Snow !

[Florence]

Well no snow in Manc but you cant see where you are going for the pea soup fog that has been hanging around all day. Perhaps some snow would help us all to see

Originally Posted by Gareth

100% chance of snow!?! Bring it on!!!

All it needs is 3 flakes and the country grinds to a halt!

If this snow they're forecasting actually arrives in any quantity, we'll have more dramas for the media. I mean, what's wrong with cars/trucks/trains etc. over here that at the first hint of snow everything stops moving? (Or starts sliding uncontrollably into a ditch, thereby causing the sensible drivers to be held up while the idiots get dragged out.)

Driving in snow isn't that hard - it just requires a bit of care and patience - and losing the lead foot, and leaving more space between cars.

Of course too many drivers have trouble with those concepts, as they demonstrate every morning in any and all driving conditions.

Originally Posted by ScaredWebWarrior

All it needs is 3 flakes and the country grinds to a halt!

If this snow they're forecasting actually arrives in any quantity, we'll have more dramas for the media. I mean, what's wrong with cars/trucks/trains etc. over here that at the first hint of snow everything stops moving? (Or starts sliding uncontrollably into a ditch, thereby causing the sensible drivers to be held up while the idiots get dragged out.)

Driving in snow isn't that hard - it just requires a bit of care and patience - and losing the lead foot, and leaving more space between cars.

Of course too many drivers have trouble with those concepts, as they demonstrate every morning in any and all driving conditions.

Ooh, I bet you feel better for that rant ...

You're right though, I remember there being a snap snowfall the last winter I spent in Hemel that caught all the gritters off guard. It took me about three hours to crawl home from Watford that night and we weren't even the worst affected area.

I'm off to Stockholm later this week. I'll be packing some warm gear, but if there is snow while I'm there I'm not anticipating the city grinding to a halt!

Originally Posted by Chris T

Ooh, I bet you feel better for that rant ...

Not really, because I know they'll keep doing it anyway.

Instead of all the roadworks, they could do a lot more to improve the traffic by making it more likely for the idiots to get caught. Maybe if they had to start driving lessons again they'd learn how to drive properly. (Of course this would require the standard of driving tuition to be raised considerably. Like including motorway driving, night driving and skid pan work.)

Originally Posted by Chris T

You're right though, I remember there being a snap snowfall the last winter

Me too. No gritting, idiots driving too fast and traffic at a standstill.

I was lucky to find a back road which saved me 2 hours of tailback traffic, but it was very hairy indeed - hence 3 cars in the ditch within a mile of each other. And considering the way my car was behaving at 15mph, I have a pretty good idea how they ended up in there.

Originally Posted by ScaredWebWarrior

I was lucky to find a back road which saved me 2 hours of tailback traffic, but it was very hairy indeed - hence 3 cars in the ditch within a mile of each other. And considering the way my car was behaving at 15mph, I have a pretty good idea how they ended up in there.

After a couple of hours behind the wheel, I got within a mile of my house and then stopped dead in gridlock. I u-turned and tried to go through Picotts End and up the back lanes into Grovehill, but when I got up there I came across white van man and his mate, who had just run their vehicle into a snowdrift and blocked the way. I had to give them a lift back down the lane (as far as a farm where they found a willing farmer with a Land Rover), where I then rejoined the queue and spent another hour getting home. If I'd been dressed for it I'd have abandoned the car on the verge and walked home in about 15 minutes.

[Saaf_laandon_mo]

Originally Posted by ScaredWebWarrior

Maybe if they had to start driving lessons again they'd learn how to drive properly. (Of course this would require the standard of driving tuition to be raised considerably. Like including motorway driving, night driving and skid pan work.)

i consider myself to be a decent driver but boy did i get caught out a few years back when it took me 8 hours to drive from hatfield, down the a1 to central london. Deflating the tyres slightly, and taking off in 2nd gear , and leaving my rear wheel drive car at home next time it happened were 3 of the best tips I was given (after frantically calling some "advanced" drivers), but I dont recall reading those in the Highway code or during mey lessons (Fair point considering its not often we used to have those conditions) I think on the onset of winter and freezing weather people should actively get tips on how to drive in extreme weather conditions (i.e snow and ice), as not many people know how to do it.

[Millay]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?id=3144

nothings going to happen down my way....

[Halcyon]

About two years ago I got stuck for the entire night on the motorway around Paris as the conditions just got so bad all traffic was stuck on the motorway. No one got out their cars as it was freezing.
All mobile networks were flooded and it was chaos. Seeing as I had been traveling since morning and thought I was going to arrive in the evening, I had the worst time ever having to spend the whole of the night in the car.

Originally Posted by Millay

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?id=3144

nothings going to happen down my way....

Thankfully...but then I'm in Lee-on-Solent so I never see the stuff...

[Gareth]

Yeah, SWW, although I do love the white stuff, I know what you mean... last year we had a sudden snow storm here in Swindon - couldn't have been more than a couple of inches at most, but it fell very suddenly. Took me hours to get home, despite living about 2 miles away from where I worked

It's fine if it snows overnight, cause then you just phone your boss to say you're staying at home all day, and then you don't get caught up in all the problems. Luckily, my boss now lives in a secluded village about 15 miles from the office, so he'd not be at work in any case

[gazzae]

My wifes from canada, the first time she was here and it snowed she couldn't believe the effect a smattering of snow had.

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by gazzae

My wifes from canada, the first time she was here and it snowed she couldn't believe the effect a smattering of snow had.

Scunthorpe officially ground to a halt when it snowed at the start of this year - my usual 30(ish) minute journey to work was fine until I got to Scunthorpe. It then took me 2½ hours to drive 2½ miles, purely because none of the morons driving had a clue about how to cope in snow.

[Halcyon]

LOL That must have beeen fun for you.
Everyone should be given a day off work when its like that.

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by Halcyon

LOL That must have beeen fun for you.
Everyone should be given a day off work when its like that.

FUN!?!?!?!?!?!

The only saving grace was that, even though I didn't get to work until nearly 11 o'clock, I still left at 5

[gazzae]

Originally Posted by Nugget

Scunthorpe officially ground to a halt when it snowed at the start of this year - my usual 30(ish) minute journey to work was fine until I got to Scunthorpe. It then took me 2½ hours to drive 2½ miles, purely because none of the morons driving had a clue about how to cope in snow.

Know the feeling, that said when I was in Canada over winter a few years ago I had an interesting journey with someone who was under the assumption that using the handbrake was an accepted way for turning corners on un-ploughed roads.