Monday, December 17, 2007
Winter Drivers
As part of my permanent rant mode about drivers, I'd like to talk about an SUV I saw driving down the road today. Yesterday, we finished a major snow storm of about 8-10". The major roads were pretty much cleared off by the time I left for work this morning, but the secondary roads are still the pits; which makes my very low VW New Beetle very unhappy. (And the original Beetles were such good snow machines too.) Ironically, as I pulled out onto are unplowed road this morning, I met the snow plow coming in.
The main road to work was pretty clear, but did have a little slush from the drifting snow of the evening. I came up behind an SUV driving about 10 mph under the speed limit. No big thing, I can understand the caution and stayed behind her for awhile. Finally I sped up a little and passed her as the road got better. When I passed I took a look at the cautious driver.
She had no lights on, was smoking a cigarette and talking on her cell phone, and had only uncovered her window leaving a pile of snow on her hood and roof. Does she really think that driving a little slower will counteract all the stupid stuff she was also doing? Granted, I've seen much worse. Cars with nothing more than a porthole cleared in the front window with all other windows covered in inches of snow; tailgating on icy, snow-covered roads; driving with no lights on during a dark and snowy night; the stupidity continues unabated.
You'd think that after living in Michigan, you'd come up with some snow common sense. It's not like Mississippi where you might see snow once a year - if that often. You couldn't possibly be surprised that it's snowy and slippery out - OK, I guess you can. They did interview people on TV last night who were totally clueless that a snow fall had been forecast for a week. Supposedly, these folks had gotten up on Sunday surprised at the 6 inches of snow. Please find these people a place on the Darwin Award rolls.
