Poll of the Day > Driving conditions

(+) Yeah! (+)

Driving conditions

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never driven in heavy snow, but I imagine it's worse
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Krazy_Kirby posted...

never driven in heavy snow, but I imagine it's worse

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Idk. Im use to both. I hate ice, though...
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Snow by far

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I think I'd actually say heavy rain. Heavy snow's honestly not that bad. All you really need to do is slow down and avoid making sudden movements, and pretty much everyone recognizes that and does it, so it's pretty easy to adjust for. Rain, on the other hand, limits visibility, which is a lot less intuitive to account for, and its impacts on handling are a lot less predictable (especially with rougher roads where you lose the ability to tell which puddles are deeper), and it's generally less common for people to slow down significantly (unless it's really bad) so adjusting for it means being hyper-vigilant.

That said, it'd be pretty rare for me to full-on avoid driving because of rain, while I'll happily stay home over a bad snow storm. So... *shrug*

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Snow is worse than rain, but ice is far, far worse than either. Even tracked vehicles like tanks and bulldozers cannot maintain traction on slick ice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpq_PEKNR5s

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Heavy rain won't prevent me from going up the hills on the roads in Western PA.

Heavy snow absolutely can.

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adjl posted...

I think I'd actually say heavy rain. Heavy snow's honestly not that bad. All you really need to do is slow down and avoid making sudden movements, and pretty much everyone recognizes that and does it, so it's pretty easy to adjust for. Rain, on the other hand, limits visibility, which is a lot less intuitive to account for, and its impacts on handling are a lot less predictable (especially with rougher roads where you lose the ability to tell which puddles are deeper), and it's generally less common for people to slow down significantly (unless it's really bad) so adjusting for it means being hyper-vigilant.

Clearly you have never driven in a white-out snowstorm before. At least with heavy rain you have a vague idea of what is in front of you. White-outs give you no indication other then the brake lights of the car in front of you.


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Dikitain posted...

Clearly you have never driven in a white-out snowstorm before. At least with heavy rain you have a vague idea of what is in front of you. White-outs give you no indication other then the brake lights of the car in front of you.

Oh, I have. And everyone goes slowly enough that all you really need to be able to see are those brake lights. It's slow going and not particularly pleasant, but I'd rather just be slowed down than have to work harder.

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Dikitain posted...

Clearly you have never driven in a white-out snowstorm before. At least with heavy rain you have a vague idea of what is in front of you. White-outs give you no indication other then the brake lights of the car in front of you.

My spouse slid off the road in his RWD sedan a couple miles from the house during a blizzard, so I headed out in my 4x4 truck to pick him up. I had to make a 3-point U-turn to come back and everything seemed to be fine, until I saw a row of trees right in front of me. Because I could barely see anything my U-turn was apparently more like an L-turn and I'd been driving through a farmer's fields instead of the road!

Luckily I was able to follow the trees to get back to the road.

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adjl posted...

Oh, I have. And everyone goes slowly enough that all you really need to be able to see are those brake lights. It's slow going and not particularly pleasant, but I'd rather just be slowed down than have to work harder.

Yeah. Back home, during one of the earlier blizzards of the season, it took a couple hours to get back home. But because of how slow traffic was moving, it was actually pretty safe, all things considered...
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Never driven in snow of any kind before, but my pickup sometimes has the back wheels spin out on wet roads. Snow might do the same.

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SilentSeph posted...

Snow by far

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A few years ago I effectively could not leave my neighborhood due to a large snowstorm. worst we've had in a long time. I remember seeing cars on the other lanes slamming into the mediums.

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Around here , heavy rain is worse because during heavy snow there are fewer drivers on the road and the ones that are on the road are driving slower.

During a heavy rain , I see far too many drivers travelling at an excessive speed with the reduced visibility.

Driving in snow is the number one thing I hate about winter. Even with my truck in 4WD it's still a nightmare.

We're having a blizzard in southern Alberta right now and I'm thanking God it didn't happen during the work week.

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really heavy fog is worse than both, though
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Krazy_Kirby posted...

really heavy fog is worse than both, though

Some of the worst traffic accidents of all time have happened in the Tule fogs that affect the San Joaquin Valley in California. Crashes involving over 100 vehicles have been recorded. People just don't slow down in the fog so when one accident occurs, everyone starts plowing into the stopped vehicles at full freeway speeds.



I lived in Merced for a bit when I was a kid. I had to ride my bike to school and literally could only see a couple feet in front of me. I couldn't even see across the street. Only thing I could do was stop and listen for approaching cars before racing across as fast as I could go.



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captpackrat posted...

People just don't slow down in the fog

robbobmur posted...

During a heavy rain , I see far too many drivers travelling at an excessive speed with the reduced visibility.

Really, these are probably why I'd say heavy rain is worse than snow. Objectively, snow is more dangerous and does more to disrupt traffic, but for the most part, people respect snow. People often don't respect rain or fog even enough to slow down a bit, which is why I always feel like I have to be that much more on edge while driving in it, and I don't feel like I can just slow down to drive more safely because that will drop me below the speed of the rest of the traffic and create further danger.

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Oh yeah, San Joaquin fog. I used to go to school in Stockton. There were days I couldnt even see the hood of my car.

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