@VDCdriver, Right before Christmas, sounds about right. My wife, her brother and I were returning also from Michigan. Passing from Toledo through Bowling Green, I-75 was an absolute mess. We never saw a plow and the highway was snow covered. Usually I follow plows (from a distance) if one passes me. Going 30 mph, one should have passed. The farther south we got the better it was. By the time we got back to Dayton, things were fairly driveable. I suspect the problem was related to the down economy at the time.
I’ve never encountered such poor maintenance in Ohio since and I’ve made that Dayton to Detroit and back run maybe a thousand times, sometimes the same day (worked for a GM division in Dayton). Usually they salt the heck out the roads for what turns out to be nothing but flurries. Or these days, lay down the liquid solution in advance of predicted snow.
BTW, I left Ohio for sunny Florida 2 winters ago. Don’t miss the snow.
In foul winter weather driving I like to move at my own pace. I run winter tires on a FWD Honda Civic and the worst situations are in wet snow when the roads are full of heavy thick slush. This will throw the car around when I leave the tracks of previous traffic. The speed I want in most situations is enough to have some momentum, but not so much that inertia will toss me out of control. 45 to 50 mph is where I often end up as the target speed when the situation is very bad - IF I can see well enough to go that fast. Conditions can vary so much with the temperature, the type of snow, and how many plows are out that you just have find your own flow. Often I find other vehicles have less traction than I and I have to figure out a safe way around them to keep at my pace.
About a year ago I was driving N on I95 above Boston and ran into heavy fog. I slowed down, and then pulled off onto the breakdown lane, inching ahead at about 5 MPH. Meanwhile, traffic was zooming by at 70 MPH, visible only as blobs in the fog. In a few minutes I was clear of the fog. The other drivers must have all been lucky that day, there were no accidents.
The answer to your question must be obvious. Do NOT try to keep up with traffic, slow down!
I guess you must have different laws there than we do, @BillRussell …I was always told, in the case of driving into a foggy river valley or similar, KEEP YOUR SPEED UP as to not pose a collision hazard to those following!
With you going 5 MPH, you’d be a guaranteed “pancake” if anyone was following you! I’ll grant, it takes a fair amount of discipline to drive 55 when you can’t see three car lengths ahead of you.
Most fog is localized, esp. the cold, calm nighttime fog where the cold air seeps into the river valley, turning the warm river water into fog. If everyone maintains discipline, everyone gets out the other side unscathed! (Admittedly, it only takes 1 “undisciplined” to make a right hash of this system…)
Thanks for the sensible advice, oblivion. It’s the sort of info every new driver should have to read repeatedly.
I used to live in Sacramento, where every winter there are dense tule fogs where you can barely see twenty feet. Most years there was a big pileup somewhere in the Central Valley when the fog was heavy. People should have slowed way down, but they only did a little. The worst fogs, unfortunately, led to worse tailgating because everyone was trying so hard to keep the taillights of the car ahead clearly in view. Completely understandable, but a bad move in the fog as the chain reactions happen so quickly. There is a causeway on I80 just west of Sacramento that I had to cross to get to college and I dreaded it on foggy days as that stretch was very foggy and narrow, and completely unavoidable as there were no alternatives.
Maybe it should be illegal to drive an AWD/4WD before writing a sentence or two demonstrating that you know what it actually means.
That sentence should include the phrase “every car has four wheel brakes” or something to that effect. In fact, I think that every car ad that pushes AWD as a safety feature should be required to point out the fact that all cars have four wheel braking.
“That sentence should include the phrase “every car has four wheel brakes” or something to that effect”
That is actually a very good idea, as there are–believe it or not–some folks who are unaware of this fact.
Circa 1966, one of my high school classmates was “showing off” his father’s new Datsun, and one of the features that he bragged about was that it had “4 wheel brakes”. My response was…Well, that has been a feature of almost all cars for the last 35 years or more.
He then backtracked and proudly stated, “Oh, I meant that it has 4 wheel hydraulic brakes!”–to which I responded that, ever since Ford switched to hydraulic brakes, that particular detail had been a given for over 25 years.
He looked very confused…but that wasn’t unusual for Doug.
While I agree with the sentiments, I’m not for any more requirements. My BIL bought a new Jeep last year and I asked him if it had 4WD or AWD. He said “yeah”. He bought a new lawn tractor too and I asked him what engine it had and he said he didn’t know. Some people just don’t care. But ask him about the claims history of males between the ages of 45 and 65 and you’ll get a two page disertation.
My Wife Sometimes Drives SUVs And Every Other Type Vehicle.
She’s an accountant/bookkeeper at an independent car sales lot which does a pretty high volume of sales and she gets a vehicle to drive.
We live where it’s winter driving conditions for half the year and she likes the “security” of an SUV and likes sitting a little higher than in a car.
I will admit that the extra traction and higher ground-clearance of an SUV helped her get in and out of our 800 foot long road which is seldom plowed.
However, It took a little work to convince her that the “security” feeling could lead to driving too fast for conditions. What bothers me is the higher center of gravity and relatively short wheel-base, relative to the higher overall weight of an SUV.
I would say, "Don’t take my word for it, read the placard posted on the driver’s side sun visor." CSA