Friday OT: Winter Driving

[CYdTracked]

Didn't see that anyone posted a topic for today but 1 came to mind that I think will bring some interesting responses. The main theme I am looking for here are stories specifically involving you whether that is some accident you were a part of or one that you caused because of some bad winter driving or maybe you witnessed something crazy happen right in front of you that you either avoided or became part of.


My worst story was about 15 years or so ago probably. Was driving to work in a wet snow storm and taking the same streets I usually did at the time in a hilly Beaverdale neighborhood. Started to go down 1 street that in hindsight I should have just avoided and taken another route that day, at the time my car was an 07 Monte Carlo SS, had my wife in the car with me and was driving pretty slow and noticed a cop car and another vehicle at the bottom of the hill that had already slid off the road. Tried to stop at the top of the hill but my car started sliding down the hill so tried to steer it towards the curb hoping it would catch the curb and stop. Well not only did I find the curb it jumped the curb and hit a phone pole on the right front corner. Luckily the pole did not snap but it was cracked pretty good. Walked down the hill to the cop who said he watched it happen and was sorry for my car but glad I didn't continue down the hill and hit them. Not long after that watched another car come down the hill and spin around a couple times before the came to a stop so the cop drove to the of the hill to block off any more cars coming down it before we had any more accidents. My car wound up having a broken front axle and got a bill later from MidAmerican for the phone pole damage/replacement that I had to send over to the insurance company to cover too.

Don't really have any other crazy stories other than putting my car in the ditch a couple times in HS. One of those times I don't know why we did not let school out sooner but it was about a 13 mile drive home and 1 of the county roads I could not even tell where the road was at. An old guy driving a pickup truck was headed towards me and was not getting over to make room so I got over some which I found out I was actually in my lane and he was driving right down the middle of the road. My maneuver to avoid a head on accident sucked me right into the soft shoulder and into the ditch enough I could not drive out of it. The guy never even stopped and just kept on driving and luckily our neighbor came down the road just a couple minutes later. She asked us what happened and I just pointed down the road at the truck that you could still see and said "that guy happened, you can even see his tracks in the road here" where I could now see he definitely was driving right down the center of the road.

 

[baller21]

The worst snowstorm I’ve ever driven through was coming back from Niagara Falls to my folks house about an hour south of there. It just started dumping lake effect on us and it was a total whiteout for about an hour until we drove out of it. 10 mph on the interstate, wipers caked, white knuckles, but made it back in one piece. I think they ended up getting about 48” over several days in that storm.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

During my brief stint in Omaha in '95, there was an ice storm. I was on 144th street and lost traction going up a hill. I ended up sliding about 100 yards backwards and sideways. It was the most helpless feeling because there was nothing to stop it once I stared to backslide. Luckily, nobody else was out so I never hit anyone or anything.

I don't remember where I was going at the time, but once I finally came to a stop, I drove back to my apartment and had a drink instead.

 

[cycloner29]

Rode back from Harlan to Ames back in '85 after Thanksgiving. Harlan to Carroll was fine, but the next 70 miles was white out hell! I was in the passenger and going east on Hwy 30 with a blizzard winds of 30+ mph really messed you up. My job was to keep my eyes on the white line on the road. We got to the west edge of Ames in around 7 pm so it was dark. Well the wind and blowing snow had messed with our minds so much we pulled over and stopped as we had no idea what direction we were going. We were right by the exit going off Hwy 30 to Lincolnway in West Ames. We were able get our bearings straight and got on the exit. Once we got into West Ames is was like we were in a Hallmark Christmas movie. The trees blocked the wind and the snow as gently falling.

Once we got to our dorms we just kept telling ourselves how dumb we were for trying to get back. I really believe when people talk about being snow blind as it really is the most messed up feeling you can have.

 

[CYdTracked]

During my brief stint in Omaha in '95, there was an ice storm. I was on 144th street and lost traction going up a hill. I ended up sliding about 100 yards backwards and sideways. It was the most helpless feeling because there was nothing to stop it once I stared to backslide. Luckily, nobody else was out so I never hit anyone or anything.

I don't remember where I was going at the time, but once I finally came to a stop, I drove back to my apartment and had a drink instead.

Totally know how you feel about that helpless feeling when you start sliding. Had some near misses over the years that thankfully got stopped in time or was able to get out of the way. Exactly how I felt too with the story above. Glad I did not find out how it would have turned out had I slid to the bottom of the hill and into the cop car that was responding to another accident.

 

[FarmerCy1]

I was traveling for work years ago to a plant in West TN (fun fact this is how I found Murray State/ Murray, KY during the Prohm years) so I flew in and out of Nashville. Well, one trip a snow storm was scheduled to go through TN and the plant asked if I wanted to try to get to Nashville the night before. Well, stubborn me figured that the storm was supposed to be worse to the south part of TN, so if I go through Kentucky and drop down to Nashville, I’d be fine- I’ll just wake up early and drive the next morning. So I got up around 3 that morning, checked out of the hotel and was welcomed by a snow covered rental. I should have turned around and gone back into the hotel, but instead I start driving. I went from a 4 lane road, to 2, to following a snow plow, to following car tracks, to using the GPS on my phone as the only means of ensuring I was still on a road while going 15 miles an hour. I made it to Nashville 5 hours later, barely made the flight to Chicago, and the plane skidded down the runway the whole time. Come to find out, apparently they shut down the Nashville airport right before my plane took off, and the pilot either consciously or unconsciously chose to take off even though the airport was closed. Walking out of the plane, I heard the pilot saying to the first officer that he was told to call the tower, so I’m guessing he or someone from the airline got an earful about it. Not so much an accident story, but one where my older self looks back and wonders what my younger self was thinking when he decided driving through that storm was a good idea.

