How come most of the videos of winter pileups are from MN and other "northern" states where they all know how to drive in ice and snow?

First learned to drive in snow at 16 in Denver, CO. Leaving the house I first drove down to the shopping mall near Cherry Creek and did all the spin and donuts until I could control the car without sideslip. That part was fun. Then it was on to the road and a trip down to Littleton. Made it no problem but then on the way back to the house three idjits decided to race on the highway. Avoiding their antics cost me 30 minutes of sit and wait, but I got home without putting a dent or scratch on the car.

After the service I started driving a big truck for an outfit out of Salt Lake City. Big red trucks with a coat of arms on the door, and side of the trailer. My second trip out of Utah heading east and had snow almost all the way to Grand Island Nebraska. From Grand Island it was freezing rain and the roads were slicker than... You know how bad they were. Just on the east side of Lincoln Nebraska the road dips to go under US highway 6. Everybody is driving 35 miles per hour, and no one is acting stupid until this idjit passed me in his Cadillac, and because I was hauling 45,000 pounds of product there was no way I could stop quick if he did something stupid. HE DID. Three donuts in front of me and when he stopped, he was facing me and in my lane. I guess he stepped on the throttle because he slid to the shoulder of the road just as I got to his location. His wife's eyes were as big as dinner plates. I'm fairly sure she gave him hell for acting stupid but not until she changed her old lady diapers. It took me until 2AM the next morning to get to Stevens Point, WI, but the Wolverines got their Micky "Ds" french fries, delivered on time.

Because half the time the idjits causing the accidents are folks who seldom get out and drive in the snow and ice. Again, sometimes its the idjits who know how to drive in the snow and ice but they are driving too slow for that other idjit behind them.

Nobody in infalable.

All the SUVs on the road and the young idiots driving them thing they are magic on snow & ice. These people are dangerous to themselves and others. I have about 30mi of old state hwy to drive. 25mi up a winding creek hollow and 5 miles up the hill. I go 35mph and don’t speed up or slow down. When somebody passes me I hook and wave when they spin out and go over the bank. There is no cell phone service in that hollow for last 15 mile. I hate it when they go into the creek. They could injure or kill some nice fish.

Because that's where the snow is?

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Common sense isn't so common.

Driving on a snow covered road is a whole lot different than driving on an ice covered road.

Ice doesn't care if you have 2 wheel drive or 4 wheel drive. You loose traction and your going for an incontrollable ride. Even on a straight road.

I've seen fellow New Yorkers go flying past me on the highways at speeds way to fast for the driving conditions. Sort of driving in snow 101. If you don't have to be on the roads don't be a casualty. Often joked that here in Louisiana if it got that bad with snow, I'm putting on my parka and put a chair in front of the house and watch the idiots drive by, if they can. I drove in all weather conditions in NY. Fog,snow,ice storms you name it. Speed was the defining factor. Go slow and be alert was the key. Wanna set a speed record for get it. Guy blue past me on the Grand Central parkway.Way to fast for the amount of snow. Did a 3 revolution spin out across 4 lanes of traffic and hit one of the crash attenuators at the base of a sign. Blew all the sand all over the parkway and ended up hitting the support for the huge sign. I worked for a public utility so had to be at work. Frank

A whole lot of stuff here goes with my get your car ready for winter thread.

I can drive on ice. But, I hate it and try to avoid it. Requires super concentration. It also requires you slow down, do everything very gently and double the distance for everything. Look farther ahead, start slowing down and or braking farther away. A little jerk on the wheel like used on dry roads to avoid a pothole will start you spinning.

Here it might snow one day, get up to 40 the next and then drop to below zero. Getting up in the 30s in the day then drop at night. It happens all the time. Both of those causes the snow to melt then freeze. In fact it doesn't even have to get above freezing. Get close and sun hits bare spots of black asphalt and warms it enough to thaw snow, water spreads and at night it freezes again. Roads are bare and dry, sun hits asphalt and heats it up, plowed snow on shoulders melts and runs across road, night comes and it turns to ice. Road may be bare and dry and then you go into a cut or a place a hill or mountain shadows the road and it is icy.

