Let it snow, no please dont. Not if you are a driver. (Part 1)

For BC people who don't get much snow (or at all!), when we get more snow than usual, all hell breaks loose basically. The bad drivers come out, and our city is not prepared for something like this. Eastern or northern Canada would consider snow by these standards, "wimpish". I went outside and measured the snow. I don't consider it too bad... 6 inches? but it is bad in BC standards for a province that is not prepared for unusual amount of snowfall. Here are some pics.



When I came home from work, what an adventure. The day before, I didn't know it was going to snow so I brought the conventional car. This time, however, I had to bring the SUV. I'm glad I did. There were so many stalls on the road due to cars and trucks on the road that were either stuck or had a little fender bender. Some of my friends told me that they drove around and saw worse accidents around their area. I'm just glad I came home unscathed, no bumps and bruises, on myself OR the vehicle.

For those of you that read my blog and are in the Vancouver area and are students, double check your schools to see if they cancel. Kwantlen doesn't have any school today, and I hear UBC and SFU are cancelled as well. As for other schools, please call or check your school's webpage for more info.

For those of you that have to go to work, please be careful out there. Here are some tips when driving on the snow (automatic transmission)

• Don't panic, as in pump your brakes. In order to stop, the wheels have to be turning a little and you have to give yourself ample distance to stop, because slamming on the brakes will make you skid even more.
• Skidding from side to side. If this happens to you, you have to roll with the skid a little then turn gradually. Herky jerky movements will not do anything - which happens when you panic. If you're already going too fast (which you aren't supposed to in the first place!), I cannot really help you there.

This is a very useful link for winter driving. If you have a stick shift, this is a good read