 

[CyCrazy]

Nothing personally but every snow storm people try to drive the hill of Hyland to get to campus. Its comical the amount of cars that cant make it.

 

[FallOf81]

Times have sure changed. Used to be everyone was equal with rear wheel drive and snow tires. Then 4WD came into play. Had to lock it in before use. Then front wheel drive. Then 4WD on the fly. And on and on. Speeds have picked up on questionable conditions due to people thinking they are safe in their SUV. Plus distracted driving due to cell phones. I miss the old days. Slower driving. People watched out for each other.

 

[Bipolarcy]

I've got a butt load of winter driving stories to tell, but I'll only bore you with three.

I was driving down a gravel road that was covered in ice and packed snow one winter, taking home a young lady who was so drunk, she was nearly passed out. I topped a small hill doing about 45 mph and came up on a T intersection just as this girl decided to throw herself on me. I had maybe a half second to react or we would be in the ditch, the intersection came upon us so quickly.

I spun the steering wheel to the right, making the car skid sideways through a triangular-shaped bank of snow left in the middle of the intersection by the snow plow. That slowed us down enough that the car slid through the snow bank and stayed on the road, pointing in the direction I wanted to go anyway.

I was definitely lucky, but I like to think the number of times I practiced driving as a teenager after a big snowfall by bombing around town in my old beater of a car, doing donuts, skidding around corners, etc., helped a lot.

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This next one was during that April blizzard in 1973. I was carpooling to work with a bunch of guys from my hometown who all worked at the same place 25 miles away. Our work never let us off until the storm was howling at it's peak and we had 25 miles to go in white-out conditions.

Just as we were getting close to home after about 4 hours on the road, we ran across a line of traffic stalled on the blacktop. They were all sitting in front of a drift that looked to be about 8 feet tall. One car was stuck in the middle of it already. Luckily, there was a guy on his tractor there, pulling people out, making some money.

We were about fifth or sixth in line. By the time it was our turn, our driver gunned it and made it through without the tractor. I guess we were heavy enough and the other cars had packed down the snow enough that we were able to do that. It took us 5 hours to go that 25 miles.

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The last one was the scariest one for me. I was with my mother, coming home from a cafe we owned in a town about 10 miles from where we lived. It was snowing hard, but the visibility looked fine when we went to our car.

That was in town. Once we got out in the country, however, we couldn't find the road. And then I got stuck in a snow drift. We hadn't made it very far and made the stupid decision to walk back to town. It was probably about a mile or less and like I said, the visibility was good initially, so we thought maybe 100 yards of walking would get us back into the good visibility.

Well, we were wrong. The wind snatched my breath away and I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. I was breathing in hiccups, and getting close to panicking because of it. We had been walking for a couple of minutes, when my coat sleeve snagged on something as I walked past it. I couldn't see this object at all. I told mom to stop and went back to see what it was. It turned out to be a mailbox, and I could see the vague outline of a lane between trees.

We decided to see if anyone was home. Thankfully, there was and the farmer who lived there put us in his vehicle and drove us back to town where we spent the night in an apartment above the cafe. I still don't know how the farmer was able to see the road.

The next day, I got a lift to our car stuck in the snow drift, only to find the car sitting in the middle of the road with no snow anywhere near it. The wind had blown the drift I got stuck in away after the car changed the aerodynamics. That's the only explanation I have.

 

[CYdTracked]

Nothing personally but every snow storm people try to drive the hill of Hyland to get to campus. Its comical the amount of cars that cant make it.

I know the hill and don't get why anyone would drive it in less than ideal conditions.

Reminds me of the gravel road I lived on growing up although it was a much longer hill. East of our farm you had to go down a big hill then up another steep big hill before you got to a paved county road. Basically you needed to get all the momentum you could get going down the hill to make it up the other hill going either way if it was snowing else you probably were going to get stuck going up the hill. You had to drive your car in dead center of the road and if someone else already had made tracks in the snow you line up with those so you weren't cutting a new path through the snow. Give it hell going downhill and pray no one was coming down the other hill then have the pedal to the floor going uphill and hope you make it to the top. If you tried to steer anywhere other than dead center you probably were going in the ditch before you made it across the creek bridge at the bottom of the hill.

This road also drifted bad in the winter. I remember 1 blizzard it drifted over so bad that the road grader could not even make it through the drift with a V plow on the front and they had to bring in some large snow blowers to clear the road. They still did not have the road clear when school opened back up and I remember mom calling the school and told them unless they sent a snowmobile to get us we were not going to make it in. Once they got the road cleared that the bus could pick us up it was pretty impressive to see that the drift was taller than the bus when it passed through.