Cars In Ditches?

What’s changed? When I see things I have to sort it out in my head or I’ll go crazy. Car after car in the ditch, on compact snow yes, BUT ON A PERFECTLY STRAIGHT STRETCH OF HIGHWAY! I always new I’d be screwed going a certain direction, now I might be screwed going any direction. Of course the Trail 90 can go west but brrrr!!!!!

 

My daughter totaled a car a few years back. It was a 4 lane road , with a 2 lane wide grass medium in between lanes,,, with huge cedar bushes .
And I asked her the same thing. How the hell did you run off the road and straight into that bush ?? Just basically,, not paying attention. Her deal was ,, she was fumbling with makeup, phone , whatever it was ,, when she hit the grass at 50 mph,, and that early morning dew ,, it was like a patch of ice ,,, nothing to do but ride it to the stop .
She got lucky ,, seat belt bruised her shoulder,,,totaled a car with 100,000 miles on it ,, insurance paid off the 16 grand owed on it. Bought her a 5g car and saved her 16 g's paying for a car that most likely wouldn't last till payoff.

 

I’ve never seen carnage like this go-round. I’ve never had a problem heading west before either. More people, I-Phones and etc etc yes, just seemed so unusual.

 

Drivers over estimating their abilities. (driving too fast, distracted, aggressiveness)
Lack of vehicle preparedness (bald tires, worn out suspension, wrong tires altogether)
and good old mother nature.
= body shop payday.

 

Here in SC it's people who won't slow down when it is pouring down rain and they hit a flood section of road and hydroplane right into the ditch. Can't count the # of times I have seen it.

 

Two that I remember can both be atributed to overconfidence in four wheel drive. Jeep driver went straight down his driveway and into the ditch across the street. The other one was a K5 Blazer on its roof in the median. DEEP median. Slid all the way to the bottom on the roof. Four wheel drive adds nothing to slick road braking.

 

Also, people seem to think that 4WD means that they have super-powers and can drive on anything. I'm in Dixie, and even Yankees and folks that have lived up north have trouble. They think that they know how to drive on snow and ice, but down here we don't clear the roads and they end up in a ditch. Smart people (like me) stay home, and enjoy a rare snow-day!

 

Up here we have 12" 30cm so far , I can't beat the snow on the panels as of yet , as soon as I get a dusting panels decrease output and wasting 5 hrs on all the arrays is not worth my day being shot . I drive a Volvo 745 1988 RWD with 4 ice radials highly sipied till the snow gets deeper. We have had 3-5 feet some winters, then the 1980 BJ60 Toyota diesel comes alive.
There is no help other than yourself up in the bush, so when I get a bumper rider who's pushing to pass , I let them find the ditch for themselves .

Pix of the place facing north !

My snow shovel 22"

 

Someone much brighter than me suggested this. Because it was Xmas basically, way more people on the roads trying to get home. Normally folks hole up in Washington. Anyway I know of a way around all of it for the most part, it’s a long long way around.

 

4 wheel drive helps you move in snow and ice ,,,, it does nothing for stopping.

 

I drove in Canada during the winter months and learned to drive the crown of the road until on coming traffic came we slowed significantly and moved to opposite sides of the road. Passing we returned to the crown of the road and resumed our moderate speed.

 

yup and drive in 4H but slow , we always get back home warm and late , but the hot drinks makes it all worth it
Sloth

 

Back when I was a kid, the city and state had YUGE numbers of Plow/Sanding Trucks and would be out in 24 hour shifts clearing and maintaining the roads all over! Now days, with a Democrap super majority the last 50 years, they don't have the budget or crews, or equipment, so nothing gets done! Add in the shear number of stupid people who have these cars and trucks that do not belong on the roads when the weather gets nasty, and worse, they have no idea how to drive, and even worse then that, all the electronic distractions, and you get what we see every winter season! I have long said, folks do not take the responsibility of driving nearly as seriously as they should, they just get in turn the key or push a button and expect it to all turn out ok for them like it does every other day, and don't even get me started on the little penis 4X4 pickups that insist on driving down the road at or above the normal posted speed limit, usually causing others to have more trouble before ending up stuck up their their frames the furthest off the road! Sunday on the 120 mile one way trip to the air port, I took the 550 HP Dodge Durango SRT-8 because it gets better fuel millage then the others, and it's AWD, I maintained 45 MPH the entire way and never once so much as slipped, while we counted at least 30 4X4's off the road buggered up and stuck, not to mention all the Bimmers and MBZ's that no one should be driving in the winter conditions, and then there is always the Driving While Asian group, who are a danger to all those within 1/2 mile of them!

 

Years ago, I saw a film of a Sherman tank sliding backwards during the Battle of the Bulge...the only thing that works on ice is ice-skates...sometimes!

 

We used to salt, sand and gravel the roads, bridges and overpasses, too! However, last winter we had a foot of snow, which is unusual for Alabama, and none of the roads were treated! It wasn't like everyone didn't know that storm was on the way, but we only get snow like that every 10-12 years! I think that the local officials got tired of taxpayers and voters (not necessarily the same) bitching about them treating roads all of the times when nothing happened. As I said, I enjoyed several snow days at home.

 

I was once driving west on I-10 in Texas, just barely north of Mexico. The roads were iced, all motels were packed so I kept going, crawling at 15MPH all night, as if I went faster my tires would spin. Fat musclecar tires are usless on ice. Cars, big trucks and an RV blasted past me. A mile down the highway it turned..... the RV didn't! It was on it's side. Cops already there so I drove on. I never drove on snow and ice again. Keeping my butt in sunny Florida!

 

Wow. Snow on the road....