Ooh; Ouch!

Cars on icy streets carnage in Seattle.


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Free The Animal is an eclectic writing project about everything since November 2003. 23 years, 5,500 posts, 5 million words.

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6 Comments

  1. Alan on January 17, 2007 at 00:46

    Umm… the link doesn't work?



  2. Alan on January 17, 2007 at 00:54

    don't worry, it does now… didn't the first 2 times.

    Amazing stuff…



  3. Kyle Bennett on January 17, 2007 at 05:55

    I've driven on ice before, had my car spinning and sliding every imaginable way (usually intentionally), but I've never seen a road get that slick before. One car was sideways, still sliding, and appeared to be accelerating. That had to be a hill, but it didn't look like it was that steep.

    The first guy was just an idiot. He kept hitting the gas. What did he think was going to happen?



  4. Richard Nikoley on January 17, 2007 at 23:16

    Bob:

    I grew up in Reno, NV, and since living elsewhere, know exactly what you mean about people with no clue.



  5. Jay Jardine on January 17, 2007 at 12:02

    The early morning(?) quiet really amplifies the CRUNCH, doesn't it? I think there must have been a slight grade, which is really all it takes (even the gentle inward slope of a sidewalk can take you down on your ass when it's that slippery).

    Usually that lack of traction occurs due to freezing rain on bare pavement ("slick as a bottle" as they used to say back east), not often you experience it on packed snow, when at least your tires have a chance to dig through the top layer of ice.



  6. Bob on January 17, 2007 at 21:44

    Minor correction: That was in Portland, OR. Not Seattle, but I'm sure we have more than our "fair" share of idiots here also.

    I live in Woodinville now (other side of the lake from Seattle) but learned to drive in snow country (New Hamshire and then southern Idaho). I just stay home on the first day of snow around here because of the incredible number of people who appear to have NO clue about driving in snow/slippery road conditions; it doesn't do much good to know what you are doing if the other guy drives like an idiot and runs into you.