The drive to work yesterday, even with a delayed start, was nothing short of exciting. The snow that fell over night turned to ice, and all the cars on the road were moving as gingerly as possible. Well, all the sane people were being careful, but there are always a few yahoos who think the laws of physics do not apply to them.
As I slowly crawled my way down one hill, an Explorer-type vehicle decided to test out this theory. The driver was at a stop coming from a side road, and decided just to punch it when he saw an opportunity in the line of cars. He made it across the first lane, but when he went to turn, the car hit ice, fishtailed wildly, hopped the curb, and came to rest on the sidewalk. Meanwhile, everyone else tried not to skid behind him. Eventually, the slow crawl of traffic continued leaving Mr. Bozo to sort himself out.
This was the first test of my new snow tires. How anyone who had ever driven studs could say that snow tires are just as good is completely beyond me. Studs are orders of magnitude better on both ice and snow. This is not to say that I'm disappointed with my snow tires. They are much better than three season, or (god forbid) summer slicks. On snow they are really quite reasonable as long as you remember that conditions are not normal and drive accordingly. On ice, though, they are a crutch and nothing more. Why don't I have studs? Because they tear up the road and are, therefore, not socially responsible. That doesn't stop me from missing them on days like this.
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