Careful Out There, Opponauts

"BoulderZ" (BoulderZ) 11/17/2014 at 12:44 • Filed to: None

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Drove from Boulder to Fort Collins and back on Saturday evening. Coming back on I-25 southbound, a Cherokee-ish SUV thing in the left lane and just ahead of me drifted in to the snow on the (left) side right on the yellow line, began skidding and slid to the right across both lanes, through the right shoulder, straight down the mild embankment and head-in to the ditch by the frontage road.

Surprisingly, I found all that time and money I've spent at High Plains Raceway had a street-driving application. It looked just like when someone overcooks a turn in front of you, and the same techniques applied. I had fortunately been watching all the other vehicles with the same attention and analysis I would use on track, albeit for a somewhat different set of reasons. We (wife and 2 year old son in the car, too) had no problem, and I was able to safely slow and pull on to the shoulder to call 911 about 1/4 to 1/2 mile later to get some help for the other driver.

I could write a bunch about what the other driver was doing, what they should have done, mistakes I saw them make, and on and on. While that would all be true, and maybe even interesting, none of it really matters. There was unmistakably some bad luck involved for them on top of their mistakes, the total making a critical mass for a collision. The conditions went from excellent to crap in a few hundred meters with no obvious visual signs. There were about a half dozen more vehicles off the road in the next two miles after that. The person who spun in front of us, though they did plenty wrong, were unfortunate enough to lead the way in to a more challenging section of road.

It's often a tougher game, driving in winter. Check all the road conditions before you take a longer drive (CDOT has a nice page, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , your area probably has something similar, or navbug, etc.). Keep your vehicle well maintained, and if it's not all tip-top, at least know what the limiting factors are. Know that conditions can change very quickly for the subtlest of reasons (e.g. a slight grade change providing enough shade for icing), many of which you can't see. Keep a constant watch on who around you in traffic is doing what. Others might be good drivers, bad drivers, inattentive, or sleepy, stoned, or drunk, and their vehicles may have a wide variety of capabilities or issues, too. You can't know any of that, but you can pay close attention and constantly adapt. There is more luck and probability involved than anyone would prefer. The best we can do is respect that unpredictability and control as much of everything else as we can.

It is a lot of work to do all that, but a bit of work surely beats the alternatives. We were safely down the road. My 2 year old slept through the whole thing. My wish for you is that your winter driving is boring, at least as far as traffic and collisions go. If boring gets old, hoon some parking lot doughnuts for the excitement and practice. And if you are close-in on an incident, I hope your preparation, vehicle, and plain old luck line up at least as well as it did for me. Happy motoring this winter, Opponauts.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > BoulderZ 11/17/2014 at 12:49

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Im glad you guys got out okay, that sounds scary. I was supposed to have my drive test on saturday, but it got cancelled. Im gonna reschedule. We should get together again. Why dont you text me some time

nermal > BoulderZ 11/17/2014 at 12:50

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Glad you made it thru ok.

That said, there should be a 3-part winter driving guide for noobs that everybody in snow areas needs to review come November.

1) Good tires @ correct psi

2) Pay attention (aka put your phone away)

3) Slow down

HammerheadFistpunch > BoulderZ 11/17/2014 at 12:51

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Great advice. I've driven in snow all my life in everything from a Buick roadmaster station wagon up to my current land cruiser and never had a problem...well other than some physics related traction issue getting where I wanted to go... its just keeping your head on a swivel and your ego in check.

Sam > BoulderZ 11/17/2014 at 12:51

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I went out last night in my E34 with summer tires. There was about a 1/3" of snow on the ground, but it was slushy enough to make it nearly impossible to leave the parking lot at the grocery store. Luckily, my snow tires come in tomorrow and I got a new set of wheels for them.

Sam > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 11/17/2014 at 12:54

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I had to take my drive test in the snow. It was actually great, because 1.) Everything is slower when there's snow and 2.) The instructors usually want to get done as fast as possible. My parallel park, for example, consisted of pulling up next to an empty curb, but backing in as if there were cars around.

Protip: At least for me, they took off points for not getting perfectly in a parking spot, even when I couldn't see it due to the snow. and the guy next to me was waaay over the line. So memorize where the spots are and find one you can easily get in.

BoulderZ > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 11/17/2014 at 12:55

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It was frightening in hindsight, but eerily calm in-the-moment. Glad you'll be able to test on another day! Saturday's weather and conditions were all over the place in space and time. Lots of little micro-cells of snow and low temps moving around. It was interesting, from an earth science perspective, and a real PITA from a driver's perspective. I hope to text you soon! I'm pushing hard on some employment stuff right now and really hopeful on some potential news this week. I'll oddly have more time once I'm working again.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > BoulderZ 11/17/2014 at 12:59

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I know the weather was both fascinating and scary at the same time. There's no rush, I was planning on going up to see my brother by myself after I get my license sometime after thanksgiving. We'll get together when we get together. Lets just keep in touch

BoulderZ > nermal 11/17/2014 at 13:03

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Very true! Or even Sept/Oct, depending where you're at. I have a "first of the month" list that I go through, on the first of every month (obviously). Among the usual stuff (furnace filter change, check smoke/CO alarms, etc.), there's also a set of checks on all the vehicles, including condition and pressure checks on the tires. Especially in the fall, as it gets colder, tires air down quickly.

There is a chance the driver I saw lose control might have had a phone out. I couldn't see an illuminated screen, as I was maintaining a greater distance for conditions as well as not trusting them due to a few signs, but I couldn't say they did't have their phone out, either. They seemed distracted, or perhaps tired/impaired, as they did lane drift. I don't know which it might have been. Dispatch sent paramedics and LEOs, so it probably got sorted out where it mattered.

I put together some tips on a nice question post from a from-TX-to-CO-for-school Oppo, and included, "Almost no one has ever been in a snowy collision and said 'I was going too slow and following too far back'." It's like catching a flight; there's no penalty for being early, but there is a huge one for being late.

BoulderZ > HammerheadFistpunch 11/17/2014 at 13:05

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its just keeping your head on a swivel and your ego in check.

Very, very true. Too easy to be our own worst enemies. Ego, like wine, is a wonderful servant and a terrible master.

BoulderZ > Sam 11/17/2014 at 13:07

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Nice! What did you go with? I'm waiting on some employment news to make a final decision on snow wheels/tires for my wife's car. I'm thinking maybe Nokian Hakkapellita Rs, but I like what I see of the Blizzaks as well.

BoulderZ > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 11/17/2014 at 13:08

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Will do! And, good luck with the license test, I know you'll crush it!

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > Sam 11/17/2014 at 23:53

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I take pride in my parking. I have parked with near equal space on all 4 sides of the vehicle on numerous occasions. I dont think parking will be an issue. They also wont let me take the test in fresh snow. I also know how to parallel park, but that isnt on the test. Its not required, It should be though.