Get an inch of snow around here and suddenly everyone thinks its a NASCAR race, gunning their engines and racing down the road. I think the philosophy on winter road conditions in the South is to drive very fast to get out of it quicker. I actually had a woman coworker tell me that once and she was being serious. This was right after she went off the road three times in town on her way home from work and had to be pulled out. The third time, she just left the car where it was and walked the rest of the way because she was about a block from home.
I once drove home in snowstorm here in a little front-wheel drive Honda Civic. I had 80 miles to go, but it only started snowing the last 20 or so, and it was snowing heavily. After it started snowing, by the time I had gone a couple of miles, there was already an inch of snow in the road, so I slowed down accordingly.
People were passing me right and left, some fishtailing as they went around me, but that didn't slow them down a bit. We were driving through a forest at night with heavy trees on either side of the road, which made it a perfect spot for accumulation. After about 7 miles, there was about 3 inches of snow on the road and cars were still passing me.
After 10 miles, I started seeing cars in the ditch, including one that had passed me five miles back with its lights still on and exhaust coming from the tail pipe. I didn't want to stop, because I was afraid I wouldn't get going again. The snow was about 5 inches deep by this time. But I stopped anyway. It was a woman driver and I offered to give her a lift into town. She readily accepted and we started off again, slowly accelerating so as not to spin the tires and get stuck. I was on a bit of an incline which didn't help, but we eventually got going again. Well, we made it home, but in that 20-mile stretch of forest road, I bet I saw 30 cars in the ditch. Total snowfall on that day was 6-plus inches, which i think set a record for this part of the country.
These people just have no clue how to drive in snow.
I once drove home in snowstorm here in a little front-wheel drive Honda Civic. I had 80 miles to go, but it only started snowing the last 20 or so, and it was snowing heavily. After it started snowing, by the time I had gone a couple of miles, there was already an inch of snow in the road, so I slowed down accordingly.
People were passing me right and left, some fishtailing as they went around me, but that didn't slow them down a bit. We were driving through a forest at night with heavy trees on either side of the road, which made it a perfect spot for accumulation. After about 7 miles, there was about 3 inches of snow on the road and cars were still passing me.
After 10 miles, I started seeing cars in the ditch, including one that had passed me five miles back with its lights still on and exhaust coming from the tail pipe. I didn't want to stop, because I was afraid I wouldn't get going again. The snow was about 5 inches deep by this time. But I stopped anyway. It was a woman driver and I offered to give her a lift into town. She readily accepted and we started off again, slowly accelerating so as not to spin the tires and get stuck. I was on a bit of an incline which didn't help, but we eventually got going again. Well, we made it home, but in that 20-mile stretch of forest road, I bet I saw 30 cars in the ditch. Total snowfall on that day was 6-plus inches, which i think set a record for this part of the country.
These people just have no clue how to drive in snow.
