[ale] OT: Driving in snow...

[Geoffrey]

tfreeman at intel.digichem.net wrote:

> _If_ you find yourself in snow, and see someplace to practice like a
>  parking lot, I'd go for it gently.

When I was on the high school swim team, in order to get our 'miles' in, 
we had swim practice before and after school. Morning practice you got 
to school and parked in the back.  The whole front parking lot was 
completely empty.  We'd get there early and to 60 mph donuts in the 
parking lot.  Not exactly driving practice, but quite the rush and 
stupid.  What can I say, I was 17...

> As an aside: my graduate advisor was driving my car (I was tired) to
> a conference when he found an icy patch in the middle of
> Pennsylvania. We did a few 360's before we got settled back down.
> Nothing quite like waking up going backwards at expressway speeds!
> However, the point of the story is that there can be treachery on the
> road. You want to prepare in depth, in advance.

Back in good old Buffalo, I was working at the local mall.  Cold day, 
but the sun had come out and melted most everything on the road.  Took a 
corner at the mall too fast, came into the shadow of the building and 
found myself sliding sideways at about 25 mph.   Prepare for the unexpected.

-- 
Until later, Geoffrey