Slog
News & ArtsMonday, January 16, 2012
City Seattle Drivers In Two Inches of Snow
Posted by Eli Sanders on Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 9:11 AM
Slog tipper Adam writes:
I figured y'all would want to see this video of Seattle drivers doing a terrible, terrible job in the snow yesterday. Filmed on First Hill at Boren and University.
1
People have all the money for the latest version of tech gadget crap, but can't put out a few hundred dollars for some winter/snow tread tires that can be switched out and used over multiple years for things like this. Gotta love it!
2
To be fair, I see shit like this in Iowa too. Driving uphill on wet snow with no salt = bad times.
4
To be fair, II - that kind of snow (super wet - frozen underneath) is really fucken hard to drive on. However, I had a laugh and thought of Homer Simpson - "its going to take a whole lot of flooring..."
5
#1
When it gets icy I see all kinds of rugged trucks and SUVs spinning around the same as anyone else.
There are a whole lot of idiots who drive these things in snowy icy roads as if it were 65 on a spring day...gunning the engine, racing to yellow, when they have the same zero stopping power as any other vehicle!
When it gets icy I see all kinds of rugged trucks and SUVs spinning around the same as anyone else.
There are a whole lot of idiots who drive these things in snowy icy roads as if it were 65 on a spring day...gunning the engine, racing to yellow, when they have the same zero stopping power as any other vehicle!
6
So one could point out that even though we don’t get a lot of snow around here, traction tires or chains in the trunk and other road supplies are pretty important. One could snark about untrained drivers. One could point out we’re not used to driving in the snow around here and we’ve got all these hills, right?
But forget all that.
I feel bad for the drivers, but I just love watching these videos. (Even after getting pushed sideways by a sliding truck a few years back.) These types of videos are great – as long as I can allow myself to forget that these are real people trying to get somewhere.
But forget all that.
I feel bad for the drivers, but I just love watching these videos. (Even after getting pushed sideways by a sliding truck a few years back.) These types of videos are great – as long as I can allow myself to forget that these are real people trying to get somewhere.
8
When I lived in Seattle, I kept tire chains in the trunk of my car all winter. They come in handy since, unlike the north-eastern US, in Seattle they typically don't salt and only plow major arterials.
9
Why do people pay all that money for an suv and not get all wheel drive? or good all season tires?
11
We get snow once every two years. We have crazy hills everywhere. We don't have a fleet of snowplows. Of course 2 inches of snow is going to cripple the city.
My friend from Idaho was mocking this, but he puts studded snow tires on his truck at Halloween. And there are a couple times of year when the snow gets too heavy for him to get around, even with all his preparation.
Many places don't consider 2 inches of snow extreme weather, but it is extreme for around here, and it effects us like extreme weather effects people in other places.
My friend from Idaho was mocking this, but he puts studded snow tires on his truck at Halloween. And there are a couple times of year when the snow gets too heavy for him to get around, even with all his preparation.
Many places don't consider 2 inches of snow extreme weather, but it is extreme for around here, and it effects us like extreme weather effects people in other places.
12
Yeah, cute, but in their defense that's one of the steepest hills in Seattle. I'm surprised that it had any traffic on it at all since there are other routes up First Hill available that aren't quite as steep.
Boston gets a bad rap about its drivers, but I've never seen anything like them in the snow and ice (and big time snow and ice, too)...like 65 mph on Storrow Drive on top of about 6 inches of ice. It was amazing.
Boston gets a bad rap about its drivers, but I've never seen anything like them in the snow and ice (and big time snow and ice, too)...like 65 mph on Storrow Drive on top of about 6 inches of ice. It was amazing.
13
The guy who shot this video (I assume it's a guy, anyway; it has a douchiness about it that is distinctly male) is probably a bike/bus-riding "urban villager" with no kids who doesn't even own a car.
14
Don't really see what is so ridiculous about their performance as drivers. It looks slippery as shit. Are they supposed to magically make their cars have traction?
16
To be fair, some people born and raised here know that they're huge sissy babies when it comes to snow (like me!), so as soon as a flake falls out of the sky, they cancel all engagements and say, "Fuck no, I'm not getting near the car."
17
@10 FTW
People in Spokane like to make fun of Seattleites' ineptitude in the snow, but. Spokane has one big hill -- a ridge, really -- has many streets coming down it, and every time it snows the TV stations send camera crews to wait at the bottom of the main arterials. The Escalades and Suburbans come swirling down the hill, and they always interview some driver who says "I thought my 4-wheel-drive was going to give me traction on the ice."
