you are in your lane. Having your eyes closed and imitating that motion does not work.

At least this is how I understand it. Perhaps I am found out and actually am an idiot driver in the snow....

[Dung Beetle]

I haven’t ever driven in snow. But the title of this thread has caused “Ghost Riders in the Sky” to get stuck in my head.

[Serenata67]

Washington Post article about idiot drivers in the snow. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/09/AR2010020903522.html)

My work is on a hill, not a particularly steep hill for Pittsburgh. On Monday, I saw three cars in a row, all stuck on the hill and trying to get out. I know the two last in line could see the stuck car in front of them before they tried to go up the hill.

Yesterday, I saw an SUV with a huge "snow-pompadour" on top of its roof, where they hadn't cleared the snow off. The snow on the roof was at least a foot deep.

Anybody else seen any particularly idiotic or funny snow-driving moves?

The snow pompadour? That's nothing. Here in WI, you can tell who parks in a garage and who doesn't by the snow pompadour. No one clears theirs off.

[Anne Neville]

Hmm, come to Southern California. We can barely handle driving in rain.

I lived in the Bay Area for nine years. I got to see my share of idiot drivers in the rain.

[otternell]

More on the whole stomping brakes thing:

It's true, with antilock brakes this becomes somewhat moot.

If you want to know how slippery the roads are, and you are in a safe place to do so, jabbing them tentatively will give you a sense of how hard it is to start a skid.

The point is that there is advice out there saying to pump your brakes if things are slippery, and it should be more detailed. The advice should say that you get the most stopping power when your wheels are not skidding but are close to it, and also that you get steering ability only if your front wheels are not skidding, and so you should learn how to feel when they start to skid, and when that happens you should back off the brakes to let them catch again. By "pumping the brakes" we really mean constantly seeking that maximum braking force and backing off as soon as we exceed it. This does entail the brake pedal going up and down somewhat, but in response to the behavior of the wheels as detected by the driver through the feelings of motion, and not just as an abstract motion itself. It's like the way you keep turning the steering wheel a little one way or the other as you drive, in response to where you see you are in your lane. Having your eyes closed and imitating that motion does not work.

At least this is how I understand it. Perhaps I am found out and actually am an idiot driver in the snow....

I think you are right on. Been driving in snow for 20 yrs (wow) and when I didn't have anti-lock brakes, this was exactly it. Hell, I wish I didn't have anti-lock brakes, I prefer the semblance of control I get doing it by myself. My cite = no winter accidents. (so far, furiously knocking on wood)

[Napier]

I think you are right on. Been driving in snow for 20 yrs (wow) and when I didn't have anti-lock brakes, this was exactly it. Hell, I wish I didn't have anti-lock brakes, I prefer the semblance of control I get doing it by myself. My cite = no winter accidents. (so far, furiously knocking on wood)

Well, then, thank you. I haven't had any winter accidents, either, after 36 years of driving in snow. It's hard to do worse than a used Oldsmobile Cutlass with a big heavy engine in the front, rear wheel drive, and an automatic transmission, and the worst winter mishap I ever had was making that stupid turd of a car slide a bit and have to abort on a turn while headed downhill. Well, that, and I had to leave a 4WD diesel tractor with several hundred pounds of weights and a dozer blade sitting out last night after I got it stuck so bad jacks and boards couldn't fix it. And that has farm lug tires and a differential lock. The snow here....

[MLS]

Bigger idiots: Tailgaters. WTF? Visibility down to about 20 feet, street full of packed snow and ice and you're riding my bumper because I'm driving slowly?

[engineer_comp_geek]

On the last big snow fall back in December, we watched the guy running the snow plow try to clear the parking lot of the day care across the street from where I live. Now, I grew up in West Virginia so I'm used to snow, and I do make fun of people around here because they are all idiots in the snow, but to be fair we don't get that much snow around here so folks don't really know how to drive in it very well. Still, if you are going to drive a SNOW PLOW I would think that one of the prerequisites would be that you could DRIVE IN SNOW.

So this idiot proceeds to start clearing the parking lot. Only the snow is a lot deeper than what he is used to. So, demonstrating is exceptional snow plow driving prowess, he takes a running start and SLAMS into the snow. I was like holy crap :eek: he's going to break his truck doing that. Then, being the snow driving genius that he is, he proceeds to get his snow plow stuck. In the parking lot. I watch him spin his wheels at about 90 mph (which anyone who knows how to drive in snow will tell you that doing this pretty much guarantees that you aren't going anywhere), at which point I was half tempted to walk over and offer to get his truck unstuck. But then I thought he might find that offer insulting, so I didn't. Finally, he managed to get it free. It would have been better if it had stayed stuck. He went back to trying to ram the snow as hard as he could, and sure enough, he broke something. He hit the curb hard enough at an angle that he broke the front axle on the truck.

