Simple post storm driving skills...

Yep, most of the crashes I see in bad weather are the SUV's and 4WDs!
The "I have 4WD and can go anywhere at any speed mentality".

Folks, its that time of year....winter....when Mother Nature decides to humble most of us. Already quite the storms here in the Rockies, and looking at the radar this morning, a HUGE system coming in off the West Coast. You folks are probably already seeing a lot of rain and snow. By the time it gets here with our elevation, gonna be a LOT of snow in the high country.

Take your time out there, stay alert and alive. Take the time to be courteous and pay it forward.

 

There are 2 kinds of drivers.
Idiots and morons.
Idiots are going faster than me and morons are going slower. George Carlin.
Seattle isn't known for their great drivers.
Wet roads covered in leaves and oil that hasn't washed off is worse than snow and ice.
Almost without fail the vehicles that are in the ditch are 4x4s.

 

That's funny you say that 4x4's are the ones in the ditch.


I prefer to be in the ditch in any one of my Jeeps because it is safer there than on the road itself with all the other idiots who can't seem to figure out how to negotiate the roads. If I have problems driving through the ditches, I can always put on my tire-chains or pull out the winch-cable. Ya, I am always trying to be prepared! :2thumb:

 

There you go. You are prepared for the worst.
You obviously do not drive a mall crawler.
The ones I laugh at are the ones on TV with their 4x4 in the ditch saying I don't know what happened.
There was a snow storm in Seattle so the TV cameras went out to the bottom of a big snow and ice covered hill.
First one down was a new Jeep.
She slid all the way down and crashed into a pole at the bottom.
Next down was an old Cherokee. Same thing except he slammed into the first jeep.
Next down was a CJ. Yep same thing.
Funniest thing on TV.

 

Be careful being too smug! Accidents happen, even to the best drivers.

Despite the highway department's efforts to keep the roads in safe driving conditions (and they do a pretty good job here), they can't be everywhere at once.

Backlash, when the TV camera people were out there filming that "entertainment" of people wrecking their cars and perhaps sustaining bodily injury, was it aimed toward providing laughter at "idiot" drivers, or at the highway department for not taking care of known hazards such as that hill? Or both?

The reminder to be cautious as we approach winter and potentially bad driving conditioned is a good reminder,

 

I admit it: I am the Moron.

I am terrified of driving in the snow. (I am not real happy driving in the rain either.) During the snow at the beginning of the year, my 17-20 minute drive from work, took me about an hour:gaah:! Me and my front wheel drive mini-van needed to stay home that day!

 

I am going to take a minor offense to this statement as I do work for DOT.
Mother Nature can take our best efforts and make it seem like we never even got out of bed. With the declining state budgets, levels of service are declining as well. Can only do so much with the resources we are given. I work on a section of I-70 in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains that is very narrow, winding, with 47 bridges in less than 13 miles, with a speed limit of 50mph. Average speed of drivers is 70. Many cars have been clocked at over 90! During the winter, even the 50 mph limit is still way too fast a lot of the time, yet drivers are too impatient or just too stupid to change thier driving habits according to conditions. And basically that is what it comes down to, driving for the conditions. We as DOT are NOT responsible for the decisions motorist make behind the wheel, we can only attempt to mitigate the bad conditions.
I spent 31 years in Alaska, and several of those years driving long haul for the company that is featured in Ice Road Truckers. Most of my driving was between Anchorage and Seattle (5220 miles round trip, every week), so I do have the time, miles and experience to back up what I say. And my personal ride was a Jeep Cherokee too. Only once in all that time, truck or Jeep did I ever go in the ditch (jeep). Not anyone's fault but MINE.
Ultimately and ALWAYS the responsibility of the loose nut behind the wheel to adjust attitude and habits for whatever conditions exist at the time and they change constantly.

Rant over.

