Black ice with a layer of snow on top, and PA drivers.

Here's a tip folks; when driving in slippery conditions (no matter what kind of vehicle you have) and you encounter a steep hill, WAIT for the driver in front of you to successfully reach the top or bottom before beginning ascent or decent - that way you just witness the accident instead of involving yourself in it.
Also, using your brakes on ice just makes things trickier. Try a lower gear instead. FFS.
I can't even tell you how many cars had slid off the road on my way home tonight, including the guy right in front of me, while going down a hill.... it was more than 10 though easy.

Good advice, Jinx.

We have the same problem here in Chicago. We get snow and ice here -- every single year. You would think that Chicagoans would eventually learn to drive in inclement weather. But that's not the case.

Buncha amateurs.

I'll never forget the day we had nasty weather and it took me four hours to get home. (10 miles, usually 30 minutes--mostly on City Ave. for those keeping score in Philadelphia.) I was amazed at the number of pickups and SUVs that were spun out on the side of the road. I got through fine with my humble 1991 Honda Civic... no 4WD, no ABS, no anything. I just put the automatic transmission in the lowest gear and left a ton of stopping distance. I've never considered that I had any special skill as a driver, but I definitely felt superior that day.

I'm pretty good when it comes to driving on slippery roads. The only thing is, that I need the road to myself. Other cars always mess me up, by driving like jinx mentioned. Around here, there is never a time that other cars are not around, so the only way to win is to stay home when it's bad out.

What about drivers on quaaludes? We seem to have a disproportionately large number of those. And zombie drivers. Old, old, old people who put the blinker on for ten minutes and then, regardless of whatever, just go for it.

Uh, Bri? I live 20 minutes from Sun City, AZ. Want to talk about old drivers?

get ready dar512...here comes possible major storm #1.

Statement as of 12:28 PM CST on December 08, 2008


Freezing rain... possibly mixed with rain or sleet are likely to
cause hazardous travel conditions across the area today. A band
of freezing rain is moving north across the area... and where
surface temperatures are below freezing icing is occurring...
especially on elevated surfaces like bridges and overpasses. The
freezing rain will end when temperatures rise above freezing and
the ice melts.

Carlin used to say (about people who leave their blinkers on) they were going "around the world, to the left."

I'd forgotten how unnerving daily highway driving can be. Mostly it's not a problem but it's the following who cause all the problems:

The Jerker: at the very last second and for no apparent reason, person jerks steering wheel and changes lanes, usually cutting off the person already in that lane.

The Talker: I would like a gun if only to shoot at people whose own minds are so devoid of thought that they have to spend every single solitary second with their damn cell phone plastered to their ear.

The Dumb Bitch: Just one girl I saw last week, it's dark, she has no lights on except for the brilliant display from her phone as she texts while driving.

The Ass Sniffer: There's no one else on the road, you're in the middle lane neither passing nor merging to an exit. Bozo follows your ass like he's sniffing it, keeping an equal distance of about 2 feet, rather than passing or trailing back.

The Ass Rider: Thinks if he rides your ass you could possibly go any faster than the car directly in front of you while the highway is bumper to bumper all lanes.

The right-passer: Pass in the correct lane, fuckwad. Didja see there are cars merging onto the interstate in that lane?

Mr Bad Car: Usually about 18 years old driving a Civic with one of those wingy things on the back, presumably because he plans to drive so fast that the wingy thing is needed to keep his car on the road. There are really tacky flames painted on, which from far away look as though someone keyed his car with a really big key. His tires extend about a foot from the edge of his car. Still, he drives like a pussy.

Who am I forgetting?

Doesn't look like much will hit the quad cities.

Ms. Timid: believes in going cautiously slower, not faster on the entrance ramp to a 65MPH highway, until it is truly impossible to merge whatsoever because there are no gaps of a quarter-mile or greater. At this point she may timidly just pull over as far as possible and admit defeat, later attempting to merge from the shoulder. Or she may inch out into the lane causing drivers in that lane to slam on brakes or engage with the cars in the left lane.

Oh yeah...the non-accelerators.

Ya know, if you pay attention you can actually time a merge.

People are dummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

C'mon LO, you know you miss the excitement of driving with the old fogies on good old fashioned black ice in a blizzard....
Memmmm-reeeeeeeessss/ off key

I see your old fogies and raise you the college kids that I get to share the road with in addition in IC.

I'll reraise with a metric asston of illegals with no insurance.

I have timid merger tendencies, but I'll hang out on the shoulder instead of merging at a too-slow speed. It usually doesn't come to that though... it's just a tendency. (I'm also, in spite of my timidity, capable of merging with less than 0.25 miles of room.)

What annoys me is if I go out of my way to let somebody on the highway, and they don't take it.

YES.

My first proposal: they should be required to have curb feelers.