Another Jeep Rides the Meridian

[Zombie]

I got rear ended last winter in my car by a driver that had some bald tires on, I was going to let him pay for it if he wanted to so his insurance would not change, but he wouldn't meet me, so I had to go through insurance. I had some michelin x-ice tires on and did not have any issue stopping.

got to love new to the country drivers that have never seen snow before.

[Rubi03 jef]

im 100% against people not driving on winter tires

but that being said . what is happening to the world today .. 30 years ago no car was front wheel drive everything was rear with mad horse power and fat tires and those people went to work everyday with no issues

i dont use 4x4 unless im fed up of sitting behind RATARDS that are on summer tires spinnning and not going anywhere then i just pass them and leave them in my rear view

another point i used to only drive cars all FWD and never had any issues with the right tires 2 wheel drive is better then 4wd with shity all season tires

so that being said if people would spend the 400- 600 on WINTER TIRES then we wouldnt have any issues


look at how many big rigs are on the road pulling huge trailers and there only rear wheel drive  year normally 8 wheels in teh rear but anyways back to my point  imagine if those guys would hit the ditch as often as all the cars do the roads would be shut down for days trying to pull out 200 trucks a day

just use commmon scense  give space and try not to lock up and dont panic people its only a car crash its not going to hurt if your nice and relaxed instead of being scared poopless

[Hi Lo Silver]

Had to take the dually to town yeasterday, threw it in 4wd when I hit Cochrane hill and took it out to turn into my driveway. LAst thing I want is that thing kicking the back end out. 2 years ago the MIL rolled her Tacoma on the ice fields highway. I asked her if it was in 4wd at the time. She said the truck started fishtailing so she reached down to pull it into 4wd and thats when it went into the ditch and rolled. My guess is she turned the wheel when she reached down to pull the lever. Had she already been in 4wd she probably wouldn't have fishtailed.

My DD is an AWD minivan with studded tires. Its hilarious on snowy/icy days pulling away from an intersection and leaving the trucks/SUVs spinning away behind. Downside is I got rear ended twice last year cause I was able to stop and there person behind me couldn't. Fortunately neither were bad, no damage. My sister has studs on her Passat and got rear ended 2 days ago. Only had the car back 2 weeks after the last time she got rear ended.

You could look at it that way or you could look at her being distracted with getting it into 4x4 instead of just easing off the fuel and controlling the vehicle in 2 wheel drive. Instead the fuel pedal may have been pushed down further and harder.  

The studs and you getting rear ended could also be someone with more traction waiting till the last minute to brake or maybe switch lanes in front of someone when conditions don’t warrant quick maneuvers.

I also see a family trend in this story….hmmmm maybe time to evaluate the driving habits.

If absolutely everyone in the city had 4x4, then I might agree with having everybody locked in, but that’s not the case so buzzing around vehicles and getting all p’d off because traffic isn’t moving is not the answer. Snow means slippery conditions, graders on snow means snow compacting to ice and glazing the surface making icy conditions.

[Vinman]

Personally, I think everyone should have to drive RWD cars or trucks for the first 5 years of holding a licence.

Learn to drive before stepping up to a front wheel drive or 4x4 and you'll realize how much of a  treat it is to drive something with traction.

Did you know that in Finland, power sliding a car is part of the driving test?

Vince

[w squared]

Did you know that in Finland, power sliding a car is part of the driving test?

Vince

Power sliding a vehicle and successfully steering out of a skid should be made a mandatory part of driving tests here. And everyone (yes, EVERYONE) should have to be re-tested every five years to ensure that they still meet the standard.

As much as I hate to say it, I think that Jeff (and Quebec) may have the right idea. Tires that are M&S rated (not necessarily dedicated winter tires) should be mandatory from November 1 through until the spring.

Oh...and just the keep Johnny happy, I NEVER use 4wd on the street. Except for when I feel like it.

[Rubi03 jef]

i agree that everyone should be put through a defensive driving course but the only problem with that is the lines would be crazy long

and some home the fresh off the boaters that cant speak english would still find a way to get a license and probably be shown how to drive by someone that has been in canada for a year longer then the new ones


its just the way it is .. they come here and cant speak english but yet they have full rights to drive something that can become a weapon

sorry but you come here you should have to have a high school deploma and then you cna go get a license .. i know its off topic but its part of the problem

[JackstandJohnny]

you guys are funny, making it mandatory to learn how to winter drive........

do you know that if you have a valid license in some 80 other countries you can qualify for one here, without a road test??  true story.  so if you come from the UAE, and have a valid drivers license there, having never driven in conditions colder than 10 degrees celcius, you are qualified to drive here in wintery conditions...... maybe that has a problem with winter driving? 

it is what it is, i'm cool with it, and i have no problem blowing your doors off when you 'ease' into the intersection........  i also know that brakes are bad, and a plus to 4wd, the jeep seems to slow down much more without brakes too......

i guess in short, i love my 4wd jeep in the winter.

have fun accellerating slowly and stuff.......

