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Driving around Chicago makes you a good driver.



Travis

Sorry, I can't do anything about your goofy weather

Or else. I've always maintained that driving in the California cities does the same.

They do ok. But they're not as skilled as somebody that has driven around Chicago.

They're not nearly as polite either.



Travis

They can't handle anything that even looks like ice either.

Because it's always sunny and warm in Kalifornia...

I kid you not, about 20 years ago, I saw some sort of front wheel drive car pootling along with a single chain on one rear tire. This was at Mt Pinos in Ventura County, to the north of LA. There was a "Carry chains beyond this point" sign on the road, and dozens of "El A" folks were chaining up. It was dry all the way to the top, save for a couple 25 yard stretches that the GF's Jetta did with its eyes closed. Sometimes momentum is your friend

Battue - the curves, angles, and altitudes of my "favorite" ramp are such that an 18 wheeler can be beside you, and you can't see them. Even when slightly behind, the through traffic won't give you a break - even though it's just common sense! I believe that our truckers (as a whole) have become some of the worst on the road - a crying shame as I filled out many a logbook, back when society actually cared for more than just themselves.

I've driven a fair amount in a lot of places. One snowy Saturday in Michigan, when I had to drive from Detroit to Muskegon, I was passed 3 times by people who I later re-passed, when they had slid off the road.

Another time in Connecticut, traffic had ground to a halt in a snow storm, on a 2 lane road. There were four of us there for a training class. We're a 1/2 mile from the hotel, and stuck. I spot a parking place and suggest we park and come back for the rental car after dinner. We park, start walking to the hotel, and see the cause of the traffic jam. A guy in an old rear wheel drive car is sitting crossways in the road, blocking both lanes. Both hands on the steering wheel, and he's staring straight ahead in a catatonic state. The rear wheels are spinning about 130 mph and the car is just sitting there. No one seemed eager to approach him

Yankees can't drive in the winter any better than Southerners

That reminds me Pat of one time I was driving down thru Illinois on I 55 or 57, and there had been a blizzard...

In weather like that, I use to be able to do 45 mph relatively safely in my old Volvo 240 Wagon, when the snow plows had sorta been out.... hydrophilic snows on the back of it..

heading toward St Louis, I got passed by some Afro Ghetto Guys in a Beat Up Buick Electra, semi bald tires on it... 4 of them, barreling along, shucking and jiving, getting stoned ( you could see them passing the joint around)...

the storm had been bad enough, the highway didn't have many cars out on it...

but these guys passed me, and ended up buried out in the median down the road...

FOUR TIMES before I made it to St Louis...


have driven many a long trip on winter Midwest Interstates...being a salesman covering 5 to 7 states...

in non metro areas, the same thing would repeat itself all the time... I'd be going down the interstate doing 40 to 45 mph in my trusty Volvo...I'd be passing most of the cars on the road..

a string of traffic would be following me...

then someone in a heavy loaded semi or a 4WD big vehicle like a full sized pick up or Suburban would pass me and everyone would start following them... and pass me...

Down the highway, the lead vehicle and several following him would end up off the road... and then everyone would slow down to a crawl again.. and I'd pass them again, doing my 40 to 45 mph...

and that would be the scenario 500 to 700 miles home...

even in snow country, people tend to have no confidence so they end up following someone else, instead of setting their own safe speed on their vehicle...and tend to want to follow the person making the best time, until that vehicle loses control, and then they are back at a crawl again...

I always did that... drive AROUND Chicago...

WAAAY AROUND it...

only time I'd go thru Chicago on a trip is if it was after midnight, and the roads were relatively clear, and make sure I was thru it before 4 AM...

Same with NYC or when I go thru LA going down to my folks who retired NW of San Diego...