| Slip Sliding Away |
The other day I had something dawn on me. Now I have noticed this but just never really thought about it. Living in a state like Michigan (and Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, ...) Most of the year the roads are clear. But then in the winter the snow comes. Now this is a challenge.
With snow or ice it is much more like you are in a boat. My limited experiences on a sailboat (sorry GoGo) taught me that you point in the general direction of where you are headed, you can not count on going straight there. Also, to a lesser extent, when you want to get going or stop it is not right now.
In driving on snow you have lots of slippage. You go generally where you want to go but not always exactly where you want. Case in point when you are rounding a corner. Starting can always be a challenge and stopping, well lets just say I love my ABS system that really helps on the slippery stuff.
What is interesting about all this is most people here in Michigan (and see above) take maybe one time on snow to learn all over what driving in snow is like. Then you take people from California, or Florida. Put 1 inch of snow on the ground and things are practically at a stand still. People run into each other like they meant to hit them. Then take Kentucky. They see snow every year, just not much. People do not do real well with the stuff but they manage. Well except for the time withing the last 5 to 10 years they got 18 inches of snow. Almost everything was shut down for 5 days. Of course lower peninsula Michigan would struggle with that too. We are used to seeing 3 inches, maybe more. We can do OK on 6 inches. Much above that and life gets exciting. Then there is our Upper Peninsula who routinely sees 6 inches of snow possibly daily. They would feel the 18 inches but the snow plow teams would have things cleared up quickly.
Anyway it was just something amusing I was thinking about over the last week.
Oh boy, only 2 more days of fun at work (yes it has been a bear since the new year started) and the weekend is here.
With snow or ice it is much more like you are in a boat. My limited experiences on a sailboat (sorry GoGo) taught me that you point in the general direction of where you are headed, you can not count on going straight there. Also, to a lesser extent, when you want to get going or stop it is not right now.
In driving on snow you have lots of slippage. You go generally where you want to go but not always exactly where you want. Case in point when you are rounding a corner. Starting can always be a challenge and stopping, well lets just say I love my ABS system that really helps on the slippery stuff.
What is interesting about all this is most people here in Michigan (and see above) take maybe one time on snow to learn all over what driving in snow is like. Then you take people from California, or Florida. Put 1 inch of snow on the ground and things are practically at a stand still. People run into each other like they meant to hit them. Then take Kentucky. They see snow every year, just not much. People do not do real well with the stuff but they manage. Well except for the time withing the last 5 to 10 years they got 18 inches of snow. Almost everything was shut down for 5 days. Of course lower peninsula Michigan would struggle with that too. We are used to seeing 3 inches, maybe more. We can do OK on 6 inches. Much above that and life gets exciting. Then there is our Upper Peninsula who routinely sees 6 inches of snow possibly daily. They would feel the 18 inches but the snow plow teams would have things cleared up quickly.
Anyway it was just something amusing I was thinking about over the last week.
Oh boy, only 2 more days of fun at work (yes it has been a bear since the new year started) and the weekend is here.
Posted by barman at 7:33 AM::
I think your analogy between sailing and snow driving is on target.
The other day freezing rain was in the forecast. While talking with my mother, she expressed concern that my sister would be driving in it and her car would slip and she would have an accident.
As I was reassuring my mother than freezing rain didn’t necessarily mean frozen roadways, I remembered something. When I was sixteen years old and shortly after I had earned my driver’s license, my mother telephoned me to come get her on the snow/ice covered roods because she her car had done and 180 and she was terrified to drive. I can’t remember my mother ever driving on ice or snow after that day.
I do not blame your Mom. A 180 or worse is very tramatic. I am not a huge fan of driving on the slippery stuff but I learned drive slower and leave lots of room and, with luck and a prayer or two... hopefully you will be OK.
all a matter of perspective isn't it?
Funny you should mention that Lime. That was exactly what I was thinking when I was composing the article. I would love to be in the group that did not know how to drive on snow because that would mean I was somewhere that it did not snow a lot. :)
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