My last vestage of compasion is gone

[Michael]

We're having a "weather event" here in North Tx and some places are just a tad slick.

A few people in these conditions just don't seem to take the safety of others into consideration while driving, willing to risk the well being of others to further their own agenda, ie, getting to crash site first.

What finally did it for me was the grocery store parking lot in my little town.
A woman is trying to navigate on foot from her car to the store entrance, via the designated pedestrian crossing zone. It's pure ice, no clear area, no attempt by the store to clear any area for driving or walking, so she is doing the best she can with what she has to work with.

Enter bubba the 4 wheel drive asshole.

He sees this lady in the crosswalk, and proceeds to turn into the walk, sliding, while she is trying to get out of the way. She barely makes it to safety and the asshole is glaring at her as though he's gawd almighty as she's impeded his time schedule. I saw that she had at least 1 inch of clearance between her derierre and his bumper.

Glad I don't have to testify to vehicular homicide but I also know if she had put a few rounds through the windshield of that assholes truck I would not have seen or heard anything.

I have reached my life dose of human stupidity tonight. I have no idea how you LEO's deal with it on a daily basis.

 

[Jerrrrstanley]

I drive a marked car so everyone drives great around me!! When I did have a covert car I lobed nothing more than to hammer people like him. That one is bad enough I would have had a few words with him off duty just so we would be on the same sheet of music so to speak. After a few years you come to expect the worst out of people and you can predict stupid before it happens hahaha.

 

[Centuriator]

I always enjoy seeing the Bubbas and their big four wheel drive trucks spun out of control and in the ditches when we get snow and ice. The idiots think that four wheel drive means they are impervious to sliding.

 

[BoilerUP]

My last vestage of compasion is gone

I always enjoy seeing the Bubbas and their big four wheel drive trucks spun out of control and in the ditches when we get snow and ice. The idiots think that four wheel drive means they are impervious to sliding.

Most folks that have a 4WD "for bad weather" don't have the slightest clue how to actually drive the damn thing within, let alone to, its capabilities.

 

[Centuriator]

Precisely!

The Redneck's last words come into play here:

"Hey everybody, watch this."

 

[Maggot]

Precisely!

The Redneck's last words come into play here:

"Hey everybody, watch this."

Actually, its:

"Hold my beer and watch this."

 

[SniperCJ]

Ya, I'm about over this 'weather event'. It seems to either be the big-truck-Bubbas or the women in the SUV's. Hey lady! Its a box on a car chassis! Just because it says 'sport' doesn't mean it drives great on ice.

I worked Friday and on the way home my guys were working yet another spin out into-the wall on the highway. About a mile north I passes a woman that had JUST crashed into the wall in her SUV. The idiot was standing outside her car on the side opposite traffic so no one could see her on her cell phone. Fatality waiting to happen.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

We have a saying up here, that goes something like this:

"As the temperature drops, so do the I.Q. points."

Up here, winter driving is a way of life. Sure, there's your idiots out there, and your "invincibles", but not nearly as many as y'all are making it out to be down there. Winter tires have fantastic traction compared to "all season mediocrity", but they have ZERO traction SIDEWAYS. And anything that is "4 wheel drive" is only useful "to get yourself out of something", not help you "get into something". If you drive like that, you'll only "get into it" further. And costlier.

Good luck, stay safe, remember when "chains" were common.

 

[Maggot]

We have a saying up here, that goes something like this:

"As the temperature drops, so do the I.Q. points."

Up here, winter driving is a way of life. Sure, there's your idiots out there, and your "invincibles", but not nearly as many as y'all are making it out to be down there. Winter tires have fantastic traction compared to "all season mediocrity", but they have ZERO traction SIDEWAYS. And anything that is "4 wheel drive" is only useful "to get yourself out of something", not help you "get into something". If you drive like that, you'll only "get into it" further. And costlier.

Good luck, stay safe, remember when "chains" were common.

