# Snow on the Roof : A Public Service Rant **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 23, 2008, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448 "2008-12-23T22:21:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/61 "2008-12-28T05:46:02Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > I can’t find the case from a couple years ago here in Minnesota where ice from a vehicle killed a man here in Minnesota, but here are plenty of other results from google searches > > [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-22501769.html](http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-22501769.html) > [http://www.truveo.com/Flying-Ice-Chunk-Kills-Utah-Truck-Driver/id/4224049339](http://www.truveo.com/Flying-Ice-Chunk-Kills-Utah-Truck-Driver/id/4224049339) > [http://www.northjersey.com/business/news/15151436.html](http://www.northjersey.com/business/news/15151436.html) > > Seems simple enough to me. Outlaw it. Ticket it. And enforce it. It is dangerous, it is killing people and it is causing accidents. Thanks. Ignorance fought. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/62 "2008-12-28T08:04:06Z")
> [@Uvula\_Donor](#): > > Well, if it does I’ll be sure and get right back here to the MOST SMARTEST BOARD ON THE INTERWEB and post about it. After all, it’ll be something I’d have been powerless to prevent, and it certainly seems like there are a lot of simpering, powerless little cunts posting in the Pit to help them feel better about their inadequacies. > > Cheers, pussies. You’re an odd, angry little fella, aintcha? ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/63 "2009-01-17T20:22:52Z")
Reviving this to post on another [death](http://www.startribune.com/local/37747909.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUF): > [@](#): > > If you’ve ever cringed as icy snow chunks flew off another vehicle and hurtled toward your car, the story of Bob Brobst will make you even more wary. > > Brobst was driving past Rochester the day after Christmas when a 4-foot chunk of snow or ice flew off the top of a trailer. It hit his windshield, activated his airbags and sent his car into an electrical pole on the opposite side of the road. He never regained consciousness and died from the injuries two weeks later. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/64 "2009-01-17T22:54:05Z")
One day a couple of weeks ago at about 5 in the afternoon, I was stuck on a 2-lane street behind a black SUV with a non-visible dealer tag stuck behind the tinted back window, with a HUGE amount of snow and ice on top of it. It was 73 degrees out. ?? 😕 After about 10 miles of being hit by the snow and ice every time dude started from a stop, he finally stopped. I stopped, too, and got out to let him know what was happening, and that it was very dangerous to let your snow and ice hit other vehicles. He was a young hispanic male with a young hispanic friend. He apologized profusely, and they began to clear the top of the SUV. I went on my way. About 10 minutes later, I’m driving along, and here he comes up on me very aggressively, flipping me off. People suck. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2009, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/65 "2009-01-18T00:27:36Z")
I’d like to brush off my roof, but I have this luggage rack thing up there with rails and brackets and whatnot that pretty effectively prevents it. On the plus side, it pretty effectively prevents it sliding off the back while moving too. ---
**Author:** ![Borborygmi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/borborygmi/32/217_2.png) [@Borborygmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Borborygmi)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/66 "2009-01-28T20:27:50Z")
What, nobody but me felt like bumping this thread today? Rational people have been venting in the Pit for years about clowns who don’t clear the snow from their cars, and rightfully so. It’s always discourteous and often a bit dangerous. But in truth – at least where I live – the type of snowfall that is really, truly, obvious-to-anyone-that-it’s-dangerous-not-to-clear doesn’t come down very often. But overnight it did… the type with a big ol’ sheet of frozen rain on top. The type that, when you’re clearing your windshield you say to yourself, “Self, I’m glad I’m in the habit of clearing my whole car of snow as I should, because today EVERYONE will have to do it. Imagine the unspeakable danger it would create to leave such snow and frozen rain on a car traveling at highway speeds, Self! At least it is breaking apart super-easy and a cinch to brush away.” And, of course, enormous sheets of snowy ice rained from the skies above I-95 on my way to work this morning. Jerks. ---
