Snow driving in Seattle

I thought that video was longer. Thanks for posting the original. So that's Portland then. It does not look very steep after the guy went outside. Sure can tell, man, these people where on the most part clueless. Keep your foot off the brakes and steer. The BMW made it, it could not have been that bad. I've seen worse for sure. 1000 times more slippery. Shows what you are up against though. Your truck could be that one safely parked on the side of the street. With these clowns it would not really help.

Rule number one though if you going to slide down a hill like this you can put it in reverse and give it some gas to help slow it down. If it's sliding the wheels are not turning so you can shift into reverse. It will not hurt anything. If you had a bit of weight in the back of a Tacoma and decent winter tires the second video you could probably drive on that no problem in 4 wheel drive. It's the stopping that is the problem though. You just have to watch you don't get going too fast.

 

the guy in the beginning looked like he was romping on it what a dunce!!!

Another tip to stop on ice like that is to put your automatic in neutral...
the reason is 75% of the brake force is the front tires so when pressing on the brakes lightly so you dont slide the rear tires continue to push you... you can feel a huge difference when in neutral

 

Crazy stuff. I agree most of that is just terrible conditions and not driver error. Not much you can do when it's so slick you start sliding from a stop. I don't mind driving in the snow at all, even before I had 4wd. I learned to drive in the snow, so I'm used to it. Not hilly like that around here and mostly just get dumped on with snow and not ice too often. Only close calls I've ever had were of other people almost hitting me. You get a lot of people who think that just because they have 4wd or AWD that they can just fly around.

 

But if you keep your foot off the brake you can still steer for the most part. Most of those crashes could have been avoided. That one had a block to miss those four cars. That's like hang your head in shame cause you still piled into them.

 

Well I was talking about the original video. There was a lot of fail in the second.

Once there's several inches of snow down it's fine around here. If the roads are just ice that's bad news then. Especially when you see that what looks to be an Acura MDX not even move with AWD. I've gotten up steep hills that were just snow covered fine when I had cars that weren't even 4wd. Not much steering or control in general if it's a sheet of ice. Obviously people need to learn to exercise some common sense and not just keep the brakes locked up when they're sliding haha.

 

holy fuck! i just drove on i5. its like a fucking river up here its dumping so hard. i swear it was like crossing a creek. i could barely make it two miles before i was just like fuck this

 

Ive always spent snowy dayspulling people out of ditches and feilds, once it snows here in NC hell breaks loose.

i got in a wreck when it snowed last year though, going down the highway some idiot passed me going 60, she hit black ice, freaked out and punched the gas, spun around towards me tire got traction and rocketed the car towards me....needless to say after Allstate said the tacos IFS and body damage was only worth 1k i did my SAS

did i mention the driver was only 15!!!!!

 

Yes did not help much there did it. Man it can sure get slick. Around here what happens is, actually probably everywhere, people get going way to fast for the road in 4 wheel drive and then pile up. Or the other much simpler trick is going down really long steep hills and taking there foot off the gas in 4 wheel drive and then ending up in the ditch. Sometimes is just too slippery to take your foot of the gas suddenly and with 4 wheel drive you can't tell how slippery it is till it's too late. The engine slowing down the truck suddenly is enough to start a skid sometimes.

That is one of the more common accidents around here in the winter.

 

I have to say that the hills in the video are really slick and driver skill doesn't make that much of a difference. But believe me, driver skill does make a difference when driving in the snow and some icy spots. Yeah ice can be tricky, but knowing how to use your car and finding spots on the road where you can get some traction and not freaking out is definitely a skill that most people in seattle do NOT have. Even the skill of knowing not to drive down the hill would helpful for the people in the videos! And that first car in the pinball video is fucking hilarious. I'm in the library and people looked at me weird for busting out laughing...

 

you ought to see all the people from socal that come up to big bear who have never seen snow in theire lives. this past snow storm people were stopping in the street and getting out because it was snowing. i mean adults whove never seen, much less drivin in it stopping and playing in the street because it was snowing... then for 3 days after the storm was done people were still cruising around in chains with no snow on the road...