Yep, its all in how you learned...if you did. I used to drive all winter in just a set of all weather tires, seldom had any problems. Just move slow and don't do anything in a hurry. You can usually spot the idiots far off and avoid them.

 

[Bob7608]

you should see all the 4WD trucks on their sides in the ditch here in Wise Co.

 

[paramarine]

Let a Chicago boy give you guys advice: 4WDs don't do much for you on ice.

 

[Centuriator]

Precise, 4WDs do NOTHING for you on ice.

The key is to .... S L O W D O W N ... and take your time.

Allow for large braking distances, etc. etc.

 

[paramarine]

Precise, 4WDs do NOTHING for you on ice.

The key is to .... S L O W D O W N ... and take your time.

Allow for large braking distances, etc. etc.

This.
And learn how to turn INTO a spin.

 

[High Binder]

What finally did it for me was the grocery store parking lot in my little town.

Idiots drive all kinda of cars not just 4x4s:

 

[coach4christ]

^^^^^^ so true

 

[FN in MT]

I drive a marked car so everyone drives great around me!! When I did have a covert car I lobed nothing more than to hammer people like him. That one is bad enough I would have had a few words with him off duty just so we would be on the same sheet of music so to speak. After a few years you come to expect the worst out of people and you can predict stupid before it happens hahaha.

VERY true! I did thirty two years on the job. Main reason I retired at 57 yoa , three years early, was I could no longer tolerate STUPID PEOPLE, the irresponsible, the drunk/drugged or DRUNK drivers. I was an "incident" waiting to happen. Ilost my temper more in my last year than I had in the previous thirty. Time to leave.

I used to wonder how many of the idiots were able to find their way home each day...they seemed that clueless.

 

[my human host]

I'll take a 4wd for driving on ice before anything else. Still not an excuse to drive like a dumbass, tho.

 

[E. Bryant]

Idiots drive all kinda of cars not just 4x4s

Exactly.

I'm not going to pay any attention to the words of someone who lives in a city with an annual snowfall average of 17.5". When that person can claim that they are accustomed to seeing that in a 24-hour period, then we can discuss the value of 4x4 vehicles.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

Exactly.

I'm not going to pay any attention to the words of someone who lives in a city with an annual snowfall average of 17.5". When that person can claim that they are accustomed to seeing that in a 24-hour period, then we can discuss the value of 4x4 vehicles.

You know what you're talking about. Thanks for that, it's refreshing. Deepest winter I lived through, (back west) was 15' 8 3/4" back in '98. We get less snow here, (much less) but considerably more cold. Conditions ain't fun, but then again.... we are FAR NORTH of the Mexican border.

 

[Punisher29073]

Tell me about it... A couple years ago we had like over an inch of snow in one night. It was still even on the ground when we woke up. The great blizzard 2010 I believe. Even with all of our winter driving experience the city's still shut down for a day. Out came the 4 wheelers and fridge doors, car hoods, and grand pas old sled(only used twice since 1903).

I am bubba in the 4wd but mine is for hunting and off-roading, don't get the chance to drive in much snow with it. I do remember one year my wife had to come pick me up in her FWD dodge dynasty because my 4wd F150 was stuck in a ditch in the 1" of snow we some times get when I was 20 or so.

And I don't almost run over people in parking lots. My momma raised me with manners.
Unless they deserve it.
Which is rare admittedly.

Ryan

 

[E. Bryant]

Deepest winter I lived through, (back west) was 15' 8 3/4" back in '98.

The worst I've been through was 328" (27' 4") back in '95-'96. That was a memorable one.

 

[HD1911]

Precise, 4WDs do NOTHING for you on ice.

The key is to .... S L O W D O W N ... and take your time.

Allow for large braking distances, etc. etc.

Not to get real technical or anything, but those of us with four wheel drive AND engine braking do get the benefit of better Decel. characteristics in sub par road conditions, just sayin'...

 

[W54/XM-388]

Apparently there is money to build multi million dollar sports stadiums, do all kinds of other fluffy stuff but not enough money to have a few snow plows / ice trucks etc.
I don't think our city did anything at all for the ice (I guess building the world's biggest high school football stadium is way more important).
Driving to work and back was not exactly fun...

