Bah Snow - Dublin Drivers -Women are winning

CDfm

I had a bit of a slide this morning and have done a bit of driving this cold snap.

I must say our local authorities in Dublin dont do gritting well and having lives in Wycombe in Bucks -the local authorities there would leave them standing.and even the burbs got gritted.

The NYE night coming back from town I saw loads of guys stuck and probably because they had no experience of driving in bad weather. The secret of it is a slowish steady speed in low gears for good traction. Similar with flooding (which Dubs have difficulty with too)

Now I did notice that less women were driving but those who did were fine and that it was mostly guys who did not know how to drive in snow or their cars capabilities that had the problems.

Jemmy

lol thats only because the women are too scared to go too fast and the men have no patience!


Coming home to wicklow on the N11 NY day and the amount of IDIOTS flying along on inside lane/fast lane where it hadn't been gritted and was lethal to be doing the 100kph they were doing. I'm not a nervous driver at all, get plenty of floods snow ice etc up in the back of beyond where I live so driven in all kinds of weather but them passing me at that speed did make me nervous. There was a line of traffic doing 50-60kph which was dodgey enough and here was this FOOL hopping along like it was a clear dry sunny day :mad: If he f*cked up he'd have most certainly caused at least 5 of us to crash, noone had any grip to break if he spun out in our way.

Ended up abandoning my car in the local village and dad had to bring me home in the jeep!

dr.bollocko

It seems to me from hitting bad bad ice in Clare that using clutch and brakes at all loses traction entirely. A couple of times I have hit steep hills with thick ice and the car just cannot get up them. My solution was a hail mary pass. Reverse back to a point where you can get some traction, have a look out at the top of the hill to ensure no oncoming traffic and then try and get enough momentum before you hit the ice to get past the hill. Some times there is just no way to maintain control. I got stuck out in Clare because the ice was so bad as to make driving literally not possible.

star-pants

Yeah my dad had trouble getting home from work late NewYears Eve, he said there were so many cars abandoned in the middle of the road?? There was a taxi in the middle of the road with it's hazards on, and he had to hope the van in front kept going or else he'd lose momentum and not be able to get up the hill himself. Lots of slipping and sliding (hitting the brakes makes it worse). I didn't want to go out in it myself so I haven't (driving). Cuz last week with the ice I slid right out the driveway, and later I slid down a hill as my car skidded and cut out on a ramp.

You need to be so so careful, problem is so many people think 'ah sure, bit of ice, it's like rain' no it's not, don't be an idiot.
Guy drove past me when I was walking the dogs, rather fast for our road which is really bad, skidded, hit the ramp, cut out and had to restart whilst flying down the road. IDIOT.

homer simpson

Consider yourselves lucky, up in donegal we have had to deal with it since the saturday before christmas, solid compact ice on the 3 or so miles from my house to the main road and its up and down hills like a roller coaster, just about thawed out last 2 days and suppossed to be lethal tonight again snow and freezing fog for the next week or so.

dr.bollocko

homer_simpson wrote: »

Consider yourselves lucky, up in donegal we have had to deal with it since the saturday before christmas, solid compact ice on the 3 or so miles from my house to the main road and its up and down hills like a roller coaster, just about thawed out last 2 days and suppossed to be lethal tonight again snow and freezing fog for the next week or so.

Thats what I was up against for a few days, 2 miles to the road on a small country road and the hills were an absolute nightmare. Literally the feeling of creeping up the hill and then losing all grip and either sliding backwards or just sitting there, knowing you cant get over the hill. it's a horrible feeling.

homer simpson

I hear ya, its a terrible feeling. There is one part of my road which i hate there is a square corner about 90degrees, and a very steep hill just afte it, 100 yards from my house, you need a slight bit of speed going around the corner or there is no hope of getting up the hill, i've hit the banking twice at that corner no damage though thanks god.

Jemmy

Our roads up around home atm...

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/146442/100595.jpg



Ah didn't realise you can't stick up a pic in here...Oh well link is there!

CDfm

Jemmy wrote: »

Our roads up around home atm...

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/146442/100595.jpg

Do you consider them safe enough for women to drive tractors on.

opinion guy

So is anywhere selling winter tyres yet ?

Madame Razz

Agreed. It's been pretty bad around Galway too all over Christmas. Has improved slighty tho but the idiots on the road really don't help.

L31mr0d

The OH (from northern Canada in the Rockies) has to laugh at the Irish and their little bit of Ice and how much trouble it's causing. They get around 6+ months of Ice a year there, very strong chinook winds and temperatures that drop below -40'c.

She is mostly bemused when watching people slide down the roads in their cars with tires that have treads that are close to bald. It doesn't make sense to me either. Most people when walking in the ice will wear shoes with decent soles, but for their cars, they don't even check their tires, and if they do... ah, they can risk it.

