Snow = bad drivers?

Kiblams

As if it wasn't bad enough having to push my bike up a footbridge (Shared cyle path) as I had no traction on my back wheel and kept locking up the front wheel on ice (again more shared cycle paths) when I was on the road bit of my commute the drivers seemed to have become a void of all common sense.

For the first time in my 6 months of commuting by bike I had soemone try to turn infront of me down a road to the left as i tried to carry straight on, luckily I was only going fairly slow but still had to stop dead, another driver tried to squash me into the side of a stationary bus :shock:

What is going on!?! has the cold gone to thier heads? :?

[/rant]

will3

This morning:
2 people driving through snow covered roads whilst chatting on a mobile
lots of 4x4 drivers who think that thier vehicles somehow have better grip than anything else so are bombing along far too fast.

Bikerbaboon

Kiblams wrote:

when I was on the road bit of my commute the drivers seemed to have become a void of all common sense.

What is going on!?! has the cold gone to thier heads? :?

[/rant]

Simple school boy error there.

no driver that you meet on the road has any common sense. (snow or otherwise)
always remember no matter the weather conditions all other drivers on the road are drooling blind idiots that are trying to kill you.
with the aid of snow it makes it easyer for them to do it.

ride safe and look out foryourself as no one on the road is going to do it for you.

Belv

Snow doesn't make drivers worse, it just shows up the bad driving that modern car technology (tyres, ABS, power steering, traction control, etc) can usually cover up/compensate for.

rhext

Snow's got nothing to do with it. Just makes it more obvious, that's all.

CiB

I had to switch mine off at one point this morning - the DSCP [traction etc control] backs off the power when it detects wheel spin, leaving me stranded halfway up a bit of a climb with no momentum and ever-reducing power. Sometimes you need full control.

Anyway; OP - had these miscreants made any effort to clear their windows? The number of people who don't clear all windows, and mirrors, and front & rear lights, it amazes me sometimes.

I reckon a lot of drivers are on the edge of their ability envelope in normal driving conditions and as soon as it deteriorates a bit, too much of their brain power is devoted to just keeping it on the road with the inevitable result that all the peripheral information is discarded. Like the woman doing 30 this morning in an NSL, where the only snow by then was a light dusting in the fields. I passed her on the dual c/w and her face was crumpled in concentration and fear. People like that should stay at home and let the rest of the world get on with it.

roger_merriman

Snow isn't something most people get much of a chance to get much experince driving.

Even up in the hills it doen't properlly snow for more than a few days a year.

suzyb

NSL?

Kiblams

I would like to just add that the roads i was on when these incidents were happeneing were clear of snow, only the footpaths and residential areas around here don't get gritted, so lack of traction etc had nothing to do with it, which is why it was so confising! :x

carlosnashos

-null- wrote:

NSL?

National Speed Limit

CiB

-null- wrote:

NSL?

National Speed Limit - 60mph on that road, 70 on the dual c/w further on. You don't have to aim to do 60 all the while, but doing 30 when the only drop in road conditions is that the road surface is a bit wet is indicative of poor driving ability and a disregard of other road users. It's all well & good being a little cautious but 30 is a joke. Had this driver even tried stopping quickly with no traffic behind just to see how slippery it is, or isn't? Probably not. Did she have any comprehension of how long the queue behind her was? Probably not? Did she care etc etc?

You don't have to be a speed freak to want to drive at a sensible speed. I aim for MPG in the car, not MPH. Not often that there's a q of traffic building up behind me though.

Moomin23

Snow aside, I'm still amazed at the amount of people at half seven in the morning driving with no lights on! Had to pull out into traffic to go round parked cars the other day, checked over my shoulder for anyone coming up behind, nothing, just as I pulled out, car came skimming past horn blaring shouting through the window at me. Needless to say, if the tool had his lights on, I might have spotted him and waited before pulling out!

I feel a bit pious about having to tap on peoples windows at the lights and telling them their lights are off, but surely this occurs to them when they are setting off in the blackness of a winter morning!!

alfablue

Just keep calm. What's the rush?