The best however is when you are crossing the bridges and some idiot in a big hugely lifted, overpowered pickup truck with nothing in the bed, that says HEMI all over it goes flying past you, cuts in front of you & then starts doing the spin... you are just hoping momentum keeps him going forward as he spins.

Or the idiots who think while driving across a solid sheet of wavy ice that if they crawl right up to your back bumper that will somehow make you speed up.

But the best one has to be... decide the bridge is a perfect place to gun it to get ahead in your SUV, spin and hit the retaining wall, then bounce off it and go flying all the way across the highway to crash into the other retaining wall while taking out all the cars in your path....

People up north always think it couldn't be that bad in North Texas because we only get a few inches... but the problem is we get a few inches of ICE not snow... Sun melts snow then clouds / night come... frozen hard as a rock....

Next year I'm going to try metal studded snow straps.

 

[Maggot]

Apparently there is money to build multi million dollar sports stadiums, do all kinds of other fluffy stuff but not enough money to have a few snow plows / ice trucks etc.
I don't think our city did anything at all for the ice (I guess building the world's biggest high school football stadium is way more important).
Driving to work and back was not exactly fun...

The best however is when you are crossing the bridges and some idiot in a big hugely lifted, overpowered pickup truck with nothing in the bed, that says HEMI all over it goes flying past you, cuts in front of you & then starts doing the spin... you are just hoping momentum keeps him going forward as he spins.

Or the idiots who think while driving across a solid sheet of wavy ice that if they crawl right up to your back bumper that will somehow make you speed up.

But the best one has to be... decide the bridge is a perfect place to gun it to get ahead in your SUV, spin and hit the retaining wall, then bounce off it and go flying all the way across the highway to crash into the other retaining wall while taking out all the cars in your path....

People up north always think it couldn't be that bad in North Texas because we only get a few inches... but the problem is we get a few inches of ICE not snow... Sun melts snow then clouds / night come... frozen hard as a rock....

Next year I'm going to try metal studded snow straps.

+Not to mention that if it rains a bit before it freezes it lifts the oil particles that have been on the pavement and they mix with the ice...its called black ice. Slicker than eel shit.

 

[Bobo3020]

Glad everyone was ok. No cure for stupid.

 

[Soct]

Welcome to the club. Here is your complementary basket of disdain. The more people I meet, the more I love my dogs.

 

[E. Bryant]

People up north always think it couldn't be that bad in North Texas because we only get a few inches... but the problem is we get a few inches of ICE not snow... Sun melts snow then clouds / night come... frozen hard as a rock....

Yeah, 'cause we never get any ice up here. Except that we do, off and on over a span of six months each winter season. And then if we're really lucky, we get a foot of snow dropped on top of that ice layer.

While there are plenty of stupid people driving 4x4 pickup trucks and AWD crossover vehicles (statistics predicts this, due to the popularity of such vehicle types), someone has to be a real mouth-breather to suggest that sending power to only two wheels instead of four is a better approach for driving in poor weather. And yes, I know that everyone once got through a two-foot blizzard with their clapped-out mid-70s RWD sedan or POS mid-80s FWD econobox, and has thusly declared said vehicle the end-all-be-all of winter driving vehicles. I've pulled a lot of those same vehicles out of the ditches along my road.

 

[Wes_Mantooth]

Yeah, people who think their 4x4's can get them out of any trouble often use their 4x4's to get into trouble.

On the other hand I had to follow a couple of dumb broads today driving 25-35 mph in 45-55 mph zones, roads plowed, a little snow, mostly wet. We got a couple of inches of snow yesterday and no one remembers how to drive. It's the midwest, we get lots of snow every winter, it's not the end of the world, pretend like you've driven on it before.

Got out on the highway and hit 65 with no problems, never turned on the four wheel drive.

 

[ArcticLight]

In Fairbanks during the winter the roads are generally dry as the snow bl ows off of them.

