WOW!

My kid lives in Baker. He Bellyaches about the weather all winter.

 

I can't stop laughing! You made my day driver. Too funny!

 

They said wow last year too.

 

same picture from a couple of years ago.

 

It's like that movie Twelve Monkeys, he almost had it, but now it just resets at that point.

Wait, isn't that John Cougar? Hmm, where are we going with this, oh yeah, an American Fool...

 

Stupid driving is LIKELY the cause...but sometimes merely driving can be enough. You can be fine at 55mph and then a quarter mile later hit conditions that would leave you fishtailing at 20mph. So do we bring it down to a steady 15 mph anytime it's below freezing, or get off the road altogether ? I don't know any other way to absolutely guarantee safety in winter driving.

 

Come live in Alaska, you can have all the practice you need for six months of the year.

 

We talkin bout practice ? LoL....no thanks.....I get enough in Virginia on I 81. Top 3 wealthiest state in the union but too cheap to salt the roads.

 

In order to initiate a fishtail (or jackknife) you need to be applying too much power to the drives. I keep constantly alert for patches of ice when the ambient temperature gauge drops below 36°F and stay at or below 50% boost (about 1/2 available horsepower) at all times whenever ice COULD be an issue. Doesn't matter if I'm currently on bone dry pavement now, I stay below 50% boost because rounding a curve I might get into ice or there can be ice I don't see.

If you are giving it more throttle than that, even if you are steady on the throttle, your tires can break loose if you hit ice.

An analogy would be if you are running full speed in leather soled street shoes, and continue running across an ice rink. If you continue to run trying to push off hard with each stride you'll be "spinning your wheels" and get out of balance and likely fall (fishtail). However, if you adjust your style of running to not push off so hard with each stride (ease off the throttle) you can "coast" across the ice easily and in balance.

Everything should be nice and easy if ice COULD be a factor. That's why I made the statement that ice itself isn't the cause of accidents, it's bad driving that causes accidents in icy conditions.