Call this snow ?

[SmartWombat]

I can remember as a teenager going to school on the bus with around a foot of snowfall, and there was no cry of "severe weather warnings" it was just Winter and it snowed.

This year we got 2" maybe 3" at the most and the world was going to end ...
... well you'd think so according to the TV, radio, and newspaper near hysteria.

The one time the mothers on the school trip in their gas-guzzling, road-hogging 4x4s with one kid in the back might have been justified in killing us all with their combined CO2 emissions - the schools were closed, there is justice

The roads were fine, if you had half a brain cell and knew how to drive in bad weather.

Shame the lorry driver who jack-knifed in the roadworks didn't know how to handle the winter, or the two cars about half a mile apart I saw abandoned after sliding into the centre barrier, or the two I saw bumper to bumper in the inside lane, or the one I saw pointing the wrong way in the ditch at the side of the road ...

Last time we had a bad winter, they salted the roads, and then it froze again during the day. Total chaos as people drove too fast and went off the road, or too slowly and lost momentum and jammed the hills.
I came to a hill on my way home that was almost totally iced, rough ice, frozen slush, so there was grip. But you wouldn't think so from the mile long queue of cars at the bottom stopped behind a lorry and a bus, or the car stuck in the hedge going down the hill. :mad2:
Low speed, low gear, no brakes, no accelerator, no sudden steering - I got through with absolutely no problem.

Other countries where you have real snowfall you seem to manage just fine, you make us over here look like total wusses :cryin:

[JSPhoto]

LOL, hey Paul, come over here (better hurry the snow starts tomorrow afternoon) as we are expecting anywhere from 6" to 16" of the pretty white stuff between tomorrow evening and Wednesday morning. The snowblower is full of fresh gas, I have two extra cans of gas and three batteries charged for the camera. The 4x4 in the Jeep is adjusted and working fine

But yet there are 1,000's here who have NO CLUE how to drive in the snow. Many of those are the "professional" drivers who drive the big semi trucks. During last weeks 5" snow storm we had 22 trucks jacknifed or rolled over, and that was just the indianapolis Metropolitan area! I sat 2 hours trying to get to Indy, normally a 20 minute drive, alas it took 2 1/2 hours. The side roads were no better, it took 2 hours to get home that route.

It seems no matter what part of the world your in common sense goes out the window when snow or ice hit the roads. I have driven on snow and ice in vehicles with bald tires and not gotten stuck or off in a ditch. I have pulled hundreds out of ditches with my trucks over the years though. Again, it comes down to plain common sense....something severly lacking here in Indiana....thats OK though, I like charging people to pull them out of ditch

JS

[mwfanelli]

Well, its just the general unskilled public that causes problems. The first snowfall in Colorado, where people are supposedly used to snow, brought widespread multicar pileups. It was the true start of winter.

Yeah, 4x4 drivers seldom have a clue. They just don't understand that friction allows you to stop, not a 4x4 drive train. I have seen multiple examples of people speeding down icy roads, going into a full spin, and then speeding off for more. One guy did it three times, three, before I lost track of him.

Oh well, this is what makes life exciting!

[another view]

I just came into work a bit early to avoid the usual idiots trying to drive like we didn't just get 3-4" of snow last night. Then we'll hear the complainers talking about how the snow wasn't cleared from the roads and that caused them to be five minutes late to work... I just don't understand how people living here (northern midwest, near Chicago) feel they have the right to complain that the roads aren't always perfect. Hope that groundhog was right!

[JSPhoto]

One job I had in Pa I drove 45 miles to work and we had a really nice snow fall, 5-6 inches one night. I drove to work, got there 20 minutes early,meanwhile the locals who lived two blocks away "couldn't make it to work" because of the snow!
The worst part was when they'd get po'ed at me because I got a raise and they didn't.... gee I wonder why?

JS

[OBie]

Haha! Drivers in the Southern US are just as awful when it comes to snow. Lots of our storms are actually ice, which is understandable, but when it's just a bit of snow?! C'mon.

I grew up in New Jersey and we often 'walked a mile to school in the snow'. No kidding - I remember walking in the tire tracks. And I took my driving test in a blinding blizzard that actually did close schools. All I had to do was drive around the block - no parking or anything difficult. I figured that if they thought if I can drive in that, I can drive in anything.

[MarcusK]

Well allow me to assure you all of how far from ridiculous any of your stories are...and offer you some consolation paul, you aint a wuss

having moved from a country where snow and storms are called, like paul said, weather...lol...just winter or spring or summer or fall... to a desert god-forsaken country...
well actually its not, its full of sky scrapers, and high rise towers and what not about technology...but Dubai nonetheless is or was a desert!!

You should see the driving here when it rains...which it does during 2-3 months a year, for a total of maybe 6-7" on a very rainy year.... It gets ridiculous.... and the only way to describe it would be...like sprinkling water on ants....i am by no means referring to the people as insects, but that is the best image i can give.... accidents double and triple when it is raining....on a highway with a speed limit of 75Miles/hr....everyone suddenly drives (on the fast lane) at maximum of 38miles/hr.... So yeah...if they get lost when it snows...dont be harsh.....i have seen bad conditions too....drove in the middle of an ice storm....i know all it takes is some patience and brain..... but WHEN IT RAINS?????????? so what if the roads are wee bit more slippery at first...... you dont need to drive like a maniac!!

