We asked earlier this week what are the worst things about driving in the winter. Unsurprisingly, no reader commented that it was their poor driving skills. There was a wide variety of replies ranging from unprepared drivers and unaware pedestrians to the headaches of just dealing with the ice and snow. Without further ado, here are the worst things about driving in the winter:
Drivers who talk about how good their car is in the snow because it’s all-wheel drive. See also: people who don’t understand the difference between grip and traction.
Submitted by: ExBrit
There is a very special kind of overnight ice buildup on the windshield that occurs between -5C and -10C. Outside of that range, scraping your windows is a snap. Within that range, the ice bonds to the glass to the point that they’re like one surface. There isn’t a tool aside from a razor blade that will remove it with any kind of efficiency.
Submitted by: JohnnyWasASchoolBoy
The state salting the roads like a they’re seasoning a pretzel when there’s less than an inch of snow in the forecast (or anytime for that matter.)
I’m team sand and let nature take it’s course personally, but beet juice would be fine with me since it’s non corrosive.
Submitted by: Theoretics
The worst thing for me is shoveling my driveway. I have a long driveway with a narrow portion between two houses where you can’t just shovel it to one side or the other.
The next worst thing is the odd time a barrier of snow is left by the snow plow at the base of my driveway.
Submitted by: Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
As a delivery driver, the thing that sucks the most is that nice, normally tipping people decide they don’t want to make us drive in bad weather, so they come pick up their order instead. Meanwhile, no-tipping a-holes come out of the woodwork because they don’t care, and won’t drive in bad weather. Net effect is you make less money during bad weather. If we’re open for delivery and you’re a nice person, get delivery. Plus it keeps traffic off the road.
Submitted by: Jumbojeepman
The drivers. Especially down south. If it snows and it freezes on the road, it’s armageddon.
Submitted by: Nemo
Clearing out a spot to park in.
I’m a native Floridaman. I was traveling up in Boston and had to leave the hotel to pick up a few things early in the morning. When I went downstairs it’d snowed pretty heavily the night before so snow was piled up real bad. I had to dig out my rental and it took like 20 minutes in subzero temps. THEN I go to the store for like 5 minutes and came back and someone took my spot. I then had to dig out a new spot just so I could park and head back to my room. While living in Florida is the absolute worst, on that particular day I really had to debate that merits of that argument.
Submitted by: Killing Time
For the uninitiated, black ice looks just like a wet road. It will fool people into thinking everything is good until they find themselves in a “holy shit, I have no control over my car and I’m about to hit something very expensive and it’s entirely my fault”.
Often, in really cold weather, say -10F or below, even vehicle exhaust will freeze on the roadway and form a mirror smooth finish that will sneak up on you when you least expect it.
Black ice is the devil, except much colder.
Submitted by: factoryhack
Giant snow banks you can’t see around/over. Problem for everyone. People pulling out of driveways and side streets. People on main roads encountering people pulling out of driveways and side streets. Both techniques...the slow creep or the ‘I’m just gonna go and hope no one is hauling ass down the street’, are equally humbling for all levels of drivers.
Submitted by: iblameRichardScarry
I’m tempted to say other drivers, but that is kinda a year round thing. Other people on the road suck.
I’m gonna say the pedestrians instead. People are bad enough at looking around them when they step out into the road just in general. Throw in massive hats, scarves, hoods, and the tendency to hunker in against the wind, and you have a real recipe for disaster. People will not turn their heads, sometimes are so bundled up they can’t, and their peripheral vision is shot. Plus the lower visibility in general too.
Submitted by: skeffles
People who don’t buy winter tires, don’t know how to drive, and still insist on going out on the roads on the handful of bad days, even if we’ve known for days there was going to be a heavier snowfall. It’s infuriating to be stuck in a long line of cars just to see one vehicle impotently spinning its wheels holding the whole thing up.
Submitted by: Maymar
The people who tend to go out on bad days, and have ill-prepared cars, also tend to be the people who need to go out the most. e.g. low-wage workers that risk job loss.
This is a byproduct of the car-centric society we’ve built. Not a byproduct of someone in a tough position.
Submitted by: 648732985422