SoCal Drivers and Rain: A Dangerous Combination

"Scott en Aztlán" > wrote in message
...

> All of this because of a storm that dropped perhaps 1/2" of rain on
> the Southland. Heaven forbid these people should ever get caught in a
> REAL rainstorm like they have in Chicago - or (gasp!) a SNOWstorm!!

Or one of those storms down here that we give names...

> These people simply would not survive.

That's why we have Darwin... ;-)

Scott en Aztlán wrote:

> Native SoCal drivers do some of the craziest **** when it rains.
>
> Tonight on the way home there was a car about 200 feet ahead of me. It
> was all by itself on a six-lane 65 MPH road - I was the only car even
> remotely close to it. From behind I could see the driver repeatedly
> applying his brakes in brief bursts (less than half a second per
> application), as if he were tailgating an imaginary car in front of
> him.

Actually, when driving on snow or ice, it is useful to get a feel
for the stopping distance by applying the brakes every now and then.
More often than not, especially if you have all-season tires, you
find that you've underestimated it.
Of course you have to make sure there is nobody behind you.

In article >, Scott en Aztlán wrote:

> All of this because of a storm that dropped perhaps 1/2" of rain on
> the Southland. Heaven forbid these people should ever get caught in a
> REAL rainstorm like they have in Chicago - or (gasp!) a SNOWstorm!!
> These people simply would not survive.

They would die in chicago. I294 in a snow storm on a holiday or sunday when
not even plowed moves faster than 30mph.

Paul wrote:
> "Scott en Aztlán" wrote
>>
>> These people simply would not survive.
>
> That's why we have Darwin... ;-)

Unfortunately, when Darwin strikes it's like killing a bee-hive with a
flamethrower: lots of casualities and some honeys[1] wasted.

[1] sic for the sake of humour

Brent P wrote:
> In article >, Scott en Aztlán wrote:
>
>
>>All of this because of a storm that dropped perhaps 1/2" of rain on
>>the Southland. Heaven forbid these people should ever get caught in a
>>REAL rainstorm like they have in Chicago - or (gasp!) a SNOWstorm!!
>>These people simply would not survive.
>
>
> They would die in chicago. I294 in a snow storm on a holiday or sunday when
> not even plowed moves faster than 30mph.

I think I experienced one of those snow storms tonight. Unfortunately it
also resulted in me ending up in the ditch... :-( It really was a snow
*storm*. The snow was blowing over the road making it hard to see and
all of a sudden the wind must have picked up because I couldn't see a
thing. I started slowing down, from 30 mph (15 under), and then *bang*.
The road did a hard left but I tried to go straight... The car went
completely off the road with only the left wheels in the ditch. Long
story short, after almost *three hours* I was about to give up. My
shoes, socks, jeans, and underwear were completely soaked, I couldn't
feel my fingers and I was so cold I was shaking. The last thing I tried
was to lift the front of the car off the ground using the jack and then
reverse back on to the road, but the right rear tire just spun, despite
having mounted snow chains on both rear tires. *aghhh* At that point I
realized that the rear of the car was *also* resting on the chassis and
I just felt it was pointless to continue trying... Then back in the car
with the heater on full I saw the first car during the whole time I've
been there. Fortunately the driver stopped, who happened to be a
gentleman driving a Audi A6 *quattro*, and was willing to help. Got my
tow rope from the trunk and hooked up our cars using the tow hooks. Ten
seconds later I was back on the road and I thanked the driver.

Now I'm back home and have changed my cloths, and the car seems to be
alright too. I'm not sure what would have happened that Audi hadn't
showed up though...

>
>
Ulf

Scott en Aztlán > wrote in
:

> Native SoCal drivers do some of the craziest **** when it rains.
>
> Tonight on the way home there was a car about 200 feet ahead of me. It
> was all by itself on a six-lane 65 MPH road - I was the only car even
> remotely close to it. From behind I could see the driver repeatedly
> applying his brakes in brief bursts (less than half a second per
> application), as if he were tailgating an imaginary car in front of
> him.
>
> Earlier in the day, I overheard a woman talking about her drive in to
> work this morning. She explained how she had been "driving at 30 miles
> per hour" on the freeway and she demonstrated to her friend how she
> had a white-knuckle death-grip on her steering wheel because she was
> "so totally scared."
>
> All of this because of a storm that dropped perhaps 1/2" of rain on
> the Southland. Heaven forbid these people should ever get caught in a
> REAL rainstorm like they have in Chicago - or (gasp!) a SNOWstorm!!
> These people simply would not survive.
>

I live in Central Florida.

When it does not rain for a long time,grease and oil build up on the
roadways,and when it does rain,the roads are initially as slick as any icy
road up north.


Of course,after it rains long or hard enough,the oils are washed off and
traction returns to equal a normal wet pavement.

I saw similar crazy behavior on the first snows when I lived up north,it
seems some folks have to relearn how to drive in snowy conditions.
Some never do.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

"Jim Yanik" .> wrote in message
.. .

> I live in Central Florida.
>
> When it does not rain for a long time,grease and oil build up on the
> roadways,and when it does rain,the roads are initially as slick as any
icy
> road up north.

That happens here in GA, too. Not only is the road slick as ever, but a
particularly hard rain will make all the junk on the road foam up like
someone had dumped a load of laundry soap onto the road.

(Brent P) writes:
> In article >, Scott en Aztlán wrote:
>
>> All of this because of a storm that dropped perhaps 1/2" of rain on
>> the Southland. Heaven forbid these people should ever get caught in a
>> REAL rainstorm like they have in Chicago - or (gasp!) a SNOWstorm!!
>> These people simply would not survive.
>
> They would die in chicago. I294 in a snow storm on a holiday or sunday when
> not even plowed moves faster than 30mph.

I know I'm probably weird, but I have fond memories of driving I90 all
the way from O'Hare to La Crosse WI during a snowstorm in a POS rental
Hyundai. It was crazy out the semis stopped in the median after
sliding out, stopping three or four times to clean out the snow from
the front of the care, etc Some days I really miss the Midwest.


--
Ignasi.
(using SPAM trap e-mail address)

Ignasi Palou-Rivera > wrote in
:

> (Brent P) writes:
>> In article >, Scott en
>> Aztlán wrote:
>>
>>> All of this because of a storm that dropped perhaps 1/2" of rain on
>>> the Southland. Heaven forbid these people should ever get caught in
>>> a REAL rainstorm like they have in Chicago - or (gasp!) a
>>> SNOWstorm!! These people simply would not survive.
>>
>> They would die in chicago. I294 in a snow storm on a holiday or
>> sunday when not even plowed moves faster than 30mph.
>
> I know I'm probably weird, but I have fond memories of driving I90 all
> the way from O'Hare to La Crosse WI during a snowstorm in a POS rental
> Hyundai. It was crazy out the semis stopped in the median after
> sliding out, stopping three or four times to clean out the snow from
> the front of the care, etc Some days I really miss the Midwest.
>
>

A long time ago,I drove from Indianapolis to Buffalo for Xmas,in a 1973
Civic CVCC,and ran into a lake-effect storm around Cleveland,and it kept
getting worse and worse.By the time I got into NY state,I was using the
reflector posts used to guide the snow plows to stay on the road(no lane
discipline!!),and could only see the bridges when I was about 30-40 feet
away,when passing under them. I went thru the NYS toll plaza and by the
time I arrived in Buffalo,they had closed the NYS thruway and had 600
people put up in a school gymnasium.The entire time I was on the Thruway in
NY,I did not see a single vehicle;I suspect I was the only one on the
road,and it had been closed shortly after I passed the toll plaza.(no snow
tires,either!)

That Civic with it's 12 inch wheels and skinny tires was great transpo in
snow!! 8-)

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

In article >,
223rem > wrote:
>Scott en Aztlán wrote:
>
>> Native SoCal drivers do some of the craziest **** when it rains.
>>
>> Tonight on the way home there was a car about 200 feet ahead of me. It
>> was all by itself on a six-lane 65 MPH road - I was the only car even
>> remotely close to it. From behind I could see the driver repeatedly
>> applying his brakes in brief bursts (less than half a second per
>> application), as if he were tailgating an imaginary car in front of
>> him.
>
>Actually, when driving on snow or ice, it is useful to get a feel
>for the stopping distance by applying the brakes every now and then.

Which also clears the brakes off, if you've got discs. Good idea in
heavy rain, too, at least in a Miata. Otherwise you get the
stomach-dropping instant of no-brakes when you really DO want to use
them.