Slippery!

Did a little job out in Bloomington this morning. Wet,slippery snow coming down when I finished so I locked the Chevy in 4wheel before I left.
Coming down a hill about 35 mph. At the bottom there's a couple of cars waiting at the red light.
I touched the brakes and instantly started sliding at a 45 degree angle down the hill.
No way I was gonna get it stopped before hitting one or both cars at the light.
So I layed off the brakes and headed for the grass. Jumped the curb with the right side of the pickup and got it slowed down quite a bit. But now I'm looking at a light pole right in front of me.
Swerved back into the street and slid nearly sideways but got around the pole. Then jumped the curb for the grass again.
Then I looked in the mirror and see 3 cars coming at me from behind. All of them sliding, crashing 5 ways to Sunday.
The car in front of me was a Subaru - all wheel drive. He must have been watching us sliding at him. I think I had it about stopped or might have jussst kissed his bumper but light turned green and he stood on it and got the heck out of there.
So did I - off the curb, right behind him.
Glad I had it in 4wd.
Right behind me more cars coming and piling up.
Whew!!
The whole thing lasted about 5 seconds.
I felt chastened. And also grateful that at 68 years old I still have pretty good reflexes. I didn't get even a scratch but I took it real easy the rest of the way home.

i use the tow haul mode button when coming down a slippery hill with my truck. keeps the trans in a lower gear for a little extra braking.

Just goes to show, there is more to driving than standing on the brake pedal. Well done!

That story reminds me of the tiem I was riding a motorcycle up an icy hill and I made the mistake of shifting to the next higher gear. Down I went and slid down the hill. The only thing that stopped me was the car sitting at the bottom of the hill waiting for me to get up and out of the way. I was 14 or 15 at the time and yes legal to ride on the streets

I was in the same situation with a pickup once.

Sliding down a hill toward a red light with cross traffic. There was a light pole about half way down the hill and I figured it would be better to wrap around the pole than to slide into the cross traffic. I began tapping the brake to aim for the pole, then when I got next to the curb the pavement had some gravel and rough stuff on it so I got some control back.

It was scary while it lasted.

You ought to try that same move in a Mack plow truck.. Nearly soiled my laundry.

Warning: WINTER DRIVING RULES IN AFFECT!

Better reflexes than the county sheriff.

Long ago I had a '74 Ford 350 automatic trans. When it was slippery and you applied the brakes the front wheels would lock up but the rear kept pulling. Had to put it into neutral to get 'er whoaed.

The slide likely started because you were on 4x4. The worst thing you can do on slippery roads is drive in 4 wheel drive. It does get you going, but this slide is typical. Of course that is not the same as modern all wheel drive.

I did the same thing slid down a hill no other participants through a t intersection , I knew there was a big ditch on the other side I could slide down all went well until I came off half of a big culvert and landed on my roof at about two miles an hour. Oh Well. That's why you have insurance.

Udawg, that is so NOT fun. I did a couple like that last year. Early this week we had our first snow, maybe 4 inches. My new normal day of shopping and flirting with the bartender ( pretty lady). I decided against the trip because I would probably had to put chains on to get up my steepish portion of my driveway. Next day all was gone (so was my bartender lady - dag nabit ).

I will take my part time four wheel drive anyday over and all wheel drive . I have owned a 4X4 since 73 . I can tell you this that the OLD 4X4's handled a LOT different then the new ones . My 73 was and F 250 4X4 one of the first with a automatic . Like all my pick ups it had some SLIGHT mods done to it . That old truck handled the nasty roads like it was glued to them . That one had a 4.10 in the rear Diff . and a 4.09 in the ft. and on bad roads it was always pulling , ya just did not want to run it in 4X4 on dry roads and drive line bind up would occur . Fast forward to the NEW and IMPROVED 1978 F 250 Snow patrol basic same truck with a few improvements this one was sprotting a Dana 60 ft. axle and with the same gear as in the rear , this one was NOT glued to the road and IF you did not learn how to drive it it would put out in the pea patch fast . With me when the weather turned south and NORMAL people were hiding in there homes i was out in it as i had snow to plow with a list longer then your two arms with half the list 12-15 miles away . that little ride was a fun one on a bad early morning with hills and curves and a couple places that to get thru i had to do the states job of drift busting . The 78's and newer had lots there glued to the road . And yep ya step on the brake and lock up the tires son you is in a heap of trouble . Yep i know it is NOT in the owners manual and NOT ASE approved BUT sometimes we have gone the route of the D to R and STAND ON IT , sorta a trans test ya see for E stopping . You get a plow truck weighted down sliding you have a bunch of sliding going on . If it got real bad then the tire chains went on all four wheels . And i have had to use the plow a couple times as extra braking was required .

