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[C.Ann]

People on the DIS are from all over the country so I have a question for you..

What is the scariest weather conditions you have driven through - and considered the most dangerous?

Blizzard/white-out

Dust storms

Smoke from fires

Fog

Torrential rain

"others" (please specify)

 

[mommasita]

Blizzard/White Out

Last year had to be the worst. We got a couple of feet in record timing. I was at work, and it usual takes me 20 minutes max. It took 2 and a half hours and I went around the circle 4 times looking for my exit. You literally could not see the lanes.

I got off the highway at my exit and heard on the radio that 10 minutes later they closed it for 24 hours. Obviously we get a LOT of snow hear, and have some bad winter driving, but that was the worst. My leg was shaking when I got home, and the city was basically shut down for 2 days. I will NEVER forget it.

 

[bigmerle1966]

Torrential rain, so hard and bad I couldn't see past the front of the car.

 

[C.Ann]

Blizzard/White Out

This would be number 1 for me - followed by fog..

 

[C.Ann]

Torrential rain, so hard and bad I couldn't see past the front of the car.

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I forgot to include rain.. Probably because I can't see to drive in the rain (or in the dark) AT ALL..

 

[weregoingtodw]

Ice, hands-down. I can handle snow, but ice?

 

[mommasita]

This would be number 1 for me - followed by fog..

Fog is bad. We are experiencing it here with the weather fronts. It is EXTREMELY mild for us. Not complaining, it is just odd for November. IT was tricking this morning, but the Blizzard and the black ice do it for me.

 

[Guy Incognito]

Ice/snow storm (more ice than snow)

took 2 hours to drive a normally 15 minute distance..... trucks couldn't make it up the incline on the highway further down, so it was shut down.... got stuck sitting still out there for another 45 minutes until I could squeeze to the shoulder and drive the wrong way down the entrance ramp to get to the side roads.

 

[bigmerle1966]

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I forgot to include rain.. Probably because I can't see to drive in the rain (or in the dark) AT ALL..

Rain is the WORST for me, I hate it! With snow I can most times avoid driving in that but with rain I can't.

 

[Phedre]

Crazy fog at 2 am in the mountains on the way home from Disney World one trip. I was a pretty new driver and my parents had driven all day in pretty bad conditions and were exhausted. So they went to sleep in the car and had me drive. I could only see a few tiny feet in front of me. I was basically just following the line on the right side of the road because it's pretty much all I could see. I accidentally took an exit off the highway though since I was just hugging the right hand side!

The most dangerous conditions I've ever seen was when my father was driving. The snow was coming down so fast and furious that the windshield wipers couldn't do a dang thing. We had to drive a few minutes until the windshield was completely covered, pull over, clean off the mirrors and wipers and windshield, then drive again. It was really ridiculous.

 

[DawnCt1]

Freezing rain/ice.

 

[HelenePA]

Blizzard. Only because of what happened to me driving home from college one night. I had a night class the prof. refused to cancel. It was April 1 how much snow could you get on April 1st? Well we got over 2.5 feet in less than 4 hours that day!! I was stuck on a highway for over 14hours. Never again will I even attempt to drive when they are calling for anything over six inches. i didn't get home til almost 6am being towed the last 3 miles. the total drive was less than 15 miles....

 

[wvdisluv2]

Would have to be a tie between white out/fog. I got stuck in white out conditions driving home from work (normally a 30 min drive) in my 3 week old Hyundai Accent (at the time) made it home in 3 1/2 hrs later. I lOVE that car

Also made lots of trips across I-68 in WV/MD in serious snow conditions, but fog is JUST as scary!

 

[bigmerle1966]

That reminds me. My sister and I left to drive to MO to visit family for Christmas about 18 years ago. They were predicting snow but not until the next day. We decided to leave earlier than planned to try and beat the storm. Well the predictions were off a little and we ended up hitting the storm in the mountains on the PA Turnpike. We were able to get into OH before we had to pull off and get a hotel room. I was so exhausted and thankful to be off the road. At one point this semi went flying past us and I put my foot on the brake and we started to slide. We were on a part of the Turnpike where it looked like if we hit the guardrail we would plunge down the mountain.

 

[mickyzzzzz05]

Driving on glare ice has my vote. Followed closely by white out blizzard conditions

 

[Nancy]

Ice is horrible because there is no traction.

Vision issues? Blizzard/whiteouts. IT is horrible when you are in your own neighborhood but have no idea WHERE you are because you can't see anything at all. There have been many times where I pray I see a pair of tailights somewhere in front of me so I even know if I'm still on the road or on the right side of the road.

 

[mamacatnv]

ice and fog

We drove thru central California once in that pea soup fog and I was petrified. When driving on ice at least we are not going all that fast but the people in that fog were just plain crazy. My DH finally pulled over and we waited it out for several hours.

We drove home late one night over the Sierra Mountains from Sacramento right after the chain controls had been lifted. It was icy, foggy in places and then white out. I followed a snow plow for 80 miles

 

[nskjerven]

Snowbound: The Jim and Jennifer Stolpa Story 1994 We drove the same storm a the same time as them....total white out

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=9589401]

 

[goodeats]

I grew up and still live in Southern California. For my first 'real' job out of college I had to fly to Denver, rent a car, and drive to Boulder ... At night... in late October (meaning it was freezing and there was ice on the road)! I didn't even know how to de-ice the windshield. It's amazing I didn't kill myself that night.

I drove to a client that week and they said it was supposed to snow that day. I left the client at 2:00 and worked from the hotel. Didn't want to deal with the snow.

I realize it's not very dramatic - but it was scary to me!

 

[Aardvarks]

Floods so deep that I had to tuck in right behind a Semi ( Artic) to stop the water rolling over the hood (bonnet). I drove through about 8 like this in the space of an hour a few years back.

I should have stopped when I saw stalled out cars drifting of the roadway and into the verges and ditches.

I was a darned fool my family were all in the car and we had two small boys at the time.