The last we saw he was sliding down the road with both front wheels pointing in different directions, with his back wheels fishtailing left and right. I don't know how he managed to keep the truck on the road at that point.

A construction grader came along and cleared the parking lot a while later.

[Cat Whisperer]

"Snow pompadour" - I love that! Keep an eye on them at the lights - sooner or later you'll see someone with a snow pompadour that slides right over their windshield when they stop, and you can point and laugh. :D

One of my peeves is people driving mini-vans or SUVs that they haven't cleaned off, and they drive along with what I call "their own private snowstorm" going on behind them.

[Mooch]

Last time, however, I saw no less than three cars in one morning who cleared off exactly one square of their cars, on the driver's side windshield. Not the back windshields, or the sides, just one tiny square.

Apparently, you don't need to see to either side or the back when you're driving.

I just assume people do this so they can pretend they are a tank commander.

[Cat Whisperer]

I just assume people do this so they can pretend they are a tank commander.
Now I'm imagining the people doing this making vrrrrooooom noises as they drive. :D

[Polycarp]

I haven’t ever driven in snow. But the title of this thread has caused “Ghost Riders in the Sky” to get stuck in my head.

Thanks for the earworm! :mad: :D I now have running through my head "Whoopi-eye-yay! Whoopi-eye-yo! Those idiot drivers in the snow-ow!"

[Dung Beetle]

Then my work here is done. :)

[Sailboat]

I haven’t ever driven in snow. But the title of this thread has caused “Ghost Riders in the Sky” to get stuck in my head.

Heh, I came to post this, exactly. Great minds, and all that.

[Markxxx]

I remember when I was the overnight manager at a hotel, I hired a girl from the Philippines, named Mary Jane. She had moved to Chicago from Hawaii, in April. One December night, she came into work shaking like a leaf, I asked what was wrong.

She said "Mark, I've never driven in snow in my life. Everyone drives like an idiot. I was scared for my life." :)

[kopek]

Anybody else seen any particularly idiotic or funny snow-driving moves?


Did you get around the North Side at all today? No? Then I totally deny that I was the idiot who got his motorcycle out today.


:smack:

[Tully Mars]

It's comforting to read that in areas where snow and ice are more frequent, you still have the Idiot Drivers in the Snow .

We had nearly a foot of snow here in the DFW area Thursday. Surprisingly enough, the idiot count was fairly low. A lot of people stayed home. Usually, after a day like that, the sides of the freeways will be littered with cars and pickups like so many discarded beer cans.

I did witness three truly compelling idiots. On Thursday morning, before the snow started in earnest, I entered the freeway and just as I accelerated up to speed, I was greeted by a wall of brakelights. I looked further ahead and noticed the freeway was empty. There was a rolling traffic jam behind a driver going 25 mph with their emergency flashers flashing, in the middle of three lanes.

When I left work that night, the snow was deep, but the roads were not frozen because the temperture stayed just at or above freezing. It was dark. The snow was coming down heavy, reducing visibility even more. I was driving in the middle lane across the Lake Worth bridge. I noticed the tail lights ahead of me were growing closer. "He's going pretty slow," thought I. "Shit, he's stoppped!" Sure enough, this pickup is sitting in the middle lane of the bridge behind a disabled car that had earlier rear-ended someone. No emergency flashers were visible on either vehicle. I changed lanes and went around them. I thought about stopping and hooking up a chain to the wrecked car to tow it off the bridge, but I didn't want to be the third idiot stopped on the bridge.

I encountered the third idiot later that evening. About a mile before I reached my freeway exit, I was in the right lane. As noticed a Scion in the middle lane, going about 10 mph slower than I, with his flashers on. "No problem," thought I. I was about to pass him on the right when he decided to exit from the middle lane, without a turn signal, cutting across in front of me and across the apex of the exit ramp. I executed a quick downshift and was ready to stab the brakes, but he made it across my lane pretty quickly. This was an idiot move regardless of the snow, but it struck me as amusing that he/she was being so careful as to drive slower than everyone else and to turn on their flashers, but didn't hesitate for a moment to make a totally stupid cross-lane exit.

[Cat Whisperer]

It's comforting to read that in areas where snow and ice are more frequent, you still have the Idiot Drivers in the Snow .
<snip>
And how. It gets better as winter goes on, but the first snowfall of the year - ay carumba, the carnage.