**Author:** ![DogMom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@DogMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DogMom)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/67 "2009-01-29T12:31:42Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > I hit a giant mound of ice from a semi, and it broke the cowling under the bumper on the front of my car. I have thought for a long time that us Canadians really should have a word for those ice and dirt lumps - car boogers, maybe? My husband and I call them “snurds”. Short for “snow turds”. My whole family has caught on to it too - we’re hoping to make it a worldwide phenomenon. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/68 "2009-01-29T14:23:50Z")
> [@DogMom](#): > > My husband and I call them “snurds”. Short for “snow turds”. My whole family has caught on to it too - we’re hoping to make it a worldwide phenomenon. 😃 Car poop. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/69 "2009-01-29T19:36:08Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Maybe you could try taking the van to a self-serve carwash and using the pressure washer to blast all that ice and snow off of it. I’m not sure ours are in operation below a certain temperature. And those snow turds…I have the urge to kick them off people’s cars in the parking lot and have to restrain myself. I cracked my bumper one year when overzealously kicking them off. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/70 "2009-01-30T04:18:12Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > They need to come up with some kind of extension snow/ice removal tool for 18 wheeler trailers. I swear, there’s been numerous times driving on the interstates in winter where gigantic ice sheets come flying off the roof of those things right at you. Our company has a sort of scaffold set up for the trucks before they leave the yard. The driver has a large brush and some other equipment and they can access the entire roof safely. Our employer is quite strict about trailers being free of snow before they get on the road. ---
**Author:** ![silk1976](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@silk1976](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silk1976)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/71 "2009-01-30T04:57:27Z")
> [@crazyjoe](#): > > If you suck at driving so badly that you can’t handle a little blowing snow off the back of my car, or a small pile of it falling on the road, then you need to stay the fuck off the road during the winter. And if you suck so badly at doing something nice for others, get a fucking helmet. Cuz life is going to be rough with no friends. > [@crazyjoe](#): > > So next time it snows, do us all a favor and just stay home, eh? It’d be much safer for everyone else if YOU would just stay home until spring, with an attitude like that. Self righteous ass. > [@crazyjoe](#): > > Perhaps. But no moreso than when passing a semi truck on a slushy road. It’s a part of winter, and I just deal with it. > > Every year I also point out that I paid 20K for my vehicle, and it has nice shiny paint. I am sure as hell not going to scar up the nice shiny paint by using a snow-brush on it. Or, god forbid, an ice-scraper. You are really a piece of work. In one breath, you say its part of winter and you just deal with it - yet in the next you are too scared to touch your PoS car with a tool designed to help motorists in winter conditions. Holy fuck you are self centered. Funny thing is that snow on top of cars doesn’t bother me near as much as others. But the total and complete lack of any consideration, followed immediately with the hostile and venomous defensive response of those who don’t clean off their cars ends up making them look like real dicks. ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/72 "2009-01-30T17:57:42Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > Hello public. > > I know you like vans. I know you like trucks. I know that it snows. Sometimes a lot. Like this last weekend. I know that sometimes it’s a pain in the patootie to reach up and brush the snow from off the top of your van or truck or other instrument of personal destruction. > > So, do us all a favor. Brush it off! > > Ya moron! > > \ While you address a symptom, I’d like to attack the overall disease: stupidity and laziness (often in combination). Too many people are too lazy to dust off the top of their vehicle and/or (mostly and) too stupid to realize the consequences of not doing so. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/73 "2009-01-30T18:46:52Z")
I have very little problem with _snow_ blowing off people’s cars. Its sheets of _ice_ that are far more dangerous. And **gigi** , you may want to check. Many carwash operators in northern climes have floor heat in their self-serve bays and heat their water so they can stay open in cold weather. Winter is the busiest time of the year for us carwash people! Oh, and people coming here to get a carwash…clean the ice and snow off your fucking car before you attempt to get a wash! ---
