Driving in the Winter can be fun… but alongside donuts and drifting, comes black ice, skitting, and car accidents
The start of any good story is a little bit of danger and a lot of laughs even if they are laughs after the fact.
Hailey Shaw, a senior, said “I was driving home from work and it was so snowy that I was simply driving straight and managed to slip enough that I pulled a 360 spin and then just kept driving.”
Another student at Fremont said “One time I started sliding but got my car out of it, then I stopped to think about what just happened. I drove home with no music and then when I got home, my parents asked me how it went and I didn’t tell them because I was embarrassed (I was 16 at the time) and they still don’t know. It was great hehe.”
Another student at Fremont said that a person she was dating texted her after drifting in the snow, saying it was so much fun. She told that person to be careful but instead, he drifted his car into a fire hydrant and totaled his car.”
Camille Davis, a senior, said “ One time I was on the way to school, my tires slipped and I almost went into the ditch. Then I slid again to the other side of the road, and finally slid back to the middle of the road. It was 10 seconds, but it felt like forever as (my car) was spinning all around.”
Brielle Webb, a senior, said “ So basically I drive up to Ogden High school for swim practice, and obviously since it is higher on the mountain, the snow is worse. One day, I was driving home and it was dark. I don’t like driving in the dark, but I went to pull out and I almost slid when I was turning out of the parking lot. Then I was trying to be so careful and go so slow, but then I went to take my right turn just to get to the light on 30th street. Even with how slow I was going, my car went from being straight and instead of going straight the other way my rear bumper slid into the other lane. When I was trying to regain control I was gently pulling it back over and my car slid the other way and I was just trying to get my car to chill out. The snow was just black ice on top of the snow, it was very scary and at that point I had been driving for 4 months.”
The second day it snowed this year my own car slid into the sidewalk and I was only going 25 MPH.
Teenagers and other drivers don’t understand how scary it can be to drive in the snow, or more importantly how dangerous it is.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, a road weather management group, 24% of weather related vehicle crashes occur in snowy, slushy, or icy conditions and 15% happen during snowfall or sleet. Over 1,300 people are killed, and more than 116,800 people are injured in vehicle crashes annually.
However, this isn’t just inexperienced drivers who have been driving for 1-3 years, it’s people who have been driving on the roads longer than most. No matter how much experience you have, attention and knowledge are the most important tools you can have.
Driving in the snow has its ups and downs. People get hurt and we all just need to remember that with great power of the wheel comes great responsibility for other people’s lives. If that doesn’t scare you, imagine the amount of money you’d have to pay in insurance.
For those that are less confident in their driving skills, here’s a little tip: Whichever way the tail end of your car is going, turn your wheel gently the same way. This should straighten your car out.
Safe driving!
