Ice Ice Baby!

Well we had our first coating of ice this morning and the morons here are proving their worth. Accidents everywhere. I've been in TN since I was 4 (from NY originally and turn 40 this year so longgg time) and the drivers around here never cease to amaze me. We have wrecks on our highway every time we get a good rainstorm so it was no surprise how many wrecks I saw this morning. When the weather says light rain changing to snow with temps dropping all day......duh....I bet there will be a lot of black ice....I want to give driver training courses for locals. When there is ice....dont brake on a hill....dont brake in a corner...oh and slow the eff down....sheesh. I didn't slip once on the way in, had the Taco in 4W High on back roads before i hit the highway. slow and steady! Last year before I had my 4wd truck we got 6 inches of snow in a few hours and I was driving my wifes 08 Mazda 3...I ended up using her car as a snow plow bufore I got home but I made it...why....because I know how to be slow and steady and keep moving. Im shocked by people around here, daily....Okay rant off lol.

 

It's not just your area. Here every time we have a fresh snow (some years we don't have any snow) it's like everybody is relearning.

So around Memphis people turn on their flashers during rain (even if they maintain the speed limit). It's the only part if the country I've lived that I've seen this and it drives me nuts following a car/ truck 50 miles at night with the fucking flashers going. Oh and it's 25 to 50% of the vehicles not just an isolated event. Where does that shit come from?

 

Beats the hell out of me. Ive lived in DC, Jacksonville, Tampa and home here in small town USA. These people around here make me shake my head constantly.

 

About to go through this tonight too. Clueless people + most densely populated state in the nation = I plan to stay off the roads, already had my 1st vehicle totaled due to a guy in a AWD exploder that thought he could do 55mph in a snowstorm and lost it. Hit me head on. I was 17 had my license for 5 months and he was in his 30's, yet he was the clueless one

 

Age matters not, its about common sense. Period. Inclement weather in any form = slow down and be more observant of everything around you.

 

This seems to be a popular thread name.
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/307799-ice-ice-baby.html

 

Yea.. 2nd Gen section rant again...

 

The flasher thing is actually years old. While I don't like it, since you have no idea if they are on the side of the road, or having car trouble on the highway, I do understand the principal behind it. You will see a car with flashers long before you see a car with just running lights on when driving in bad weather. Today's cars with brighter lights are more noticeable, but years back, when the running lights were not really very bright, you could come up on someone before you know it, even when traveling at slower speeds.

Like I said, I can understand the PRINCIPAL behind the idea, but I'm not a fan of it myself. Every time I get a new vehicle and see the first bit of bad weather, I take it to an empty parking lot and learn how it reacts to bad traction. Have done this since I was a kid first learning to drive.

 

Very smart! I do the same thing. With all the granny electronics on my Taco though she stays put like she should!

 

flashers are on for the rear tail lights so approaching vehicles can see you and you don't have to hit your brakes as stated above. my pet peeve is slower traffic move right it is the law. does not mean i am going the speed limit in the left lane, move your ass over i don't drive the speed limit.

 

Actually there is more to it than that in most all states. It is not simply "slower traffic move right", but that the left lane is NOT a driving lane, but a passing lane. So even if you are driving fast, you are SUPPOSED to use the left lane to pass, then get back over into the right lane. You are not supposed to drive in the left lane at all.

 

I see that flasher thing very rarely and thing WTF, that's a terrible idea. Flashers are for stopped vehicles, not moving.

 

Even up here I can count on 1 or 2 cars to be in the ditch at some point during my commute after some snow. The worst is the retard doing 10 under on a completely dry road (snow plowed up on the sides) blocking the fast lane. I see it way too often.

 

Same thing in Iowa. People forget last years winter. Tons of cars in the ditches with the first heavy snow fall. Slow and steady and braking 5X early is the only way to go. I had a Toyota Tercel and would take it out in heavy snow storms. You could feel the snow on the the floor boards as you were driving but never got it stuck. Good tires are a must. I lived next to Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids and they had a huge parking lot, at night I would do doughnuts and slides. Good Times but I still do not miss the cold. I think NPR said 10 people died in the midwest from the cold temps recently. Just sharing

 

I could even go for the flashers if they are moving below the normal speed but, that's not even the case. It's like the flashers are wired to the wipers and even if their cruising at 75 or 80 and passing there still on. Oh, and if the driver happens to be in a hurry...I guess the flashers are also attached to a switch mounted to the floor board under the throttle.

 

Notice the flasher epidemic for the 1st time yesterday AFTER the big snow storm was over up here...it wasn't snowing, it wasn't raining sun was out snow was on the road flashers were everywhere...wtf

 

It got up to 45 today and we're expected snow again Sunday night so the fun will begin again.

 

Counted 6 vehicles in the ditch on my way to work this morning. Most of us know how to deal with the snow and ice here, but then there are the ones who just never learn. You see them blow past you going 115km/h, I always say see ya in the ditch ahead!

 

Yeah however I have to say thinking back to myself in my early 20s in my FWD lowered Nissan NX2000...as soon as the roads were clear enough...I was out...and driving like an idiot. Its amazing how age bring some sense to you like...wait if I hit something my baby get wrecked, tow bill, rental car, insurance hike, and a vehicle that may never drive the same. Did anyone think about that when they were young?? nope. Heck I went banging off snow embankments laughing because the front bumper on that Nissan was rubberized plastic.

 

In S. Calif, they close i5 over the grapevine if they get 2" snow. I think the reason is the number of wrecks they will have to deal with from drivers not paying attention to conditions. It always amazes me though how fast they shut down the main N-S highway in the state with a light dusting of snow.