This morning greeted us with an overcast sky. For this area, it is unusual to get rain, but when we do, it causes a rift in the space-time continuum, or in the minds of drivers. Mostly the latter.
As I was taking the kids to school, a young man pulled out in front of me, apparently not seeing my big red SUV with all its lights on. Then at the big intersection, one woman was driving fast enough that she locked her brakes when confronted with the red traffic light. She narrowly missed the van in front of me. Driving towards Little One’s school, several drivers fishtailed and skidded. One car was in a ditch.
I forgot to mention, it was a light drizzle, not a raging downpour. My windshield wipers were on their lowest setting.
So I shall stay home, choosing to live over taking chances with the “ZOMG!! I’M GOING TO DIE!!” drivers out there. At least until such time as one kid asks me to get something for some school project.
It’s part of the Murphy’s Mom Law 😉
April 10th, 2013 at 12:57 PM
It’s that bad up here in cold country, too. Even when it rains.
But the first snowfall is always the most fun. Everyone forgets.
April 10th, 2013 at 1:00 PM
Is it genetic??
April 10th, 2013 at 6:05 PM
I love driving in the rain. I hate driving in the rain in Texass. I actually prefer driving in sleet/snow/ice conditions in Texas more than rainy conditions, since all of the timid drivers tend to stay home and cower instead of filling the road with 20-mph-below-the-posted-limit panic-driving. My average drive to work, on a sunny day with no traffic, takes 15 minutes. Rainy days, I usually see 25-30 minutes, and have taken up to an hour and a half. On snowy days…I think the last time we had snow piling up I timed my drive at 18 minutes. And a couple of those were me doing donuts (intentionally) on the industrial side-road leading to the plant. Heh. There were less than a handful of other vehicles on the highway that morning.
April 11th, 2013 at 8:34 AM
Yeppers…we see two snowflakes down here and the entire tri-state county area shuts down 😀
April 10th, 2013 at 8:30 PM
I have a Dry Comal Creek story from the Solms area, but I’ll save that one for another day. It happened 30 years ago, so it’s old news anyway. 😉
April 11th, 2013 at 8:35 AM
Never too old to share 🙂
April 11th, 2013 at 4:44 AM
Roads that don’t get much rain can be very dangerous. The first few minutes get all the dropped oil on the road wet and slippery, and it does the same to the dust, turning it to mud.
April 11th, 2013 at 8:35 AM
Amazingly, one of the first things we learn when taking Driver’s Ed, and also one of the first things drivers here forget 🙄
April 11th, 2013 at 12:54 PM
Even worse when I was stationed in Hawaii…the roads there are usually crushed coral. They’re slick anyway, and when it rains (heck, its a tropical island….you can almost set your watch by the daily 4pm rain showers during certain times of the year), its not a matter of “if” you slide. Its just a matter of “when” you lose traction. Combine that with islanders’ propensity to dispense with such old-fashioned notions as “stop when the light turns red” and “maintain at least a car-length between vehicles and widen this distance during inclement conditions”, and fender-benders were rather common. You either learn how to drive in an aggressively defensive manner, or you took the bus.
April 11th, 2013 at 1:05 PM
No kidding! We were stationed there for a year (95-96). That coral made me pray out loud 😀
April 15th, 2013 at 6:25 PM
Holy schnitzel….small world! I got there on the USS Drum to decom that pig in ’95. Didn’t escape until sometime late 2000.
April 15th, 2013 at 7:09 PM
Are you saying we coulda been neighbors?? HAHAHAHA!!
April 15th, 2013 at 9:00 PM
Well, if you were stationed out on Ford Island in ’95, or anywhere near the oldest barracks buildings still in active use in the world (last renovated PRIOR to the bombing on Dec 7 1941), then yes, we coulda been! I lived in Aiea after I got out of the Navy, worked at an Office Depot in Pearl City. ‘Bout the only things I miss from that effin’ island are the sunsets (especially when the volcanoes on the big island were acting up) and the hiking trails. A friend and I made it up 6 of the “7 Falls” over on the north shore one Saturday….I still hurt just thinking about that hike!
April 15th, 2013 at 9:36 PM
We lived in the AMR, and went to Aiea regularly. Only stationed for a year there, but it was amazing!
April 16th, 2013 at 7:49 PM
Heh. That’s close enough to say “Neighbor!”
April 12th, 2013 at 12:22 AM
There are bridges here in my county in WI, that I know I will visit during the firsy snow of November, because people have forgotten about bridge surfaces and snow. Slick, slick, slick.
April 12th, 2013 at 7:04 AM
People forget about icy roads in WI?? Unpossible!! 🙂
April 12th, 2013 at 9:26 AM
Are you truly amazed, Aggie? We are talking about alleged people who act as though history began when they were born, people who know more about American Idol than they do about the stated policies of Il Douche, and how they are strait out of the Communist Manifesto.
People, and not just in WI, seem to put their key in the ignition, then firmly shove their heads up their ass before putting the car in gear.