At least you have power. I am thankful for 4G data and batteries.
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Seattlelite here. I have a pokey little front wheel drive compact (Fiat 500e). I got snow tires put on it before the storm because the roads aren’t well cleared, and have had no problem getting around. The scary thing is all the other drivers.
Yesterday we saw a guy on I-5 that was spun around because he was accelerating his RWD Chrysler 300 on ice. For whatever reason people seem to either be driving too fast, or seem to lay on the pedal when they get stuck instead of trying to get traction or rocking back and forth.
I didn’t exactly grow up driving in the snow (I’m originally from near Houston, Texas), but it’s amazing to me just how bad it is.
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Right now those sidewalks are iced all the way from Broadway to Stewart. Folks that are making their way down the hill are having to walk in the street because that’s the only thing that’s maintained. It’s ridiculous.
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Any sporting goods stores that carry crampons are probably making bank. Or ice skates.
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Ice is a hell of a way to discover that 4x4 is mostly a marketing thing, and switching to it doesn’t make ice magically less slippery.
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In Seattle there are probably a lot of people with studded wading boots for fishing. They are pretty great for waking on ice, too.
https://www.korkers.com/assets/images/products/list/OA7075%20Ice%20Claw%20Bar%20RT%20Tabless%20sm.jpg
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The roads around me are pretty good - the problem is I can’t get out of my damn parking lot because of all the snow surrounding my car and snow banks all over the place. I’ve lived here since 2003 and never been stuck for this long.
Earlier today I decided to get all the crap off my car and maybe go to the store but after clearing all the 12+ inches of snow of the roof and hood I saw how there was pretty much no way I was actually getting out of my parking spot so I said fuck it.
Oh and to those people that drive with massive piles of snow caked on their roofs, there’s a special place in hell for you.
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Right - my thinking is, the problem isn’t that these are front-wheel drive, it’s that they’re not all-wheel or four-wheel drive. Rear-wheel is, as you say, considerably worse in such conditions.
Also, I know it’s the official designation, but isn’t it a sad reflection on car (and engine) size inflation that those vehicles, most of which looked prefectly comfortable and roomy to my (European) eyes, are considered “compact”?
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That comic’s not even an exaggeration.
I used to live just off Queen Anne Avenue, the site of the annual “I have a 4-wheel drive vehicle so I can drive anywhere” festival of collisions.
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Yeah not sure why the back handed jab at front wheel drive. Way better than rear wheel drive in slick conditions.
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To be absolutely fair, I have seen New Englanders drive poorly in the snow, but 99% of the time it’s because they probably believed the TV commercials that showed their SUV speeding through piles of snow. I was caught in a pileup on 93 in NH when a snow squall hit, and most of the cars that skidded off the road were SUVs with MA plates headed back to Boston (probably after a weekend of skiing.)
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No doubt. To which the replies above stating “but the terrain there is so bad” then those people should be accustomed to it and know what the fuck they are doing.
I don’t have any god damn sympathy here for this. Learn to drive. Be cautious and smart. Which also starts with knowing when NOT to drive because nothing is going to prevent you from losing control in some conditions.
Empathy. I haz none.
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Yup. FWD has superior snow traction.
If you did roll backwards and hit them you’d find that both police and insurance would consider it their fault for being too close.
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I agree. But I was 20+ years younger, in a new city that has a confusing set of downtown roads. I think that I also managed to find my way onto a bus only street that day. No GPS back then for me.
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All-season radials are not snow tires.
If those cars have snow tires on them, they wouldn’t be sliding around like that.
Not to bring it up YET AGAIN.
The snow in the area isn’t just snow. There is a layer of ice under that white stuff. The only thing that will get you traction is chains or studded tires. If the mountain passes are actually open snow tires don’t get you through. You are actually checked for chains or studs and if you don’t have them you get to turn around and go back.
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Not to bring it up yet again as well (but since my last one was by-catch), the money fairy didn’t show up with the multi-hundreds of dollars so I could purchase something needed for two days out of the year and pay storage on it the rest of the time.
I love these folks who feel the need to poverty-shame when they don’t even live around here but think that they know everything. Bless their grubby little hearts.
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Out here near Montreal we’re contending with some snow too. It started around 4:00 pm yesterday afternoon and didn’t stop until about 2:00 pm this afternoon. Total accumulation of 40 centimeters or around 16 inches.
The province, wisely in my opinion, mandates snow tires in the winter. You can be fined for not complying. We’re pretty used to lots of snow but still…
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Unless you live up in the mountains where it stays around you are better off staying home for the few days we have this mess.
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