It snowed last night. I have the truck today and I have to run errands. Not fun. Poor planning on my part. I should have done most of this yesterday when the ground was clear.
I grew up in Central California. This means I can drive to the moon and back in fog so thick you can barely see your hand in front of your face. What it does not mean is that I’ve had experience driving in snow. I got a little when we first moved here, which was nerve-wracking. I asked my husband for driving-in-snow advice back then. Mind you, this is a man who spent his entire life in Mississippi, so he could drive to the moon and back in a terrible thunderstorm, but he had no experience driving in snow prior to our moving. His response? “Don’t crash.”
Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind. It’s like the advice people give when they tell you to “fly safely”. NOT HELPFUL.
In my years on the internet, I have known a few people from the New England area. Every year, they never failed to give me horror stories to firmly cement my fear of driving in the snow. Massachusetts sounds like a place where bad drivers go to congregate and crash into each other. At least back in Corinth, Mississippi, people drove slowly through town. Even if it was sunny, one wrong turn and you could end up in a three foot-wide drainage ditch. That said, my New England friends did impart a little bit of advice, most of which I remember as “slow down” and “don’t be an idiot”. The “don’t be an idiot” thing falls under the “don’t crash” category.
Yes, I’ve encountered black ice. No, I haven’t had to do any hilly winter driving – thank God we live on the valley floor which is as flat as a drunk girl’s singing at a karaoke bar. The black ice was enough to give me the heebie jeebies. While I still appreciate and adore the fact that it snows here, I am very nervous about venturing out in it. Even if everything goes fine on my part, what about the moron who doesn’t slow down and take precautions? Living in LA for 13 years, I can tell you that it only takes one douchebag to screw up an entire freeway.
I looked on the internet for advice. Slow the HELL down, they said. Put space between your car and the one in front of you. Turn into your skid, they said. Brake, go through your corner, then accelerate. A lot of it was very technical and I had hoped for a video to see an example of how this was done. Seems like it’s more of an “experience it for yourself” kind of thing. Fun.
I did find a video on a British website, strangely enough. Even though it wasn’t what I was looking for, I still found it interesting. Perhaps you will too. I think once a person’s driven in snow a few times, he can really get a strong appreciation for what winter rally car drivers do. Check out the speed on these guys. I was told once that sometimes they don’t even brake in snow rallies – they just skid their way ’round the corners. Yikes.
