Just a request to those who have little if any experience driving in wintry weather conditions – there are so many things that can be done to avoid making life dangerous for you, me and everyone else on the road. Let’s examine the situation shall we…

Don’t drive.

That is…please let us all avoid driving if possible on days or nights that weather is active (this holds for all seasons by the way). You know, falling snow…perhaps blowing and drifting at times with whiteout conditions, freezing fog and or rain, which not only reduces visibility also but is extremely treacherous due to the fact that vehicles in general just have the a really tough time gaining, maintaining traction on ice. Ummm…actually it is practically impossible to gain traction on ice unless you are driving a tank.

Some of you may recall the great amateur video of the sliding cars and SUVs in Portland, Oregon, several days ago.

Watch! Real Life Bumper Cars

For some of those unfortunate drivers, they had no idea what was coming. What seemed like a snow-covered road was in fact a ruse. A thick layer of a half to an inch of frozen H2O coated the streets making it look more like an elongated ice rink than an avenue.

I just bet that some of those drivers actually thought that because their vehicles were “all-wheel-drive” or “4x4s” that they could conquer anything Mother Nature laid down. And despite the conditions that they knew before they got behind the wheel, they motored on anyway. Not so. Pretty arrogant if you ask me. And foolish.

You and I get the idea. Besides, if they tuned on to WeatherPlus.com (via the web or television) they would have know what we had forecasted for the region and made plans accordingly. Who wants to get into an accident? Not me. And I certainly don’t want my insurance rates to go up. There’s also that issue of endangering life. Just a thought.

The thing to do if you are caught in a freezing rain storm or a blinding blizzard is to try and get off the main road – pull over in an area parking lot for example and wait it out. On an Interstate, you always have to drive according to the conditions – period. Have you ever been driving in a snowstorm at say…35 mph, just like most of the drivers on the road because that’s the speed that is SENSIBLE, SAFE AND MANAGEABLE? And then a car comes up behind you, throws on his/her high beams to get you to speed up or move aside? They go on to cruise at the speed limit of say 60 or 65, weaving in and out of traffic to boot – just crazy.

Let’s not do that. In really bad weather, pull over and put your hazards on. Better to get out of the way of the 4,000-pound missiles flying down the parkway. That makes sense.

Drive safe. Tune into Weather Plus and get your accurate forecast in advance of the oncoming storm so that you can deal with the elements – sensibly and safely.

Have any crazy weather-driving stories? Add a comment below! We would love to hear from you!

Cheers!

Gary