Another snow day

A “winter event” blew through last night, dropping about six inches of powdery snow on northern Virginia.  The down side is the normal chaos as traffic grinds to a halt, and thousands of commuters try and decide if working from home is a viable alternative to sitting in traffic for hours on end.  Even with the heavy presence of VDOT’s snowplows and gritters there are still to many idiots on the road to make my 45 minute (on a good day) commute worth risking.

As is so often the case the conditions are the secondary danger, the real risk being the under-educated drivers on America’s roads.  The pickup truck and SUV drivers, feeling safe in their tonnes of steel, barralling along at highway speeds with smug “I’ve got 4wd” grins,  the “never seen snow before” folks new to the area who have never had to deal with the white stuff, and the “my journey is important as is this telephone call” drivers (usually in minivans or BMWs) who seem to feel that one hand and half a brain is sufficient for dealing with the conditions.  All three of the above are distracted, travelling at speed in conditions beyond their experience, and are not in a position to react when the inevitable emergency occurs.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy driving in snow.  I really enjoy driving in snow, just not with the above mentioned drivers packed around me.

So instead we took a stroll down to the creek before starting work from home, and it looked beautiful…

Pohick Creek in March snow

Driving on ice

Following on from yesterdays post “Snow day in VA” I recieved another tip from a good friend, and also realised I’d missed an obvious tip that especially applies when the roads are icey and the conditions freezing as they are today.  So here goes:

• Tip from Von – Clean off your car – If it snows where you live, clean your car of snow and ice BEFORE you drive 70 mph on the interstate. Your flying frozen debris puts other drivers at risk not just from the ice, but also each other as they swerve to avoid the shattering fragments.  Von did say that he will wreak interesting revenge on anybody he knows who doesn’t do this…
• Don’t brake on corners – This tip applies in all conditions, you should always try to brake in a straight line and only resort to breaking on corners if you absolutely have no other choice.  The reason is simple, most vehicles are setup so that the front brakes provide more of the stopping power than the back brakes so if you brake in a straight line and your brakes are working correctly the whole vehicle slows in a straight and controlled manner. However, if you brake on a bend the front of the car is slowing more than the back of the car, and if grip is lost for any reason (ice, gravel, snow, oil, rain, dust, limit of tyres performance, etc.) the car will “lose the tail” and spin out of control towards the outside of the bend.  This morning, with up to a quarter of an inch of ice on some roads, and slush covering most streets I was amazed to watch people braking mid-corner and then slamming on their brakes hard when the rear of their car began to slip away.  Two drivers had very lucky recoveries and it is safer to avoid this problem in the first place.

Snow Day in VA

It has been snowing for a few hours in northern Virginia.  This means that the traffic chaos is reaching exciting levels because nobody seems to know how to drive in light snow.  It took me almost 2 hours to complete a fifteen mile round trip to drop Laura at the metro station, and even on that short (and slow) journey we saw about a half a dozen crashes, and a couple of abandoned cars pulled over at the roadside.  I ask you, who pulls over to sit it out when there is less than an inch of snow on the ground?

Drivers seem to lose all common sense, and in sweeping general terms they fall into 3 catagories:

1. “I’ve got 4wd I drive an SUV” – These people believe that the weight and 4wd capabilities of their vehicles will allow them to drive at normal speeds in snow and ice.  They seem to be lacking the obvious knowledge that sure 4wd and weight may help you gain traction to get up to speed, but it also means you’re carrying more momentum and mass when you try and stop.  They’ll be the ones tailgating you, then sliding past you and spinning into intersections when they realise they can’t stop and lock up all the wheels.
2. “I need reassurance, I’ll drive at 5mph and phone a friend” – These people are in any type of car, but are normally found in mini-vans or huge SUVs.  They are nervous, and drive as if the road is sheet ice regardless of conditions.  They also were never taught that you need momentum to get up hills, and so will frequently be found sliding hopelessly on slopes when their luck runs out.  They also tend to slam on their brakes at random times, like when they see a spray of snow across their path.  This makes them even more likely to skid and slip off the road or out of their lane, especially as they can’t steer with one hand clutching a phone to their ear.
3. “My pick-up truck is unstoppable” – These people are usually men driving large pick-up trucks or work vans.  Their vehicles are massive, heavy, and unfortunately rear-wheel drive.  If they had a load in the back when the snow started they’ll be tailgating like morons but if they had an empty truck bed they’ll have discovered a bigger problem, the engine is over the unpowered front wheels, and the empty bed is over the drive wheels!  With this setup they spin and spray snow as they try and put power down, and woe betide you if you’re alongside them at a junction because they spin sideways just as easily as they don’t move forwards.

So here are my easy tips for safer driving in snow.  Please note these are just my personal beliefs and findings, if you’ve got other tips, or think I’m wrong, leave me a comment.

• Leave more space between you and the vehicles around you – This is common sense, if you need to take more time to brake and might skid, leave a bigger gap so you’ve got time to recover from any issues.
• Keep a consistent speed.  This one is tricky, you don’t want to go too fast or you’ll have problems stopping or steering and are more likely to skid.  However, you also don’t want to go too slowly, otherwise you’ll lose traction on inclines, and not have enough momentum to drive through/over ridges of snow.
• Don’t brake unless you need to – Use the engine as a brake when possible, and let the snow slow your car down, when you brake you risk skidding, just gently losing speed is much safer, and also means you’re less likely to accidently stomp the brake and cause a skid.
• Remember snow is softer than cars – if it does all go wrong, try and avoid solid objects.  Snow is a very effective brake, and in an emergency you can apply full lock in the direction away from a solid object and allow the snow to plough up against your wheels, this will stop you very effectively and guide you away from a crash.
• Practice – This one is the most important and the most fun.  Find a large empty space, car parks are ideal, and play in the snow.  The best way to learn what to do when your car slides is to slide it in a safe place.  Keep the speed low, but play with the pedals and different degrees of input at the wheel.  Every car handles slightly differently in the snow, and automatic gearboxes can be very frustrating as they engage the power somewhat unpredictably.  If you’ve got the time and the budget, take a professional training course, most race circuits have advanced driving schools, or skid-pan training courses available.

For more hints, check out Weather.com’s Driving Safety tips

As an aside, regardless of the weather I’m smiling because I’ve just read that Red Dwarf will be back for an Easter 2 part special!

Christmas Chart #5 – Driving Home for Christmas

Chris Rea writes some stunning driving tunes, and now that I get to spend around 2 hours a day sat in northern Virginian traffic I appreciate the tunes all the more.  So if you want to know what tune I’ve been listening to whilst on the homebound commute the last few days the answer is easy…

Driving home from Fairfax

While Laura was driving us home today I thought I’d try the video mode on my new phone.  It isn’t brilliant, but compared to missing a moment altogether it works pretty well.  The clip shows you how green and forested our little part of Virginia is.