BUT that said, when you get within 100' of an intersection you should be doing less than 1mph because it's pure ice after that.

EVERYONE's first year up there generally includes an accident, watch people slide right through them intersections and just punch it because they know they can't stop.

Mine was coming around a corner a bit too fast, lightly hit a grand am, no loss, no damage to my car LOL

That Ford Escort I had went almost anywhere in any kind of weather...but it paid the price with crappy ford electronics, 11 trips to the shop up there to replace some emission control or another...

 

[Phil1]

Not to get real technical or anything, but those of us with four wheel drive AND engine braking do get the benefit of better Decel. characteristics in sub par road conditions, just sayin'...

Thats true. Audi quattro 4x4 is the best.

The best RWD car IMO is the VW Beetle. Superb in icy conditions.

The worst I've ever owned was a 1973 Plymouth Fury 3. A 30' barge of a car with a 318 in the front and nothing on the back. I lost control of it one time on a icy rural gravel road. It spun three times centered on the crown of the road and at about 35 mph I regained control, then kept on going straight down the road.

Second worst, a jacked up $X$, huge off road tires and short wheel base.

 

[ajwcotton]

Idiots drive all kinda of cars not just 4x4s:

Binder,
Is that KU's Campus It looks like it could be and we had similar weather this weekend?

 

[ArmaHeavy]

Thats true. Audi quattro 4x4 is the best.

It's all wheel drive, and it's worthless when you get stuck on a sand covered beach.

I'm not saying that Audis are worthless, they aren't, I like them. I just hate seeing the end result from people that think the all wheel drive label means that they can go off-roading in them.

(This part below is to anybody reading this, to save them some money and stress.)
Also, a lot of trucks claim to be 4x4, but are really all wheel drive. Please do your research beforehand, before you buy one.

 

[Decoy]

The issue around here is the hippies refusing to be prepared. Only two types of land in this area, up and down. I have an old bronco with studs in the winter and most people who don't have an 4x4 at least have chains or snow tire.

Every year there are people in hood river sliding down hills into people and cars with crappy old street tires. I pulled one guy and his girl fiend out of a ditch last year in about 4 degree weather and ice every where. They were driving to Portland in shorts and no coats, I was dumb founded to say the least. I told them to be better prepared and they said they didn't need to be cause someone always helps them out.

so the next time I saw a stuck car with an Obama sticker I just waved.

 

[downhill]

Guys don't forget the two week truck driving school graduates commanding 60,000lb 18 wheelers. And urbanites in suburbans while on their cell phones. Sometimes I think Russian roulete would be safer!

 

[am1958]

so the next time I saw a stuck car with an Obama sticker I just waved.

That got a belly laugh from me...

 

[GreyGroupTraining]

Binder,
Is that KU's Campus It looks like it could be and we had similar weather this weekend?

I showed this photo to my coworkers here at KU and without a doubt they all said it's KU - that's Allen Field House on the right and you can see Frasier in the background. This is embarrassing as an employee there...

 

[ArcticLight]

Not to get real technical or anything, but those of us with four wheel drive AND engine braking do get the benefit of better Decel. characteristics in sub par road conditions, just sayin'...

LOL Thta's funny, 4 wheel drive brakes?

When you hit an intersection of ice, in Fairbanks, it won't matter how many brakes you have, they just don't work, and your decal? - it'll lock your wheels up and you'll slide right through.
Seen it happen too many times.

I love my 4x4 and I do drive in 4x on ice local but it's nothing like Alaskan ice.

Now up on the freeway,, the comnpact snow and ice, you are correct, deceleration is far superior and 4x is as long as you know your vehicle and don't go too low too soon

Most people don't realize you can lock your brakes up, turn the wheel, wait 1-2 seconds and then let OFF the brakes - that's the hardest thing to do but if youi do, the friction built up will steer you on ice. I've done that a few times but the first was on a rain soaked street and it saved some fat lady's ass.......(and mine as she was in a crosswalk)