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We had about 6 inches fall Saturday night, with considerable drifting. I went to retrieve the car from the alley garage, and encountered some young fellows struggling to get a Jeep Cherokee through a 15-inch drift.

I went to help push, and it became immediately clear that the young fellow at the wheel was utterly clueless. He might as well have grown up in Trinidad and was experiencing snow and driving for the first time: spinning wheels; stopping once he started; didn't know how to "rock" the car into position; didn't have the sense to steer the car onto the sectioned of exposed concrete off to the side to get the traction. Completely freaking clueless.

We finally got the knucklehead out. So it was my time. The other guys took a look at my Mercedes C-series and thought "not again." I didn't blame them--a C-series is "Mercedes light" with a small engine and body (it was free--we inherited from my wife's deceased aunt). But I plowed through that snow like a lumberjack plows through a plate of hotcakes, eggs, and sausage.

A topic I can relate to. I have several examples, but will list just the worst of the worst.

We had an ice storm just like is going through the midwest. Everything was shut down on Monday. Tuesday, I decided to walk to work. As I finally reach the office, I see a guy with a little pickup stuck in a four foot drift, with about 20 feet left to go. He is trying to dig himself out with what appeared to be a kid's toy shovel. <eye roll> I go into the office and get our snow shovel, and help the guy. We finally get him dug out. During this time, a guy in a jeep is heading towards us. Instead of stopping and backing out, he shoots into the alley, where there is a 5 foot drift. So I go help him. Now I'm going to the office, and watch the first guy. He begins to back up, but instead of going straight out using his tracks he made, he tries to turn around and gets stuck again. I just walked away.

Our first night in our new house we got 24 inches of snow. There is an old couple across the street. As I was shoveling at 7 a.m., I look down the street and see three vehicles stuck on our block alone. The old guy was warming up his car and scraping his windshield, while his wife was yelling, 'You're not taking that damn car anywhere'. The snow was up to his trunk, and he was worried about his windshield.

Hungary Jack wrote:didn't know how to "rock" the car into position;

either i don't know what this is, or I do it and I just don't know it.

I always like the people who are deathly afraid to drive in the snow and do about half the speed limit. WHY ARE YOU OUT DRIVING IN IT?

ghostrunner wrote:

Hungary Jack wrote:didn't know how to "rock" the car into position;

either i don't know what this is, or I do it and I just don't know it.

If you are in a snow rut, move forward until you cannot progress and jam on the breaks before you roll back. Go into reverse and roll back until you stop. Break before you roll forward. Repeat. You should be able to get your way out of the rut.

It always scares the crap outta me to see a car coming at me with a 1'x1' area of frost scrapped off the windshield.

Hudler wrote:It always scares the crap outta me to see a car coming at me with a 1'x1' area of frost scrapped off the windshield.

We had this discussion last winter. I'm guilty of this.

Hudler wrote:It always scares the crap outta me to see a car coming at me with a 1'x1' area of frost scrapped off the windshield.

This guy barrelling down Lake Shore Drive this morning had snow heaped up to top few inches of his rear window, and about 6-8 inches of snow piled on his hood, with some more caked on the side windows. It looked like an igloo mobile home.

Two wheel drive pickups+first snow= Lots of pickups in ditches.

jim wrote:

Hudler wrote:It always scares the crap outta me to see a car coming at me with a 1'x1' area of frost scrapped off the windshield.

We had this discussion last winter. I'm guilty of this.

Me too! Coldness bring on lazyness like nothing else.