If nobody could drive on ice most of the roads in this state would be closed at least 1/3 of winter days. A few have been closed. More to blowing snow causing zero visibility and drifting than anything else. I 90 has been closed twice, once for an avalanche and once because a semi coming down Lookout pass which has curve after curve lost it on ice and blocked the road and another one hit that one and plugged both east bound lanes. Interstate 15 which runs 396 north to south across Montana from Canada to Wyoming has yet to be closed this winter. The part between Great Falls to Helena twists along beside the Missouri river just to the east of the continental divide. Lots of snow and ice and shadowed road etc. From Helena it goes over Homestake pass and the great divide into Butte where it meets and crosses I90.

Chains, studs or sniped tires make all the difference in the world. The Montana state troopers do NOT run studded tires, they run sniped tires which do a very good job on ice and snow. Don't call them fools because they all KNOW they can drive on ice and they have to all the time. Their headquarters is in Helena on I 15

I do get it about the morons on ice. I was once living in Vancouver WA and working in Portland. I am doing some off site welding and have a small portable welder and some leads in the back of my Ranger pick up. Freezing rain storm starts. Roads are slicker than snot. I lock up my hubs and head to the house. I got a 4x4 with great tires, weight for traction and am going about 40-45 on I 205. Right before I get to the Columbia river bridge some maroon passes me going full tilt. He loses it right in the middle of the bridge and spins around and around, amazingly he don't hit the sides. I slow down and pass him stopped on the bridge and keep going my 40-45 in 4x4. A mile or so later the same idiot blows by me again having learned absolutely nothing on the bridge.

It's all relative. Snowy winter appeals to my inner Scandinavian. I chose to move North to Vermont where all the Canadians think I'm the Southerner...

Right. Talking ice here, not a mix with snow or intermittent dry roads.
Imagine driving twisties and mountain roads, if you’re fool enough to try.

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Sure you did

At the first snowfall, nobody knows how to drive on snow, not even in Minnesota. The ditches will be littered with cars. Used to be, the Camaros and Trans-Ams would be the first to leave the road: poor weight distribution and unsuitable tires.

These days, it’s the SUVs. People tend to overestimate their capabilities. In any case, after that first snowfall, people seem to recalibrate their reflexes. After sliding through a few stop signs, you naturally regain the habit of slowing down early.

Good tires help of course. A M&S-rated tire is sufficient. Aggressive snow tires are not necessary except in areas where there is so much snowfall that the roads never clear. Low-profile high performance tires are not going to work so well on snow.

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Not in jail.

Right you are! If fact in some cases its worse than you think.

Many of the high performance cars out there have for want of better words, ''Summer only tires" My last two Vettes had those and many other performance cars have them. They tell you quite clear that those tires are not meant for driving at road temperatures under 40 degrees. Rest assured they are not kidding, at low temperatures they are like driving on a oil spill on ice. With snow or ice on the ground even worse.

My Vettes went away for at least a 6 month sleep every year, and above was a big reason why.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Well , if you're going to teach us how to drive in the snow , good luck . How about teaching Northeners how to drive in the rain , especially our monsoon like rains . I've been driving down here since I was 15 and have a good grasp on it . Nothing worse than getting behind a Northerner in one of our downpours and they are driving 5mph with their emergency flashers on , which is against the law . I guess we all have our problems with tourons , but they have their pluses , we need to remember that .

