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snow and driving
Feb. 9th, 2013 12:41 amWednesday night was bowling. Thursday, I felt a little stiff, mostly in the legs, and one knee bothered me a bit. Thursday we got about four inches of snow, so I shoveled the driveway a lot. It wasn't particularly heavy snow, but worse than the light fluffy stuff we'd been getting lately. Today, I was hurtin'. Really stiff. After I did the driveway last night, it kept blowing, and maybe snowing a little, so it needed it again tonight. I spent a surprisingly long time out there, cleaning up after last night. It was much colder than last night, but no wind. The cold has made all the slushy stuff into ice, including the ridge from the plow, at the end of the driveway.
The weather should be decent tomorrow. We're driving to Madison for a funeral. In the evening, we're going to a "gala" in Milwaukee. On Sunday, I'm driving to Chicago to pick up some whisky. And probably gaming in the evening, who knows where. The forecast for Sunday says 41° and ice pellets. I'm not kidding.
I've never really had a problem with driving in the snow. But man, the other drivers were annoying last night. I've got a Mustang. You know, wide tires, rear-wheel drive? I'm zipping around with no problem, having to hit the brakes only because of the people in front of me. Someone was creeping up to a red light, at about five miles an hour, completely unconcerned that the people behind him might not be able to stop in time to avoid hitting him. So I got in the right turn lane, passed him, and hit my brakes at the last second, barely triggering the anti-lock brakes. And then, going out of town, I'm rolling along nicely at just under the speed limit, because I could see people ahead of me, when I realized they were going way slower. So I had to hit the brakes on a downhill because of those putzes. It wasn't a huge deal, because like I said, I had traction, but if I had traction, why were we going so slow? >:-/
Here's the secret to driving in slippery conditions - don't make any sudden moves. Accelerate slowly, decelerate slowly, turn smoothly. Put some extra weight in the car, including keeping the gas tank full. Snow tires help. Narrow tires help. By the way, rear-wheel drive cars handle just as well in the snow as front-wheel drive cars, except for acceleration. But the most important thing is to not make any sudden moves.
The weather should be decent tomorrow. We're driving to Madison for a funeral. In the evening, we're going to a "gala" in Milwaukee. On Sunday, I'm driving to Chicago to pick up some whisky. And probably gaming in the evening, who knows where. The forecast for Sunday says 41° and ice pellets. I'm not kidding.
I've never really had a problem with driving in the snow. But man, the other drivers were annoying last night. I've got a Mustang. You know, wide tires, rear-wheel drive? I'm zipping around with no problem, having to hit the brakes only because of the people in front of me. Someone was creeping up to a red light, at about five miles an hour, completely unconcerned that the people behind him might not be able to stop in time to avoid hitting him. So I got in the right turn lane, passed him, and hit my brakes at the last second, barely triggering the anti-lock brakes. And then, going out of town, I'm rolling along nicely at just under the speed limit, because I could see people ahead of me, when I realized they were going way slower. So I had to hit the brakes on a downhill because of those putzes. It wasn't a huge deal, because like I said, I had traction, but if I had traction, why were we going so slow? >:-/
Here's the secret to driving in slippery conditions - don't make any sudden moves. Accelerate slowly, decelerate slowly, turn smoothly. Put some extra weight in the car, including keeping the gas tank full. Snow tires help. Narrow tires help. By the way, rear-wheel drive cars handle just as well in the snow as front-wheel drive cars, except for acceleration. But the most important thing is to not make any sudden moves.