Todd, i'm never happy, you know i'l argue just for the sake of it

[w squared]

Too bad. I was hoping that my statement would get that vein on the back of your head (you know, the one on the left side) to get all throbby and stuff. 

If it makes you feel any better, I tend to engage 4WD when I can't see the pavement. Even if 2WD is working just fine, the time that I've spent driving in craptacular oilpatch conditons has taught me that having 4WD engaged when you don't benefit from it is cheaper than not having 4WD engaged when you would benefit from it. In general, I think that if the conditions merit having 4WD engaged, then you had better be travelling no faster than 80 KPH.

[T-BOAN]

RATARDS

SEE THE IRONY IN THIS?

You can't compare tractor trailers to cars as the weight of them and their loads help greatly with keeping traction on a road. Have you ever noticed the meek tread on a set of semi tires? Let's not be too quick to jump on the non english speaking immigrants either. My cousin from the UK just moved here and he speaks perfect english and can't drive worth a darn here. My wife used to be an EMT and she responded to as many calls to traffic accidents that involved  people who were born here that grew up in these snowy conditions and people that just got here a year or two that spoke broken english. Yeah thats it. We white people are perfect drivers!

[Rubi03 jef]

SEE THE IRONY IN THIS?

You can't compare tractor trailers to cars as the weight of them and their loads help greatly with keeping traction on a road. Have you ever noticed the meek tread on a set of semi tires? Let's not be too quick to jump on the non english speaking immigrants either. My cousin from the UK just moved here and he speaks perfect english and can't drive worth a darn here. My wife used to be an EMT and she responded to as many calls to traffic accidents that involved  people who were born here that grew up in these snowy conditions and people that just got here a year or two that spoke broken english. Yeah thats it. We white people are perfect drivers!

RATARDS   <  its from a movie >    and still the fact that people need to learn to drive in this city

[Justink]

I drive around in 2 wheel for the most part as it gives me a better feel of the road.  If it gets to the point I start fish tailing I simply slack off on the gas and on occasion slip it into 4x4.  I like having it there for when I need it, but not all the time.

[tubby]

Personally, I think everyone should have to drive RWD cars or trucks for the first 5 years of holding a licence.

Learn to drive before stepping up to a front wheel drive or 4x4 and you'll realize how much of a  treat it is to drive something with traction.

Vince

^
THIS

I'm actually quite babied now with my 4wheel drive capabilities and good tires. I remember what it was like driving a RWD car through sketchy mountain passses in the East Kootenays on all season tires.

[w squared]

+1 on the "babied". My JK is running 4 studded tires, so I've got pretty good traction, plus it's got a traction control system that will let you drive like an absolute hooligan with it in 2WD and the back end still stays in line (had to test it in a parking lot or three  ).

When I went to Rotten Monkey House on Friday evening, I was in a rental F-250 with crappy OEM all-seasons. I actually ended up engaging 4X4 because even with intelligent application of the fuel, there was a pile of wheelspin when you got going from a stop on snow covered roads. Then again, it's a long box one ton with a total of 75 pounds of load in the bloody box.

[Rubi03 jef]

i personaly hate all traction control and ABS..  even cars that park them selfs now .

sadly its making drivers lazier and the worse part it is a computer and they do mess up from time to time and if you rely on it always . you will be let down

our work trucks have all those fun computers and they suck in the winter you cant pass people when its slick out cuz you get on the gas and it feels the truck slip so then it applies the brakes .

if people had full control of there cars/ trucks and didnt like the road conditions then theres a better chance more people that suck  at driving would stay home . but since they (feel safe) in there car /truck that drives it self then they head out

on another note people with 4X4 and AWD all think  since i have traction going forward i must have traction to STOP    wrong you still have the same brake set up as the car next to you . so it you have the wrong rubber under your car truck youll slide and smash the person infront of you that may have a mid 90's honda civic with great winter tires that was able to stop for the red light
people just need to be educated in what they are driving . and what they are driving on
from my expierence calgary is a skating wrink 3 and hallf months of the year

[w squared]

A crappy driver with traction control on their vehicle is (a little bit) less of a hazard than a crappy driver with no traction control on their vehicle.

A 1990 Honda Civic with snow tires and a manual transmission will do better in the snow than the world's greatest AWD traction control ABS RSC gidlefarget $125,000 SUV if it's got all-season tires on. Electroncis can help poor drivers (until the computer goes wonky), but nothing trumps the laws of physics. I used to drive a VW Golf with a 5 speed, and until I started pushing snow with the air dam, that thing was fabulous in snow, ice, and crud.

Jeff and Gunther also bring up a good point. Those of us that are set up for winter driving need to stay aware that people around us are not. We need to look in the rearview before hammering the brakes, and expect that people are going to slide into intersections.