20 something years ago I got to Texarkana as dark settled in. It had
been sleeting and freezing rain since Greenville, Texas coming up I-30.
I called ahead and reserved a motel room, one of the last two available
at the motel. The next morning I walked across U.S. 71, the state line,
to a truck stop cafe for breakfast.
These Canadian truck drivers were in the cafe complaining about the
Interstate being closed as they were use to driving in all winter conditions. They had a load headed for somewhere in West Texas. Some
other local drivers told them about a state highway just North in Ok
that they could travel to get to the West. Well the Canadian drivers went
out fired up the truck and made it to the on ramp of U.S. 71 when a
gust of wind blew them off the ramp which ended their driving on ice.
Needless to say when they walked back into the truck stop they took a
huge ribbing from the other drivers. Canadians said we have never
seen anything like this. The last I knew they were trying to get a tow
truck to come and rescue their truck.

Thanks to steelslaver for the memories from post #20.
Around New Years when I was 13 Dad took me to an icy parking lot just down the road from his Mom's place in White Oak, PA. We spent over an hour alternating behind the wheel while he corrected my mistakes until I had a sense of how that big boat of a '65 Dodge Polara handled in all different directions. I was young but had been tooling around the neighborhood under his tutelage for about a year. I guess he figured I wouldn't have much chance to experience winter driving.
None of that made a difference 13 years later when he and I drove north to see Mamie one last time. I was driving his Dodge van from the hospital to the funeral home and came off a downhill with a gentle lefthand curve onto a two lane bridge that had iced before the roadway. The van immediately began a slow drift to the right. I feathered the brakes, nothing. I gently moved the wheel barely back and forth, nothing as I watched the low fieldstone wall slowly disappear behind my right fender. I thought about downshifting the auto trans but Dad said NO.
If that bridge had been just a bit longer I'm not sure what would have happened, maybe a bounce and spin if I was lucky.


I've wondered since, under inflated tires can get me thru sand in a pinch, would they work on ice?

Heavy snow I'll stay home or go rabbit hunting. Iffen I need to go to town. I'll just fire up the John Deere and go..........Last time we had a decent one. I put on my helmet. Dressed warm. And go on my 4-wheeler.............I was a fat happy kid again.

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S&W Accumulator

I think it helps. Larry

The northerners who drive around on dry packed snow on flat ground and claim they “know” how to drive in the snow get a real surprise when they try to go up a hill and around a curve on 6” of wet snow usually end up in the ditch and get out of the car red faced and start looking for somebody to help get the car back on the road.

I was talking about straight up ice and twisting mountain rds. Go drive between Helena and Great Falls on a cold winter day when the fog come off the Missouri and freezes on the road as it winds though the canyon. Or when the snow melts one day and it hits single digits or below the next. Pure straight up ice.

You can drive on it. But you had better know exactly what your doing and have the right car and tires.

There are plenty of days with miles and miles of ICE covered roads in this state. I invite you the Montana highway road report complete with cameras for proof. Right now most of the roads are good..But notice all the spots wit scattered ice. Does not say snow which it would if that was all it was. Road Condition Report | Montana Department of Transportation (MDT)

Cameras. Pick a spot and see for yourself. Some are live feed and some give shots every so often
Map with Montana Cameras | Montana Department of Transportation (MDT)

All those wet ones will turn to ice when it cools off tonight;.
This one here for example SCAN Web 6.0 - Site Status
PS watch out for the log trucks


There is less traffic and it all goes slower.Yes, the inexperienced, careless and unprepared are in the ditches.

Looks like the highway dept does a great job. 👍 I checked 10 locations and they all looked dry. I saw no ice, or no large areas of ice.. 😎

Different story a year ago.


https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...LsVPC9fmK8Toth

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Sure you did

About ten years ago, during the summer, we were in the southern end of the Smokies around Cherokee. We asked a Park Ranger where a good place to view elk might be.

She told us to go to Maggie Valley and turn down so and so road, I forget.
How long is the drive I ask. About 20 miles off RT19 . K.
The road went up, down, round and round a mountain with no guardrails and a narrow two lane gravel road with no place to pull off, and 50+ ft drops on the side depending if coming or going.

People were towing trailers around blind curves with no concern for opposing traffic. Hit the brake and slide. It was a white knuckle drive all the way.

