A new storm hit this afternoon, bringing with it high winds, and around 5 tonight snow down to 1500 feet. I live in the mountains but work lower, so I have to drive up into it all the time. The idiots going up to Tahoe or skiing need to go home or get off the road when these conditions hit at sundown. Passed a ten car string of crashes of people going [b]DOWN HILL[/b] because they don't know enough to slow down on curves. This is on a 2 lane mountain highway. Passed two more fools in their fancy Lexus/Mercedes type SUVs who were sliding back and forth sideways trying to go [b]UP HILL[/b] because they think since it says M&S on their tires they are non stoppable.

Some advice (other learned people feel free to chime in)

Just because you have a 4x4 doesn't make you impervious to snow and ice.

Regardless how many trick electronic vehicle dynamic control devices your vehicle is built with, it still comes down to not going to fast for road conditions.

Just because your tires say MUD & SNOW on the side, if they don't have deep lugs, you will get stuck and or lose traction in deep snow.

When driving in a blinding snow, at night, in high winds, if you can't see the friggin road you are going [b]TOO FAST[/b]. I don't give a damn how stable your vehicle feels.

On snow or ice you have approximately 1/100 the traction as you do on completely dry pavement. That means it [i]could[/i] take you 100 times the distance to stop. If you can read the license plate of the vehicle in front of you while driving on snowy/icy roads, [b]YOU ARE TOO CLOSE[/b]!

If you do not drive in this stuff every day, and do not absolutely have to be somewhere, [b]STAY HOME[/b] till the road conditions improve. Or at least until day light.

One thing you can do to improve traction when you are in the snow - drop your tire pressures, 10 psi or so. The 35 psi you run on dry pavement is too much. Take a lesson from people who drive in sand and mud, which has similar traction characteristics.

Just got a call from a guy asking me to pull his Chevy from a mud hole. IDIOT. Do I get the girl you were trying to impress IF I give ya a pull?

I get to drive around with these yahoos all day everyday.

Well, they're Californians.  Cut them some slack.

But the same thing happens here in Anchorage each year with the first snowfall. There's just no excuse for it (didn't happen so bad this year because the winter conditions didnt really begin until December this year).

Same thing: people driving too fast in their 4x4's thinking they're invincible, tearing past you honking their horn, then you see them 3 miles up the road in the ditch.  Stupid.

Pthfndr: I agree with you. I don't drive in ice & snow of No. Calif., but from what I can hear and see from those folks here in So. Calif venturing up to No. Calif, these folks are too anxious trying to hurrying-up to get Tahoe for a bit of skiing. BUT they may arrive a bit late if they take a detour to the hospital, or never arrive at all.  I guess the old saw of "its better to arrive a bit late than not is at all," has a lot of meaning that is lost on a lot of people.

The same idiots go through the tule fog in visibility about 1/3 their stopping distance and then ride your 6 if they haven't already plowed into you.

I see these idiots too.  I live in CT - where it is a common weather pattern to get snow.  Seeing these idiots, you would think it was the first time they have seen snow.

A message to the people who don't get it...

You have approx 1/10th the grip on snow and ice that you would have on dry pavement.

4WD/AWD may help you start, but it doesn't help you slow or steer.

Yes, snow/ice tires are important, they are the only thing that touches the ground.

Please go to the grocery store to stock up before it snows, it'll be less crowded when the snow is on the ground when I shop.

-934, I like the snow:

[img]http://www.rallyusa.com/fridaypictures/DSCF0546.jpg[/img]

A few years ago I went to my parents house in Big Bear, Ca. I drove down from Ventura, so I went through the desert up hwy 18.
I had been snowing all day, and it was about 6 pm when I got to the bottom of the hill.
There was about 6 inches of snow on the road and it had frozen ice under it. The chain sign was not up though.
I was in a 2 wheel drive Ford Ranger, and I was doing fine till I got stuck behind some morons who were driving too SLOW! Most people don't realize that to go up-hill you need momentum!
Dumb-asses didn't know how to drive in the snow, how to control slides, how to slow down. It was either stop in a curve and get stuck or slide in a curve over the embankment.
I even passed a CHP (after he waved me on by).
The best part was when after I had stopped for gas and a cup of coffee I had some ass pull into the same gas lane as I did and start giving me shit for "driving unsafe".
I asked him why he said that, he said that I has "scared him" when I passed his 4 WHEEL DRIVE truck up, the one that was STUCK IN A SNOWBANK!
I blew him off and was getting into my car when the CHP came up. That jackass went to the CHP and complained! He looked at my truck and commented "The green Ranger? I let him pass me us as I was driving too slow since I was looking for your truck".
The guy looked like someone had dropped a turd in his bithday cake.
The CHP told me that as of 10 minutes ago chains were required, so I needed to get to my parents house.

The worst part about all of the "Kalifornians" who can't drive in the snow? They are all transplants from the midwest and mideast who left to get away from the snow. You would think that they of all people whould know how to drive in the snow!

I can attest that winter driving truely sucks and people REALLY need to slow down, I have pulled many rural people out of the ditch or given rides simply becouse they were not driving according to conditions. And yes I have walked knee deep in snow to a farmers house to ask for a pull before, older and wiser now I guess.

I had my turn playing in the snow tonight. I drive an '89 Jeep Cherokee with open differential, so I don't handle as well on the snow as I'd like. BUT I know how to drive carefully and safely, so I get home in one piece.

Almost home tonight when I noticed a car in an odd position. Pulled over and pulled the little Celica out of the ditch and put the chains on for the owner.

She was pretty hot, but didn't know a damn thing about driving in the snow. I got her on her way with the help of another local that showed up with one of those uber-cool bazillion candlepower flashlights and went home. We enjoyed a laugh at her expense.

PS, everything said above about driving on snow is true. When it's icy, even my Jeep can have trouble getting up hills.

You should see it around here when it snows.

[rolleyes]

 I drove thru Atlanta in the middle of a freezing rain/ice storm once. What a friggin mess that was. Now those are some non-driving bastages. [BD]

well hell waldo the fools down here don't get snow even once a year regular. so when it snows/ices they treat it like its dry. Mucho accidents. i was coming around a set of s-curves near where i live, i usually blaze through them at 60 in my firebird(well.. it was mine, totalled now, was cut off by a leftturn idiot) when it iced i went around them at 15 and still felt it slip a bit, not much i just got off the gas and she got traction back.but as i rounded the first corner what do i see? (no not a eight tiny reindeer!) a little honda accord off in the ditch, i had to drive another 50 feet up the road and pull into a little driveway type spot that crossed the ditch, went can got the driver out of her car, she was shaking like a leaf on a tree, lent her my cell she called her parents who were there in about 15 mins, would have been 5 if it was dry, so they knew to be slower.. they were thankful i stopped to check on her. she turned out to be just fine, just shaken.


and of course what happens just after the wrecker towes her car out and off? another yahoo comes slamming into the spot she was in. because this road was lightly travelled no one else came by when i was there. had i not stopped and helped her she may have been in even more trouble..

she and her parents had'nt left yet, see saw that car hit where she was. walked over gave me a hug and said "Thank you, you might have just saved my life" she was a pretty lady. we became friends, shes 21 but anti, trying to convert her ;)

like you saw waldo.. these people are idiots. I don't know much about snow driving, i do know the key... slow the hell down.

I thought (at least it used to be) that chains were required in CA for mountain driving in the snow.

Snow is Gods way of telling me I don't belong there.

Sgtar15

The problem is, it doesn't matter if [i]we[/i] know how to drive safely yet swift on ice and snow, if there are thousands of other drivers out there who don't.

It's always fun around here when it snows.  Nobody slows down for the conditions.  Just because you know how to drive in the snow doesn't mean anybody else does, and they aren't shy about smashing your rear bumper to demonstrate their lack of skillz.

When I first started driving, I had a couple situations with slick roads from black ice - nothing like doing a 180 when you least suspect it. So far, I haven't had an problems this winter - but then again I've matured enough to go 15 mph if necessary - better to be an hour late getting somewhere then on the side of the road with your vehicle in a ditch.

Some of the roads in Kalifornication have the electronic sighns that say if you need "traction devices" or "4 wheel drive"
Some have the old flip-over road signs, some are not marked at all.
Hwy 18 has the flip-over signs, but it is kept pretty well cleared by CALTRANS.
Like I said, when I hit the bottom of the hill the signs were not up for "chains required" nor was the 1400 AM road info station saying that chains were required. They were advised, not required.
I did have a set of chains in the crosstop bed box. And I keep a small wheel jack and a piece of plywood to install my chains. No laying down in the snow for me!