**Author:** ![Rascal\_s\_Mom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@Rascal\_s\_Mom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rascal_s_Mom)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/74 "2009-01-30T19:13:30Z")
I take the lack of anything from **crazyjoe** and **Uvula Donor** in ages to mean that they have conceded that they are morons, and wrong. Idjits. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/75 "2009-01-30T21:13:44Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > And **gigi** , you may want to check. Many carwash operators in northern climes have floor heat in their self-serve bays and heat their water so they can stay open in cold weather. > > Winter is the busiest time of the year for us carwash people! Good to know–I will have to doublecheck the public one. The free one at the dealer doesn’t run if it’s under 25. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/76 "2009-01-30T21:34:39Z")
> [@Rascal\_s\_Mom](#): > > I take the lack of anything from **crazyjoe** and **Uvula Donor** in ages to mean that they have conceded that they are morons, and wrong. > > Idjits. Wrong. It means we’ve resigned ourselves, as we do every winter, to the fact that some people are just not meant to drive inthe snow, yet do it anyway. They are the people who get stuck after the first snowfall, and who drive 20mph on the freeway 4 days after a snowstorm that has been salted away. They’re the people who say “waaah, I can’t see because there’s some snow blowing off that dude’s car in front of me and I’m too uptight to turn on my wipers.” ---
**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:** [January 30, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/77 "2009-01-30T21:38:05Z")
> [@Rascal\_s\_Mom](#): > > I take the lack of anything from **crazyjoe** and **Uvula Donor** in ages to mean that they have conceded that they are morons, and wrong. > > Idjits. Nope, I’m just bored with the thread. You’re still a bunch of fucking crybabies. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/78 "2009-01-30T21:43:06Z")
> [@silk1976](#): > > And if you suck so badly at doing something nice for others, get a fucking helmet. Cuz life is going to be rough with no friends. Wow, you’re right, it is rough over here with no friends and a helmet. I do nice things for other people all the time. Those things don’t include damaging a $20,000 vehicle to spare you needing to turn on your windshield wipers. > [@silk1976](#): > > It’d be much safer for everyone else if YOU would just stay home until spring, with an attitude like that. > > Self righteous ass. It would be much safer if EVERYONE just stayed in until spring, but I don’t see that happening. Until then, I’ll keep driving to work, and if it snows during the workday, I’ll clear my windows and let the fluffy white snow blow off the back just like I always do. > [@silk1976](#): > > You are really a piece of work. In one breath, you say its part of winter and you just deal with it - yet in the next you are too scared to touch your PoS car with a tool designed to help motorists in winter conditions. > > Holy fuck you are self centered. > > Funny thing is that snow on top of cars doesn’t bother me near as much as others. But the total and complete lack of any consideration, followed immediately with the hostile and venomous defensive response of those who don’t clean off their cars ends up making them look like real dicks. So wait, you don’t understand how those 2 things go hand in hand? It’s part of winter that it snows, and there is going ot be blowing snow. I deal with it. I do not react to it by damaging my very nice (not POS) vehicle with tools that have been in no way designed to preserve its finish. Snow brushes are not meant for clearing snow safely off paint anymore than brillo pads are meant for cleaning nonstick pans. Brillo is for stainless steel, and snow brushes are for windows. Stop being a whiny little shit about the whole thing. It’s not inconsiderate for me to NOT DAMAGE MY VEHICLE and expect you to drive like a responsible adult when it’s snowy outside. ---
**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:** [January 30, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/79 "2009-01-30T21:47:20Z")
> [@crazyjoe](#): > > Wrong. It means we’ve resigned ourselves, as we do every winter, to the fact that some people are just not meant to drive inthe snow, yet do it anyway. They are the people who get stuck after the first snowfall, and who drive 20mph on the freeway 4 days after a snowstorm that has been salted away. They’re the people who say “waaah, I can’t see because there’s some snow blowing off that dude’s car in front of me and I’m too uptight to turn on my wipers.” Good lord you’re a moron. Gorsnak, Driver from the land of eternal winter ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448/80 "2009-01-30T22:51:35Z")
I can’t say I’m finding CrazyJoe’s attitude surprising, when every time I head out on the road I’m driving around buttloads of people who put their safety far ahead of mine (which implies that they have ever thought about my safety, which they haven’t). He’s just one of the millions on the roads today with the “I do as I please and no one else exists” attitude. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-on-the-roof-a-public-service-rant/478448.md?page=5)