# Clear the fucking SNOW off your car!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 17, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651 "2007-02-17T21:56:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/21 "2007-02-18T00:43:40Z")
This isn’t loose snow coming off the cars. It’s ice sheets that at one time were loose snow flakes. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/22 "2007-02-18T00:48:02Z")
[QUOTE=Waverly] It’s not like I want them sautéed in their own bile [/QUOTE] {raises hand} Um… I do. I’d at least support making the penalty about as high as a traffically possible–points on license, the word fuckwit tattooed to the forehead, etc. Police/meter maids should be able to ticket a _parked_ car sitting in a mall parking lot (or anywhere it is apparent they drove). I don’t care if you’re 5’1; if you’re driving a vehicle with snow on the roof, get a ladder, fuckwit. Following too close?[sup]\*[/sup] WTF is that about? Crap flies. Fuckwits pass. :rolleyes: [sup]\*In no way do I mean to imply that **boytyperanma** is a fuckwit. Nothing here is meant to be directly insulting to him–just that the suggestion that following too close is fuckwittish.[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/23 "2007-02-18T00:54:40Z")
[QUOTE=Harmonious Discord] This isn’t loose snow coming off the cars. It’s ice sheets that at one time were loose snow flakes. [/QUOTE] Exactly. And while I’m too lazy to do the math to figure out what a 4 by 6 foot sheet of 4 inch thick ice weighs, my scientific estimate is “a bit”. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/24 "2007-02-18T00:55:42Z")
Vans can really collect a ton of ice and snow. They can be scary to follow . I suspect it would be hard to clean the top of one of their huge vans. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/25 "2007-02-18T00:56:55Z")
It’s “anti-tailgaiting chaff.” Don’t follow so close. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/26 "2007-02-18T01:15:01Z")
It isn’t necessarily easy to remove. If it had been easy, I would have removed it. Sometimes, like today, I have a layer of snow and ice that is glued to part of my car. It isn’t going anywhere until the temperature increases. Being the pit, I’ll take this opportunity to point out that it would be much less of a hazard if you were following at a safe distance, you pea-brained miscreants. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/27 "2007-02-18T01:20:00Z")
[QUOTE=fachverwirrt] Exactly. And while I’m too lazy to do the math to figure out what a 4 by 6 foot sheet of 4 inch thick ice weighs, my scientific estimate is “a bit”. [/QUOTE] I get in the vicinity of 450lbs. 4" of solid ice doesn’t seem terribly likely to me, though. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/28 "2007-02-18T01:23:24Z")
[QUOTE=mks57] Being the pit, I’ll take this opportunity to point out that it would be much less of a hazard if you were following at a safe distance, you pea-brained miscreants. 😛 [/QUOTE] I agree. If snow from my car hits yours, it is _prima facie_ evidence that you are following too close. Crucifixion by the side of the road for you! ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/29 "2007-02-18T01:29:53Z")
[QUOTE=Gorsnak] 4" of solid ice doesn’t seem terribly likely to me, though. [/QUOTE] Very easily accumulated if you get 4 to 5 inches of heavy wet snow, then sleet and icy rain, then a quick hard freeze as the Arctic cold front roars through. Like the weather we had in this area a couple of days ago. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/30 "2007-02-18T01:30:14Z")
One quick observation on the “safe following distance” comments. That’s a dandy rule (1 car-length per 10 mph) for most driving conditions. When those ice sheets go airborne, though, they seem to hit the ground at just about that safe distance. Cars may be driving perfectly safely for road conditions (both of my recent incidents, the roads were quite clear and drivable) but you can’t plan for that sort of random action any more than you can plan for someone in the next lane having a stroke and crossing 3 lanes of traffic and totalling 5 cars in the process. The difference is, strokes, mechanical failures, and things like that are totally random. Airborne ice sheets are due to laziness and violations of the law. Oh - and “safe distance between cars”? I drive on the Washington Beltway. You leave a distance that great at other than 3 AM, and three other cars will merge into the space to fill it. What if it’s one of _them_ that has the ice sheet parasail? ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/31 "2007-02-18T01:32:28Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] I agree. If snow from my car hits yours, it is _prima facie_ evidence that you are following too close. Crucifixion by the side of the road for you! [/QUOTE] Not necessarily. Yesterday I was driving behind a van in another lane when its rooftop ice thatch broke loose. As it sailed it caught a crosswind (heavy gusty winds blowing) and actually slewed sideways toward me, in fact I could swear for a moment it _rose_. It dived into the pavement just before it hit my car. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/32 "2007-02-18T01:34:29Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] I agree. If snow from my car hits yours, it is _prima facie_ evidence that you are following too close. Crucifixion by the side of the road for you! [/QUOTE] Bull Shit! At 40 miles an hour on a Business Highway you should be 4 car lengths or maybe 60 feet. I have seen snow fly off taller vehicles and stay airborne plenty long enough to smash into the following car. What do you suggest, when we identify the fuckwits that are too stupid to clean of their roofs, we should leave 120 feet distance, then the next moron with a snow covered vehicle will gladly cut in front of you and send his anti-vehicle weapons of ice flying into us. So again, I state BULL SHIT! Jim {I am sure you are a reasonable person, but really do you never drive on multi-lane roads at all?} ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/33 "2007-02-18T01:37:02Z")
