Who are the worst drivers in the snow?

[angus falconer]

Having grown up in Scotland where me and my mates treated a snowfall as the ideal time to go out and have some fun I am never less than amazed at how badly London drivers cope.

This morning (as usual) there only seem to be two modes of driving;

(1) rev engine, dump clutch, grit teeth and sail straight into the nearest kerb

(2) keep all windows covered in show, hold onto wheel with grim determination, drive in centre of road at 1.5mph and cause a massive tailback.

So I vote London drivers the worst snow drivers in the UK, and possibly Europe?

Any other votes?

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

this sounds dangerously like the North / South thing all over again. I don't think it's fair to pick on Londoners when no-one in South East of England has a clue what to do in snow.

I must say that given that this loaner car I have has 245x40x17 tyres on it, real wheel drive and an autobox, I'm glad that I'm not going to get the chance to try it out today!

 

[Hanz]

I've never driven in snow! I wouldn't know what to expect... So I'd probably be around the worst people to drive in it too!

 

[Myros]

don't worry Omni and Hanz

there are plenty oop north who can't handle the white stuff. Like the numpty who tried to pass me yesterday morning on the icy exit from a ford when my my back end was all over the shop. MAx Power peugeot type.
Full marks to the ML driver, who despite obviously being able to get through held off a minute and let me grind my way up the bank.

 

[eric242340]

Who are

Where i am its 26 degrees just now, snow - whats that But if we ever did ge snow (in a city of 10 million people) and one million cars - wow the garage would make a fortune

 

[Blobcat]

In north wales it is the transit van driver with the mobile phone clamped firmly to his ear whilst trying to negotiate an off camber left hand bend. He didn't understand why he went off the road.
I have left my E in a very snowy hotel car park and decided to spend another day in North Wales. No point in adding to the statistics if I don't have to.

 

[television]

I have left my E in a very snowy hotel car park and decided to spend another day in North Wales. No point in adding to the statistics if I don't have to.

Thats what I call a sensible post.

Hanah, English snow is like driving on oil, the car does go along,normally side ways into the kerb


Malcolm

 

[Dom320]

Had some idiot about 2 ft off my bumper this morning in very slippery conditions - obviously felt he could stop better than me

Lived in the (southern) USA for 3 years, and they have to be the worst I have ever come across in the snow. They would put their foot down in their V8 barges, and then wonder why the back end overtook the front

 

[angus falconer]

this sounds dangerously like the North / South thing all over again.

I straddle both and south - I've spend two decades in Scotland and two in London. I LIKE living in the South East.

But snow does bring out some odd ideas about the best way to tackle it.

 

[angus falconer]

. No point in adding to the statistics if I don't have to.

Quite. I walked my toddler to nursery today (as I normally do). However he does walk very slowly in the snow so I thought I'd shoot round in the car to save some time picking him up.

WRONG - I got totally stuck trying to get back onto the drive and have just had to spend the best part of 30 mins clearing the snow off.

There goes my lunch break *sigh*

 

[deejaybee]

Driving in London in the Snow

Had some idiot about 2 ft off my bumper this morning in very slippery conditions - obviously felt he could stop better than me

Lived in the (southern) USA for 3 years, and they have to be the worst I have ever come across in the snow. They would put their foot down in their V8 barges, and then wonder why the back end overtook the front

I do a 10 mile trip to work in SW London, normally by scooter, but for obvious reasons I took the car this morning! I am driving a CL420 so its obviously not the best choice for the conditions, but having said that its just a matter of being careful (the ESP and ABS also help).
I took the time to clear all the snow off of the car properly before I left home but I was amazed at how many people I saw driving along with 2-3 inches of snow over all of the windows except for the windscreen (even saw one person who had just cleared a small area of the 'screen and was pearing through this!).
I guess it just illustrates that a lot of people aren't used to snow and don't seem to have much common sense either, but I bet this is happening all over the country and not just in London.

Dave

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

Lived in the (southern) USA for 3 years, and they have to be the worst I have ever come across in the snow. They would put their foot down in their V8 barges, and then wonder why the back end overtook the front

I love the freezing rain they get there. That's really fun. Can't even walk on the damn stuff let alone drive. Imagine London with freezing rain!

 

[BarryG]

Yesterday after the couple of inches that fell here I was out with the soft brush to sweep away the soft snow (stating this to expalin how easy it was to do) that had totally covered my car. Took me about 30 seconds to clear whole car including windows and lights. (Odd how many people clear their windows and not their lights.)
The point I am making is. I was sitting waiting to collect someone from the city center. When a young lady arrived at her car which was completly covered in snow, I couldnt even tell what make it was. She got what I assume was some sort of ice scraper from the boot and proceeded to clear a 20" square on the windscreen. The next bit astounded me she got in the car and drove away no lights no clear visibilty, having only a patch the size of a TV to look through. I wonder how far she got before she either caused an accident or decided to do something about it?

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

They reported on Top Gear last week that is has now been made (or is about to be) an offence to tune your radio whilst driving. I wonder what they would make of someone driving a car where they could only see a 20" space through the windscreen?

I'm terrible when it comes to cleaning the windows, they pretty much need to be spotless before I'll drive. I think it comes from riding motorbikes; even with clean glass I'm still amazed at how many blind-spots there are on the average car.

 

[Bobthebuilder58]

Continuing the snow theme I have yet to buy a can of de-icer that actually works more than once I have tried everything with them.Leaving them in the car,in the house,in the oven(JOKE).The top always breaks off or the product refuses to come out??????

Perhaps De Icers don't like the cold??

Bob.

 

[42864]

Snow ??

Snow! What Snow? Down here South West Wales (Pembrokeshire) not a sign of it.

Dave

 

[Geoff W]

The place i work at is very exposed and very high up, we've had about 12" of snow today, so i took the caucious approach and let my boss run me home in his trooper, still dont like leaving my Merc out in the cold though!
Regards Geoff.

 

[shadowninja]

WRONG - I got totally stuck trying to get back onto the drive and have just had to spend the best part of 30 mins clearing the snow off.

ditto for me. I considered taking a "run up" but wondered what would happen if my drive was of low grip, given the conditions... would at least be able to step out of the car and into the living room - how's that for convenience.

 

[Apial]

Generally the worst drivers in snow are those that come from the urban zones. Rural drivers just treat it like rain thats gone white, especially those that live in hilly districts.

If you live in the sticks you soon learn. No gritters and no snow ploughs. You have to think ahead. A couple of years I started going down an icy hill when I remembered that I might get stuck at the bottom trying to get up the other side. I had only just started the decent so I stopped. I tried reversing back up the hill in my front wheel drive car, but the wheels just slipped. I put the handbrake on and got out to look for something to put under the wheels.

To my horror , the car started to slide down the hill without me, dragging the locked up back wheels!!!

I had to make a quick jump into the driving seat and put all the brakes on to stop it sliding down the hill. Anyway seeing as I was stuck going back, I thought I could be no worse than trying to get up the far side. I went forward and luckily the far side was not so bad.

I broke one of my rules. Never go out on hilly roads that are covered in ice and snow unless you have suitable winter tyres. It makes no difference if you are rwd,fwd,or 4wd, failure to prepare means to prepare to fail. Winter tyres are the only safe choice.

Travel to Germany in winter, and if you have an accident and you have summer tyres you automatically are apportioned blame even if it is the other partys fault.

 

[AlisonH]

There were no parking spaces left on the main road last night, so I was forced to park facing downhill and on a side road. It shouldn't have been a problem, as I'd calculated the car as being at the end of the legal area, facing down towards the main road which was well gritted and would normally have cleared from rush hour traffic by the time I needed to use the car. When I needed to leave I discovered someone had pulled up close and both in front and behind mine, leaving me barely 6" at either end and a sheet of untreated ice to the side - and then had the nerve not to bother going to work all day!

I gave up and walked!