CiB

alfablue wrote:

Just keep calm. What's the rush?

Setting off in plenty of time, in conditions that soon become nothing more than a wet Tuesday in December [alright, Friday], and still being held up by drivers who think 30 is good enough, tends to make me wish I'd gone the other way.

Moomin23 wrote:

I feel a bit pious about having to tap on peoples windows at the lights and telling them their lights are off, but surely this occurs to them when they are setting off in the blackness of a winter morning!!

Like I said,

ChrisInBicester wrote:

I reckon a lot of drivers are on the edge of their ability envelope in normal driving conditions and as soon as it deteriorates a bit, too much of their brain power is devoted to just keeping it on the road with the inevitable result that all the peripheral information is discarded.

teagar

If you are not the one providing the power to the vehicle, and not particularly attached to the controls more generally, it's diffiicult to feel connected with what the car is actually doing.

Makes it much harder to judge what your car is actually doing.

On the bike, the second there's a little slip you immediately know...

fnegroni

Re: Stability/Traction control.

One of the advanced driving courses I took was a full day ProDrive package: done with my own car (Mazda RX-8 ), it showed me how good the DSC is.
We even tested black ice driving, and the DSC can keep you from going head-to-tail.
When the traction control keeps cutting in, it's a sign that there is too much power. The DSC is not designed to do things for you, only to reduce the consequences.
If it's so icy that traction control cannot cope, you obviously must disable it but you must be able to handle such circumstance.
Incidentally, most DSC's can not be fully disabled, only partially: the RX-8 has three settings: ON/Partially ON/OFF, and when OFF it's completely OFF (as I have tested several times on race tracks). Partially ON means it will cope with ice better than in fully ON.

Re: drivers being on the edge of abilities.

I agree. My wife complains that I can't have a full on conversation with her in the car while I am driving.
The thing is, I am pay 100% attention to driving (road/hazards/anything) and chatting or thinking about holidays is not in my head. If I need to talk to fellow passengers, I instictively slow down (don't even realise I do it) to give me a chance to pay enough attention to the road.
I have been passenger of people I know, whom I would not let drive my son to school. I accept that my wife would...

Eau Rouge

I don't think she was on the edge of her driving ability, she's been told from loads of places that driving in snow is dangerous and causes traffic chaos. She sees some snow. She doesn't make a distinction between a light dusting of snow and a Swedish forest in January becuase nobody has ever made that distinction to her before.
She doesn't really *like* driving, it's not a skill you learn, it's a handy way to get to work. She has no concept of what "road condisitons" might mean. All she knows is that snow=dangerous, any tiny amount of snow=dangerous.
That's not really a lack of ability. It's a lack of understanding.
Not that that is any better mind you.

Flasheart

Bikerbaboon wrote:

no driver that you meet on the road has any common sense. (snow or otherwise)

I resent that remark. How do you know how well I drive my car or if I have any common sense when doing so?

Sweeping generalisations like that are as bad as the people that don't cycle accusing us of all being RLJing, pavement riding, no lights at night ninja's that run old ladies down at pedestrian crossings.
:evil:
[/rant]

thegibdog

Flasheart wrote:

Bikerbaboon wrote:

no driver that you meet on the road has any common sense. (snow or otherwise)

I resent that remark. How do you know how well I drive my car or if I have any common sense when doing so?

Sweeping generalisations like that are as bad as the people that don't cycle accusing us of all being RLJing, pavement riding, no lights at night ninja's that run old ladies down at pedestrian crossings.
:evil:
[/rant]

At least you accept the "drooling blind idiots" comment then.

Flasheart

Hey, nobody's perfect

Wildboar

I am fully aware of what the car is doing when I am driving which is why after driving any real distance I am knackered because I pay attention all the time and pre empt what most other drivers are going to do. Up here most of the people who have moved u pfrom down South seem to think they all need 4x4's never had a problem myself with an average car and like already mentioned they think they have more grip which is amusing when you see them go off the road. As for cycling I'd want to stay as far away as possible from cars in this weather.