MetaChat - I feel vindicated.

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30 January 2008

I feel vindicated. Thanks to a sudden blast of arctic air and several inches of snow,→[More:] the condition of the roads here in Western Michigan was pretty dicey all day today. On top of that, I'm a fairly new driver and do not feel comfortable or skillful driving on icy roads.

So I'm taking the long way home, due to having to drop off some packages at DHL, tooling along at about 30 mph on a pretty iffy looking road, and a lady driving a Mercury Mountaineer (an AWD SUV) blows past doing at least 40. Thirty seconds later I watch with at least a small degree of satisfaction as she approaches a stoplight, loses control, spins a total of 540º, and ends up half off the road. As she is in the process of turning herself around, I drive by with not so much as a shimmy.

post by: deadcowdan at: 18:13 | 4 comments

Nice!!

posted by chewatadistance 30 January | 19:38

I had almost the same exact experience in Detroit on I-75. If you've ever been there, you know that if you're going south, there's a gentle turn to the left followed by a march sharper turn to the right. Just as I entered the first turn, a Ford Explorer whizzed past. I kept my 30 mph speed; the other guy was doing at least 50. As I got through the first turn I beheld the site of the guy spinning around off the road just after the second one. :)

posted by Doohickie 30 January | 22:44

I've been the speeder in similar situations at least twice. When I was 17, I passed a woman with chains on her tires going about 20. A half mile down the road I fishtailed wildly and slipped off the road. She and her chains helped pull me out, and not one word about slowing down.

Then two years ago while driving the long road from Anchorage to Fairbanks, I passed a small line of cars, going probably 75. Slipped into the hills with thick trees and hit some slush that came out of nowhere, spun a few times and into the snow on the side of the road. Freaked my dog out. The small line of cars all stopped - the husbands helped pull me out and the wives scolded me for driving so carelessly.

It's definitely shaming to ask the person you just passed to help pull you out of the snow berm.

posted by rhapsodie 30 January | 23:19

For some reason there's a segment of the population who seems to think an SUV means they can drive like the snow isn't there.

posted by kellydamnit 30 January | 23:30

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