Winter Driving Stories

Nah! They still think I'm reckless!


You learning, and the practice is something I always preach. I think you'll be just fine.

And when I speak of ice, I'm talking the just below freezing smooth as glass crap you can't hardly walk on. What you're talking about up in Montana is good for normal running speed.

 

Ever tried it in NY or ON where they actually have people on the roads? Curious what your following distance would have been in Cleon, and your speed and how long it would have taken you to stop form that speed?

 

I'm sure there is one idiot that thinks he's got super skills out there.

He was headed east on HWY 401 about 4 winters go. The 4 lane was covered in black ice of course. I had ~10,000 on the deck with a 11 ft tall load so I was basically a sail. I looked in my left mirror and saw him coming and either he didn't notice the road had turned to ice or he thought his skills were such that physics didn't apply to him. Anyway, he passes me and I slow down to let him get way ahead of me because I know I can't stop. When he gets ~1/8th of a mile ahead of me all of a sudden I can read the name on the left side of his trailer. He eventually "saves" it when his trailer tandems hit the the RH shoulder. Lucky for him there wasn't another super skilled idiot on his right or Darwin's Law would have been in effect and (happy day) we would have got two with one shot.

I'm sure he thinks he is a super winter driver but the reality is he was saved by the other drivers on the road that day because they had sense enough to stay away from the #######.

The best driver is the driver that never has to save anything.

 

This last winter I was in...

• Alabama
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Florida
• Georgia
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York(yes NYC)
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas(drove through a couple of the snow storms on back roads)
• Utah
• Virginia
• Washington
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming

Then in Canada...
BC,AB and SK

Hopefully that answers your question...

In Cleon once i got east of Billings (you shoulda seen em packed like sardines in the Town pump crying to dispatch LOL) is when it got really bad. As far as following distance and stopping distance goes I saw one vehicle in total going both directions every 1/2 hour or so at most...

My speed in Cleon. Well i drove for 10 1/2 hours and made about 460 miles so you can do the math on that one lol.

I'm not sure what that story has to do with me. 2/2 of my unexpected jack knife recovery's occurred in MT and Wy with no other vehicles behind or in front of me for over a 1/4 mile and no vehicles were in sight either direction for the incident in MT.

I don't see how someone would wreck east of Wisconsin in the winter unless someone forced them to. You guys pour more salt on the road than McDonald's french fries...

However, That story of yours is a great reason to follow the rule passed on down to me and proven by millions of accident free winter miles. When it gets nasty i get lonely ASAP. I run alone in the thick no matter what which normally isn't real difficult because most everyone is Diving for the nearest Exit to get off the road if they aren't already off. I'll speed up or slow down to get lonely, but i will never run in a pack in the thick no matter what.

The only exception to that rule and issue i have getting lonely is sometimes people will play what i like to call "mother duck" in which as many as 20-25 vehicles will get in line behind me and won't pass me no matter how slow i go until weather conditions improve. They are wanting me to guide them through the storm. Their is little i can do about that, but I will never run with a pack in sight in front of me.

 

I'm still trying to decide if you're a troll or a fool. If you're for real then you quite frankly scare the #### out of me. Your attitude and misguided beliefs are going to kill someone one of these days if you're not lucky.

Ice=no traction. Period. And last I checked loose powder on top is the LAST thing to make ice passable.

When you stop seeing vehicles on an otherwise well traveled road thats an excellent sign that either the roads closed or it should be and you need to park ASAP.

Unless I misread ranks post that story had nothing to do with you. Get over yourself, driver. You're not god's gift to TTR.

 

I'm sorry I cannot continue a conversation with you if you are so inexperienced in winter driving conditions that you think Ice=no Traction.

I run 60mph down tight 2 lane back roads in MT on solid ice when it's -40* and i don't miss a beat. I ran 600 straight miles on solid ice. How the #### am i doing that with no traction. Are you ######## me??????

How do you drive for 7 years and stay this ignorant. You sir have blown my mind. Well done.

 

"There's a fine line between sanity and insanity.

I just can't remember when I crossed it,

or which direction I was going."

- Unknown scribe

 

"I've always been crazy but it's kept me from going insane"
-Waylon Jennings

 

I figured as much. Nobody can drive like you say you drive where I drive. In the middle of nowhere you have the road to yourself. Where I drive, there is always someone going to mess you up.

It has to do with you because you cannot drive like that in traffic. If you do, and you don't wreck, it's because the other drivers were looking out for you and you ain't the hero you think. Less credit to yourself and more credit to the people around you. Anybody can drive all alone.

That's what I was trying to explain to you earlier. It' like playing black ice roulette. All is fine until you come across a spot that didn't get salt. Then you are 65 mph on ice surrounded by traffic. That rarely ends well.

 

Darwin died .... He was regulated out of existence