Funny Honda-related story

Some of you guys may find the following story somewhat humorous. Monday
afternoon I was driving this little '89 Civic LX down I-40 East on a solid
sheet of ice. You couldn't even see any concrete at all on certain stretches
of the highway that the state hadn't scraped or salted yet. In fact, it had
snowed about 4 inches first, and then we had about another 1 inch of sleet
and freezing rain on top of that. I was running about 45 m.p.h. in order to
try and put some distance between myself and the ignorant redneck that was
TAILGATING me in a '96 Chevy Blazer 4X4. In the slow lane too--I might add.
Well, I could see in my rear view mirror that the Blazer driver was all
hacked off wanting to pass me. So, he whips it over to his left really,
really quick and gunned it simultaneously. Needless to say that he went into
a broad slide, and then he whipped it back to the right to try and
straighten his vehicle out. Well, when he did that, the Blazer did a
complete 360 and he ended up going down into a ditch backwards! I gave him
the peace sign in my rear mirror and chuckled as I continued down I-40 in
the '89 Civic. In a very stable manner I might add. Since the guy had
tailgated me for about 7 miles straight, I figured that he got what he
deserved for driving so recklessly in that type of inclimate weather. BTW,
the little Civic was like a snowmobile in those icy weather conditions. It
never even came close to slowing down or spinning. Not the first time. I
passed 9 accident scenes with highway patrolmen already there on my way to
work Tuesday morning. 9 out of those 9 accidents involved SUVs that had
wiped out with apparently no other vehicle(s) involved.

J. Perry

 

Hi,
Yup. Seeing it every day here too. It's not the vehicle, it's the dumb
driver. Another thing funny is, they never seem to learn. Every winter
all the time, it happens.
Tony

 

I saw that same guy a few years ago on I-94 in Wisconsin! Except he was
driving a Bronco back then. I was going about 40 m.p.h. and he passed me
sideways before spinning into the ditch.

Small world...

Jason

 

Down here in Florida, we don't have the snow/ice problems, but people here
are just as unintelligent. If you've ever experienced a Florida downpour,
(they are something) you know what I mean. The road seems to collect water
instead of running it off. I think it has to do with the road composition
as over time the ruts compact more. Common sense tells you to slow down for
bad road conditions?!?! Why? that's for cars, not my
Explorer/Expedition/Suburban/(pick any)... they have SUV's, you've seen the
TV commercials, they can drive anywhere.... yes, they do get to see the
grass. Makes me wonder if the people you mention have relatives in the
south.

Just the same, I have seen MANY cars take a stroll through the median and
off to the right. Basically pick I-10 (in North Florida) and anywhere
south. The interstates from mid-Florida south are partly comprised of
crushed shells (yes from the beach) as fill. The problem is when tourists
visit, which is everyday, they are not used to the road conditions when it
rains. When shells get wet, they are like ice, then you add water that
collects in the ruts, you have crashes. It seems that when you hear about
the deaths on the roads (down here), they are mostly tourists.

Keith

 

Seems they have relatives up here in Canada too.... Seems these people
with bundles of money in there pockets get into their big expensive SUV,
with their big expensive Insurance and just drive like retards! as if they
own the road

- - - - - - -
dave

 

===================

J.

I can usually guess what vehicle they are going to describe when I turn
on Global TV News from Edmonton, and I hear the announcer start off by
saying: "A spectacular crash on the Whitemud Freeway today", while they
roll the footage of the inverted Ford Exploder / Durango / Blazer /
Whatever :-(

I'm gonna get me one of them police cameras mounted on my mirror so _I_
can be the guy who sells the TV Station the spectacular footage ! ! Yeee
Haaah !!

'Curly'

 

Maybe you should have used your car to pull him out ;-)

 

(EvilGrin-tm) Now THAT would be worth having the TV Crews there to film it.

BTW - to our Canadian Bretheren... I think these guys have been
migrating through here in Buffalo, NY.... No sooner does it start to
snow, than some LOCAL person decides, "HEY! I can make that 40 MPH turn
at... 40 MPH now! I got a new (insertSUVnameHERE)." Amazing how unstable
those hulking-monstars are, considering how heavy too....