And while I'm venting: Spokane drivers are much much worse in general than Seattle's. I live at an intersection of a main arterial and a residential cross street. There's a crosswalk at my corner, with a day-glo green "crosswalk ahead" sign half a block away, plus another day-glo green "CROSSWALK" sign at the crosswalk, not to mention the crosswalk painted on the asphalt. Several times a year there are accidents at my corner when someone stops for a pedestrian and gets rear-ended. A couple of those are rear-end three-ways: the person who stopped gets rear-ended, and then that car gets rear-ended. It's pretty impressive.
People in Spokane like to make fun of Seattleites' ineptitude in the snow, but. Spokane has one big hill -- a ridge, really -- has many streets coming down it, and every time it snows the TV stations send camera crews to wait at the bottom of the main arterials. The Escalades and Suburbans come swirling down the hill, and they always interview some driver who says "I thought my 4-wheel-drive was going to give me traction on the ice."
And while I'm venting: Spokane drivers are much much worse in general than Seattle's. I live at an intersection of a main arterial and a residential cross street. There's a crosswalk at my corner, with a day-glo green "crosswalk ahead" sign half a block away, plus another day-glo green "CROSSWALK" sign at the crosswalk, not to mention the crosswalk painted on the asphalt. Several times a year there are accidents at my corner when someone stops for a pedestrian and gets rear-ended. A couple of those are rear-end three-ways: the person who stopped gets rear-ended, and then that car gets rear-ended. It's pretty impressive.
18
Also, while I'm on the subject: people from other places can throw shade, but how many of those other places have as many steep hills everywhere as urban Seattle? A little consideration, please.
19
The thing about winter-tread tires, and especially studded tires, is that they actually have _less_ good traction than do all-season tires on roads that are wet, as opposed to snowy or icy. Since your roads there are wet a helluva lot more than they are snowy or icy, I'd say the safer thing to do is keep your all-seasons on year-round, and keep your appartment stocked with an emergency supply of popcorn and videos, for your very occasional snowy day.
20
Drivers in Seattle are idiots year round, but it takes the three whole days a year that we actually have snow on the ground for the real geniuses to show themselves.
Maybe one or two of the Stranger's million or so "Snowpocalypse" could try to include safety tips for driving in inclement weather, but I guess that would cut into the number of "look at this car slide" posts you'd be able to make this week.
Maybe one or two of the Stranger's million or so "Snowpocalypse" could try to include safety tips for driving in inclement weather, but I guess that would cut into the number of "look at this car slide" posts you'd be able to make this week.
21
I remember being stuck in the apartment bldg. the video is shot from 40 years ago on a snow-bound New Years eve with nothing in the house to drink but madeira! Sad!
22
@20 there are plenty of other "how to operate a motor vehicle in weather, and by the way this list hasn't changed since you were first supposed to learn it when you got your license" lists around.
fact is, seattle has some of the worst drivers in the country. timid, passive-agressive and bad at math ("hmmm ... if 5 mph slower on the freeway is safer than 10 must be twice as safe!!!").
stranger: moar fuckups driving in dusting of snow videos, please.
fact is, seattle has some of the worst drivers in the country. timid, passive-agressive and bad at math ("hmmm ... if 5 mph slower on the freeway is safer than 10 must be twice as safe!!!").
stranger: moar fuckups driving in dusting of snow videos, please.
23
As a Georgia driver who hears no end of self-righteousness from northerners whenever it snows down here and the roads basically shut down,
Ha
fucking
Ha.
Ha
fucking
Ha.
24
Granted, that's a slick and dangerous hill. People still have no excuse for flooring it and spinning their wheels like that. Ease onto the gas and your tires will grip better. Static friction is stronger than kinetic friction.
25
I always love how every year when these videos start appearing all the newly-transplanted out-of-towners AUTOMATICALLY assume these clueless drivers are FROM SEATTLE, and not just another transplant like themselves, who never learned how to drive in the inclement weather where they came from, and moved here, in part, thinking they'd now never have to.
26
@ 25 actually, i've said seattle drivers suck. that includes natives and transplants. the natives infect the transplants with their fear of magic machinery. there, you've had yer group hug.
27
@6: I don't think carrying around four spare tires in your truck all winter long is practical. You're not really proposing that someone's going to change those by the side of the road themselves (so that'd be four tires mounted on four actual wheels=heavy, pricey) when two inches of snow falls 1.5 times a year are you? And then swap them out again in two days when everything melts because snow tires are crap on non-snowy wet roads?
