Yes, today there are so many stupid people we are neck deep. For many, the only outside they have experienced is getting out of their cars. Those of us who worked outside for years know what nature can do to us. Proper planning helps too.
Are people that stupid and/or arrogant today?
- Thread starter LVSteve
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Aircrewman
Member
As Bugs Bunny used to say, "What a Maroon".....!
venomballistics
Member
We have 2 TV's and neither have been turned on in literally years, yet, the wife and I were still keenly aware of the weather situation.
You need to be Amish to be oblivious to it, and I'm not so sure that they are.
venomballistics
Member
According to what I remember from the Hallmark channel, you need to have a golden retriever and your highschool sweetheart for this to work.
Without it, you're pretty well boned
Wyatt Burp
Member
Have you ever heard of the "Death Valley Germans", a family from Germany who's rental car was found deserted deep in Death Valley park in the 1990s? A tragic story of a lost family and the amazing way a search and rescue guy decided to solve the mystery of their disappearance years after others finally gave up. This very long and riveting story by the guy himself epitomizes the tragedy of making a series of small but very wrong decisions. It's very long, but we'll worth the read. His investigating skills and pychological analysis was amazing solving the mystery.
The Hunt for the Death Valley Germans
The Hunt for the Death Valley Germans
Inusuit
Member
I'm surprised more people don't die in what is "normal" winter weather in Wyoming. I stopped to help a woman and her two teenage kids after her car slid off icy I-25 and down a steep embankment. Wind chill was in the negative numbers. Neither kid had a coat or jacket let alone any emergency stuff in the car.
Summer story about stupid or maybe ignorant. Four young guys is a 2-wheel drive pickup stuck in some loose gravel along a Wyoming Forest Service road. Flagged me down and asked to borrow a shovel. I had two and used one to move gravel from the front wheels. Kid asked why I was doing that "because the front wheels aren't stuck."
Another time tourists approached me to ask for a ride to a ranger station. They had driven a 2-wheel drive rental pickup down a steep and rutted road to reach a small stream and couldn't get out. They planned to call for a tow truck. I asked if they had good insurance, backed the truck up to the stream, put the pedal to the metal and bounced it up the hill. Wasn't pretty but saved them $100s.
Summer story about stupid or maybe ignorant. Four young guys is a 2-wheel drive pickup stuck in some loose gravel along a Wyoming Forest Service road. Flagged me down and asked to borrow a shovel. I had two and used one to move gravel from the front wheels. Kid asked why I was doing that "because the front wheels aren't stuck."
Another time tourists approached me to ask for a ride to a ranger station. They had driven a 2-wheel drive rental pickup down a steep and rutted road to reach a small stream and couldn't get out. They planned to call for a tow truck. I asked if they had good insurance, backed the truck up to the stream, put the pedal to the metal and bounced it up the hill. Wasn't pretty but saved them $100s.
bigwheelzip
Absent Comrade
We walk among those with narrowly focused interests and a lack of curiosity. Heck, maybe they're onto something, since ignorance is supposedly bliss, except perhaps in a blizzard.
BLACKHAWKNJ
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NJ outlawed studded snow tires years ago, and a winter sound I recall from my youth that I forget when I last heard it is-chains.
People who have air conditioners in wall housings complain they are heat sinks. I tell them, you get some cardboard and some insulation. Cut one piece for the outer area, cut it snug, install, cut 2 more pieces, snug, sandwich the insulation between them, foil side on the outside, use some tape-masking tape works fine-to hold in place, install.
Some pairs of boots with lugged soles-I wear mine only in snow or mud. Still have a pair of GI "galoshes".
People who have air conditioners in wall housings complain they are heat sinks. I tell them, you get some cardboard and some insulation. Cut one piece for the outer area, cut it snug, install, cut 2 more pieces, snug, sandwich the insulation between them, foil side on the outside, use some tape-masking tape works fine-to hold in place, install.
Some pairs of boots with lugged soles-I wear mine only in snow or mud. Still have a pair of GI "galoshes".
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You forgot The Bingle singing "I'll Be Home for Christmas."
EDIT: I just realized that the last line is, "If only in my dreams", which seems appropriate when you're stuck for 12 hrs. in 5' of snow.
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I think I have this beat...its the GPS's fault.
Driver blames GPS for driving into icy Vermont lake – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News
And then there is the endless supply of dimwitted truck drivers that blindly follow their GPS
Another stuck truck blocks Notch Road
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We have a very famous railroad bridge at Glenville NY that gets hit way too regularly. The problem is these drivers, that for many English is not a first language buy the much cheaper car GPS and drive in a stupor. There are a couple dozen signs and flashing lights but they do not see them.
This whole situation is a Charlie Foxtrot as the town does not own the bridge or roadway. The state owns the road and the RR owns the bridge and no one will spend any money.
Truck ("lorry") drivers in the UK had this problem, where the GPS gives out a suggested route, blissfully unaware that there are ancient buildings which overhang the roadway and tend to get bits knocked off as the driver attempts to drive a big truck through a street whose dimensions have remained unchanged since the 15th c.
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I remember that storm as well. I was living just up the river from Cincinnati, and was determined not to let bad weather keep me from going to work. My next-door neighbor's workplace was beside mine, so we decided to take his van. Five hours later, we had covered the two miles to work, only to discover we were the only ones foolish enough to venture out in blizzard conditions.
We have a very famous railroad bridge at Glenville NY that gets hit way too regularly. The problem is these drivers, that for many English is not a first language buy the much cheaper car GPS and drive in a stupor. There are a couple dozen signs and flashing lights but they do not see them.
This whole situation is a Charlie Foxtrot as the town does not own the bridge or roadway. The state owns the road and the RR owns the bridge and no one will spend any money.
And then we have our covered bridges. Constantly being damaged by trucks. Here is a typical example.
Another truck damages Lyndon covered bridge; police seek driver
We were hit with that storm in Maryland when I was living there. The first day the firm I worked for got a message sent out, probably on the local radio station, that the office was closed that day. The next day, I didn't hear anything about the office being closed so I figured I had to go to work.
The roads were clear enough that I made it into town without too much problem. Central Maryland doesn't usually get a lot of snow, and it turned out a total of three people made it into the office that day. They were a guy who grew up in Massachusetts, a lady who grew up in western Maryland (a snowy area) and me, who grew up in the Lake Erie lake effect snow belt.
venomballistics
Member
There's 4" of snow in MN .... Just a day in the life.
There's 4" of snow in MO ... It's kinda a big deal.
There's 4" of snow in FL .... It's just short of a national emergency.
Such capacity for subjectivity is a down payment on room for hype, and they do.
But, the core information is ample for making informed decisions.
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LVSteve
Member
Yeah, I guess I understand that many people don't watch the so-called news because it is largely useless and/or depressing.
Maybe it's having been raised in Britain with its changeable weather and now living in the desert, but I don't contemplate any kind of travel without first checking the weather. Out here the environment will kill you if you take liberties. Oddly enough I think we lose more people to flash floods than we do to heat. So, before going off road up some funky wash area, I want to see a near zero chance of rain, especially thunderstorms.
If I travel upstate in the winter, snow is a major consideration. Alternative routes are close to non-existent, as is habitation. Your not about to climb out of your stranded vehicle and go knock on the door of a home to seek shelter on many highways out here. That doesn't work well with 40-50 mile gaps between towns.
I think too many people in densely populated areas have lost sight of how dangerous it can be outdoors when the weather turns bad.
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