Road Rage 2- Snow & Ice

It snowed over the weekend here in Minnesota aka MinneSNOWta which makes the roads slippery and with that comes the drivers who look like they just got their driver’s license.  I don’t understand how someone that has lived here for more than 3 years, knows how the roads get and still can’t drive this weather.  The reason I’ll give people at least 3 years is because if you are not familiar with driving in snow or on ice, the first year could be a demolition derby or crash course or however you want to describe it.  The second year may not be as bad after they took their lumps and messed up about 3 cars that first year.  If they learned from their mistakes, they would drive a little more cautious but within the speed limit, try to stay off the roads that are the worst and know how to control a vehicle on ice.  By the third year if it snows they won’t have a problem driving anywhere.  I understand that you need to be cautious in snowy or icy weather but how cautious is too cautious.  If you are only driving 10 mile per hour or lower if that is possible, that’s being a little too cautious and you’re probably going to get stuck depending on how much snow is on the ground.  And on the flip side of that, if you driving over 60 miles per hour on ice, YOU NEED YOUR ASS BEAT!!!!  What makes people think they can speed on ice?  People can’t be in that much of a hurry knowing it’s very slippery.  Another thing that bothers me and other people this time of year is the accidents after an accident.  For those of you that don’t know what I’m talking about, these are the people that cause an accident while staring at another accident because they are not paying attention to driving their own vehicle.  These types of accidents can happen any season but seems like they happen more often in the winter.  If you are driving by yourself and you see an accident, all it takes is a quick glance then you keep it moving.  You don’t need to stare for 5 minutes.  Now you’re mad because you have ran up the back of the car in front of you and smashed the front of your car.  If you have another person in the car, have them give you the blow by blow of what’s going on?  And if you are the other person in the car and you see the driver staring a little too hard, smack them in the head and tell them to keep their eyes on the road.  And last if you are not a good driver in the snow or on ice, you might want stay away from going up or down big hills.  There’s nothing worse than seeing someone stuck trying to get to the top of a hill and not know what to do.  It’s even worse to see someone panic and slam on to their brakes coming down a hill.  I’m pretty sure that everyone who has driven in snow or on ice has had that problem but its how you deal with that problem.  One thing you don’t do is press all the way down on the gas pedal trying to get up a hill because if you hit a dry area, your car is either going to take off and possibly go through the air like an action movie or you take out a few parked cars.  Same can be said about going down an icy hill.  Don’t slam on the brakes.

I don’t want to sound mean when I say this but if you grew up or have lived here for a long time, there’s really no excuse why you can’t drive in the winter.  I understand that accidents do happen but how they happen can be questioned.  Basically, be careful when driving on ice or snow and keep your eyes on the road.  Follow me on Twitter @wlhoward_psa.  Until the next time and I know it’s getting cold outside if you live in Minnesota but stay cool……………………Mentally.