Chryslers and Nissans crash into the kerb,
Waiting to be towed away...
Stomp on the brakes but, alas, it's too late,
and you're gone...

*stomp stomp stomp*

[My brain and welcome to it...]

I grew up driving on black ice, with 3 foot snow falls.

And you call this "bad driving conditions"?

Yeah, sure .... now do the hamster dance ...

I've spun out going down a hill here, and not panicked and did what any sane driving instructor tells you to do, and it's not a big deal.

Oh, you have these things on your automatic - it's called 2 and 3 - those are lower gears for weather like this. Or on a stick, downshift. And stop tailgating when it snows, and you might not hit things ...

The thing that gets me is the weather forecasters. Take last night, for example...is it REALLY necessary to have three separate reporters scattered around the region to provide a live 10 minute update on the light dusting that totals all of a 1/2 a millimeter?!? OMG. It kills me. Every year.

#9 & 13, don't be so harsh. Back in the midwest, where I lived as a kid, we used to get tons of snow. However, it was also flat. There wasn't a hill of note within a hundred miles. With patience, it was quite driveable even with 3' of snow. Here in Seattle, if you start sliding on a hill, even on the thinnest ice, no amount of skill or experience will make much difference. You're not stopping till you hit something or get to the bottom.

Makes me want to puke - once I see them in their parkas, I change the channel.

Didja notice how nearly every vehicle that lost control was a large, heavy 4-wheel-drive SUV? People don't seem to understand physics. 4-wheel-drive helps you GO. It does nothing whatever to help you stop, or slow on a hill, and the weight of the vehicle, combined with the excessive speed caused by your 4WD causing overconfidence, combined with low friction, will cause you to discover this fact. On the other hand, that compact car shown near the end of the clip seemed to be in relative control; at any rate, it didn't show him hitting anything.

I drove home last year in the midst of the snowstorm, with big SUVs, trucks, and buses jackknifing all around me. I drove slowly and carefully, changing gears and turning with great caution, and using my brakes almost not at all. My car's a stick, so I was using the engine to slow myself, not the brakes. My car never so much as wagged its tail, while people were smacking into parked cars and lightpoles all around. Then again, I didn't start down the big hill until I called ahead to find out if the route was relatively clear. The best way to avoid an accident on a steep downhill in bad weather is not to go down that hill at all if you can help it.

Funny @5, because when I watched this, the first thing that popped into my head was The Who's "Pinball Wizard":

Ever since it started snowing
I’ve tried to reach the mall
By sliding past my neighbor’s
Cars each nestled in their stall
But my brakes are all but useless
As the flakes they start to fall
Now this clueless winter driver
Feels like he’s playing pin ball

I skate just like a curling stone
Behind the wheel of my machine
Feeling all the bumpers
Against which I careen
I’ll have to check my coverage
Give my insurance man a call
‘Cause this clueless winter driver
Feels like he’s playing pin ball

I’m a clueless winter driver
I’ve hit twenty cars today
Clueless winter driver
Barely out of my driveway

How do you think I do it?
(I don't know)
What makes me so dumb?

I ain’t got no ABS
on this here SUV
Don’t need no winter studs
No four-wheel-drive for me
I’ll make myself a laughing-stock
As down the street I crawl
Just a clueless winter driver
Thinks he’s playing pin ball

I thought I was
Among winter driving champs
But I just bashed up
Three dozen car head lamps

Now I’m stopped against the curbside
Wondering how I’m gonna pay
For all the fricking damage
I meted out today
Someone pounding on my window
You should hear the names he calls
I’m a clueless winter driver
And he’s gonna have my balls

While us native Midwesterners may be a bit jaded when it come to driving in the snow, you will alternatively see no comments from us about driving up the counterbalance in a stick-shift.

/ringknocker?

It’s the attitude that bothers me, the sweeping “People in this city are wusses when it comes to the Elements” proclamations from the snow driving "pros".

p.s. You're totally right on about the people who go off about the too hot/too cold. Too funny!

That said, last time it snowed here my biggest problem was navigating around all the abandoned cars. If people can't deal with the weather, why do they try to drive in it? They should have the good sense to stay home instead of creating problems.