Yes, I think he is in big trouble.

Marilyn and I were coming home from town a couple years ago doing 60 on nice dry pavement, not a hint of blowing snow . We went past a farm grove and that is wind line was and it was blowing freezing snow across the road. I started drifting toward the ditch, there was nothing I could do but go along for the ride. I let up on the gas a little and just coasted drifting away toward the ditch. We were to the point where all I could see was the fence on the other side of the ditch and the van caught just enough traction to get me back in line on the road. The ditch was deep too and Marilyn was hyperventilating like crazy but we got through it.

Some people from the south wonder why we northerners still go in the ditch and slide into things on the ice even though we are supposed to know how to drive on ice. Well, some of us don't. Usually it happens when we are caught by surprise. The road is just fine and in a second we are on ice going downhill or a wind is blowing us off the road. In my neck of the woods the majority of the vehicles in the ditch are driven by people who have moved up from south of a certain border. They are dangerous!

I've posted this story before, but here goes again...

Probably happened in the mid 80's, I was driving a 1-ton Dodge conversion van with a box bed on back, a mobile repair shop inside.

Going home one evening just about dark. The weather had been a strange day, probably in the 80's earlier, but the temp dropped rapidly to the low 20's in a matter of hours.

Coming up on a curve on a country road, probably running 50-55, there in the ditch is a car, just happened, and must have been 5-6 people standing there looking at it.

I slowed a little trying to decide if I should stop. About that time I felt the steering go limp! And here I come!

I still don't know if it was ice or spilled fuel, but there had been no rain, and I don't think the ground could have cooled that quickly, but whatever it was, it was slick and I was now sideways, past the point of no return, sliding in the gravel, heading straight for the group of people about to be crushed!

I'm frantically screaming and waving for them to run, of course they can't hear me, they make no effort, just stand there!

The crash probably would not have hurt me, but there would have been multiple fatalities from the group getting crushed in between.

I still don't know how it happened, I have to believe it was divine intervention! I'd been in the ditch before, so I know the feeling of 'this is happening and there is nothing that can be done to stop it'!

But somehow, some way, I caught just enough traction to come back up on the road! It was like I was pushed back up by the hand of an angel!

After it was over, I was so shaken, it felt like waking from a nightmare! Had to ask myself if this just really happened. I didn't stop, just drove on very cautiously, never seeing or feeling any more ice.

I still wonder if those people even knew just how close they came!

Lived in central and northern Michigan all of my life (61 yrs) and have many stories of slipping & sliding down the road.

Where I used to work, there were numerous Mexican engineers from Mexico from a branch of the company that came to Michigan for various manufacturing events. Most had never driven in snowy/icy road conditions. I eventually learned to teach them how to drive when the roads MAY be slippery. Drive like there's an open bottle of beer standing on the center console. Attempt to accelerate or stop too quick, the beer spills. Attempt to turn too quickly or traveling too fast, the beer spills. The technique generally worked.

Interesting to note too that all of these replies to this original thread took longer to do than the initial event did to happen.

We all got to re learn the winter driving reflexes every first snow or two.

2 years ago they rebuilt a road, 2 state highways combine and cross a river, cross over a rr. The small spot between they put in a roundabout. The trouble is the bridge over the rr is long and it is on a pretty good slope towards the roundabout.

Bridges get slick, and that sloped one really gets slick.

Makes a really dangerous area in winter. Slick bridge, slope, roundabout on the slope, right into another bridge.

Paul

My service truck weights just under 11000 pounds and it sticks to the ice like it was nailed down

(quoted from post at 21:25:53 12/10/21) My service truck weights just under 11000 pounds and it sticks to the ice like it was nailed down
<img src=https://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cvphotos/cvphoto110422.jpg>

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Yup SV, until one day one second it doesn't.

(quoted from post at 07:36:05 12/11/21)


Yup SV, until one day one second it doesn't.

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DITTO
I hate it when I have had to drive on "black ice"! I'll bet SV's tractor hauling rig would be wadded similar to a pretzel if he drove it on "black ice"!

(quoted from post at 01:25:53 12/11/21) My service truck weights just under 11000 pounds and it sticks to the ice like it was nailed down

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Right.

