Comments

1
The last video; entitled Title: "Snow Driving Fail" (Location: Unknown) was not in Seattle. That Volvo XC90 was sliding down our steep hills in January 2007, on SW 20th and SW Salmon Street in Portland, Oregon near the Multnomah Athletic Club. The driver was an older man in his late seventies and his car ended up in the Jim Fisher Volvo shop for repair afterward.
2
The video where they put on snow chains? They put them on the back wheels of a front wheel drive car. derp.
3
@1 Thank you for clarifying.
4
It is NOT the snow Seattle can't drive in, it's the ice UNDER the snow that is the issue. Snow tires aren't effective on ice and half of Seattle is built on hills. Are there some majorly stupid drivers? Sure, but in this case it's mainly ice.
People back east laugh at Seattle, but they are driving on 6 inches of snow in the winter, not an ice rink. Totally different driving conditions
5
Where's the footage from *inside* the bus?
6
One winter some years ago, a local news camera showed some car slide its way down one of our snow-covered streets, ping-ponging against parked cars on both sides of the street as it did so. When it came to a stop, the camera panned back up the hill where another driver who presumably witnessed the first car started down the hill and did the same thing.

If those of us from snowier areas are laughing, it's not because of some icier difference in Seattle snow - you get real ice and packed snow ice everywhere you get snow. Rather, snowfall after snowfall, there seem to be plenty of Seattle drivers who simply never learn.

7
YouTube is full of "hey, look at these idiots who can't drive in the snow!" videos. It may come as a shock to many people, but nearly all of them were shot someplace other than Seattle.
8
Last year I drove across the Midwest door knocking for Bernie.

I had thought snow driving would be the same (in principle) as driving in heavy rain. "Just take it easy on the corners and drive slow and everything will be alright" was the plan of attack.

What a clusterfuck that turned out to be. Still, I learnt a lot about cold weather driving that way. For instance, car doors can actually freeze shut overnight. And the way to prevent that is by spraying WD40 along the rubber seals the night before- the lubricant displaces the water molecules, thereby preventing ice crystals from forming. Further, I learned that leaving a glass jar containing what was the night before an iced mocha in the car results in a block of mocha ice the following day.

Lastly, I learned that small town cops in the Midwest really are total assholes. I thought that was just a Hollywood stereotype, but you know, they really are that bad.

I'm on the East Coast for now (till 2018), and its cold but not snowy or icy. Good luck to everyone back home.

There's an old Romanian phrase people use when bidding a loved one goodbye- "Drum bun" (pronounced: droom boon). It means "May you have a good road". I wish all of you the safest of journeys home.
9

FU Stranger and moran immigrants Ost of the Cascades. You effin try driving on slick, steep hills with no practice you Flat Lander Fucks. There's no skill needed to drift sideways into cow fields. Or fuck said bovines you sick fucks.

10
They predicted the snow, so you know it's not going to happen. My heart and the hearts of school children across the area are broken by weather forecasters every winter...I'm not even a teacher, just a big adult baby.
11
"Moran"?
12
Tone it down there, spitfire @7
13
#9 You vote for (him)? Hope Darwin helps us out with you and your posts. Maybe your laptop will burn a hole in your lap and you won't be able to reproduce. Get some help with your spelling.
14
@10 - If anything, they failed to predict *enough* snow. Many neighborhoods in City of Seattle proper got slighted, but overall this storm overperformed. The forecast yesterday was for 3 - 6". Some places in the foothills got over a foot!
15
@6 - I've lived in snowy climates, and the first significant storm of the season always has a lot of fender-benders and cars getting stuck in ditches. Many people apparently need regular practice at winter driving, and get rusty just over the summer. The rub is, in Seattle, we don't even average one major snowfall per winter, so drivers simply never get the needed regular practice.

To that add our steep hills, snowfalls that typically start as slushy glop then freeze into ice, and general lack of snow-removal equipment (compare how many plows Seattle has per street mile to, say, Chicago or Denver) and it's no surprise that every significant snowfall here is a Charlie Foxtrot.
16
@ 4 - The reason folks back east aren't driving on an ice rink is that the roads are made using pervious concrete, at least in our part of New York. The slush created by cars never gets the chance to freeze into a solid sheet of ice because it just drains away. It's really cool.

Also, yes. Ice is much more difficult to drive on than snow. And icy hills are the worst.

Stay safe out there, you guys!
18
Rickrolled with ancient youtube clips. Try again if you get any new ones.
19
@4 Weeza: Thank you! Brilliantly said, and I nominate you the winner of the thread.
@16 MiscKitty and @17 blip: Agreed. I don't drive in snow because of the lack of safe traction (ice), and keep my car at home and covered during increment weather. And there really are some reckless idiots out there who mistake streets and highways for racetracks. Indeed: stay warm and safe out there, everybody!

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