How about putting on winter tires and driving appropriately? Things like turning on your lights really help those around you to see you. And if you’re going to do 60 in a 70 zone stick to the right lane. That goofball behind you in the jacked up Dodge is already a hazard and you’re only making him more so.

Axman, how about you can do both of those things and sometimes accidents still do happen? It’s called life. I have my winters on and was going 60km/hr down the Hart Highway the entire way this morning, sometimes even slower around the corners. It was still treacherous.

I was going down the Hart Hwy this morning, and all the cars were in the right lane, doing under 70 km, and the Giscome Contracting Dump Truck passed us all on the left side as if it were summer. Great, a 15 ton truck pushing the envelope on icy roads. Then in the curved 60 k section, a lowbed did the same thing – good thing they put those concrete dividers in.

I have an AWD studded winter tire vehicle. When I turned onto Ness Lake Rd, I had this nagging feeling the road might be slick – not sure if it was the polished glare, but then I thought, heck, this vehicle’s got tons of safety features – I should be okay. And if I crash, well, I blame YRB for not sanding hundreds of Km’s a road in an hour. So since we normally do 100 km an hour in an 80 out there, I dropped it down to 90 km just to be safe (sarcasm if not self evident.) Actually, everyone was driving pretty careful this morning, except for commercial vehicles, they only slowed down if they got stuck behind a car.

Apparently two of them learned the hard way out at Bear Lake that even they are subject to the laws of physics.

Posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2015 @ 9:51 AM by countryliving with a score of 2

Axman, how about you can do both of those things and sometimes accidents still do happen?

——–

How many avoidable accidents would we eliminate if we all did those things?

A bunch of us were moving quite nicely down the Hart doing 80 this morning. The issues didn’t arise until we met the person doing 60 in the left lane. Most of us passed her on the right but that one special guy decided that riding her ass was the best solution to his small penis dilemma.

Axman, I’m sure many more avoidable accidents could be eliminated if all drivers adhered to those few things. However, there are times where you can do everything right and accidents still do happen.

There are always going to be those people that don’t understand how to properly drive in the winter, but posting about it on here probably isn’t going to get through to them. Which really is unfortunate.

Axman, just a heads up. If you are travelling 10 km over the limit – moving along nicely as you say, and let’s say someone just does a dumbass left turn from the other side of the road in front of all of you, causing a collision as you all try to stop. You would think you’re not at fault – but surprise – you get half the blame. ICBC’s position, and I know this from bitter experience, is if you are speeding and/or driving too fast for road conditions, and there’s an accident, you will be assessed part of the blame, because had you been driving to road conditions, you may not have hit dumbass.

If you are travelling 10 km over the limit – moving along nicely as you say, and let’s say someone just does a dumbass left turn from the other side of the road in front of all of you, causing a collision as you all try to stop. You would think you’re not at fault – but surprise – you get half the blame.

—–

That is true, however, you can help avoid situations like this by fully expecting the dumbass to to make that left turn in front of you. And to go 20 kmh slower then you are.

I think our roads would be much safer if we all started driving defensively instead of offensively or -as is the norm these days- obliviously. We need to start making it more difficult to get and to keep a license. It should be mandatory to have to take your initial test twice, once in the summer and once again in the winter. There should be a requirement to retest everybody every X number of years. For those drivers in the age / gender groups that are identified as having the most accidents X should be a little lower then those in other demographics.

@ski51
good one, like all Insurances like to find some Fault with you!
Not Speeding is one less they can nail with, Road Conditions is not that easy , If you drive 20 km you be told 10 km !

Did some research on what snowtires to buy. Kal tire did some tests with their brands of studless and studded and interesting the studless had better performance than the studded.

Axman, do you actually think road testing based on gender groups would go over well? That would open an entirely new can of worms!

what say we let the police and commercial transport do their jobs decide what did or didn’t happen

Hard to beat the Michelin x-ice . Pricey but you get what you pay for .

Driving over the speed limit this am is well just plain dumb, a recipe for disaster.The go part is the easy one, stopping well that’s another matter. IF a person decides to do 10 under the limit, so be it. IF you decide to do 10 over or greater well lets see who the DUMBASS is come insurance time!

Those speed limit signs are speed limit for dry good road conditions, not winter conditions.

seamutt – I read a similar test. Interesting thing about it, is stud-less tires work best on icy surfaces that have been scratched up by studded tires and/or application of sand. On a clear icy stretch that hasn’t been scratched up, studded tires performed better. Nice thing about up here, is virtually everyone is smart enough to run winter tires in winter, not so much in lower mainland

Posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2015 @ 11:32 AM by ice with a score of 7

Those speed limit signs are speed limit for dry good road conditions, not winter conditions.

——

If people thought this morning’s commute was “winter conditions” they’re in for one hell of a surprise come January. The only thing wrong with the roads in town this morning was the inordinate number of idiots driving on them.

Including you apparently, Axman, since you were “moving quite nicely” over the speed limit on black ice. People have the right to drive to what they feel the conditions are, as long as they are not putting others in danger (of course they should move into the right lane, if so). If you feel comfortable going over the speed limit on icy roads, maybe you need to re-evaluate who the “idiots” are.

So tired of people criticizing others for driving too slow on icy roads. Seriously. Slow the eff down, back off and take your time. I would much rather someone slow down and take it easy and be able to keep control of their vehicle than drive beyond their comfort level and have zero control and kill someone. Your schedule to be somewhere in a hurry is not anyone else’s concern.

It takes some time to get used to driving on ice again. We may forget, but quickly manage to get it together and get a feel for it again.

I have good studded winter tires and slid all the way to work this morning. On top of that, I had to worry about the jerk who was riding far too close to me and others coming at me in the opposite direction.

Get over yourselves and give people time. It’s not all about YOU.

Thank you, northernspirit! My thoughts exactly.

Posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2015 @ 2:18 PM by countryliving with a score of 0

Including you apparently, Axman, since you were “moving quite nicely” over the speed limit on black ice.

——-

The roads were fine this morning, 80 down the Hart was a perfectly safe speed. We all had several car lengths between us and we seemed to have no trouble getting around. Things didn’t start heating up until we caught up to that one idiot doing 60 in the left lane. That’s when the testosterone freak showed up and started tailgating the slowpoke. That’s when accidents happen, not when people go with the flow of traffic and drive defensively.

Axman, obviously quite a few people posting on here had other opinions regarding the conditions. You are entitled to yours, as are the people who felt the conditions were poor. We’re obviously not going to agree on this topic so let’s leave it at that.

Something also to keep in mind.

The areas that have new pavement tend to be a little bit more slippery.

Do to the fact that the road surface is not as porous as the older surface.

Hence the phrase ” Black Ice “

How about giving people a break. What is it that makes everyone think they are an expert regarding road conditions and what is / is not a safe speed to travel?

What feels safe to me may not be the same to someone else. Perspective for everyone is different. Everyone’s experiences are different. One person who has driven 20 years longer than another may be more confident, someone else may be new to the north and hasn’t driven on icy roads before… we don’t know what people’s story might be. I am happy to see drivers exercising caution. Those people aren’t going to slam into me and kill me.

I travel slow when I’m unsure what the conditions are. Yes, I stay in the right lane and let others blow by me if they feel the need, however, there is no excuse for someone to be a bully and tailgate and intimidate other drivers. THOSE drivers are the problem, NOT the person driving a reasonable speed for the road conditions.

This world would be a much nicer place if everyone would just take a deep breath, slow down, give other drivers the benefit of the doubt and give everyone a chance to get home safely.

Well said northernspirit.

Far too many people with the mentality that if they do 20km/hr over, get to Timmies..wait 5 min in the drive thru and then continue doing 20km/hr over.. they can still make it to work on time.
Prince George is not a big city. Whether you drive like a kamakaze pilot, or drive safely, you will still cross town within 5 minutes of eachother. Unfortunately, the self entitled maniac that is speeding will be the one to cause an accident and then we are all late and someone is dead or injured..All to save 5 minutes. Many people forget to act like adults once they get behind the wheel.

seamutt – I read a similar test. Interesting thing about it, is stud-less tires work best on icy surfaces that have been scratched up by studded tires and/or application of sand. On a clear icy stretch that hasn’t been scratched up, studded tires performed better. Nice thing about up here, is virtually everyone is smart enough to run winter tires in winter, not so much in lower mainland

===============================

Everything I’ve read suggests that the only time studs work better than studless tires, is when you are dealing with pure ice. For everything else, including snow, slush, wet roads, or bare roads, studless are just as good and in some cases, actually perform better than studs.

We’ve run Michelin X-Ice tires on my wife’s car and they’ve performed excellent. I’ve also run Nokian WR’s and while not quite as good as the Michelin’s, they were also very good with the added benefit of being able to run them all year. In slush and the nasty stuff you get in late fall and spring, they were awesome.