Zeedman
Garden Master
I learned to drive only after I moved away from Wisconsin, and spent most of my first 20 years of driving in southern California, where snow is a "once in a blue moon" event. When I moved back to Wisconsin (having never driven there) I just assumed that drivers here would be used to the snow, and drive more safely. Nope. The first snow here = accidents everywhere. A Sherriff deputy that I knew told me that is not only due to reckless driving, but that the first snow releases oil from the road surface, making it extra slippery.
But poor judgement & recklessness are the cause of most Winter accidents. A couple years ago a huge pile-up on the highway just outside my job made national news. There had been a heavy snow, and strong winds were blowing snow continuously across the road from an adjacent farm field. It was white-out conditions, but nobody slowed down. They were never able to determine what started it - whether someone stopped within the snow band or spun out - but it caused a chain reaction. People just kept driving blindly into the snow cloud, at full speed. Over 100 cars crashed into the pile up; one person died, there were a lot of serious injuries, and most vehicles were totalled. Between the accident investigation & the extent of the damage (which covered 1/2 mile of the road) it took over a day just to clear the highway.
2019 chain-reaction pileup
I've had a few near misses (due to reckless drivers) but drive very defensively in the snow. One of those was following a snow plow on the highway after a heavy snow, which was throwing up a white-out cloud across all lanes. I followed a safe distance behind at reduced speed; but a car went speeding past me into the cloud, evidently thinking it could pass the plow. A few moments later it re-emerged from the cloud - stopped directly in front of me. I was able to avoid it, and observed the driver falling in behind me at my speed... hopefully a little wiser.
