This [u]WMV file[/u] of a home video from Portland, OR, shows what happens when a hilly west coast city unused to winter driving conditions gets a bunch of snow and ice. Pinball and bumper-car fun!
Ah! Those west coast drivers. 
djm
Shee-it!
Not fun!
When will those crazies learn to stop putting Crisco on their tires before heading out to play?! LOL That’s just too much. I’ve never seen roads that slick on either coast (having lived on both) nor here in Utah either. That musta been one crazy day. Have they not heard of snow tires or chains or perhaps a good winter driving course? You know, the ones that tell you YOU’RE NOT QUALIFIED TO OPERATE THIS VEHICLE - STAY HOME!
…well they don’t get much chance to practice out here and the hills are a chalange.
The west coast drivers do scare me, they have no idea how to drive in this stuff.
I learned to drive in NE Ohio.
No, no and there ain’t any.
It looked like evening, tryin’ to get home, to me.
Put the chains on mother, there’s ice in the middle of the road
Several roads were closed in Tacoma, Washington last Friday (I was passing through). Kids were sledding down them. I had chains with me, but didn’t quite need them.
Hey Brian, I remember one winter evening in Wyoming where you nearly played bumper-cars with a cliff…I guess conditions can catch anybody out!
Most of the drivers in SW Ohio don’t know how to drive in the stuff, either! I learned in the country, so I had chains, strategically placed bags of Sakrete, etc. in high school.
…and give the others a 40 minute head start…
that way most of them are off on the side of the road where they will not hurt you!
That’s it exactly. In the lower elevations west of the Cascade mountains, it’s very hilly. Snow and ice are rare here, usually hitting just once or twice each winter, and generally melting off within a day or so. People can normally get around just fine without ever learning the proper way to drive on snow (slowly) and ice (don’t). And I’ve never heard of any winter driving classes in this area. (Didn’t have them in Tennessee where I grew up, either; my dad taught me how to drive in snow.) Some folks – mainly those who need to drive over the mountain passes – put studded tires on their cars in winter, but most don’t bother because they’re rarely needed. So, when the hilly streets get icy, bumper-car mayhem ensues.
the problem is…
It usually starts snowing early afternoon. Most people take off work early and make a run for it. Now the ones that have something so important to do that they stay until it is impassable out make a mess. (Not to be confused with the ones that are still there the next day!)
They have this great invention that we use here on the East Coast. As far as I’m aware it has been installed on all of the vehicles around here. It’s called a brake. They have placed it strategically next to the accelerator pad on the floor of the driver’s side for ease of use.
Hopefully it catches on out West.
Seriously, that first driver is an idiot. After the first accident, you’d think that maybe he would stop driving and figure out where to go from there. But no. He got suckered into the belief that SUV and 4 wheel drive allows you to go anywhere and on any surface; “I can drive on that ice no problem. My car has 4 wheel drive.”
Wrong.
I hope his insurance company gets a copy of that tape.
My first thought was, “Teenager on a joyride in a stolen SUV.”
That video is my nightmare, since the mail must go through and all that, no matter what the driving conditions. Brakes, chains, snow tires,downshifting, 4WD are all good, but nothing is good enough if it’s that icy. shudder
I’m having trouble imagining why the first car continues to slide around randomly while everything around it is static. Very bizarre.
It’s 'cause the doofus kept pressing down on the gas pedal.
yup! you can hear the fool spinning 'em.
Yes, indeed!
Greetings from the top of a small hill in SW Portland, OR. On Tuesday morning there were plenty of cars skidding in all directions just down the street from my house. For a city of people who pride themselves on the Northern hardiness with which we face the interminable rains that grace our region, we don’t know sh*t about what to do when it snows…Two inches is enough to reduce daily routines to utter chaos (although there was more than that this time–looked like maybe about 4 inches outside my house on Tuesday and the Oregonian said some parts of town got as much as 6 inches. Very rare around here!)
Fortunately, everything had closed up before I had to get anywhere in the morning. Last year, I wasn’t so lucky: while driving to the airport to drop off a friend, it started snowing and due to several days of below-freezing temperatures, the roads quickly turned into one big solid sheet of ice. I deliberately avoided the freeway home but it still took me nearly 4 hours to travel about 12 miles. There were cars skidding off the road in front of me and behind me–seriously scary stuff.
Very nice though to have a couple of snow days with nothing to do, though. The video store down the street made a serious killing.