h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Obviously no Canadian drivers on this thread. All Canadians learn how to drive on ice. You don't ever just *slam on the brakes* if you see trouble coming up, you gently pump the brakes whilst gearing down, which allows for a lot more control and which also slows the car down *properly*.

My first winter in Bristol I witnessed drivers skidding helplessly all over the place after even the slightest dusting of snow (which they laughably called 'SNOWFALL'). No idea at all how to drive on slippery roads. Weird.


az

Here in Ireland, I've encountered slippery roads five or six times in my lifetime, so it's not that surprising that I may not know how to drive on them.

I hate driving in snow, because other drivers here drive insanely fast

Rain is easy tho..a bit of aqua planing doesn't bother me..

I get distracted driving when it's snowing at night, it's hard to concentrate looking thro those sworly pretty snow flakes dancing and shining prettily in front of your headlights...

If you see a batter rather tired honda in NY with a tennis squashed onto a broken stump on an ariel on the boot, don't follow it!

*battered*

errr...

'with a tennis *BALL*'

Sigh..!

Going back to bed!

Nighty night!

When I was still driving, there were times I left for work before the roads had been plowed and had to drive on snow deep enough to cover the tires completely. (When it got up to the windows, I quit trying).

Black ice is the worst, though, that really thin slippery stuff you can't see until it's too late...

Although truth be told, the first time we get snowfall in Chicago EVERY YEAR, people are out there driving like we've never had the stuff before, instead of getting several inches (if not a few feet!) every year.

Battered Honda? Hmm...there's an idea for Scottish Chip Shops...

<> (Gnomon)

Fair enough, and obviously it's different in Canada where you have to drive on snow and/or ice during several months out of the year. But since slippery conditions *can and do* happen everywhere, it seems like something that should at least be taught about at driving schools.


az

'course...modern ABS's do the same for you automatically. Although if you *do* still skid, they don't help you steer out of it by turning the wheel in the same direction as you're skidding.

But NO driving course is going to help you anticipate a lard slick!

NYC cop: I spent a year in North Chicago at the naval training base there. One of the things that struck me was that as you wound along the road just before you reached the base, at the last intersection, there was this center divider with a signpost in the middle... and about a dozen broken-off bits of signposts sticking up a few inches from the concrete.

Then winter came (in fecking October), all these idiots from Florida and Texas took to the roads, and it became perfectly clear.

<<'course...modern ABS's do the same for you automatically.>>

You'd be surprised at how easy it is to lock up the brakes on an ABS system. I know I was, the first few times I managed it. And anyway, the benefits of an ABS system are really not applicable to slick surfaces. ABS's purpose in life is to shorten your stopping distance in ordinary conditions. It kicks in when you've locked up your brakes but there is still a tremendous amount of torque on your wheels... that pressure triggers the brakes to release and then grab again in a pulsating manner. You're only going to have that torque on the wheels if you've got a lot of grip. Lock up the brakes on ice, and from the wheels' perspective it feels like you've come to a complete stop.

In the neighborhood where I live (Lake View area), they have these mediams running along the mainthroughway nearest my home, dividing westbound and eastbound traffic lanes. They have shrubs, flowers, etc, along them, and often small trees.

At least once a winter, someone loses control and winds up with their car stuck on top of the median, and traffic's gridlocked with rubberneckers until a flat bed truck can come and tow them down.

(NYC cop is my anagram, BTW- it's me, psychocandy )

>You'd be surprised at how easy it is to lock up the brakes on an ABS system.<

Yep, it was the cause for my one and only, but MAJOR, auto accident.

<>

Yeah, so it's like I said before. *Pump* the brakes on skiddy surfaces. Though I also know it's quite easy to panic in such situations.


az