I caused chaos on the road this morning

[FrancisQuoynt]

Chucked it down with snow overnight and my car was covered in snow. I cleared the windows and drove off to go to work. I got to a roundabout where you can turn left, go straight on or turn right (as you do on roundabouts, I was going straight on) and there was an avalanche on the windscreen. I'd forgotten to clear the roof. It covered the windscreen and the wipers were jammed and I couldn't see a bloody thing.

I had to stop the car and get out and clear it off the windscreen. I was in the left lane, so anyone going straight on or right could still get by. A man behind me with a moustache and a trilby hat on started honking and shaking his fist because I had delayed him by about, ooh, 90 seconds.

Feeling a right fool. Trilby Man looked like someone out of a 1970s sitcom.

To be fair I don't think his reaction is limited to just how a man would respond as OPs actions could have had much worse consequences. Also ironic as it would probably have only taken, oh, 90 seconds to clear before leaving? Which is the same time OP comments this chap was possibly delayed for.

No-one seems to have picked up on the 90 seconds. That's not a short delay at all. Most traffic lights change after 20 or 30 seconds. I'm not surprised the guy got pissed off after a minute and a half. But this is MN - better to take the piss out of him.

Easy thing to forget and no harm done thankfully

I blocked a roundabout once, not for snow, broke down as my car ran out of fuel (I'll point out it was not my fault!) and the amount of abuse - beeping horns, shouted at through rolled down windows - I got was ridiculous!

A couple of lovely lads parked up and helped push the car around the roundabout and out the way to clear the jam and also helped to diagnose the problem, then went to the garage just down the road and got me going again.

For all the arseholes who give other drivers a hard time there are still some people out there that will go out of their way to help someone in need. If I see anyone broken down and, if it looks safe and they might need help I will stop and offer. I once drove a mum and their two kids home while dad stayed with the car until their breakdown service arrived (took the best part of an hour out my day, but made theirs).

If you were to not bother clearing your roof of snow which could have caused an accident then stuck your finger up at another motorist who gets impatient at your need to then stop on a roundabout to clear same snow from obstructing your windscreen, this could possibly make you an even bigger twat?

Just read this thread and have gone out to clear the remaining snow off the roof of my car for later.

OP it was worth posting as I may have forgotten!

(I don’t think you are in the minority, most cars I see driving around where I live on snowy days seem to have it on the roof still. Obviously not great though).

I'm pretty sure the law changed recently and you need to clear it before you set off. My roof is high and I'm short so it impossible to clear completely. There is a video of sheet of ice coming off a cars roof and smashing the cars windscreen behind at speed. Get the broom out I guess.

Everyone makes mistakes, people get irate and honk even when something is out of your control. Like a crash, or brakedown. That's people for you. Let it wash over you if you can. I normally smile and mutter to myself to enjoy their embolism from the self induced rage high blood pressure. Better than holding onto it all day. I feel much better smiling, waving and thinking "off you fuck then wanker" 😄

Why does it matter what he looked like? What a weird thing to fixate on and mock. If he'd been in his thirties, black with a beard and wearing Nike would that have been OK? Or a woman in her forties with a blue coat and a bobble hat?

@Clafoutie did he though? That didn’t seem to get thrown in until quite a way into an argument with another poster. Given the topic you’d think it would have been mentioned earlier.

She was really stressed and used humour after the event to deal with it. (As many of us do when something embarrassing / stress-inducing happens…)
Thankfully lesson learned and no one hurt. Also painted a lovely picture, trilby man description was straight out of Fawlty Towers and gave me a chuckle :) Glad you’re ok OP 💐

Trilby Man looked like someone out of a 1970s sitcom.

Im pretty sure you would have looked more ridiculous than him in this situation.

There were no traffic lights. It was a roundabout with two lanes. The snow fell off as I approached it and so I pulled up at the side of the road and cleared the snow from the kerbside, so not in the middle of the road. I fully accept I was wrong by forgetting, and that everyone was lucky, so I don't need anyone to point that out.

To be fair you could have killed someone.

Removing the snow isn't about you its about other people and people have a right to be mad that you endangered everyone through laziness. If the police had caught you it would be worse than being honked at and if it blew off backward and shattered someones windscreen causing and accident you would have been right up shits creek.

@bowlofhotslop... BS, I like in the mountains so very snowy and EVERYONE knows these basics and takes them seriously. People are killed every year in the snow round here, roads become death traps and we are issued do not travel notices, its not taken lightly at all in 'pretty snowy areas'.

Absolutely this.

I blocked a roundabout once, not for snow, broke down as my car ran out of fuel (I'll point out it was not my fault!)

trying to work out how running out of fuel isn’t 100% driver error. (And I say that as someone whose fuel gauge goes from full to half full in about 160 miles and half full to empty in about 40 miles.)

Agreed. I think OP now knows this but not everyone is as perfect as Mr Trilby!

The fuel gauge was faulty and was still showing around 1/3 tank left.

@housethatbuiltme shockingly what happens in one area does not in fact cover the whole country. It’s not BS at all that loads of people round here drive around with snow on their roofs seemingly without consequences. I never said it was the right thing to do but it is what happens.

Have a watch of this to see what can happen when you drive with snow on your roof

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA8HB6ZpVRY

🍪 🫖 ☕️ 💅🏻

No harm done thankfully. It's not something you'll forget again probably.

I'm sure you'll get a few more pages before you get the 'you're a dangerous fugitive' for leaving the snow on your roof though. With a few more crimes thrown in for good measure and all the local police stations being sent a link to your thread.

Waiting behind someone for a minute and a half is quite long.

I would have been annoyed too.

I would have been embarrassed especially if you’re a woman reinforcing the stereotype of being bad drivers (when most of us really aren’t) but what’s done is done and I would just learn from it in the future.