Sunday, December 10, 2006
If You Can't Stand The Street Get Out Of The Bitchin'
Wink: Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
I have read the comments from other drivers and the various columns of comment from our usual media sources about the above mentioned storm:
* All the people without snow tires should know better and not mess everything up for others. [From what I could see, there were no snow tires rolling either.]
* The snow plows weren't doing anything, where were they anyway. [Stuck in traffic like you.]
* The salt trucks weren't doing anything. [Hardly ever do after there is six inches of snow on the ground.]
* We depended on the weather forecast and it changed so quickly. [Well now, are we all new residents to the province?]
Maybe, just maybe if all this happens again, you could help rather than fume and complain.
# Look ahead. If you see a tractor trailer stuck or having difficulty, don't drive up to a foot from his back end. It will not force him out of there any faster. And he might just have to back up, if he can. I watched car after car go tight behind some of these guys.
# If you have snow tires, use them properly and don't blame the people that don't have any. Spinning your wheels at half throttle won't get you anywhere snow tires or not. You are just creating heat and polishing the surface to pure ice, making it impossible for you and anybody else to move. If you start to spin, let it idle away, gradually. If that doesn't work, you are not going anywhere.
# This is for 4x4 drivers. Your vehicle is not much better than two wheel drive especially if you floor it. Slow and easy may get you through. If you accelerate too much, two of the four wheels will spin and you are worse off than two wheel drive. All wheel drive works almost the same except you get to spin all your wheel electronically and make more ice.
# Try leaving some following distance. Then if the vehicle in front spins out or stops, you may be able to select an alternate path around it. At least you will be able to stop away from the vehicle in front with a safety zone to protect you.
# Get off the cell phone and the Blackberry and drive. Look at what you are seeing and deal with it appropriately. Plan ahead, slow and easy, gentle on the brake and accelerator and you will get home sooner.
One final thing, if you are driving an automatic, instead of frantically holding the brake on and having your vehicle skid from side to side while stopping, try sliding the shifter to neutral until you are ready to go again. Without the drive wheels pushing you it is much easier to control.
This work by NSCAVE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
I have read the comments from other drivers and the various columns of comment from our usual media sources about the above mentioned storm:
* All the people without snow tires should know better and not mess everything up for others. [From what I could see, there were no snow tires rolling either.]
* The snow plows weren't doing anything, where were they anyway. [Stuck in traffic like you.]
* The salt trucks weren't doing anything. [Hardly ever do after there is six inches of snow on the ground.]
* We depended on the weather forecast and it changed so quickly. [Well now, are we all new residents to the province?]
Maybe, just maybe if all this happens again, you could help rather than fume and complain.
# Look ahead. If you see a tractor trailer stuck or having difficulty, don't drive up to a foot from his back end. It will not force him out of there any faster. And he might just have to back up, if he can. I watched car after car go tight behind some of these guys.
# If you have snow tires, use them properly and don't blame the people that don't have any. Spinning your wheels at half throttle won't get you anywhere snow tires or not. You are just creating heat and polishing the surface to pure ice, making it impossible for you and anybody else to move. If you start to spin, let it idle away, gradually. If that doesn't work, you are not going anywhere.
# This is for 4x4 drivers. Your vehicle is not much better than two wheel drive especially if you floor it. Slow and easy may get you through. If you accelerate too much, two of the four wheels will spin and you are worse off than two wheel drive. All wheel drive works almost the same except you get to spin all your wheel electronically and make more ice.
# Try leaving some following distance. Then if the vehicle in front spins out or stops, you may be able to select an alternate path around it. At least you will be able to stop away from the vehicle in front with a safety zone to protect you.
# Get off the cell phone and the Blackberry and drive. Look at what you are seeing and deal with it appropriately. Plan ahead, slow and easy, gentle on the brake and accelerator and you will get home sooner.
One final thing, if you are driving an automatic, instead of frantically holding the brake on and having your vehicle skid from side to side while stopping, try sliding the shifter to neutral until you are ready to go again. Without the drive wheels pushing you it is much easier to control.
This work by NSCAVE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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