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Feb. 25th, 2007 01:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quidditchgrrlThe gods of friendship do not smile upon my visits to Dayton to visit ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rlanto and generalmanda. 3 of the last 4 times I've gone down, I've had to battle crappy weather to get back.
Tonight, it was sleet. And every dumbass from Miamisburg to Westerville.
I'm ranting, give me some slack, but holy mother of GOD, could people please, PLEASE figure out the basic, very SIMPLE rules for driving in inclement weather:
1. Don't.hit.your.brakes.on.ice.dumbass. Take your foot off the accelerator and shift into neutral, or, if you're already under 35 mph, shift into third gear. If you're under 25 mph, run down to second gear. That's what those numbers are for - to slow you down and to give you some extra traction/moving power.
2. You wouldn't need to hit your brakes if you'd keep a reasonable amount of distance between you and the car ahead of you. If you just can't stand how slow the person in your lane is crawling (I know, I've been there many times), then you're going to have to a) suck it up and slow down in case they are a dumbass (see #1) or b) suck it up and move into another lane to pass.
3. If you do decide to pass, give the person you're passing a little bit of clearance before you move back over. I know that left lane is sketchy, but you decided to suck it up and deal to gain the payoff of speed. Don't cut the right-lane driver off in order to get out of the road crud, or be a dumbass once you get back over.
4. If you're driving in the passing lane, for the love of Pete, get the hell out of the way for truckers! Screw the principle of the thing - a guy hauling double trailers for FedEx is gonna win any beef you might have about truckers driving too fast for conditions.
5. And to the guy who refused to get over to give the tow truck/OSHP clearance on the shoulder, I hope you end up being sideswiped by an inconsiderate arse such as yourself. Move to the right for sirens and lights, dammit.
6. While you're at it, quit rubbernecking!
7. Keep aware of changes in road conditions. 675 sucked; it was like driving through a mix of melted slushie and snow cone! The slush had built up on the sides of the road, causing it to flood, then freeze where the water wasn't being driven over. Suckage! 70 from 675 to 42 was pretty good, aside from being splooged by semi blowoff. The rest of the way in was just dealing with dumbasses! But where people seemed to have trouble was where the road was worse in patches - where the open areas froze the road faster - and they didn't compensate for it.
Today was great overall. Andy and I went to see Hannibal Rising, which was pretty good. I'm a sucker for Hannibal Lecter anyway. I broughtrlanto some ice cream from Jeni's - cocoa zin, butternut squash with buttered pecans, and pear riesling - and she bought me dinner and drinks at Bravo. We had a cute, dimpled bartender, who Renee said was likely gay (dammit). Also saw Kayak Boy, who is quite cute as well (and quite young). Watched some pretties (Underworld - Wentworth Miller! and Chronicles of Riddick - Karl Urban!), fell asleep on the coach, then made the long journey home.
Now for sleeping? Yes, I think.
rlanto and generalmanda. 3 of the last 4 times I've gone down, I've had to battle crappy weather to get back.Tonight, it was sleet. And every dumbass from Miamisburg to Westerville.
I'm ranting, give me some slack, but holy mother of GOD, could people please, PLEASE figure out the basic, very SIMPLE rules for driving in inclement weather:
1. Don't.hit.your.brakes.on.ice.dumbass. Take your foot off the accelerator and shift into neutral, or, if you're already under 35 mph, shift into third gear. If you're under 25 mph, run down to second gear. That's what those numbers are for - to slow you down and to give you some extra traction/moving power.
2. You wouldn't need to hit your brakes if you'd keep a reasonable amount of distance between you and the car ahead of you. If you just can't stand how slow the person in your lane is crawling (I know, I've been there many times), then you're going to have to a) suck it up and slow down in case they are a dumbass (see #1) or b) suck it up and move into another lane to pass.
3. If you do decide to pass, give the person you're passing a little bit of clearance before you move back over. I know that left lane is sketchy, but you decided to suck it up and deal to gain the payoff of speed. Don't cut the right-lane driver off in order to get out of the road crud, or be a dumbass once you get back over.
4. If you're driving in the passing lane, for the love of Pete, get the hell out of the way for truckers! Screw the principle of the thing - a guy hauling double trailers for FedEx is gonna win any beef you might have about truckers driving too fast for conditions.
5. And to the guy who refused to get over to give the tow truck/OSHP clearance on the shoulder, I hope you end up being sideswiped by an inconsiderate arse such as yourself. Move to the right for sirens and lights, dammit.
6. While you're at it, quit rubbernecking!
7. Keep aware of changes in road conditions. 675 sucked; it was like driving through a mix of melted slushie and snow cone! The slush had built up on the sides of the road, causing it to flood, then freeze where the water wasn't being driven over. Suckage! 70 from 675 to 42 was pretty good, aside from being splooged by semi blowoff. The rest of the way in was just dealing with dumbasses! But where people seemed to have trouble was where the road was worse in patches - where the open areas froze the road faster - and they didn't compensate for it.
Today was great overall. Andy and I went to see Hannibal Rising, which was pretty good. I'm a sucker for Hannibal Lecter anyway. I brought
rlanto some ice cream from Jeni's - cocoa zin, butternut squash with buttered pecans, and pear riesling - and she bought me dinner and drinks at Bravo. We had a cute, dimpled bartender, who Renee said was likely gay (dammit). Also saw Kayak Boy, who is quite cute as well (and quite young). Watched some pretties (Underworld - Wentworth Miller! and Chronicles of Riddick - Karl Urban!), fell asleep on the coach, then made the long journey home.Now for sleeping? Yes, I think.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-25 06:26 am (UTC)My room mate (at the time) who was in the car with me - and just so happened to be from Anchorage -- was all "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!"!"
*ahem* We did a full spin out and the car ended up in the enbankment on the other side of the freeway. Luckily no one was coming in either direction.
I gave Vita (roommate from Anchorage) the keys after that. Heh.
I've gotten a lot better since then.
*sheepish* In my defense I did learn to drive in So Cal! :D
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-25 07:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-25 07:14 am (UTC)Heh, it's funny now but at the time it was't so funny. I just didn't think - it was a automatic reaction. heh, I learned pretty damn quick after that! We were really lucky that it was pretty late and no one was out.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-01 01:57 am (UTC)I think the weather was my brother's fault. He lives outside of Richmond and he brought his new car home that day, so clearly the Gods of Driving declared there would be sleet.