Why I hate black ice......
Jan. 18th, 2005 08:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poltr1I would take all the lake-effect snow in Buffalo and Cleveland over a quarter-inch of ice on the roads any day!
Thankfully, this recent batch of bad weather hasn't produced icy roads so far. But a storm back in the fall of '97 did.
In November of 1997, I was driving from Dayton to Indianapolis for the first of 10 I-group sessions after my NWTA. I left Dayton at around 4:00pm so I could be in Indy at 7:00 pm. The weather was starting to get bad, but appeared to still be driveable.
At around mile marker 131 heading westbound on I-70 -- this is in Henry County, Indiana -- I hit a patch of ice that I didn't see. My car fishtailed to the left. I tried to correct it by steering in the direction of the skid, but I oversteered and started fishtailing to the right. And so I steered to the right. There were also trucks on the road, so I made the decision to get into the median and get out of their way. The ground was still soft, as this was the first storm that year, so the median made for quite a bumpy ride. I hit a concrete culvert, blew a tire, and set off the airbag. I didn't come to a complete stop for about 15 seconds afterward. Thankfully, I didn't flip the car by pitching up or down, or roll over to one side.
I limped the car to the nearest U-turn, got the spare "doughnut" from the car, and changed the tire. I then got back on the road, and cautionsly made it to Greenfield (20 miles east of Indy). I stayed overnight with a friend. And I smelled of airbag dust.
The following morning, I drove the car to the nearest Saturn dealership, in Fishers, to get a new tire. I then drove home. I also called the folks in Indy to let them know what happened and why I didn't show up. I was one of the lucky ones; there was a bad crash on I-65 between Indy and Gary that killed a few people. A few days later, I took the car to a local collision shop to replace the airbag. They put it up on the rack and showed the damage I did to the undercarriage and frame. Yuck. It cost $4000 to repair the entire car. And I attended 7 of the remaining 9 sessions in Indy.
Ever since then, I've been a bit more cautious about driving on ice. I also try to keep something heavy (like a sandbag) in the back to prevent fishtailing. I am grateful that I didn't hit any ice on the way down to (and back from) GaFilk. And my guardian angels continue to work overtime.
Thankfully, this recent batch of bad weather hasn't produced icy roads so far. But a storm back in the fall of '97 did.
In November of 1997, I was driving from Dayton to Indianapolis for the first of 10 I-group sessions after my NWTA. I left Dayton at around 4:00pm so I could be in Indy at 7:00 pm. The weather was starting to get bad, but appeared to still be driveable.
At around mile marker 131 heading westbound on I-70 -- this is in Henry County, Indiana -- I hit a patch of ice that I didn't see. My car fishtailed to the left. I tried to correct it by steering in the direction of the skid, but I oversteered and started fishtailing to the right. And so I steered to the right. There were also trucks on the road, so I made the decision to get into the median and get out of their way. The ground was still soft, as this was the first storm that year, so the median made for quite a bumpy ride. I hit a concrete culvert, blew a tire, and set off the airbag. I didn't come to a complete stop for about 15 seconds afterward. Thankfully, I didn't flip the car by pitching up or down, or roll over to one side.
I limped the car to the nearest U-turn, got the spare "doughnut" from the car, and changed the tire. I then got back on the road, and cautionsly made it to Greenfield (20 miles east of Indy). I stayed overnight with a friend. And I smelled of airbag dust.
The following morning, I drove the car to the nearest Saturn dealership, in Fishers, to get a new tire. I then drove home. I also called the folks in Indy to let them know what happened and why I didn't show up. I was one of the lucky ones; there was a bad crash on I-65 between Indy and Gary that killed a few people. A few days later, I took the car to a local collision shop to replace the airbag. They put it up on the rack and showed the damage I did to the undercarriage and frame. Yuck. It cost $4000 to repair the entire car. And I attended 7 of the remaining 9 sessions in Indy.
Ever since then, I've been a bit more cautious about driving on ice. I also try to keep something heavy (like a sandbag) in the back to prevent fishtailing. I am grateful that I didn't hit any ice on the way down to (and back from) GaFilk. And my guardian angels continue to work overtime.
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-19 02:04 am (UTC)I also am very cautious over ice, though sometimes I worry that I let my guard down. Around here the sidewalks seem scarier than the roads so far....
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Date: 2005-01-19 07:58 am (UTC)