Had same thing happen with a 2001 Dodge Dakota, did not get shifted to netrual in time and was in ditch over a mailbox. Flat road and all looked dry and not going very fast. If it looks like slipery and have enough I always shift the automatic into netrual.

same with my 95 Dodge as i have around 4-500 lbs. to go to max gvw , BUT it is now way near as good on bad roads as my 73 was . The truck before the Dodge was and 88 Ford F 350 4X4 cab and chassis with a 9 foot hand built flat . empty weight on it qwas 7500 on the nose full of fuel and me in it . Basic same drive line less the diesel , 4.10 ft And back with a locking rear . It handled like the 78 and 79 on bad roads . As it did not PULL you thru the curves and you had to be careful or ya would end up in the pea patch . The 88 is the truck i used during the time i was running to the sales across Ohio thru Ill. . My buddy and i traveled together and sometimes we would take his pick up or his semi and sometimes i would drive about two thirds the time i was driving . If we took his semi then i got stuck driving it . And about half the time i was driving his pick up . When it came to running the sale trail he and i were like to old Catholic wimmen with Bingo , we went no matter the weather and even planned on going to a sale for a half day on judgement day. If mother nature could dish it out he and i have been thru it all. So we ran on every road condition that came up. I think 94 was the worst we had ever run in . Donnie and i went to a friends consignment sale in Knights town In. . They were calling for this here Blizzard that was coming out of the south east to hammer our area starting in the early morning hours . I left the house around 2:30 Am and it had not started to snow yet , i ran up to Mr. Donut for coffee and a couple donuts and while i was getting my order it had just started to snow , I had a 27 mile drive down to Don's , by the time i got 9 miles out of town the roads were covered but not bad . when i got to Don's he had his pick up running and parking lights on and i could see him running around inside the house gathering up his things . When he came out he told me to just park mine and we will take his . Ah lets just take the ford today and leave your Two wheel drive here we may NEED the four wheel drive . As we got further west we ran out of the snow . When we got to the sale it was clear but a little breezy till around noon then it got bad and got really cold . About 4:30 Don asked me if there was anything else i could not live with out and said NOPE . I asked him what he MIGHT want to load up and take home and he told me two three point blades half dozen hyd. cylinders and i had three stacks of 100 lb weights and some hyd. cylinders and a stack of ten 150 donuts . I handed my check book to don and told him you go pay i'll go load . Went and fired up Rusty's one loader tractor and gathered up the small items and threw them on my truck for weight . By the time don came back i was in the truck with my cold weather gear off basking in the warmth of a Ford High output heater and we headed east . We stopped at the Petro at the state line for supper and i called home to see what the weather was like . The War Dept. told me that the drive was to the top hedges so that meant around 40-45 inches of snow and the snow was three foot deep in the turn around . Neat this will be fun . She said you two going to stay down at London tonight , nah we are coming home . The trip across I 70 to Columbus was not to bad but i did have to go into 4 wheel drive to get out of the gas station . all was good till we hit 270 , the snow was up to the bottom of the head lights . As we were getting to I 71 we heard that the state shut down all Hyways . Don said now what are we going to do . I told him we are going home , we should have it pretty good with no traffic now and i doubt that no state cop is going to even try to stop us . we did hqave traveling companions on the ride up 71 it was one New dodge 3500 4X4 welding truck and a Ford AROSTAR van with me in the lead and the dodge behind me . At times to get around the really big drifts we took to the media and sometimes the south bound lanes then back over onto the north bound . Then U S rt 30 east , if you did not know Rt. 30 you would not have found it that night . At times we poked holes in drifts over the top of the hood . The Dodge and Van left us in Wooster . We never saw a state snow plow till the east side of east Canton . From there to Minerva we had clear roads . From Minerva to Don's it was back to hood deep snow . Dropped him off and just shortly after i almost got stuck and had to back down a hill and go out the other way . Four miles up Rt 9 i found two state trucks in the ditch almost across from each other and stopped to see if i could lend a hand . The told me that they had the grader coming Then they got the call from the grader that NO he was NOT coming as he had slid off the road and was now also stuck . SO i loaded them up and run back to where the grader was stuck loaded him up and four big guys in a Ford is like a stuffed V W . Run them back to the state garage and the one guy said you best turn around and go home . Told him i was going home . He asked where i had come from and when i told him the look on his face was priceless . I got home just about the same time i had left THE NEXT DAY . I had more trouble getting up my drive then i did the whole trip. . I have only missed out on two winters since the day i started driving . And trust me on this one i would have much rather fought the worst snow storms then what i had to fight .

Operator vs "driver". Nice work.