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RSS icon Comments on "A World Without Friction"

1

It's almost like that first car couldn't stand the idea of not hitting everything.

Posted by Mr. Poe | November 27, 2007 9:47 AM
2

Some people really do deserve to be pulled out of their cars and beaten.

Posted by Greg | November 27, 2007 9:48 AM
3

This is totally awesome.

Posted by Michigan Matt | November 27, 2007 10:03 AM
4

I just don't get in a vehicle whenever there's the slightest bit of snow on the ground here. Apparently no one in the Northwest is capable of anticipating or properly preventing a skid.

Posted by tsm | November 27, 2007 10:04 AM
5

Picture yourself near a road in the winter,
With anti-lock brakes, at the end of your drive...
Cresting the hilltop, with no sign of stopping,
A girl in a Scion slides by...

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...]

Posted by Chris B | November 27, 2007 10:14 AM
6

What a nightmare. Those people must've needed some serious spreadsheets to keep track of everyone's insurance information.

Posted by Levislade | November 27, 2007 10:20 AM
7

Almost as much fun as waiting for the fools to come down the Counterbalance after a light dusting.

Posted by kid icarus | November 27, 2007 10:34 AM
8

@5: Lucy's gonna slide her Daimler

Posted by Eric in Boulder | November 27, 2007 10:58 AM
9

Total wusses.

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 ...

Posted by Will in Seattle | November 27, 2007 11:00 AM
10

david schmader, i love you.

Posted by kerri harrop | November 27, 2007 11:04 AM
11

Is it just me, or did the driver of the first car appear to actually try to go faster? I swear it sounded like it was accelerating when it did that loopy left turn....

Posted by The CHZA | November 27, 2007 11:07 AM
12

I'd forgotten about this fun clip! Same thing happened to me a year ago on Lakeview. Remember that half-inch of snow we got on a Wednesday night last year? That, coupled with the bald tires on my car, were enough to cause an 8MPH accident. Lame.

Posted by Matt Fuckin' Hickey | November 27, 2007 11:23 AM
13

#9 - I am SO with you. People in this city are wusses when it comes to the Elements. But then, sounds like we both learned to drive in nasty weather and are a little more accustomed to it.

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.

Posted by Dod | November 27, 2007 11:23 AM
14

lmao, I loved that first car. it was fighting so hard that id caused itself more damage.

Posted by Bellevue Ave | November 27, 2007 11:28 AM
15

Awesome. That first car managed to hit nearly everything in sight. I don't think he (she?) could have hit any more cars if they tried.

#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.

Posted by SDA in SEA | November 27, 2007 12:40 PM
16

@13 - Storm Watch 2007!

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

Posted by Will in Seattle | November 27, 2007 12:42 PM
17

Clueless fuckheads+Giant heavy vehicles+Portland ice storms=fun for hours for the disinterested observer with a phone camera.

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.

Posted by Geni | November 27, 2007 12:48 PM
18

Um, gee guys, that's great that you, like, you know, learned to drive through midwestern blizzards going uphill to school both ways and all. Now, please tell us how your parents cut you up into little pieces every morning, then fed you hot gravel for breakfast.

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

Posted by COMTE | November 27, 2007 12:51 PM
19

Is it just me, or is everybody from the Midwest (that somehow ended up here) a total righteous asshat when it comes to driving in the snow?

Posted by Jimmy Legs | November 27, 2007 1:02 PM
20

@19 - Seriously. I like being terrified of a light dusting. If you don't like it, get out (now I sound like a republican)!

Posted by Richard | November 27, 2007 1:07 PM
21

@19

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?

Posted by LT L | November 27, 2007 1:09 PM
22

@19. YES!

Posted by DOUG. | November 27, 2007 1:30 PM
23

@9: So you're saying that people who didn't regularly drive in snow while learning to drive aren't as good at driving in snow? Holy shit, I think you're on to something there. Great insight!

Posted by Greg | November 27, 2007 2:03 PM
24

@23 That's exactly the point... Peeps in the NW don't regularly drive in the snow so.... funny shit ensues.

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".


Posted by Jimmy Legs | November 27, 2007 3:27 PM
25

@15: Right on with the hill thing. Every town I lived in in SD was pretty much pancake flat all over. But on top of having hills here, there's also absolutely no infrastructure to handle the snow. How many plows are there for all of King county? Six? In the Midwest, they have the equipment to get the snow off the roads before that three-quarters of an inch of snow turns into an eigth of an inch sheen of ice over all the roads.

It just always cracks me up when people try to claim it ever gets too hot or too cold here. The weather here is fucking gorgeous.

Posted by Ben | November 27, 2007 4:15 PM
26

If coefficient of friction = 0, then ya takes your lumps, hills or no. I dare any pasty faced midwesterner to come out here and tackle the Denny Hill Climb on 1/4" of ice. Don't work no how no way. BTW, is that one of the reasons Portland is supposed to be so great?

Posted by Orphan from Colorado and glad to be Here | November 27, 2007 4:41 PM
27

Oh man, thank you for resurrecting this. I laughed so hard at this last year when it happened, and now the joy is back.
But seriously, people who never learned to drive in the snow should either 1. learn to drive in the snow or 2. don't drive in the snow.

Posted by scharrera | November 27, 2007 5:07 PM
28

@25 - I learned how to drive in Duluth, MN. Winter + Duluth = snow AND hills.
I'm not self-righteous about much, can't I have this one?? Please? (Note: I'm conveniently leaving out the part about salt trucks, plow fleets and Snow Emergency Routes.)

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

Posted by Dod | November 27, 2007 6:33 PM
29

i just dont get what kind of balls someone has when they decide to go driving in the snow when they have no frame of reference for doing so. crazy big balls!

Posted by Bellevue Ave | November 27, 2007 6:35 PM
30

@28: Yeah, and I went to college in Houghton. 200+ inches of snow a year, and studded tires were illegal. The difference was they put down sand. You can climb a surprisingly steep snow-covered hill with sand and a little momentum. Here they understandably don't have the infrastructure for that.

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.

Posted by Orv | November 27, 2007 8:20 PM
31

Comte and Chris B: Excellent, both of you.

Posted by Eric in Boulder | November 27, 2007 9:05 PM
32

I love this city ever so much...

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33

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34

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