We did see elk, and a bunch of other folk when we arrived at the recommended spot.
There was a much longer, but flatter, way to get out of the valley so we took that way leaving. There is no way that road is open during winter.

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Sure you did

I love driving in the snow and other adverse weather.

My advise, relax.

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Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

I've been driving in snow since I got my license at 16 (I'm 67 now), and I've had a four wheel drive truck all but four of those years. I can tell you for a fact, something most of the rednecks I see around here have yet to learn, is that 4WD only doubles your chances of getting stuck.

I was out Friday in the snow (had an appt at the clinic to get my booster). The roads were slick but not impassible. Just need to be careful.

My old Tahoe definitely handles the slick stuff better than my GLK.

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Common sense isn't so common.

Been across the pass from Fort Collins to Laramie in hard snow and white outs back in the 70’s and 80’s when it was a winding sketchy drive like Loveland pass.

Not so bad now that the step inclines and hairpin curves have been removed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I grew up in central FL and lived in S. Cal and Hawaii before moving to the St. Louis area. I realize St. Louis isn't the hard core North but it does get some serious winter at times.

My thoughts on dry snow was that driving on it was much like driving on a Florida sugar sand road. Of course wet snow that gets frozen or ice is a different ballgame.

I moved there and took on a cop job. I didn't have any trouble adapting to winter weather, well other than it being cold. I was constantly surprised by the locals that grew up with the stuff who were constantly having problems. I remember whenever we had Ice in the morning there would be several instances where we would have to park our patrol cars and then get in a lady's car and move it off the road and park it because they were frozen with panic.

I think the only time I needed help was when I pull onto a gas station parking lot that was coated with Ice. When I stopped I guess the tires melted little dimples in the Ice and I wasn't going anywhere until a couple of guys got me rolling again. Cinder or sand would have worked too.

Being a FL boy I found it entertaining when I'd pull up to a stop on a well crowned ice covered road, and make an uneventful full stop and then slide sideways to the shoulder. I decided I'd rather stick with the sugar sand.

Being from Florida I can promise you we have plenty from the North that can not drive in any weather.

I think Colorado ranks among the top five states for poor drivers.With awd,fwd and 4wd so common now,you’d think we would do better,but…nah

I was in Flagstaff, AZ years ago...came out in the morning to about 8 inches of fresh snow...i have been driving in snow my whole life, so no biggie, just take it slow....when I get out to my car, there is a lady wearing sandals who is looking quizically at her car...she turns to me and says, "I'm up from Pheonix and I've never seen snow before. How do you drive in it?" I gave her a few pieces of advice about driving slow, allowing extra distance between the car in front, and steering into a skid.....she said thanks, and then I said, " and don't leave the parking lot until I'm gone."

Robert

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

I think NC drivers are pretty bad all around. Then I travel thru VA, MD, SC, GA and FL and that thought goes away.

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Sure you did

It has been getting up in the 40s across the state for a week. It will change ant the highway dept won't be able to keep up. Although I do believe ours really does try.

These are just a few miles east of my place
SCAN Web 6.0 - Site Status
SCAN Web 6.0 - Site Status

When we lived in Peoria Illinois it was typically snow only. Wasn’t pleasant but okay if you know how to drive in snow.

Grew up in STL and typically the precipitation is rain , freezing rain, sleet and snow in that order. Always a layer of ice on the road. With that and the hills here just stay home. In a day and a half it’ll be 50 degrees again. You won’t need 5 gallons of milk, three loaves of bread and three dozen eggs.

Driving in snow also gives the goof balls a reason to run red lights and stop signs. They never even tap the brakes.

"....and then I said, " and don't leave the parking lot until I'm gone." "

One of the wisest bits of advice I've heard in ages regardless of road conditions.

Our northern brethren hard at work.


The "hits" just keep a coming.

And in the summer months of Michigan we see plenty of Florida plates with drivers that don't how drive in the warm weather. They never use their turn signal or they never turn them off.