CDfm

CDfm wrote: »

Do you consider them safe enough for women to drive tractors on.

Is there a funneh in there somewhere?

Wait!

....

http://ndnforum.com/blogs//media/blogs/sports/Microscope.jpg



Nope still dont see it....

CDfm

Moonbaby wrote: »

Nope still dont see it....

can you drive a tractor?

Jemmy

L31mr0d wrote: »

The OH (from northern Canada in the Rockies) has to laugh at the Irish and their little bit of Ice and how much trouble it's causing. They get around 6+ months of Ice a year there, very strong chinook winds and temperatures that drop below -40'c.

She is mostly bemused when watching people slide down the roads in their cars with tires that have treads that are close to bald. It doesn't make sense to me either. Most people when walking in the ice will wear shoes with decent soles, but for their cars, they don't even check their tires, and if they do... ah, they can risk it.

Well she can laugh all she wants but we are not a country that is used to weather like this so yes people have a problem with dealing with it. When they get weather every single year for 6+ months as you put it then they would be well able to cope with it. I'll admit it irriates me how some people have no cop on or sense in this weather but like I said we are not used to these conditions.

star-pants

Just a +1 to Jemmy - we don't have 'winter tyres' like countries who'd get lots of snow, and so our treads get compacted with ice very quickly which is the same as having bald tyres.
Countries like Canada and Sweden etc have much worse than this for a good section of the year, so it's in their interest to invest in it. By the time we'd change our tyres for winter tyres sure it'd have melted and we'd have to change them back.

That's why so many people can't deal with it, because we're not equipped for it.

projectmayhem

Jemmy wrote: »

Well she can laugh all she wants but we are not a country that is used to weather like this so yes people have a problem with dealing with it.

Ah now in fairness, we're being complete idiots about it. We've all seen ice before, we know what happens. Sure, it rarely gets this bad and lasts this long but common sense should kick in. I've seen cars doing 360-degree spins on my road. And it's their fault. Irish drivers are hammering down on the accelerator trying to get traction, which is the opposite of what should be done. Once they're off and moving they get brave going into corners. Fine if you want to plough your car into a wall, but don't endanger everyone else using the road/paths.

Also, ice does not dictate ice tyres. It would help of course, but the ice isn't really that thick. We're not in Sweden. You do, however, need decent tyres on your car. Some taxi drivers are sliding around the roads in almost slick tyres... and they should definitely know better. Or at least know a driver who knows how to drive (like the one from Germany I got on new years day going home - he was ace in the car)

Jemmy

Oh I'm not denying that, there are TOTAL IDIOTS on our roads who do not take the conditions into consideration when they hop in their car. I've already told my idiots on the road story so I won't get into it again! The picture I posted earlier in the thread well I managed to get a lil punto 5miles safely up hills into the country to get home, my point is it's not hard people just don't have patience imo thats the problem.

New years day it took me 40mins to do a journey that normally takes 20mins, if I had tried to do it in the normal 20mins I'd have probably spun out or crashed at some stage.

L31mr0d

Jemmy wrote: »

Well she can laugh all she wants but we are not a country that is used to weather like this so yes people have a problem with dealing with it.

Well, like has already been said, she finds it humorous the complete lack of common sense. How many people do you see running on the icy paths? Now how many people do you see driving faster than they should with slick tires on icy roads?

The stupidity is the people with performance summer tires on their cars trying to drive on the icy roads, they are endangering their own and others lives. Even if you are driving with normal tires simply checking your tire pressure at a petrol station to make sure they are at the recommended psi could make the difference.

CDfm

Jemmy wrote: »

New years day it took me 40mins to do a journey that normally takes 20mins, if I had tried to do it in the normal 20mins I'd have probably spun out or crashed at some stage.

+1 I have had the same experience

A heavier car helps -but you can do it in a Punto with patience and skill and concentration.Its not the weather thats the problem mostly or the cars but the drivers,

jackofalltrades

opinion guy wrote:

So is anywhere selling winter tyres yet ?

www.eiretyres.com

bealfeirste5

Forget about moaning over the ice and snow, what about this new speed limit in dublin city centre? I'm thinking that'll be causing more accidents and rage than any bad weather could! Loads of drivers are complaining about the cyclists whizzing on through but heard on the radio this morning that they're actually supposed to be going 8mph max! Is that even possible??

CDfm

Its a bit ridiculous -what muppet came up with that idea.

I saw on one of the Papers that the council made a claim that it speeded up driving thru light sequences but when a reporter checked it out the claim was false and a spin.

The reporter was overtaken by a cop car , bikes, a pregnant woman and a distressed donkey while doing the test

trout

/thread

Thread has veered wildly off-topic, crossing two lanes of traffic and into a whole other forum.