Jeff Davis | Vent Section Manager

1/25/02

It would seem Whim is among the media most annoyed at the current state of drivers. Everywhere you go, people are driving too fast, passing on the right, going the wrong way down one-way streets (i.e. Adams Street!), and stopping to wait for traffic at interstate entrance ramps when there's barely anything coming. What could be worse than people who practice one or a combination of the above habits when there's ice or snow on the roads?

Driving back from dropping my girlfriend off at University of Tennessee at Knoxville showed me how clueless drivers can be. Interstate 40 isn't a haven for safety in the first place, but with snow, sleet and freezing rain falling and limiting visibility to about 100 feet makes it suicide. There were tractor-trailers on their sides in the median, placed like surrealistic artwork. Cars were all over the entrance and exit ramps, littered like fast food wrappers. Luckily no one was hurt or even there at places I stopped to make sure there were no people in danger.

When these absent people got home, they could be sure to expect some envelopes from their insurance companies. Higher rates and incapacitated vehicles can be avoided when a little common sense is practiced. Syracuse.com offers some great advice on preparing and driving your car in inclement weather, how to check your car before you go driving, what to keep in your car during the season and how to get unstuck. Also check out the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the College of Health, Education and Human Development at Clemson University.

I'll follow up their advice with some of my own: don't be an ass on the road any time of the year. Wherever you're trying to get to won't vaporize, even if you don't go 90 miles an hour.