Somehow, a significant number of Canadians seem to forget every year how to drive during the winter.
Apparently, a few months of summer driving conditions completely wipe clean their memories of slippery, snowy roads and how to safely navigate them.
On Christmas Eve, the Calgary Herald reported a stunning 300-plus collisions. The majority of those happened in less than three hours, between about 6:30 and 9 p.m.
The main culprit mentioned in the report was the condition of the snowy roads. But short of a total whiteout blizzard, road conditions can only be blamed for so much ó at some point, responsibility must fall on the shoulders of motorists.
That night, I was driving south through Calgary with my better half to visit friends in Vulcan for Christmas Eve celebrations. Before even reaching the city, we saw a number of vehicles in the ditch. But as bad as conditions were on the Queen Elizabeth II Highway, it was a pleasant Sunday drive compared to the Deerfoot.
Wary of the slick roads, I remained in the middle lane going roughly 70-80 kilometres per hour on the 100 kilometre per hour road. Even though I felt perhaps I was going a bit fast for the conditions, it was still apparently far too slow for several others, who did not hesitate to blow past us in the left lane.
Coming up to a collision, I had to carefully apply my brakes to avoid contributing to the mess. The trip ended up taking us about half an hour longer than it otherwise would have, but we made it in one piece.
Later that night, the trip back to Calgary ó we visited my family next for Christmas ó was equally nerve-racking. This time, we saw two more collisions on Deerfoot.
Winter tires and all-wheel drive vehicles are undoubtedly great assets to better handle slippery conditions. But having one or the other ó or both ó doesn't give a driver carte blanche to cruise down the highway as though it was a dry summer's day. SUVs and trucks tend to be more top-heavy than cars and can just as easily lose control when travelling too fast on slick roads. While good tires and four-wheel drive help a vehicle get moving far easier than another with balding summer tires, they won't stop a vehicle that's going too fast over ice from sliding out of control.
And while drivers should always be mindful to leave a safety space cushion around their vehicle to give themselves time to stop just in case ó never drive side by side, in someone's blindspot or too close behind ó that amount of space should be exaggerated in less than ideal conditions.
Better safe than sorry.
Crashes used to be called accidents, but that implies no one was at fault so the term "collision" has become more standard. This makes sense, as the vast majority of collisions are the result of driver error.
Perhaps a visitor from a warm country who had never seen snow might be forgiven for driving excessively fast on slippery roads, which includes the speed limit when roads are icy, ending up in a ditch or colliding with another motorist.
But Canadians who have an ounce of winter driving experience should know better ó when snow is falling and the roads are treacherous, slow down!
