Yes, it's snowing. Like it does every winter around here.
And like every snowstorm, there will be any number of SUVs that have slid/run/spun off the road. Why, you might ask, especially if you are reading this from places where if the temperature drops below 60degF, you drag out a down-filled coat.
The reason is this: Those vehicles have four wheel drive. Note the emphasis on the word "drive."
Most SUVs (not all) are built on the same frames used to make pickup trucks. They have the same brakes, the same steering. They will not brake or steer any better than a truck. When a car spins out, it may just twist around. An SUV might overturn, as they have a higher center of gravity. Four-wheel drive doesn't improve the steering or the stopping.
Besides that, a lot of SUVs are driven by morons. They'd be safer driving an old VW Beetle or a Honda Civic. Really. Both of those cars have the engine mounted over the drive wheels and they are pretty good in snow. And the drivers usually understand the limitations of those cars better than most SUV drivers do.
And with that, it's off to work. Watch me crash my car, since I have probably invoked the gods of retributive karma.
UPDATE: Made it into work just fine. The roads were OK. For all the traffic on the main drag, I could have set up a target and practiced with my Mosin.
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4 comments:
I think most people treat SUVs with 4Wd as if they drive themselves under adverse conditions. Sort of like, "It has cruise control, so I set it and got up to make myself a drink!"
Besides that, a lot of SUVs are driven by morons.
A truism if I ever heard one.
You should see what happens around here. I can't get out of town fast enough. I've been hit as many have from types like this. Dry landers who do not even come close to having a clue.
Reminds me of the time I was driving from North Carolina to Louisiana. Long friggin' drive even in good conditions. I was driving a 1995 Ford Aspire ("it aspires to be a real car!"), and as I hit the Alabama-Mississippi border, a gigantic storm descended on the region. First overpass I hit after the rain started, I felt my tires slipping. All further bridges and overpasses, I put my emergency blinkers on, slowed almost to a crawl, and crawled over them. Pretty much all of them had ice on them. Pretty much all of them had the prerequisite SUV's and trucks smashed on the other side of them from sliding on the ice then flipping once they hit the un-icey pavement. Pretty much every time I slowed down and put on my blinkers, some stupid-ass redneck in a pickup truck or SUV came blaring by at high speed, horn howling, middle finger stuck up at me, and I got to see his stupid redneck ass on the other side of the bridge off the side of the road somewhere.
Fact of the matter is that jerks just drive too damn fast when the weather is bad. I'm not going to tackle ice at any significant speed without chains even though I have some snow-rated tires on my Jeep. But these assholes... they just don't have any sense. Probably why they're driving some big-ass SUV that never gets dirty, rather than a nice practical sedan of some sort.
- Badtux the Car Penguin
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