No, not for me. But we’ve entered the miserable part of winter where that phrase is uttered more and more on the local roads.
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Why? Well, the picture tells you most of it:
Death banks
Once you get past the “Ooooh, pretty” phase of winter, you settle in for accumulations of white poo. The stuff starts to pile up on sidewalks, roadways, and parking lots. There are very few parking lots at this moment where the lines are even remotely visible – white on white. Not even any tar to speak of for roadways on the side streets.
When you add a month of really cold weather on top of snow, you now have piles of the stuff bordering roadways that has taken on the consistency of concrete below the surface layer of an inch or less. That top inch is like crusty sand left behind by the high tide near the ocean. If an unsuspecting (or belligerent/speeding/reckless) motorist hits the verge of the roadway, the tires on that side slow down just like driving into sand. The wheels on the other side continue at speed and the car veers off the roadway – if you’re lucky.
If you’re unlucky, you find that the wonderfully piled snow covers the guard rail and acts as a perfect ramp to launch you into the air and flip your vehicle. Doing that little stunt at 60 miles per hour does not get you a job with Joie Chitwood’s Thrill Show. It usually totals your vehicle and the occupants. Yes, you can get dead from being forced to the shoulder by some jerk. A heavy price to pay for inattention, timing your entry into traffic poorly, or a lack of control.
The point? Please be careful out there folks. That snow by the side of the road is rock hard and can cost you your life. Same goes for pedestrians. We’ve got at least another month (two, but that makes me cringe) to go and I’d like all of you to be here come April.
For my friends in the south – I’m so envious and cold that my teeth hurt.
