The first real snow came to Prince George last week, and it wasn’t hard to tell.
The drivers who had forgotten since last winter how to drive in the white stuff were out in full force. The really scary thing (to me, at least) was the snow we got wasn’t that hard to drive in.
I just slowed down a little, gave myself more room behind the vehicle in front of me, slowed down a little earlier coming up to a stop sign or light. You know, being smart about winter driving.
Does that mean I was driving 20 km/h all the time and coming to a stop half a block ahead from a light?
No, it just means I was driving about 45 most of the time, keeping my eyes open even more than normal at intersections for vehicles skidding into them, and gradually easing into my slowdowns.
The good thing was a lot of the other drivers I shared the road with were following basically the same principles. I was coming down Fifth Avenue on Saturday morning, and I was probably a couple of car-lengths further behind the vehicle in front of me than I would normally be.
I looked in my rear-view mirror, and the vehicle behind me was also a bit further back than normal, and so was the one behind him as far as I could tell.
Of course, not everyone got the memo that road conditions had changed. I saw a vehicle who had evidently tried to turn left from Fifth Avenue onto Highway 97 North, and had ended up on the triangle of pavement on the corner.
I also saw a few vehicles fishtailing either as they made turns going a bit too fast or as they changed lanes.
Slowing down for a second before you make a turn costs you a second, and you make the turn safely. Speeding up as you make the turn may (on your mind) save you a couple of seconds, but if you end up in the ditch it’s going to cost you a lot more than a couple of seconds to get going again.
One of the funny things I noticed on the weekend was the combination of snow and wind. Half the time when I went out to brush my car off, I only had to brush off half the windows. The other half had all the snow already blown off them, which made things a bit easier.
This was only winter’s opening volley, people. Drive smart, and drive safe.