Most intense driving situation

[The Stig]

I'd imagine trying to leave a town (by driving), when everybody is trying to do the same, would not be a load of fun.

So as an brain workout think back to the most demanding, most stressful and most nerve wracking incident you had in a car. I'm thinking more like long road trips in bad weather, sections of roads that had you convinced you'd die, heavy traffic with screaming kids, etc.

Now, relate that to how one might prep for evacuating an area. What might you do differently? What worked well? What were some lessons learned?

[The Stig]

I'll lead off...

Woke up in South Bend, Indiana to 6 inches of snow and ice, 20-30mph winds and more snow coming. Decided to pack it in and drive back to my home (at the time) in Cincinnati. My first headache was I couldn't find my ice scraper and had to use my gloved hand and cassette tape case (this was mid 1990's) to clean off the window.

Headache number two was that driving down US31 from South Bend to Kokomo, Indiana is nothing but a 2 lane state highway through corn fields. The road goes straight north/south, while the wind howled in from the west. Result? No visibility, car rocked from side to side by gusts, slipping and sliding on the ice and a steady 10 to 15 MPH travel speed. A two hour trip became six. You just had to fall in line behind the guy in front of you and keep moving forward.

So I pull into Kokomo tired and nowhere near home. After a bathroom break and refuel I figure I'm in the clear. WRONG.

The hour between Kokomo and Indy took another three as the ratio between ice and snow flipped where suddenly there was far more of the former and less of the later. So now you're REALLY slipping and sliding, the windshield is icing up faster than the defrost can melt it and you see cars shooting off the road like pinballs.

Finally I got to the SE side of Indy and the ice disappeared. Two hours later I was home.

Lessons learned:

Proper equipment: I never again left in the winter without a proper ice scraper and full bottle of windshield washer solvent in the trunk. Blankets, gloves, boots, The whole deal.

Take a longer rest breaks if possible: I didn't need to get home that night but it became a bizarre quest to beat the storm. When I stopped to pee I should have eaten a proper meal, re-energized myself, etc. No reason why I couldn't have gotten a hotel and waited for the storm to pass and conditions to get better.

Provisions: I was in a stop & rob in Kokomo but it didn't dawn on me to buy a few extra bags of peanuts and some water (or whatever) to have in the car in the event I got stranded. Instead I gabbed one candybar and a soda.

Make sure you know how to drive in different weather conditions: Not to say I'm an expert but I've never wrecked due to snow/ice. Could it happen? Of course, but nearly 15 years of a sales job that demands travel in winter weather you kinda get the hang of it. Are you prepared for the weather in your area?

So there you go. Number one lesson I learned? Stay the hell out of South Bend, Indiana.

[bacpacker]

Well you got me thinkin. Probably my worst drive (great trip), we went up the Ky, In, ILL, Wisc, & Minn as the start of our trip around the north shore of Lake Superiour. Great weather all the way to the northern most tip of the lake up in Canada, Red Rock and Nippogon. That night we got 8-10" of snow. This was in early/mid October. That year Canada had contracted their snow removal and the contract didn't start for anouther 2 weeks. It was still snowing when we left out and we had to get to Marathon that night which was "only" about 175 miles away. Well before noon we ran into a white out in the middle of forest land. There was nothing and I mean nothing for miles. By this time the snow 12-16" deep and still snowing hard. We finally ran across a small gas staation/soveinger shop.I figured it best to top off the tank. We had took a bunch of food and water with us since we knew the towns were few and far between. We did get a sandwich and a few more snacks and took back off. Finally made it into Marathon about 8:00 and about 20" of snow. We did not have much wind to deal with and pretty much zero ice. We actually mostly had the road to ourself. We did see an occasional 18 wheeler or logging truck.
I guess my bottom line, next time in Canada take even more food, there are very few resturants along the route after we left Thunder bay. I also should have had a small shovel and some cat litter with us. We never got stuck but with those 2 items I could have gotten us out. I do always carry a tow strap with me.
We had planned on doing a lot of hiking and photography on the trip, so we had most of our GHB with us, plus some food and 2 cases of water. If we had got stuck we were good for 2-3 days at least. The temps never got below the mid 20's. All in all we had a very memorable great time.

[alaska]

sounds like normal drive conditions to me:cool:

[bacpacker]

I was expectin you to have a comment. Sorry it's the best I had. It was a great trip, probably why I remember it so well. :)

[alaska]

Sorry.
If you were expecting a comment that means I am a smart ass way to often.
Didnt mean to make light of something that was intense to you.

[bacpacker]

No biggie, wife says I'm a smart ass to. :) . I usually go back and forth to Mi every winter. But I've just never really got caught in anything major.
Down here heavy rains and flooded roads are a bigger concern. I just have learned where to avoid.

[alaska]

This is a pass that I drove through 4 times a winter as a teenager 14-17 years old. My step sisters lived there an I would drive my mom to pick them up 1 week christmas 1 week spring break. We had a 1984 Dodge/chrysler station wagon, front wheel drive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_Pass

One time we were in white out conditions, snow drifts 1 foot high that you couldnt see until you were plowing through them. we made it through,came down into Valdez. The girls mom asked how in the heck we made it through as she had just heard it had been closed 15 minutes prior. My answer" pedal floored and didnt stop. My moms response " have any pepto bismol?" i was 15 at the time.

Another time in a different stretch of road but same kind of conditions, I had driven there and half way back(5 hours 1 way) I decided I needed to rest. Mom came to a stretch of road that was about a mile long and a pretty good grade up hill. A semi had gotten stuck about 3/4 way up and she just came to a stop behind him. Booted mom back out of drivers seat, had to back down the whole hill, get a start and then pass the semi and hope to hell there was no oncoming.

Its not a wonder my mom got grey hair early lol
"
But in all seriousness this is what I "cut my teeth on" for winter driving.
I was lucky tho as my stepdad being in the Marshall service had been sent to a 2 week school for Dignitary protection Driving school, and he was the one that taught me how to drive, so I had a little more knowledge then your average bear.

Fun times man. I could write a dozen crazy instances but those 2 are fond memories lol

[cwconnertx]

I'd say trying to beat a major winter storm coming south out of the area near Niagra Falls.

Was towing a full size one ton truck on a dolly behind a compact truck. The dolly had no brakes and the towed vehicle wieghed more than the towing vehicle, made for a lot of white knuckle driving when the snow started falling. The compact truck had a V6 with manual transmission and four wheel drive. It was necessary to start out in 4 low to get the load moving if there was any amount of uphill at all. So it was 4Lo, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, then shift to high range and 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th. It reminded me of driving a Semi with two speed rear on the farm as a child. But the moving was the least of the problems, it was stopping that made it nerve wracking. I tried to leave a good 1/4 to 1/2 mile in front of me.

Kept driving until I was too tired to continue around 3am. The next morning the snow had reached into Kentucky where I stopped, so I got up and got too it again. It wasn't as scary in the light, and I didn't have far to get to Memphis where I planned to spend the next night. It was a scary but short driving day due to the long night before trying to get past the storm. It was a good thing too, because the weather turned really nasty, several feet of snow and ice in NY, PA, OH. With 6 inches all the way into Tennessee.

On the upside I met the young lady in Memphis as planned and got all warmed up proper. The night in Memphis still brings a smile to my face. The white knuckle driving not so much.