Seat Safety Switch posted:

Last year I was driving to work in my Miata (which had a bum thermostat and therefore no heat) and came across a man who had crashed his brand-new Pathfinder into the ditch. The look of pure inarticulate rage on his face when he realized his eight ton elephantitis 4x4 was incapable of doing something my tiny gay car was happily doing with its friendly frog face is something I will always treasure.

subx posted:

I doubt it was the vehicle that was incapable of doing what your Miata was doing.

8ender posted:

With RWD trucks and SUVs they seem to stay stable on the slippery stuff a little longer because of their weight versus a RWD car. That weight really works against them though when they move past that point and start sliding.

I find a lot of people aren't prepared for just how difficult it is to bring a giant SUV back into line when that point is reached because they rarely experience it.

Seat Safety Switch posted:

tiny gay car with its friendly frog face

8ender posted:

With RWD trucks and SUVs they seem to stay stable on the slippery stuff a little longer because of their weight versus a RWD car. That weight really works against them though when they move past that point and start sliding.

Geirskogul posted:

I was bad, however, with preparing anything except for the base driving. Ask me about how I kept refilling the windshield washer fluid with plain water and having it freeze multiple times mid-trip!

Haifisch posted:

(For reference, this was late at night so there was nobody else around. Which just makes it even more confusing that he had to pull into my lane instead of taking the empty lane, or just waiting 10 goddamned seconds for me to go by.)

xzzy posted:

I wouldn't be surprised if they were fully aware you were there and were "trying to teach you a lesson" for driving so fast.

People get really loving weird when it's slippery out. Dry roads? They'll go 25 over the speed limit and tailgate two feet off your license plate with no issues. But as soon as there's some snowflakes they're unable to tolerate any traffic near them.

Haifisch posted:

I was going 35-ish in a 40. Which was perfectly fine for just going forward, and I'd slow down for curves & turning(the snow was mostly cleared, but you'd still slip a bit if you weren't going in a straight line). I guess I should have been crawling along at 20 since there was snow on the ground .

xzzy posted:

I lost count a long time ago how many bro trucks and pseudo Jeeps I've pissed off for blazing past them in a FWD hatchback. Soon as my A pillar passes theirs you can hear them drop the hammer.

Solkanar512 posted:

And seriously, what in the gently caress is up with this? I see it all the time in clear/slightly rainy weather here as well. It's some shithead in a truck or SUV going slow in the left lane. I get going to pass them and they suddenly start pacing me and preventing me from passing. Then they slow down again.

ratbert90 posted:

Here in Boise passing on the right is apparently the only way to pass somebody. I generally go 5 over on the freeway, and stay in the 2nd to far right lane (the far right is exit only), and people will keep passing me on the right, even though the left lanes are free of anybody.

El Jebus posted:

Since it doesn't snow here (Palm Springs, CA), that isn't usually a problem. Our issue is 3 Cadillacs, one in each lane, all going 10-15 mph lower than the speed limit. No one can pass, they can't hear you honk or see your brights, and you can see miles of clear road ahead of them. Then the moment you find a gap, another old person pulls out right in front of you and never accelerates so you get stuck behind the original 3 cars again.

Geirskogul posted:

I used to drive from Lewiston, ID to Boise about three to four times every winter with a 1988 Oldsmobile Delta 88. FWD, no TC, no ABS, no SBC car. Often the two-lane highway would be either six inches deep in snow, or an icy sheet. It's amazing what you can do with a careful throttle pedal, FWD, a heavy engine (3800, the best V6) and patience.

I was bad, however, with preparing anything except for the base driving. Ask me about how I kept refilling the windshield washer fluid with plain water and having it freeze multiple times mid-trip!

Pham Nuwen posted:

A few years back I went from Bozeman, Montana up and over into Spokane in the middle of a blizzard, driving a 2001 Hyundai Accent with all-season tires and no chains (I was massively unprepared). I wasn't going 70 but like you said, a careful throttle and patience will really do wonders; I wasn't even that much later than planned, despite having to drive a couple hundred miles on unplowed roads.

