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Please explain: how do cars slide off of a perfectly straight road?

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If you really can't figure it out, then how the hell did you pass your driving exam? Or high school? People over-correct all the time because they stopped paying attention, got a phone call, got spooked by wind gust, got spooked by an animal, hit a patch of ice, drifted towards the median, etc, etc.
 
usually happens when the driver starts cuddling with stuffed animals...

or they see a deer and they think it's so cute they want to cuddle....which ends in a ditch
 
snow in effect reducing traction to the point where the tires lose thier grip and slide thus the car they are attached to is no longer operating in a normal manner which then comes to a stop in a ditch after losing its momentum and eventually reducing its velocity to zero.
 
Physics. When car is on a surface covered with ice the coefficient of friction is very very small. With a small enough COF it might take you a hundred yards to stop a car going 15 miles per hour on a perfectly flat surface.

Where I live it doesn't snow, but I had my car back in NY/New England one winter and I remember going out of control in snowy conditions and the car spinning around and around as I went down the road. I was lucky not to crash into something. A real wake up call.
 
I don't care to do the math (nor do I remember how), but figure a 1 degree variation in steering and figure how far to the side you'd end up if it took you 200 feet or more to stop.
 
People don't know how to brake or steer in adverse conditions.
I see it ALL WINTER LONG.
Also, 99.9 percent of the vehicle accidents I see/respond to in the snow, are 4X4s.
 
Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
People don't know how to brake or steer in adverse conditions.
I see it ALL WINTER LONG.
Also, 99.9 percent of the vehicle accidents I see/respond to in the snow, are 4X4s.
Click to expand...

yeap. it seems almost EVERY vehicle i see in a ditch is a 4x4 . Seems idiots think having 4x4 is going to give them traction on ice and such.
 
Originally posted by: Delita
Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
I just passed a Passat or something that had slid off the road into the ditch.

Situation:

High schooler was driving. He was walking up the nearest driveway for help.

Perfectly straight road, no dips or anything.

Snowy road, combination of slush and snow, not really the kind that can funnel your tires around if there are grooves in the snow.

45mph speed limit.

Car slid in there really good and dug itself in deep.

I drove on it doing 45mph in my Echo, happy and stable as a clam.
Click to expand...

Bwahahaha
Click to expand...

Don't laugh. It has racing stripes too! :laugh:
 
Reminds me of a lady we had last winter.
She was a local county employee. She was driving a 4X4 Jeep Cherokee. She was in a chain control area. She was obviously let into the are by our chain control personal without chains because she had a 4X4. She was slipping and sliding all over the place. She flagged down one of our guys and asked what to do. He asked her if she was in four wheel drive and she responded, "do you think I need to be?"
 
Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
People don't know how to brake or steer in adverse conditions.
I see it ALL WINTER LONG.
Also, 99.9 percent of the vehicle accidents I see/respond to in the snow, are 4X4s.
Click to expand...
99.9%, really? I sense embelishment.
 
It's called bad driving.
Lots of people drive like morons as soon as they see snow.

Usually after the second or third snow for the season people seem to "remember" how to drive on ice ..
 
Push the gas pedal down a lot on a slick surface, and don't touch the wheel.

Watch what happens! Or better yet, hit the brakes harder than normal on a slick road.
 
Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
People don't know how to brake or steer in adverse conditions.
I see it ALL WINTER LONG.
Also, 99.9 percent of the vehicle accidents I see/respond to in the snow, are 4X4s.
Click to expand...

Yep. 4x4s make you GO better on snow, but you don't STOP any better than a 2WD, yet people get into 4WD mode and just start driving like they're on sticky tape.
 
Originally posted by: SampSon
Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
People don't know how to brake or steer in adverse conditions.
I see it ALL WINTER LONG.
Also, 99.9 percent of the vehicle accidents I see/respond to in the snow, are 4X4s.
Click to expand...
99.9%, really? I sense embelishment.
Click to expand...

I left the .1% out in case I ever see a 2 wheel drive in the ditch.
 
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