idiot bastard car drivers

[JoanByers]

Fucking hell.

We've got 1/2cm of snow on the roads, I just went out, within 2 miles of home a car coming out of the leisure centre drive overshoots the junction and nearly smashes into me as I'm driving past - he obviously didn't think to test his brakes on a snow covered, downhill slope (leisure centre drive not gritted).

Half-a-mile up the road went to pick something up off freecycle, but no, the road is blocked, so I get out and see what's going on, an idiot has gone into the back of a 4x4, impaled on the towbar.

It's not that hard. Either stay at home, or don't drive like a cunt.

[bureni]

Fakebook, surely you mean a LOWER gear

[Mintyy]

Sorry but pmsl laughing at "in the garage". What an absurdity. My God it never fails to astonish me at how ignorant people can be about other people's ordinary day to day circumstances.

Let's say I know 500 people. Of those, about 10 have a garage (rough guesses obviously).

[Fakebook]

No bureni, I mean HIGH gear. High gears stop the wheels from spinning. If you start off at gear one, your wheels will move quicker than if you try to set off at gear 3. I drive with gear 5 at 20mph in snow.

[NicholasTeakozy]

I like driving in the snow, it's a challenge. I drive a 2.5 litre V6 front wheel drive car on 'normal' tyres and didn't spin the wheels or lock up once, purely because I adjusted my driving to suit the conditions. 'Tis easy.

[Bogeyface]

Fake is right. It also easier to stop from a higher gear as your wheels are turning slower, so you can do a far more controlled stop and are less likely to skid.

[MurderOfGoths]

Totallt off topic, but Mintyy you've just reminded me of someone from our NCT group who was asking how we were decorating the nursery, and when we said we only had a 1 bed flat and therefore no spare room to convert to a nursery the response was, "no spare room!?!" as if we'd just told them our house didn't obey the laws of gravity.

[Thewhingingdefective]

The flip side is drivers driving overly cautiously and causing a hazard. Going at 25 miles per hour on an open road that is totally clear of snow, when the limit is 60 mph and most people do an average of 45-50. Just aggravates other drivers, forcing them to take risks and overtake. Where I live, whenever we get a few flakes of snow people drive too slowly and generally just don't use any common sense.

Yes, slow down in built up areas and where the roads aren't clear, but move with the flow of the traffic on busier roads and stop driving like a nervous nelly on a white knuckle ride.

[Bogeyface]

as if we'd just told them our house didn't obey the laws of gravity

That would have been quite handy, you could have had the floor and the baby could have had the ceiling :o

Some people.........

[bureni]

FaKe, you are confusing a high gear with a low gear, A high gear is first or second with the lowest gears being 5th or sixthlow gear is 5th or sixth. Best to move of in second gear in snow and get up into 5th/5th as soon as possible using low revs on the engine. Wheelspin is much more likely in first and second gears which are high gears.

[Bogeyface]

I knew what she meant. High in number, low in power! We are all on the same page :)

[Thewhingingdefective]

First gear is low gear Bureni.

[Bogeyface]

In fact that reminds me, when I was learning my tutor totally confused me when he told me to "drop down to a higher gear"

WTF?! :o

[Bogeyface]

Arggh....phone....

In the end he would use "change up and change down" which I understood as 1 is low and 5 is high to me!

[MrsMeow]

Ajandjjmum - sorry, I meant the drive to SCHOOL takes 2 mins, the drive to work is another half an hour after that! I have to drive to school on work days otherwise would have been walking :)

As it was I got to work half an hour late and had to turn around and come straight back home as got a text from both DC schools saying they were closing!

[Fakebook]

I've always been taught gear 1 is low gear and 5 is high. Infact all my instructors have told me this and it's also in the Highway Code:

No. 231 drive at a slow speed in as high a gear as possible; accelerate and brake very gently

[bureni]

First gear is high due to the ratio of power to wheel revolution which in snow causes wheelspin, the numbers may get higher on the gearstick but the ratios get lower hence lower gears.

[mum11970]

I'd guess he did try his brakes on a snow covered downhill slope and this is was the cause of the problem. I take it you don't know much about snow driving either, because that is a complete no no.

[countrykitten]

Low gears are 1,2 and 3 whereas 4 and 5 are high gears. You don't want high torque in the snow so fakebook is right that we should slow speed and high gears to drive in snow. I think that bureni has her gears mixed up.

[Fakebook]

The Highway Code refers to high gear as a gear higher than 1. It's in the Highway Code! I know what you mean regards to power, but gear 1 is a lower gear. If people thought about it the way you are, we'd all fail our theory tests.

[RandallPinkFloyd]

I've no intention of "arguing black is white" and tbh that sentence has seriously pissed me off. Are you reading different words to the ones I'm writing or are you intending to sound patronising?

It is my opinion that if the road conditions are dangerous then people shouldn't drive unless its essential, hardly controversial.

Snow and slush is very slippery. That's a fact not a matter of opinion. If there is enough of it on the ground to cause cars to lose grip as often as the op said they were then IMO it's time to consider whether your journey is necessary.

I have not once said that everyone should batten down the hatches at the first few flakes.

There may only be a sprinkling where you are, I have no idea. I don't know how much snow there is anywhere other than where I am. Here there is a fair amount, I'd say 4-5 inches at least. All main roads, busses and trains are fine though so no issues. You have to take extra care obviously as it's still more slippy than normal and it's still falling, but everyone I know, including me, went to work as normal with no problems as all.

If I had needed to use roads that hadn't been cleared then I wouldn't have gone. I hardly think that makes me hysterical.

[bureni]

I think we can agree it is best to try and move of in second gear and get up through the gears asap regardless of high or low gear debates. P.S what is a theory test?

[MurderOfGoths]

Alright, this should stop the high/low gear debate

Straight from the Highway Code
Driving in adverse weather conditions

[countrykitten]

Yep makes sense. You do see plenty of people skidding and sliding in 1st and 2nd gear in snow and ice - they probably think using a lower gear is safer as that is what you would tend to do if going slowly in normal conditions but it is not a very good idea in snow.

[Fakebook]

Ah, I take it you're not in the uk? Might explain difference in definitions.

MurderOfGoths, thanks. It's number 231 that talks about the high gear.

[Bogeyface]

Bureni its what prospective drivers of that new fangled horse-less carriage have to do before they are allowed their driving goggles and man with a red flag.