[QUOTE=mks57] It isn’t necessarily easy to remove. If it had been easy, I would have removed it. Sometimes, like today, I have a layer of snow and ice that is glued to part of my car. It isn’t going anywhere until the temperature increases. Being the pit, I’ll take this opportunity to point out that it would be much less of a hazard if you were following at a safe distance, you pea-brained miscreants. 😛 [/QUOTE] OK, lets make a deal. I won’t follow so close and you have some basic consideration for other people. It is just that layer of snow and ice that is so hard to get off that is the most dangerous to other people when you hit a bump and it does. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/34 "2007-02-18T01:45:02Z")
[QUOTE=Mama Zappa] Oh - and “safe distance between cars”? I drive on the Washington Beltway. You leave a distance that great at other than 3 AM, and three other cars will merge into the space to fill it. [/QUOTE] I also drive on the Washington Beltway. I don’t have trouble following at a safe distance, even in heavy traffic. People will often merge in front of you. It isn’t the end of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/35 "2007-02-18T02:22:07Z")
[QUOTE=EddyTeddyFreddy] Very easily accumulated if you get 4 to 5 inches of heavy wet snow, then sleet and icy rain, then a quick hard freeze as the Arctic cold front roars through. Like the weather we had in this area a couple of days ago. [/QUOTE] Ah, but that wouldn’t be solid ice. It’d only have maybe half the density of solid ice. A piffling 225lbs, surely your windshield is designed to withstand such blows. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/36 "2007-02-18T02:23:06Z")
WTF??? I grew up in and have lived virtually my whole life in climates where any snow at all is a once-every-few-years event (except for Los Angeles, where it simply didn’t happen at all) and have just moved to Maryland. I also know to clean the snow and/or ice off my car before moving it because even if it doesn’t break a windshield (which I hadn’t thought of but makes sense) it’s no fun to have snow flying at you from the asshat in front of you. Duhhhhhh. If **I** know that, then what the **FUCK** makes not knowing to do that excusable? Nothing, in my book. Dumb fucks. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/37 "2007-02-18T02:27:40Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] I agree. If snow from my car hits yours, it is _prima facie_ evidence that you are following too close. Crucifixion by the side of the road for you! [/QUOTE] And if it comes off in a curve and slams into my car in the outside lane? Was I “following” too close to you one lane over? Or if it drops harmlessly 5’ in front of the guy following behind you at a safe distance, but he panics as he sees a sheet of ice sailing through the air looking like it will decapitate him and swerves to the side triggering a multi-vehicle accident? Was he following too close? All these bullshit excuses given for being lazy. Driving is already pretty much the most hazardous activity most of us do regularly. You’re intentionally increasing that hazard. Off with your head! ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/38 "2007-02-18T02:28:21Z")
[QUOTE=Gorsnak] Ah, but that wouldn’t be solid ice. It’d only have maybe half the density of solid ice. A piffling 225lbs, surely your windshield is designed to withstand such blows. 😉 [/QUOTE] 😕 :eek: :o :: slinks away, crushed (though not by a flying ice sheet) :: ---
**Author:** ![Elysium](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@Elysium](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysium)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/39 "2007-02-18T02:44:36Z")
But it’s not as if that snow/ice falling off of these cars only travels directly back from the car in a straight line. It can be hit by a cross draft and blown sideways and backwards, in which case it hits the unlucky guy in the next lane. Sucks for that guy. Between making sure your car is somehow isolated in a bubble of empty lanes both to the sides and before and behind, and people taking the time to use one of those long ice scraper/brushes and giving the top of their cars a good clean, I choose the latter. There’s no excuse, IMO. It’s just ignorant and selfish. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651/40 "2007-02-18T03:04:35Z")
I have to admit that, while I don’t live in an area where it is necessary to clean snow off the car, if not for this thread I wouldn’t have thought about the safety aspects if I had been visiting a snow area. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clear-the-fucking-snow-off-your-car/392651.md?page=3)