How fast should we drive on ice?

[NNN0LHI]

The answer is no faster than you want to hit something.

That should do it.

Don

[kentauros]

1. At what point should you let go of the wheel,

throw up your hands in frustration and ask "Why am I bothering trying to steer this thing?!"

:P

[Dangerously Amused]

16. Damn you.

I am trapped in yet another freaking useless seminar, having driven in extreme blizzardulous conditions to get here, and your post just made me LOL.

I am so busted. :blush:

:rofl:

[kentauros]

22. And here I am a Texas southerner that's only driven on ice once

and that was in a parking lot just to see how little control you have in a slide :P

I was in a freaking useless weekly meeting this morning, but it's too small to bring a computer and play games or surf the boards ;)

Glad you got there safely though :)

[madinmaryland]

2. According to a lot of SUV drivers, 10 miles over the speed limit...

as they go flying off into the ditch!!!

[MissMillie]

3. yeah, they always learn the hard way

that when it comes to ice, 4-wheel drive means you just slide on all four of those wheels....

[kentauros]

4. So the proper terminology would be:

"4-Wheel Slide"

[MissMillie]

5. EXACTLY!

:hi:

[DS1]

6. hahahah

I once watched a family of screaming people zoom past me ( in the same direction ), in a Chevy suburban type thing, sideways.

And I laughed at them.

[MorningGlow]

7. It's minivans 'round these parts

I can't count how many times I've been driving and thought, "Uh oh. Roads are icing up..." and not two minutes later, the first vehicle I see off the road at a precarious angle is a goddamned minivan. I don't know who sold so many fools a bogus bill of goods that minivans are the safest things on the road, so drivers think they can go hell-bent for leather on ice. They are the WORST.

[tigereye]

29. I've seen that too - I tell my husband to slow down, and he does and then

we see an SUV that's spun out and blown it's tires.


Why don't people get that you CAN"T drive on ice. It don't work....

[TZ]

13. So true.

IIRC, that might be the accident I drove by last year...

[madinmaryland]

24. Half an inch of snow here, and people become total morans.

Amazing how many of them end up in the ditch.

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. If you're a smug Type-A city jackass* with a four wheel drive, faster than on dry pavement.

And the more snow falling, the icier the roads, or the more slippery the conditions, the faster that one has to go.

Because I'm not a small-dicked low-self-esteem coward, so I prove that by driving like an asshole, and besides, it's FOUR FUCKING WHEEL DRIVE - it's IMPOSSIBLE to slide, get stuck, or have an accident. Because it's FOUR FUCKING WHEEL DRIVE!!!!!

* This also applies to the smug Type-A city jackass' wife, the big-haired Jesus Crispy soccer mom.

[mnhtnbb]

9. It's never slow enough when you start spinning. I went all the way around one time

when I hit black ice--and I was probably driving about 10 mph on a 25 mph city street. Didn't turn over, didn't jump the curb, just took my breath away. Wheeeeee!!!!

[Blue Diadem]

11. had that happen once on the expressway

The guy next to me began to slide my way and stupid me hit my brakes on an overpass! I was the 33rd accident that morning in that stretch of highway. One big sheet of black ice.

It was scarier than heck sitting there facing the wrong way up against the guard rail/median while semi's and other cars hit the same black ice and slid right at me.

I never enjoyed spinning.

[mnhtnbb]

12. AGGGHHH!. At least there were no other cars on the road coming at me!

[Blue Diadem]

14. I closed my eyes a lot and said

"OH SH#T" but every car and truck missed me, some just barely. Luckily in my spin I didn't connect with any vehicles.

I'll always be thankful to the good samaritan who stopped his car in the middle of the e-way, got out a red snow shovel and stood in the middle of the road waving it to stop traffic so I could turn around and make it to the cop sitting at the bottom of the hill.

DH and I were in the midst of a 200 car mess a couple years after that. We didn't hit anyone or spin around and we were able to pull off the side of the expressway and watch it all happen while praying no one would slide into us. Cars were bouncing off each other and spinning like crazy. Drivers had no idea who had hit them or who they had hit. It was one of the craziest things I'd ever seen.

[tigereye]

31. glad you were ok! I worry when I hit a tiny icy patch in the city!

(when the city salts some roads, but not the main ones with all the icy wind blowing up em - yes I'm talking about you, Squirrel HIill!!)

[LeftinOH]

10. White out; icy road; poor visibility: Don't bother to turn on your headlights,

go ahead and drive exactly the speed limit (or higher!), feel free to pass vehicles that are moving 'too slow'; and -by all means- stay right on the bumper of the car in front of you, even at high speeds.

Every winter there is at least one person I know who dies in a winter-weather related vehicle crash -because they (or someone else) isn't making adjustments for winter driving.

[TZ]

15. yeah, I really don't get the refusal to turn on headlights in bad weather

I was driving back from Jersey in the fog and rain and saw several cars that didn't have their lights on...:wtf:

[NNN0LHI]

18. I still can't figure out why the lights don't come on any time the car is running?

Thats the way it is in Canada.

Don

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

21. The lights in my Saab come on automatically when I turn the car on

I like it.

[kentauros]

17. As we don't have the problem of ice here (Houston)

what we do have that is similar to some of the conditions is fog so thick you have to be a total ass to drive even at the speed limit. Of course, we have enough ass-totality here to contribute to those 100-car pile-ups you sometimes hear about on country roads and yet I wonder why they don't happen here. I guess Houston drivers are more "charmed" than the rest. No limit on how hight their SQ goes, though (Stupidity Quotient.) If there's liquid stupidity falling out of the sky it means to brake, and brake hard with the other idiot on your tail and then drive 20+mph below the speed limit.

[flvegan]

19. Steer into the skid, and then heavy on the power out of it.

:P

[kentauros]

30. Sure! If it's the Mach 5!

:P

[Inchworm]

20. Unless you are going uphill a spell

Then you "keep your speed up" and hope you don't slow down :D

:hi:

[jobycom]

23. Dummy. No one can drive on ice. Freezers aren't that big!

[TheMightyFavog]

25. keep driving it like you stole it! What else?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMEazByhTCg

But only on the lake or a closed course.

On the road, slow the frack down!

[Dangerously Amused]

26. Fast enough to keep your adrenaline percolating.

It's a good good rush and a fun way to keep your reflexes finely honed.





/jk

[Oeditpus Rex]

27. As fast as your vehicle will go

The faster tires rotate, the hotter they get. The hotter they get, the more ice they melt, thus making your journey safer.



Isn't this a no-brainer? :shrug:

[kentauros]

34. Sure!

So long as it's a drag strip :P

[tigereye]

28. are you referring to that video from Portland that was making the rounds

last week?

:scared:


I would say, not at all.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

32. Slowly enough that you can roll to a stop if necessary

You also need skid steering skills.

[KamaAina]

33. If you're gonna smoke ice, for Pete's sake, ride the damn bus

"ice" being the local cognomen for crystal meth. :P