Snowy hills+non-snow tires+no salt/sand/plowing=not much you can do about it, regardless of your 1st gear driving aptitude.
Snowy hills+non-snow tires+no salt/sand/plowing=not much you can do about it, regardless of your 1st gear driving aptitude.
29
@27 Not at all. I wrote that the chains could be in the trunk. Have you never seen the lists of “how to prepare for winter driving”? I agree with the professionals that preparing for winter driving is important. That said, I do not have any emergency supplies in my car; I do not own chains. And I could have been in one of those videos a few years ago.
What I was saying is that people make those sorts of comments after watching these types of videos: "bad drivers" "unprepared" "lots of hills".
My point is that I really like watching those videos. I feel bad for the people in them – I’ve been there. But I still like to watch cars sliding around.
What I was saying is that people make those sorts of comments after watching these types of videos: "bad drivers" "unprepared" "lots of hills".
My point is that I really like watching those videos. I feel bad for the people in them – I’ve been there. But I still like to watch cars sliding around.
30
@26:
We natives have no fear of "magic machinery"; after all, we've been building airplanes, long-haul trucks and rocket components around here for longer than you've been alive. But being in the path of some newbie from the mid-west who thinks they can drive their $70,000 Escalade at 40 mph down an ice-coated hill just because it says 4X4 somewhere on it does tend to scare the crap out of us.
We natives have no fear of "magic machinery"; after all, we've been building airplanes, long-haul trucks and rocket components around here for longer than you've been alive. But being in the path of some newbie from the mid-west who thinks they can drive their $70,000 Escalade at 40 mph down an ice-coated hill just because it says 4X4 somewhere on it does tend to scare the crap out of us.
31
Meh. My car is shit in the snow too. Two days a year of driving sideways and then sliding backwards down a hill are more convenient than learning how to put on chains.
It's the pedestrians that are crazy going out in the snow. There are two ton hunks of metal spinning out of control everywhere! You need to be in a two ton hunk of metal to protect yourself!
It's the pedestrians that are crazy going out in the snow. There are two ton hunks of metal spinning out of control everywhere! You need to be in a two ton hunk of metal to protect yourself!
32
I thought that was the theme music to the 60's spoof film "Casino Royale". But a bit of wikipedia shows that it's the same artist, different track.
http://www.last.fm/music/Herb+Alpert+and…
"Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass", the snow video uses the song "Spanish Flea", but I can almost sing along with the Casino Royale theme:
"Have no fear, look who's here...
James Bond... They've got us on the run…
With guns... And knives... We're fighting for our lives...
Have no fear, Bond is here...
He's gonna to save the world at Casino Royale!"
http://www.last.fm/music/Herb+Alpert+and…
"Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass", the snow video uses the song "Spanish Flea", but I can almost sing along with the Casino Royale theme:
"Have no fear, look who's here...
James Bond... They've got us on the run…
With guns... And knives... We're fighting for our lives...
Have no fear, Bond is here...
He's gonna to save the world at Casino Royale!"
33
@ 30 you mean "operating a motor vehicle does tend to scare the crap out of us" i'm sure. typos happen. it's cool.
34
@33:
No, I MEANT what I WROTE, douchenozzle. And as a native Northwesterner who's probably driven in more snow than you've ever seen, I now graciously invite you to take your supercilious Californian superiority complex, shift it into "4-wheel" and shove it up your ass. If nothing else, it'll help ream out some of those nasty hemorrhoids that seem to be affecting the blood-flow to your brain.
No, I MEANT what I WROTE, douchenozzle. And as a native Northwesterner who's probably driven in more snow than you've ever seen, I now graciously invite you to take your supercilious Californian superiority complex, shift it into "4-wheel" and shove it up your ass. If nothing else, it'll help ream out some of those nasty hemorrhoids that seem to be affecting the blood-flow to your brain.
35
@28: Central Ballard hasn't seen one measly flake stick to the ground. So jealous of the rest of you!
36
I have never had ANY issues driving around in the snow. To the top of queen anne, the top of capitol hill, W.Seattle Bridge, Magnolia, Beacon, anywhere.
I whip an old Volvo and swap on a set of 4 studded snow tires with aggressive tread for the winter. They are excellent on sheets of ice, and in snow/slush, when coupled with smooth and experienced snow/ice driving and common sense about hills.