Ok...sorry...i got carried away....

Marc

[OBie]

Well allow me to assure you all of how far from ridiculous any of your stories are...and offer you some consolation paul, you aint a wuss

having moved from a country where snow and storms are called, like paul said, weather...lol...just winter or spring or summer or fall... to a desert god-forsaken country...
well actually its not, its full of sky scrapers, and high rise towers and what not about technology...but Dubai nonetheless is or was a desert!!

You should see the driving here when it rains...which it does during 2-3 months a year, for a total of maybe 6-7" on a very rainy year.... It gets ridiculous.... and the only way to describe it would be...like sprinkling water on ants....i am by no means referring to the people as insects, but that is the best image i can give.... accidents double and triple when it is raining....on a highway with a speed limit of 75Miles/hr....everyone suddenly drives (on the fast lane) at maximum of 38miles/hr.... So yeah...if they get lost when it snows...dont be harsh.....i have seen bad conditions too....drove in the middle of an ice storm....i know all it takes is some patience and brain..... but WHEN IT RAINS?????????? so what if the roads are wee bit more slippery at first...... you dont need to drive like a maniac!!

Ok...sorry...i got carried away....

Marc

:lol: That is so funny! Never even considered that rain might drive *no pun intended* people crazy. But it makes sense - now I feel very sheltered and naive

[SmartWombat]

My wife told me of a snowstorm in New Mexico when she lived there, people whizzing by at 70mph in this fluffy white stuff ... then discovering it's not like rain.

[Ronnoco]

I remember one year we had 2 and a half inches at Thanksgiving which is in early October in Canada, and in mid April we had 16 inches. The coldest was when I was shooting out on a frozen lake and made the mistake of taking my hand out of my glove for a few seconds. I immediately lost the blood circulation in my hand. In Quebec City shooting at night, my camera actually froze to the extent that you could see the shutter blades partially closed through the lens.

Ronnoco

[JSPhoto]

My wife told me of a snowstorm in New Mexico when she lived there, people whizzing by at 70mph in this fluffy white stuff ... then discovering it's not like rain.

I heard about a guy doing 87mph on I-70 today, I was going the other way at the time going 30mph and a few minutes later I saw him on his side in the median.....at the time we had around 6 " of snow. Now we have over 10
BTW, they took the guy to jail, he was drunk!

JS

[MarcusK]

A word of clarification: I lived in Lebanon and moved to the UAE... and I was not referring to the emiratis here, but rather to most who live here.... even those who such as myself come from countries that have know snow storms!

Anyway.... I think it is all over the world... when the weather suddenly changes, people seem to loose all senses driving!

If there's anything that is keeping me from visiting friends and family in Canada its that freezing weather you are talking about Ron, now the other extreme is not any better, but i would take my "Hell-heat" wave over many months of freezing ....

But i do love the snow....

Marc

[Jaedon]

I see the lack of preparedness and lack of knowhow all the time on the road. I am a transit driver and I drive a Bus in Toronto for litterally 45 hours a week + the normal day to day driving that everyone else does. So I am always ready for weather changes as it is simply a part of what I do for a living. But then you see the people who simply have no clue. When we get rain people slow down to 30 KPH (15MPH ish) because they are to scared to be driving....imho they should simply stay home if they can't maintain a decent speed .. and if it is an emergency then take a bus or a cab as we're prepared and used to the weather. Then the first snowfal of teh year is always a treat. Sitting way up high like we do in the bus I get to see teh accidents usually before they happen and I have a front row seat for when they do. Watching someone spin out and slide all over the road because they made the obvious mistake of hitting te gas too hard or teh brakes too late is so much fun.... especially when I know I am not going to have to get out of the bus and offer assistance because if no one is injured I am required to continue on and simply observe and report.

I had only one time in 8 years as a driver where I had to remain on scene and offer assistance to te occupants of teh vehicle. the driver was out of his mind ...because his wife was giving birth in tehback seat so he was driving like a mad man to get to teh hospital before the baby came. He wiped out a post in te mddle of a snowstorm so I got him and his wife on the bus where it was warm and the medics got there just in time for the birth.

My son was born a week later ...so I was prepared for that too lol.

[JSPhoto]

DOH! I wish you hadn't brought up city bus drivers....all I'll say is Indy's bus drivers are the worst and rudest!

today, the day after the storm I had 3 foot drifts in my driveway and yard but I got out went to Indy and fixed a snowplow and then drove home without problems. Now the issue is the temps, the high yesterday was 28 but we had 30mph winds with gusts up to 40mph and today the high was a balmy 8 above zero and tonight with the windchill it is -15 (btw the temps are F not C). I think were colder than Alaska right now.....:thumbsup:

JS