Oh, that's right. jr. high school physics:
The more mass an object has, the more inertia it has.
ie: If that 3-ton truck starts to skid, drop your tranny into 3rd and
haul-ass outta his way!

 

From Minneapolis:
Last Monday morning we had eight inches of fresh snow over a fairly
icy roadbed on I394. I was headed for the city and the left lane was
blocked by a police car at a previous accident,WITH HIS LIGHTS
FLASHING. We were poking along at about 25 MPH in a single lane when a
Explorer pulled out to pass the line. She speeded up to about 45 and
when she got near the lane closure there was no room to pull back into
line so she slammed on the brakes, did a perfect 180 and slammed the
police car still doing about 40 MPH. We all waved to her as we went
by. I'm sure her lawyer will point out why it was the cops fault for
blocking the Interstate.
During the Korean war I drove a Sherman Tank and I wonder what I would
have to pay to get one that still runs
Bill

 

patrolmen already there on my way to

slow down to the conditions
ed/ontario

 

You've got that right, Ed! Any vehicle can be operated in a safe manner in
any type of condition. It's the lack of common sense and/or skill and
ability of the driver, that reduces the chance of a safe trip.

 

My family was driving back from Kennedy Space Center in a Sebring
convertible, top down of course enjoying the nice sunny day. Anyway, we hit
one of your downpours by the time I could pull over to raise the top the
downpour had ended. The wife looks over at me and remarked why bother with
the freaking top now, as we all looked like soaked rats and there was a pool
of water in the car. People just refused to let us over and your right very
few slowed down. The car rental place didn't think anything about it.
Guess it happens often.

Rick

 

J. Perry,
A story that is common since we have so many stupid drivers. The worst
ones are the ones that buy SUVs and think that they can drive at higher
than legal speeds on roads covered with ice and snow. The truth is that
every driver--even if they have SUVs--should drive much more carefully
when the roads are covered with ice and snow.

 

Take the tourists money and kill 'em??? I know that happens in other parts
of the world.. didn't know right here at home in Florida. Didn't realise our
Florida roads have crushed shells, no wonder they did look a bit "weird".

 

Rain in FL is odd and especially with the top down, you need to always be
watching the skies. It can rain at a moments notice also be a down pour
across the street and you won't get a drop. I didn't believe it until it
happened to me. Just another oddity of FL.

Regards to pulling off, well, interstates and state roads in FL are very
fast. If people feel they can get around you, they'll line up 10 cars deep
and pass you on the right. No chance for the passed vehicle to move over.

The fastest stretches of road in FL are 528 between Orlando/KSC, anywhere on
I-75, I-4 between Orlando/Tampa and anywhere on I-95 from West Palm and
south. You were just on a speedway and didn't know it.

Keith

 

A few years back I was in Arkansas on I-40W during a horrible ice
storm (I think it was 1996 or 1997) and the traffic was down to about
30mph. There were semi-trucks who once they stopped couldn't start
again. I was in a Hyundai Elantra, and it was rock solid, but about
every other entrance ramp an SUV would come flying into the
interstate, slide across both lanes, and hit the median. Some of them
would roll over, too, but I never saw anyone get hurt. We were going
slow enough to see them climb out ok. The smoky bears were doing their
real job that day and closing the highway down one exit at a time
about 3 miles behind us. It took them a while because of all the
accidents to follow up on.

Nate

 

In 2000 from OKC to Tampa I was following a Toyota Supra doing 115 on
I-75 south. After I hit the limiter (118mph) on my Civic 2-3 times I
stopped at a rest stop just in time, as two piggly wigglies were
having a road tax party hidden in the exit ramp to the rest stop.
Oddly enough they followed me into the rest stop and parked right
across from my car as I used the restroom (they never got out of the
car) but didn't go for the Supra. Oh well, at least I didn't get a
ticket

Nate

 

Have you tried Staples? They sell programmable signs like that. You'd
probably have to use an inverter for power.

 

You can probably find one that plugs into the wall but gets 12V DC from an
adapter. If it's got a wall adapter that says something to the effect of
INPUT: 120VAC OUTPUT:12VDC then all you have to do is cut the wires between
the adapter and the display and hook them to a power source in your car
using the right polarity. Check your documentation and labels for ratings
and specifications. Use an inline fuse and be careful.

Aron