Driving on the same bypass one winter morning when every street was covered with a thin layer of very clear ice. It was tricky stuff. The pavement looked okay, but it was *slick*. Most people on the road had already discovered how slick it was and were going very slow.
A woman in front of me was driving a big, rear wheel drive Ford SUV. She wasn't driving fast and I was creeping along a fair distance behind her.
She tried to accelerate a bit and the rear wheels started spinning. In slow motion the rear of her SUV started rotating in a counterclockwise direction. I backed off and watched as her SUV became crossways in the road. All the while I was thinking, "let off the gas and steer into it!",...but she never did.
As soon as she was totally crossways in the road her SUV caught traction and shot directly into the barrier that separated
the lanes of traffic.
The barrier consisted of 3 stretched steel cables between sections of steel poles. The top cable was about chest high.
I saw the front of her vehicle get ripped up pretty good,...but the steel cables that made up the barrier flexed, then slingshotted her back out into the highway.
I saw what was happening and drove way over into the emergency lane to keep from t-boning her. I barely got past before her SUV passed behind me and came to a stop against the inside guardrail.
I won't say that woman was stupid, however. She just wasn't a very good driver.
If she had let off the gas and steered into the skid her SUV would have straightened back out. Instead,..she just froze up and rode it out.
I continued on my way. (I couldn't stop to help because there was cars coming and I would have caused a pile up) Driving along, I saw bunches of bumpers and various auto body parts scattered along the median barrier. Apparently, she wasn't the only person to have problems that day.
