Thursday, February 13, 2014

Wow.

Yesterday in Raleigh was like a badly conceived horror movie.  Here is a picture from US 70, a road Bill Keech and I usually take to get home (yes, we carpool.  Don't hate me because I'm green!)


That's not a road out in the country.  That's a major highway about 2 miles from RDU airport, and the main connector for Durham and Raleigh.

We chose a different route, on the theory that a longer trip on the interstate would avoid having to stop at lights on hills, and that the plows were more likely to be out on the interstate.  So we avoided ....whatever that is, in the picture.

7 comments:

Steve said...

Look at this rationally, I know it's all relative - since I'm sure you would all get a kick out of watching people from Colorado prepare for a hurricane - but what in the name of sweet baby Jesus is going through people's minds to make them drive like that?! There are plenty of 2-wheel drive cars with no snow tires out here and we do just fine.

"Honey that car in front of us is sliding, slam on the brakes and steer away from the danger! Hurry!"

Mungowitz said...

Steve, you do just fine...in Colorado! Where the snow is soft and powdery, and there is no ICE. Here in NC, the tow truck drivers always get a big kick out of hearing people from Colorado say, "I know how to drive on snow!" It's funny because they hear this while the tow truck driver is pulling them out of the ditch. All of the folks you see who ran off the road are godd**ned YANKEES who drive too fast because they are used to having salt trucks and other infrastructure. We don't have that stuff, and for good reason: We only need it once ever five years or so. So, you go ahead and drive your car in that soft snow, with all the sand and salt that you rich Coloradans spread on the highway. Because you are too pampered to drive in REAL ice conditions. And I'll try to avoid the crazed Yankees who insist on driving too fast, because they "don't have any trouble."

Angus said...

Sweet Jeebus, is that a car in flames in the background? it's like if "Escape from New York" was shot in the wintertime!

Steve said...

Fair enough. So are you basically driving on the equivalent of a frozen lake (that is obviously an inch or two deep)? Because I see quite a bit of powder in the median there where the truck hit the speed limit sign.

Every morning when it snows I spend the first half mile driving through my neighborhood swerving and slamming on the brakes to check the general conditions of the road, and I'm not afraid to drive 25 mph on the highway with my hazards on while those same Yankees you avoid fly by at 60 in the left lane. One nasty [and expensive] curb-check is all it takes to make you a safe driver for life.

ColoComment said...

Heh. Out here in Colorado we have to dodge all the Texans and Californians trying to drive in our snow conditions!
In all fairness, we get different kinds of snowfall in January from what we get in March. Right now (in Ft. Collins) we've got glazed-surface, packed bumps of snow in the shady spots, and dry pavement in the sunny spots.

We're supposed to see 50s today & the next few days, so it'll disappear pretty quickly as our "solar snow removal" apparatus begins to work....

Anonymous said...

Those living on Colorado who say they know how to drive in snow are usually lying. I lived there until I was 40 and drove in the mountains regularly and drove a cab there for 5 years and most people there were horrible drivers. Now I live in the south.

Ask a roomful of people attending a remedial driver course for those who believe they are "above average drivers" to raise their hands and between 70% and 90% of them raise their hands.

I wonder if the car in flames resulted from the driver spinning the tires continuously trying to get up the hill. Tires do overheat and will burn if spun too long.

W.E. Heasley said...

Mungowitz:

The burning vehicle…..drone strike on the wrong vehicle? How far behind that vehicle were you? Just saying……….