[MacTech]

Bigger idiots: Tailgaters. WTF? Visibility down to about 20 feet, street full of packed snow and ice and you're riding my bumper because I'm driving slowly?

*THAT'S* the reason for the "Snow Pompadour", it's an anti-tailgater device....or so I've heard... ;)

[Anne Neville]

Last week, I saw a car get stuck a second time, not one minute after he'd gotten pushed out of being stuck the first time. Some people pushed the car and got it moving. The driver drives over to the side of the street and slows down, and gets stuck yet again.

Did you get around the North Side at all today? No? Then I totally deny that I was the idiot who got his motorcycle out today.


:smack:

This reminds me: we need to share this thread with bike riders.

I saw a guy on a bike on my street last Monday. Not a motorcycle- a bicycle. Saw him fall off the bike right in front of a car, which fortunately was able to stop in time. Saw him get back on the bicycle after this happened :eek::confused: There's a time and a place for "if at first you don't succeed, try try again". Riding a bike on a snowy street (that I wouldn't have driven my Civic on, let alone a bike) and nearly getting killed by a car isn't it.

We're supposed to get yet more snow today (oh joy), so maybe there will be more sightings of idiot drivers in the snow.

[fruitbat]

I am in Northern Virginia and we have been dumped on. I also lived in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, so I know how to drive in snow. The single most important thing you can is maintain your momentum. Everyone, from old ladies to teenagers seem to have decided that creeping up the hill at 5 miles an hour is the careful responsible way to drive. Except as they make it towards the crest they inevitably slide from 5 to 4 to 3 to a dead stop and then backwards.

I keep somewhere around fifteen miles an hour and I never get stuck and never slide, just keep from unnecessary movement of the wheel and unnecessary braking and you are fine. I still have twice had people yell at me to SLOW DOWN!!! at something between 10 to 15 mph.

[Anne Neville]

I am in Northern Virginia and we have been dumped on. I also lived in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, so I know how to drive in snow. The single most important thing you can is maintain your momentum. Everyone, from old ladies to teenagers seem to have decided that creeping up the hill at 5 miles an hour is the careful responsible way to drive. Except as they make it towards the crest they inevitably slide from 5 to 4 to 3 to a dead stop and then backwards.

The guy I saw get stuck twice was going up a slight incline. Momentum can be your friend, if you let it.

[Lanzy]

The best thing I saw last week was 2 18 wheelers approching a low bridge with about a 12 inch clearance with at least 2 ft of snow on the roofs of both.

It was a spectacular sight of a small temporary blizard. Although oncoming traffic didn't think so.

[yastobaal]

I am in Northern Virginia and we have been dumped on. I also lived in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, so I know how to drive in snow. The single most important thing you can is maintain your momentum. Everyone, from old ladies to teenagers seem to have decided that creeping up the hill at 5 miles an hour is the careful responsible way to drive. Except as they make it towards the crest they inevitably slide from 5 to 4 to 3 to a dead stop and then backwards.

I keep somewhere around fifteen miles an hour and I never get stuck and never slide, just keep from unnecessary movement of the wheel and unnecessary braking and you are fine. I still have twice had people yell at me to SLOW DOWN!!! at something between 10 to 15 mph.

You've just reminded me of the UK's troubles with snow at the beginning of January. My main route in to Oxford was blocked and so I decided to try a back route through a couple of villages (yes the snow is going to be worse, but the dual carriageway was going to delay me by a couple of hours by it's length).

I get half-way through the first village but get stopped in a short line of traffic heading back up a hill. It's less than a 10% gradient but not by much. After a couple of minutes the cars start to move again and I leave a fair gap between myself and the car in front. Unfortunately my car is front wheel drive and the tires have no real grip in icy or snowy conditions so I can't get up to a speed I would like (your 15 mph target would have been about right). So I just keep the car going with careful use of the throttle, backing off if I start to slip but I keep pressing on. The Ford behind me however seems to think I'm being over cautious and is so close I can't even see their number plate, even honking their horn on occasion. Anyways, I get to the top, continue on my way and make it to Oxford on time.

Just wanted to relate this story to say that myself and probably the Ford driver thought the other guy was an idiot for not driving suitably, :) sometimes things can be relative.

[foolscap]

Odd question: I was under the impression that it was a good idea to, well, not stomp, but tap the brakes several times and brake gently thereafter, particularly if you were uncertain how slick it was. Is this wrong, or am I just right and stomping is the bad thing?

The new cars are designed to tap the brakes for you.
Rapidly and lightly several times a second.:D
In older cars, If you stomp on your brakes the wheels lock up and you loose what
little control you could have.
Taping the brakes works, stomping the brakes does not.