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The States: Where We Wish Texas Would Secede Already

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Kepler said:
I would think Minnesota and Colorado are the absolute pinnacle of American snow driving. Lots of opportunity to practice, stable state infrastructure funding, and a relatively lower percentage of I Am Emperor of the Highway conservative dooshnozzledom than Iowa, the Dakotas, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

The best snow drivers I have seen were in California of all places. The worst are Boston; not just the aggro but the sheer ineptitude.
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I think you'd be suprised.

In general, city snow drivers suck. But they also don't need to drive in bad snow for the most part. The rural folks would be better, but they also take more risks (pickups at 60 when 30 mph is probably resonable for a good snow driver). I'd guess the UP or Duluth (or really any semi-rural lake effect snow areas) are the pinnacle in the real skill that matters. Getting home. Doesn't matter if you keep in on the road if you can get out. If that makes sense.
 
Yeah, don't give drivers in and around the Twin Cities too much credit here. Better than what you see in the south, sure, but pinnacle? I'm not sold. But like dx said, many just don't drive when it falls hard. The vehicles that just don't seem to stop regardless of the conditions? Pizza delivery drivers. They get it done.
 
state of hockey said:
Yeah, don't give drivers in and around the Twin Cities too much credit here. Better than what you see in the south, sure, but pinnacle? I'm not sold. But like dx said, many just don't drive when it falls hard. The vehicles that just don't seem to stop regardless of the conditions? Pizza delivery drivers. They get it done.
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Pizza guys be like
MarvelousFrighteningBison-size_restricted.gif
 
aparch said:
The hardest hit area in Virginia got 14+ inches of snow (if I saw the Twitter reports correctly). Even many northern states would have trouble keeping up with that.

Motorists were warned of the incoming snow. They chose to travel in those conditions anyway.
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I read on Twitter that because of Covid a lot more people than normal we’re just driving through.
 
Kepler said:
I would think Minnesota and Colorado are the absolute pinnacle of American snow driving. Lots of opportunity to practice, stable state infrastructure funding, and a relatively lower percentage of I Am Emperor of the Highway conservative dooshnozzledom than Iowa, the Dakotas, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

The best snow drivers I have seen were in California of all places. The worst are Boston; not just the aggro but the sheer ineptitude.
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Maybe back in the day...certainly not now. First snow is a guaranteed 3 hour commute for anyone driving more than 3 miles on any highway. It is fucking stupidity. Fuckwits with big trucks driving like morons and idiots with cars lighter than my cat white knuckling it and causing spinouts near exits. I think first snow (or first major accumulation) this year had 270 accidents and spinouts and it was at night!

People are stupid...all 'round the world same song!
 
Drew S. said:
I read on Twitter that because of Covid a lot more people than normal we’re just driving through.
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That's *everywhere* though. Personal vehicular traffic is up and public transportation is still lagging a LOT because of the continued concern of Covid.

Illinois Tollway stated that once businesses started reopening last fall, they routinely traffic counts that rival 2019. CTA and PACE (Chicago, Chicagoland regional public transportation respectively) are still struggling to return to normal service due to lack of demand.
 
Kepler said:
Compared to what? Traffic is so much more sparse in DC, now. There is nobody on the freaking roads, it's fantastic.
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Maybe Chicagoland is an anomaly as the region has seen the return of pre-pandemic traffic levels. Our "Pandemic Traffic" where the roads were empty went from March 2020 to ~ summer 2021.
 
aparch said:
Maybe Chicagoland is an anomaly as the region has seen the return of pre-pandemic traffic levels. Our "Pandemic Traffic" where the roads were empty went from March 2020 to ~ summer 2021.
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DC may be the weirdo. So much USG --> so much remote work. And we're not back to the empty roads of Spring 2021. That was Apocalyptic Movie level empty.
 
Kepler said:
The best snow drivers I have seen were in California of all places.
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I lived right at the top of the Santa Cruz mountains where our two closest access roads to the city below were to Los Altos Hills and Saratoga. On those rare occasions when snow stuck up on the hil, the idiots from San Jose and the rest of the South Bay would try to drive up to see and play in the snow while it lasted. The roads going up are real switchbacky, and a lot of cars couldn’t make it up with even a little snow. A real zoo.

As far as driving in the muck in Silicon Valley, it was a little crazy when the first significant rain came in Mid to late fall. After no rain whatsoever for 5 months, the buildup of grime on the freeways made them slick when the first rains came. That together with everyone having to relearn how to drive in traffic in heavy rain made for even more gridlock. Fortunately, I worked up on the hill and was able to avoid the mess most of the time.
 
burd said:
I lived right at the top of the Santa Cruz mountains where our two closest access roads to the city below were to Los Altos Hills and Saratoga. On those rare occasions when snow stuck up on the hil, the idiots from San Jose and the rest of the South Bay would try to drive up to see and play in the snow while it lasted. The roads going up are real switchbacky, and a lot of cars couldn’t make it up with even a little snow. A real zoo.
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Heck I hate driving most of those roads that aren't CA-92 in good weather, much less in snow.

As far as driving in the muck in Silicon Valley, it was a little crazy when the first significant rain came in Mid to late fall. After no rain whatsoever for 5 months, the buildup of grime on the freeways made them slick when the first rains came. That together with everyone having to relearn how to drive in traffic in heavy rain made for even more gridlock. Fortunately, I worked up on the hill and was able to avoid the mess most of the time.
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Yeah in both NorCal and SoCal you get the water+oil in the first rainfall. Plus you're likely to get all of the street drains clogged up because that first rainfall is going to knock down anything on trees that can be easily knocked down after 8+ months of no rain. It gets back to normal after that, though.
 
French Rage said:
Heck I hate driving most of those roads that aren't CA-92 in good weather, much less in snow.
.
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Yeah, my wife would not only have to contend with Hwy 9 to and from work but also have to deal with the stop-and-go gridlock all the way out by 101 and Lawrence. Between dealing with that every weekday and having to live with me, I’m surprised she didn’t just shoot herself. Or me.
 
French Rage said:
Yeah in both NorCal and SoCal you get the water+oil in the first rainfall. Plus you're likely to get all of the street drains clogged up because that first rainfall is going to knock down anything on trees that can be easily knocked down after 8+ months of no rain. It gets back to normal after that, though.
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There was always a stretch of highway coming down the peninsula and into SF, I want to say around Daly City, where when it rained the highway was just one long oil slick. It's where that big hill sticks out on the west of the highway and no matter what time of day it always feels like a truck stop at dusk. If I ever need to dump a body it will be there, it won't even be noticed; it's like somebody teleported in a piece of New Jersey.
 
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