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  • #1

    Snow woes

    So, we're currently in the middle of a snowpocolypse here in western North Carolina. Or at least, some people around here think so.

    Snow started falling around 1 this afternoon. Around 3:30, Evil Empryss and I tried to go to my bank to get some financials done for a house EE is buying. We didn't get there.

    We passed by several cars stuck in the snow. One car, a red Beetle, was surrounded by a bunch of guys with shovels. We passed on by. We got on Main St, and headed east towards the bank through town. There wasn't much traffic on the road, and it was going slower than normal. As we leave town we approach an underpass for the railroad. We see a guy just crawling as he heads down a slight hill, going about 5 MPH at best. The problem was, a lot of people were either following too close, or trying to pass in a no pass lane.

    By the time we got to the underpass, we can see a wreck ahead. A semi is trying to squeeze through and by, with several large emergency vehicles further up ahead.

    We were done. I turned the car around to go home. I had to trouble driving in this, but the idiocy of others was abundantly clear. One guy was trying to pass me as I made the turn. He then followed too close, and made moves like he wanted to try and pass me again. Another guy kept fish tailing; I passed him just to get away from him.

    There were 60 wrecks in my area in a few hours. The state urged everyone to get off the roads, and I haven't heard a car go by in my neighborhood all evening. I think folks got the message.

    Good thing.
    They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.
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  • #2
    About the same here in central North Carolina People are idiots.

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    • #3
      People are idiots sometimes. I made the same observation earlier in the week driving around here. It wasn't even that bad. Just some patchy ice and strong wind, but people get in a hurry. I've been asked in the past how people from "up north" manage (I still have ND tags on my car, even though I lived most of my life in Florida, so people assume that's where I'm from). It's easy. Just slow the heck down, morons!

      I'm glad you stayed safe and didn't fall victim to other people's bad driving.
      At the conclusion of an Irish wedding, the priest said "Everybody please hug the person who has made your life worth living. The bartender was nearly crushed to death.

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      • #4
        Good drivers from up north survive by understanding the physics of driving in snow and on ice - go slow, understand how your front or rear wheel drive vehicle steers in an emergency situation and don't panic. Stomping on the brakes will generally do more damage than foompfing into a snow bank at a low speed. I prefer a manual vehicle, as you can hit the clutch and remove the power from your drive wheels and deliberately downshift when needful to let engine braking deal with slowing things down.

        There is nothing quite like being out at 2 in the morning, on a couple inches of virgin snow with a gentle fall of flakes coming down and the almost silence of drifting along, it is like living in a snow globe.
        EVE Online: 99% of the time you sit around waiting for something to happen, but that 1% of action is what hooks people like crack, you don't get interviewed by the BBC for a WoW raid.

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        • #5
          Quoth Teefies2 View Post
          About the same here in central North Carolina People are idiots.
          Yep. Saw quite a bit of it when I got done with work just out in the parking lot.

          Our shopping center is located in a hole . . . there are two entrances to the place and both slope downhill toward the main parking lot area.

          Cars were getting stuck or sliding down both entrances. Even worse, I had just let my Bud driver out the back door around 2ish (snow started here around 12:30) and we already had close to a couple of inches then - he was stranded in his truck out in the far end of our parking lot. Still there when my ride showed up around 3:15 (he got stuck out toward Holden Road due to bad drivers for at least 30 minutes.)

          What is usually around a 15 minute drive home turned into more like 35 or so . . . even in an SUV with 4WD. Line of cars going from our shopping center in the northbound lane of Church Street all the way back to the intersection at Cone Blvd not going anywhere . . .

          And my neighborhood wasn't any better. Wendover Speedway has been plowed but my road (a secondary connector road) has not so far. I haven't seen any plows since Monday night when they started spraying brine solution on the roads in preparation. Already had 3 inches or so when I got home yesterday.

          Needless to say, I didn't make it to work this morning and sent a text to Gump around 6:10 to let him know. Have at least 6 inches (maybe closer to 8 since it snowed more this afternoon) in my yard and my brother has a lot of shoveling to do on the ramp and deck.

          Seen a few cars out on my road today but half of them were trying to drive normal speed . . . luckily nobody spun out. Did see one get stuck at the intersection and somebody was trying to help push it. A handful of walking traffic I saw today - even saw one on a bicycle just a short time ago trying to manage his way around the corner by staying in the grooves where the cars had been driving through earlier (guess he had to make a beer run down the road to the quickie mart on the corner.)

          Apparently those folks decided not to heed our governor's warning to "Not put your stupid hat on" - they wore the whole damn snowsuit!
          Human Resources - the adult version of "I'm telling Mom." - Agent Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo (NCIS)

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          • #6
            Ah, yes. Winter driving. How to survive? Go slow. Don't hit the brakes. Don't hit the gas. Don't let anyone intimidate you into going faster than you're comfortable with, lest they intimidate you into a ditch. Of course, not every driver up here gets that, either. DGoddess and Sapphire, I feel for you. I saw the photos of the gridlock around Raleigh, and people abandoning their cars. Craziness down there! Better safe than sorry!
            "And though she be but little, she is FIERCE!"--Shakespeare

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            • #7
              We got lucky in my part of North Carolina. There were no major accidents because of the snow... although ten people were injured sledding.
              Drive it like it's a county car.

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