Haifisch posted:

I've resigned myself to the usual winter driving terribleness. People who think that any snow on the ground means they can't go faster than 20

Galler posted:

I was very cautious going through all the little towns on the way, however, because all the intersections had turn to ice or slush.

Galler posted:

This was basically my commute on Friday. People saw snow and slowed way the gently caress down which I suppose is better than the alternative of going balls out regardless of weather but in this case it was completely unnecessary. The snow was very dry and powdery and the roads were completely clear and cold before it started snowing. The plows were out in force but just movement of air caused by the traffic was enough to blow the snow off the roads and what did stay on the road didn't affect traction at all. Ended up with a bunch of convoys in the completely clear and dry right lane doing 20+ under the limit and I passed all of them going the limit+5 in the snowy left lane because, again, it just looked like it was covered in snow but in reality just had a dusting of powder that amounted to nothing.

xzzy posted:

I lost count a long time ago how many bro trucks and pseudo Jeeps I've pissed off for blazing past them in a FWD hatchback. Soon as my A pillar passes theirs you can hear them drop the hammer.

Penguissimo posted:

If it makes you feel any better, Ohio drivers (at least in the southeast) seem to not even know there IS a left lane. I can't tell you how many times I would be tailgated by someone in the center lane for three miles before I finally said "gently caress it" and moved over to the right, at which point they would finally gun it and pass me.

Meanwhile, the left lane had been empty the entire time. This happened constantly when I lived in that drat state.

xzzy posted:

Could have gotten you a chat with a cop if you were caught, law mandates putting chains on your drive wheels for the two passes between Missoula and Spokane if the warning signs are lit up.

nsaP posted:

Same thing happens at this on ramp if you're unlucky enough to be behind a van or large vehicle. They take that turn about 20mph, traffic goes 60-70 usually, and you have all of 100 feet to merge. That ramp scared me more than once but I did get to rev out 2nd in my lovely econocar.

Crotch Fruit posted:

It's the third blizzard of the season for Wichita, and the first to not come on Sunday. The second blizzard really sucked since the roads were icy on the Monday after and I had the joy of going to work, came ridiculously close to an accident too. I remember it quite well, I was in the far left straight lane and there was a left turn lane, I was approaching a red light and had slowed down to about 15 or 20 mph when suddenly the rear end in a top hat who was second in the left turn lane decided they really needed to go straight and started pulling into my lane. Hitting the brakes yielded nothing but a slide, I knew my speed was slow enough I didn't really care about the potential damage, the only thing that went through my mind was the fact that I was off duty and I already heard a couple coworkers radio in with far more serious accidents, if it hit this car I was going to be sitting there doing nothing for hours waiting for safety to show up. My slide ended we me inches away from both their car and the truck in the next lane over.

Today, I took my wife to work. There has been a couple inches of snow that started at about 3am. For the most part the roads were not slick, my brakes responded well whenever I tried to use them, I drove about 5 to 10mph below the speed limit (30 in a 40mph zone) which was most of the other traffic was doing. Got cut off by a bro-truck who was weaving in and out between me and the other three or four cars on the road. Next I watched a bro-burban for about four red lights, judging by the directional V and low tread depth I'm certain he had summer tires in the rear, and maybe all season in front. He would pull up in left lane, I was in the right lane, every green light I would hear him hammer down and hear the sound of tries screeching, I would just slowly accelerate away and get about halfway down the block before the SUV would come barreling past me and we would meet again at the next red light. The pièce de résistance of the morning was a BMW 525i, I was going down an almost empty 4 lane 40mph road, this one is lower traffic and was more slick, I felt safe doing about 35 on this road (which was probably too fast). The rear end in a top hat in the BMW flew past me at probably 50 or more, cut me off and slammed on their brakes to attempt to make a right turn, only they ended up doing a 180. The BMW ended it's slide sideways blocking a residential intersection, I pulled the seat cushion out my rear end and kept on driving.

rscott posted:

This makes me very glad I took today off!

nsaP posted:

davebo posted:

Hey we have one of these in Rockville, MD, except on ours your vision is completely obscured by trees while on the ramp, so once you clear the trees I guess you better just floor it and hope there's a break!