Driving in unusual conditions.

Started by RobClubley, May 28, 2018, 09:57:59 AM

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RobClubley



The school run was fun today. There was some epic hail just before we set off, leaving about 5-10mm of ice balls all over the roads. It appears that the average driver has no clue what to do on a slippery road. In about 1km we passed three cars pulled over after skidding - judging by the marks on the road they had all braked, skidded, scared themselves and decided to stop. Then a Land Cruiser driver decided their 4WD made them a great driver and pulled out of a turn with some enthusiasm, skidded, then proceeded to do 10kph. We came up to a taxi driver who had skidded after braking into a corner, then was crawling up a hill at 5kph. I was all "Move over I have quattro! I have quattro! I want to try it out!"
There were fire engines rushing around, all sorts going on.
I was a bit concerned about leaving my car on the hill in case some muppet decided to do their usual 20k over the speed limit past the school and slid into it.

What are your thoughts on this? I think it goes, yet again, back to driver education. Part of the problem I think is people who have only ever driven auto (or Playstation), so the only way they know to slow down is using the brake pedal.
1985 ur quattro
1992 Ford Courier - the sensible daily

schattenblau

#1
agree 200%

on the way back from auck on thursday night i got caught in the storm that lashed most of the country.
when the heavy rain and fog hit, i slowed down, at one point even stopped as visibility was near-zero.
meanwhile joe/joline muppet, to whom "drive to the conditions" is a foreign language, continued speed unabated.

julie anne genter should pull the plug on those fancy point-to-point speedcameras and introduce compulsory driver education at the school level.

speaking of playstation, i was talking to an ex-pat with nurburgring experience, who mentioned it was the playstation "drivers" who usually crashed.

:P

Gordo

Somewhat amused you are both complaining about bad drivers but from the opposite perspectives and complaints.

Some found it slippery, and after skidding then slowed right down for what was effectively ice on the road - seems a more reasonable move that going faster in poor conditions to see if one's car would lose traction...
The second poster did the sensible thing and slowed for poor conditions but had numpties disregarding limited visability and a wet road - wonder how many actually had fog lights but didn't use them... especially rear ones*.

My cars don't have them, so in fog and heavy mist I'd just put enough pressure on the brake with my left foot to operate the brake lights for a bit more warning for any vehicles coming up behind me.
These are my thoughts and opinions - sometimes I'm wrong, but not often ;-)

RobClubley

I'm not so much complaining about bad drivers as saying that they just had no clue how to handle the conditions. Because the conditions were so rare that they haven't been trained.

Visibility was fine by the way, and in 13 years here in New Zealand I've never experienced conditions that warranted use of fog lights.
1985 ur quattro
1992 Ford Courier - the sensible daily

RobClubley

Also - the quattro thing was a joke. I had my daughter in the car and wouldn't put her at risk :)
1985 ur quattro
1992 Ford Courier - the sensible daily

Gordo

Quote from: RobClubley on May 28, 2018, 03:32:23 PM
I'm not so much complaining about bad drivers as saying that they just had no clue how to handle the conditions. Because the conditions were so rare that they haven't been trained.

Visibility was fine by the way, and in 13 years here in New Zealand I've never experienced conditions that warranted use of fog lights.

It was the second post that mentioned the fog.

Place that seems to get the worst, and most frequent, heavy fog, from my experience, is along the Waikato - it can be very bad some nights. I've come across visability almost as bad in quite a few other areas, though - and you may also need them in the torrential rain that sometimes hits, especially as so many fools travel way too fast.
These are my thoughts and opinions - sometimes I'm wrong, but not often ;-)

Gordo

Quote from: RobClubley on May 28, 2018, 03:38:33 PM
Also - the quattro thing was a joke. I had my daughter in the car and wouldn't put her at risk :)

OK, I bit  8) - but you'd be surprised how many people think AWD or 4WD means they won't skid and can ignore dodgy surface conditions - just like I know people who think ABS means they will stop as well in the dry as in the wet.
These are my thoughts and opinions - sometimes I'm wrong, but not often ;-)

schattenblau

didn't see any foglights on except for maybe a couple of long haul trucks but their lights would have been too far above the ground to be of any use.