 

Don't get me started about chains, even after the snow was gone on the freeways in seattle people still had chains on. Clearly they didn't read the box the chains come in saying you can't go more than 35 mph with them on, or that you shouldn't run them on bare pavement... Some people...

 

HAHAHA just cruisin around acting normal in the sunny cal weather with some chains doing 55.

Here in Boise we dont get that much snow, it all goes to the mountains which get a TONNNN of snow. But when it does snow/turn to ice in the city all of the people who moved up here from california dont have a clue what to do! So the first snow of the year they are driving like its normal and 70 degrees. Which is not good.


Pic related: Its the first snow of the year about a week ago I missed the snow
that all turned to ice a day later when the temperature hit 9

This year im going to buy some snow chains and take my 2wd taco up to the local ski resort 30 minutes up in the foothills. In 16 miles the road goes from 2500 ft in Boise to 6200 ft at the ski hill. There are a few steep hills but thoes are all mostly below the heavy snow line. I should be totaly fine with chains. It will be an interesting first try.

 

Yeah seattle typically doesn't get a ton of snow either. I need to buy some chains though cause they say this is going to be a bad weather this year. You should get some sand too, always good to have a little extra weight in the back...

 

Ha ha that looks like winter here in NE. Pretty normal winter... Glad you guys can see what we deal with 3 months out of the year. Drive safe.
BTW Funny to see what happen to that Acura traction system oh wait it does not work on the ice

 

That's horrible advice. If you're on ice and giving it gas in any gear you'll only end up with less traction, especially when it's near freezing. If you're going around a corner and hit the gas, what happens? You fish tail or slide. If you take the same corner and not power or brake through it you have more traction to complete the turn. It's the same principle driving down a hill on ice. If you want the most traction gear down and lay off the brakes and gas. Slow down before your turn or hill and take it slow. On those kinds of hills you want to be in first gear going down it and touching the brakes lightly only when needed. The first gear will keep you from speeding up down the hill.

On a side note, the west side of Washington has some of the most moronic drivers I've ever seen. 90% of these people drive around on summer tires in the winter and drive way too fast for conditions. Tailgating seems to be popular as well. I once saw a guy put 4 chains on his 4x4 F350 on the Snoqualmie pass when traction tires were advised and it was barely snowing.

 

No that is good advice and it's actually taught some places up here. If you try it on a corner then your a retard so don't even go there. On slippery hills it can get you to a stop. I've done it. It's really a method of last resort. If you are sliding down a hill you got nothing to loose by trying it. At least you still have steering. I'm not talking flooring it, just gently on the gas. Your not going to speed up. Of course if your really stupid try it in four wheel drive to see how fast you can hit the ditch. It only works in rear wheel drive situations. Doing it in front wheel drive is not going to work. If your coming down a steep hill sliding toward a busy intersection to a red light. Really you have nothing to loose if it's rear wheel drive. Could save you from a crack up. Front wheel drive it's better to use the emergency brake like a normal brake. At least you have steering still.

As for that comment back there that even if you took your foot of the brakes chances are that one person would not be able to avoid that four car pile up at the bottom of the hill.

I'd have to disagree. If you look at the person before that had there foot on the gas giving it they did have a bit of steering till they slammed into that building. In the block distance even on that slick ice I bet you could sill move over one lane. You have no steering when your wheels are not tuning though. You have to take your foot off the brakes. Also the BMW had steering. You can't panic you have to take your damn foot of the brake and drive.

 

or you could just salt the roads and wait. or use some effin cables.

 

photo phail. haha sorry

 

lol cant just copy directly out of the tw live thread apparently

 

This method is actually very effective. But I agree is probably horrible as "advice", because people already don't know the basics of driving in snow. So for most people this is a bad idea, but for those that actually know what they're doing, it's great.