There is no excuse not to know your limits, and if you don't have snow/ice tires, DON'T DRIVE IN SNOW AND ICE. It's not that f*cking complicated.
And if proper tires are 'too complicated' (people who can't change a tire should not be allowed to drive) or 'too expensive' (Les Schwab changes them for FREE if they're on wheels), how difficult is it to have a complete set of chains in your trunk for the one week a year you need them in Seattle?
There is no such thing as an "accident" due to inclement weather. There is only operator error and/or general human stupidity.
The WORST, of course, are 100% of people in SUVs or AWD vehicles who think that helps them out IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER in icy conditions. Idiots.
The only problem I've ever had in snow and ice is other drivers crashing up and clogging the roads.
I whip an old Volvo and swap on a set of 4 studded snow tires with aggressive tread for the winter. They are excellent on sheets of ice, and in snow/slush, when coupled with smooth and experienced snow/ice driving and common sense about hills.
There is no excuse not to know your limits, and if you don't have snow/ice tires, DON'T DRIVE IN SNOW AND ICE. It's not that f*cking complicated.
And if proper tires are 'too complicated' (people who can't change a tire should not be allowed to drive) or 'too expensive' (Les Schwab changes them for FREE if they're on wheels), how difficult is it to have a complete set of chains in your trunk for the one week a year you need them in Seattle?
There is no such thing as an "accident" due to inclement weather. There is only operator error and/or general human stupidity.
The WORST, of course, are 100% of people in SUVs or AWD vehicles who think that helps them out IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER in icy conditions. Idiots.
The only problem I've ever had in snow and ice is other drivers crashing up and clogging the roads.
39
#37:
Your facility with badinage is impressive - for a hyper-adenoidal eight year-old. Is that really the best you can do?
Pity.
But then, I guess we shouldn't expect much from somebody born in a state where apparently they teach you to drive like this.
And of course, it's absolutely hee-larious to have someone who learned to drive in California, a state consistently cited as having some of the worst drivers in the country, not to mention the highest number of traffic fatalities per year, lecturing US about our bad driving habits.
So yeah, you can bet I'll probably keep to the right-hand lane there, Chim-Chim, old pal, since, from the sound of things you don't spend much time in it yourself, and I know I'll be one hell of a lot safer as a result.
Your facility with badinage is impressive - for a hyper-adenoidal eight year-old. Is that really the best you can do?
Pity.
But then, I guess we shouldn't expect much from somebody born in a state where apparently they teach you to drive like this.
And of course, it's absolutely hee-larious to have someone who learned to drive in California, a state consistently cited as having some of the worst drivers in the country, not to mention the highest number of traffic fatalities per year, lecturing US about our bad driving habits.
So yeah, you can bet I'll probably keep to the right-hand lane there, Chim-Chim, old pal, since, from the sound of things you don't spend much time in it yourself, and I know I'll be one hell of a lot safer as a result.
40
@19, It's STUDDED snow tires that are worse on wet pavement. Any non studded snow tire will outperform any all season tire on wet pavement and especially on standing water which is much more common in the winter.
Studded tires are an old technology that should have been banned years ago when the compounds in regular snow tires proved that they can outperform studs without destroying our roads.
Studded tires are an old technology that should have been banned years ago when the compounds in regular snow tires proved that they can outperform studs without destroying our roads.
41
@7 - FTW +1,000,000,000
For those of you who missed it - the lady trying to put the chains onto the rear wheels of her front-wheel-drive car. Weeeee!
The one thing this season does is exposes the two kinds of people in this world: the ones who will get down on their hands and knees and grovel in the filthy cold dark to put chains on, and the ones who try to do it bending over while standing up.
For those of you who missed it - the lady trying to put the chains onto the rear wheels of her front-wheel-drive car. Weeeee!
The one thing this season does is exposes the two kinds of people in this world: the ones who will get down on their hands and knees and grovel in the filthy cold dark to put chains on, and the ones who try to do it bending over while standing up.
42
my volvo has all wheel drive, yes.. but you are only as good as what touches the road. In this situation- Summer tires (also known as all-Season) are useless on anything below 30 degrees.
With that said. Nokkian (yes, they make cell phones) make the very best all WEATHER tires in the world. They go through everything AND will last 50,000 miles or more.
Can you say why didn't I think of that? Well?
With that said. Nokkian (yes, they make cell phones) make the very best all WEATHER tires in the world. They go through everything AND will last 50,000 miles or more.
Can you say why didn't I think of that? Well?
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