This Morning's Commute

[bjarvis]

...was much better, thank you very much.

The roads were clear and traffic was a little lighter than usual, probably 'cause much of DC hasn't come out of their bomb shelters and panic rooms after seeing the first few snowflakes.

I was almost clobbered by a huge chunk of snow and ice from an SUV in the lane in front of me while zipping north on I270. I was in the middle of a lane change when it flipped off his roof and smashed into the pavement about where I would have been otherwise. Folks, it's just common courtesy to remove all the snow and ice from your vehicle before driving. Yes, it's hard to do on an SUV, but too bad: that's the price of ownership.

There was much complaining on the WTOP talk-back line during yesterday's evening commute about how the state highway administrations screwed up. Personally, I think the callers were vastly too harsh: this was a light snow, not a blizzard, and it unfortunately happened at the peak of the morning rush hour. The people who salt/sand the roads can't control the weather and they can't perform miracles. It wasn't their finest hour but they hardly deserve to be boiled in oil.

Comments

[rsc.livejournal.com]

it's just common courtesy to remove all the snow and ice from your vehicle before driving.

It's more than common courtesy -- it's a safety hazard not to do so. I don't know if there are laws about this sort of thing, but there ought to be, and they ought to be enforced.