 

In most areas where it snows the roads are kept in amasingly good condition. Anyone who would argue this has probably never maintained a snow/ ice covered road in winter. If the road authorities and law inforcement gave everyone who drove off off a snowy or icy road a stiff fine instead of coddling them there would be far less ditch time, spent plenty of hours in the seat of a plow /sander truck seen plenty of people do stupid stupid things , but the stupidest was what ever road authority decided to pay for damages to peoples vechicle from their either overdriving the conditions or sand damage to their vechicle during unfit conditions (if a plow or sander is out there must be a reason (Affirmation of preceding rant)

 

I've been in that same seat for 12 years. No matter what the conditions, there is always a few fools on the road. :gaah: Every year I see several SUV's that think they can go anywhere and do anything because they have 4 wheel drive. Where are they? In the ditch or even on their roof.

 

That hill is very steep and there really isn't any way to clear it.
It was just one of those things where the camera was in the right place at the right time.
Most people are smart enough to keep off that hill but there is always some fool.
Nobody was injured that day they were interview and said the same thing.
Gee I thought I would be OK in my Jeep.
I'm not trying to bad mouth Jeep drivers.
I drove one for several years.

 

Don't wanna offend anyone, but IMHO here are two basic truths to driving:

Rule number 1. SUVs are not safer than cars in almost all driving situations. Just because it has 4 wheel drive and has more mass doesn't necessarily mean it's safer. The standard arguement for SUVs is, "I want to drive something with some weight in case some fool comes across the line and hits me."

In a perfect world where a perfect zero angle headon crash occurs, yes. The additional mass allows you to plow into your victim further, thereby slowing your rate of decceleration relative to, say, a VW Beetle, and reducing the amount of collision intrusion into the cabin. Yup. The VW dude is screwed.

But this is not a perfect world. The chances are far greater that anything other than a perfect zero angle headon crash will result in an extremely violent rollover because SUVs are notoriously top heavy. Even a blowout or an emergency swerve far too often results in catastrophic rollovers.

The other danger with SUVs relative to cars is -- no trunk. In a violent accident, cans, jars and various assorted junk in the cabin become deadly missiles. How do you feel about you and your kids being whacked repeated in the head with those number ten cans flying at 50 miles per hour? That's like someone beating your kids with a sledge hammer. With a car, that stuff should be stowed in the trunk when possible. Don't wanna bother? As the saying goes, "The coroner doesn't care".

Are there lots of good reasons to drive an SUV? IMHO, sure. But if ya don't have a logical, valid reason, you are risking you and your family's life for glitz or faulty logic.

Rule number 2. 4 wheel drive helps ya go, but it doesn't help ya emergency stop. Yes, my truck is 4 wheel drive, but I always try to remember rule number 1 (pickup trucks are top heavy too) and rule number 2.

 

S'pose I'll throw my 2 cents in.

I have some experience in this matter, and I just don't think it quite holds true. Sure, there's a chance, but that goes for anything else on the road. I've seen way more low-slung cars on the roof in the median than trucks or SUV's. Doesn't really matter what the weather is.
I have noticed quite a few full sized vans pulling small-ish box trailers laid over for no apparent reason, though. Always a plain white paint job...

 

Once you start sliding on the ice, it doesn't matter what you're driving.

Sometimes what you do with the steering wheel can make a difference. Sometimes even that doesn't help. But I've always heard to never hit the brakes if you go into a slide. It's an awful and helpless feeling to sit there hoping turning the wheel gently in the direction of the slide, taking your foot off the gas and not braking, really will help.

 

My friend never uses 4-wheel drive on his truck. His motto is what are you going to do if you are using 4 wheel drive and get stuck. You are screwed.

 

I use my transfer-case lever when I need to use it. I do not drive my Jeep with it pulled in the wintertime because I know it is not safe to do so. My Jeep is locked-up on both ends which means that if I was to drive on "dry-ish" roads, I could bind-up my transfer case and cause it to explode.

So, you could say that I drive my Jeep like a rear-wheel-drive with the knowledge that I have that safety-factor built in that I can control when it engages.

Oh ya - about the idiots on the road driving beyond conditions - I know all about that as well. One of my bestest friends drive plow/sander in the city. She has told me about idiots passing her when she has the blade-down and then spinning out right in front of her - many times into the ditch or into a power-pole, sign, etc. No matter how many times it is said on the radio or TV ---- Stay way back of a plow. They will clear the roadway for you, pull off to the side and let those who are impatient pass and then continue to plow the roads ... right past those who were impatient :gaah: