Jaci Dawn

Here’s the article on preparing your car for winter weather: Read the comments. Best.Comments. Ever.

I got up this morning hoping for at least a dusting of snow. No go, except on my windshield which I foolishly neglected to scrape on Sunday. If I had brushed the snow off on Sunday, I would not have had to wait for the defroster to thaw it out enough to move the wipers.

It was a tad bit slick on my street (clue to Portland drivers: test the street before you drive ten feet. It’s easy – slam on the brakes at 10mph). But de-icer had been applied everywhere else and the snow had melted, so the roads were pretty darn clear. I had to follow a woman in a minivan who stood on her brakes all the way down the hill.

Winter driving tip: do not stand on the brakes, especially going downhill. If you’re on ice, you just tend to go faster because your wheels are locked up.

I down-shifted. Do you know that you can down-shift in an automatic? It’s called Drive 1. In theory, it will hold your engine back just like putting it into first gear (if it was a manual). It doesn’t really work quite that well in some vehicles but in my Kia Sportage, it works exactly like it is designed to and holds my speed at 25MPH or less on on a downhill. I love it in dry weather because I live in a hilly area where the speed limit is 25 and I dislike riding my brakes any time. It isn’t good on the brakes.

The freeway was pretty wet. In theory, the more vehicles that pass over the asphalt, the lass chance there is for black ice. Friction creates heat and tires against pavement create friction and busy freeways dry out quickly. But there are overpasses (notoriously colder and icier), shady spots where the water never dried out, and acts of God. I wasn’t scared or worried about it, but when the guy in the big 4×4 dually pick-up started tail-gating me at 65 MPH, I did get sort of irritated.

BACK OFF. You can’t see black ice. It looks like dry pavement. If it’s inclement weather and there’s a remote possibility of ice, do not tail gate. Tail gating means you are driving so close to the car in front of you that your headlights light up their dashboard. On a normal, dry day you should observe the 2-second rule; on an inclement weather day, you should increase the distance slightly. That’s in case the car(s) in front of you suddenly do amazing things like sliding sideways. Or you lose control.

Okay, I couldn’t do anything about that idiot besides getting out of his way as soon as the opportunity arose (and since I was driving the speed limit around people who were obviously petrified of driving because there were snowflakes in the air, that took awhile. I didn’t want to have to suddenly drop my speed to 45 because it was SNOWING).

Then there was the racing duo. Okay folks: that’s not terribly smart on dry pavement. Zipping in and out of lanes, trying to beat the center lane before the gap closes on the slow lane…

No wonder there were accidents and fatalities in the area. People in big, heavy SUVs assume they are safe because of the size of their car and the 4×4 on-the-fly feature zoom on down the road over the speed limit, tail-gating. Oh, wait – SOME of those drivers I had to deal with today were driving lightweight compact cars and gas-saver pick-ups! Dang: stupidity is pretty much across the board, isn’t it?

As it was, it really wasn’t a bad commute, just a normal one. No close calls, a few nasty words exhaled under my breath as I watched idiots weave in and out, and no sudden braking.

Now, they are telling us that tomorrow’s commute will be a huge mess. But I have a question: if we know it is coming, why don’t we have the de-icers and snow plows at the ready? As soon as that snow/ice starts to stick/form, roar to life.

Oh. the news article. I always travel with most of that stuff in my car during the winter. I also have my Sorels, several blankets, and car chains. And most importantly, I try to remember common sense.

Now, if we would really get that awful weather they are predicting…