Thursday, January 19, 2012

Seattle Snow Drivin LANE CHANGE CRASH

New Seattle Snow Driving Rule #27: DO NOT LANE CHANGE 405S near Totem Lake, dodged Nissan Maxima 2 cars ahead, changed left from center lane, tail swung out, turned backwards across car ahead of me into right lane, ended up on shoulder backwards and could not move in 5" of snow there. I stopped to ask if he needed help, he said he was fine, made it into bellevue fine.

There was about 2" of snow across the freeway and some ice/snow even in the ruts. My Mazda MPV with studs drove fine as along as it was under 40mph where most of traffic was. I got the studs after we got stuck in 2007 thanksgiving coming back from San Diego with worn all-weather tires on ice on hill near our house. Never needed snow tires for typical NW winters = 1.5 days of snow on ground.
I've have seen 3 other cars in the process of spinning out ahead of me or in my rearview mirror on I405 between Kirkland and Bellevue WHEN IT WAS DRY. Must be the slope or something, one was a blown tire from right lane, spun around and crossed in front of us about 30 ft ahead, ended up backwards after hitting center guard rail, woman was also ok.

Other rules
  • Don't run summer tires in winter
  • Replace your all-weather tires well before they hit the tread indicators
  • You can run snow tires all year, they just make more noise and will wear faster but you won't need to swap them and will come in handy the 3 or 4 days a year you will actually need them even if you never drive over the mountains
  • Studs are even better but you have to change tires each season and they are bad for roads and ar really noisy.
  • Drive SLOWLY 

No comments: