December 08, 2009
Icy Roads
Here's a
timely warning from Cliff Mass.
We had lots of frost on Saturday morning and slippery roads and accidents were everywhere.
I almost spun out myself. One woman was killed. Never forget, roadway icing is the number
one weather killer in our area. More than floods, more than windstorms.
More on the subject
here.
Posted by Jim Miller at December 08, 2009
09:44 AM | Email This
1. Am i the only one that notices that normally sedate Seattle traffic seems to actually SPEED UP when there's a serious rainstorm or snow?
Its like all those SUV drivers want to prove to themselves that making that 4WD purchase was worth the extra money.
2. Yes, Johnny, and then they learn that a four-wheel skid is pretty impressive, even more so than a two-wheel skid. :)
3. My contact in Spokane reported 6 degrees F last night. brrrr! You thought it was cold here; it's crazy across the mountains!
4. Still riding my motorcycle to work, just keeping extra viglilant for those shiny spots on the road. Especially at intersections where drivers like to dump their coffee.
5. I've always noticed that johnny. On a dimly lit rainy day people blow by you at over 50mph on a street where the posted speed limit is 30. Four wheel drive will not save you in the snow and ice, but lots of people believe it makes them impervious. When I was a young college kid I had a 1950 Chevrolet. It was 2-wheel drive and I doubt that I had the greatest tires. I drove it everywhere in the snow.
6. I'm an old biker too, mike336. I rode my beloved old BMW to work in the rain and the cold. One morning that old bike and I did a lovely dance on a frozen road that appeared to be dry. We didn't go down but it scared the heck out of me. After that experience I didn't ride if we had a cold snap such as we are having now.
7. I have had a very crash free driving life. The worst accident I had was on a clear early Saturday morning when I decided I needed to go to the office and catch up on some work. I was driving the first new car we ever bought, a Toyota Celica. I was driving across the 520 floating bridge which was coated in frost. A car filled with asian immigrants blew past me and promptly lost control, spinning directly in front of me. As a result of attempting to avoid them I smacked my new car into the side of the bridge. I grabbed the driver of that car and managed to get his license and wrote down the license of his car. They ended up attempting to blame me for the accident. It took a couple years but my wonderful insurance company eventually nailed the idiots. The lesson I learned? Don't go out driving on icy roads.
8. Bill was your insurance co Pemco? Give them a plug. I had a similar experience with Pemco--they are great in my book.
15-20 years ago I used to commute every day across 520 by motorcycle, and there were usually only 3-4 days per year when it was too cold. Now it seems more like 2-3 weeks, if not more.
9. Last year, those without 4WD could not get out of my neighborhood, which is never plowed. I still slid quite a bit, but at least I could get to work. I'm not one of those who drives faster though, but I do go more than the 5 mph the guy in the Prius is doing.
10. Actually travis t we were insured by State Farm. They have always been wonderful. We don't have traffic accidents as a rule. We did have two incidents where our neighbors trees fell over during storms and destroyed one of our cars and crashed down on our roof.
State Farm was wonderful on both occasions and never raised our premiums. We've been with them for almost 30 years.
11. Is this the same Cliff Mass that is the global warming expert?
I want my global warming, and I want it now... Cliff.
12. A car filled with asian immigrants blew past me and promptly lost control, spinning directly in front of me.
13. Now, I think, is the time to spell it out for poeple who have all wheel drive cars or trucks.
The coefficient of friction (what keeps your tires stuck to the road) is the same for an AWD car as it is for a two wheel drive car. This means that your AWD drive car loses adhesion with the road at exactly the same time as a two wheel drive car. AWD does give you a coefficient of friction advantage when taking off from a stop and when climbing a hill because of the advantages of all wheels driving but if a two wheel drive car slides off the road at a corner because of a slick street or cannot stop at an intersection, you will most likely do the same at the same spot (assuming you are traveling at the the same, to high, speed).
So, if you are driving an AWD car, drive as carefully as you would in a car driving two wheels only. And if you have an four wheel drive truck, the hot tip is to drive in two wheel drive. In that way, if you do get stuck somewhere, all you need to do is put it into four wheel drive to get out. Get stuck in four wheel drive and all you got is stuck.
14. I heard Tiger was claiming he hit ice, no that's not right he lives in FL.
Oh I know since he hit a fire hydrant and a tree, he probably could not make up his mind, a wood or an iron?
15. I raced over here to SP to see what advice Jim Miller might have about icy roads. It was: drive safely... Thank you sir, you've saved my life!
16. Much like mike, I am still riding to work.
It's freaking brr, but the savings of $25/day in parking is well worth it, as is the HOV lane. 40 miles is long way to go in this weather, though.
17. We have a great little 1991 Toyota Corolla. We just repainted it. It's only got 70,000 miles on the odometer. We drove it over the mountains to Chelan a couple months age and it got 39 miles a gallon. I can't imagine why anyone would spend $20,000 for one of those silly 2-seat "smart cars" that the government says don't get the mileage our old Corolla gets. And we have four doors, a nice back seat, and a big trunk!
18. I drive a Dodge pickup with a V8 that will spin the tires on dry pavement any time. i like it because it will haul any heavy load I ask it to.
19. Cliff Mass will be reading and signing at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park on Thursday Dec. 17 at 7 pm.
http://thirdplacebooks.com/event/2009/12/17/day
20. Ok so I take it back. Today was the first day the weather forced me to not ride the FZR600 in. My faceshield iced up after 3 miles and I had to turn around and take the GTO to work.
21. Andrew Brown @ 20:
There you go! Nothing like a little CO2 emissions to make a guy's day. And it's good for the plants.