In a surprising development, I’m really pissed off this morning. I watched the weather report last night at 10:00 pm. The big breasted bimbo who passes for a meteorologist on every local station, forecasted rain this morning. Not a peep about even the chance of ice. Confidence in their forecast was 100%. No qualifications.
As usual, I get in my little tiny Honda hybrid at 7:10 and make my way to Wal-Mart and Giant for the weekly grocery trip. I notice it has begun to drizzle. I also notice on my dashboard the temperature is only 29 degrees. I wonder whether this could cause me a problem.
I turn on the KYW news station about halfway to my destination and they are reporting a 60 car accident on the Schuylkill Expressway, I-476 closed, The Turnpike closed, I-95 closed, and all the bridges closed.
I decide I better make this a quick trip to be safe. I rush through Wal-Mart even quicker than normal. I move rapidly through Giant and I’m done my shopping in less than 35 minutes. I push my cart out of the store and it is pouring rain. And the rain has turned the parking lot and every road in my area into a solid sheet of ice. You could have played ice hockey in the parking lot.
I attempt to pull out of the parking lot and see about 6 cars sideways on the hill blocking my route home. I u-turn and go out the other exit. I travel at 10 mph to the stop light and make my left. There are pickup trucks pointing in the wrong direction in the intersection. Traveling up the hill I see an ambulance sideways in my lane. Myself and three other vehicles go around it and see four more cars that looked like they were playing bumper cars.
Everyone puts on their flashers and proceeds at about 15 mph. To say it was a tense situation is an understatement. I was shitting my pants. I’m driving a car that weighs about 300 pounds and is made of plastic. Going down a hill on Sumneytown Pike I had to use the brakes. The anti-lock brake system was working overtime. I realized the best way to survive was to not brake the rest of the way home. So I didn’t.
It is a miracle I made it home in one piece. Avalon then got to hear me rant and rave about the idiots who pass for meteorologists. These people act like they are scientists, with their models and faux degrees. They blew this forecast only hours ahead of time. This morning they act like they knew it all along.
Three people have died this morning so far in these accidents. If these meteorologists had gotten the forecast right, they’d be alive. Penn-Dot did not treat the roads for possible icing because there was no forecast of possible icing. Big tits and blonde hair don’t make you a qualified weather expert. These weather bimbos have blood on their hands.
I think my nephew works with a TBPer: I asked this old lady at work…”what the hell is going on in America?”…she said “prepare for a racial war with rivers of blood flowing”….this from an old lady.
SSS
Nothing will come of that litigation. The Repugnant are less than asleep at the switch, they are complicit. You are clueless if you think that anyone in the beltway is going to do anything past hookers and blow.
On penalty of tasting Saint LLPOH’s fire.
“Nothing will come of that (Republican lawsuit) litigation (against Obama). The Repugnant are less than asleep at the switch, they are complicit. You are clueless if you think that anyone in the beltway is going to do anything past hookers and blow.”
—-Bea Lever @ SSS
I’m pleased that you, and only you, know what the federal courts will decide. Please share your wisdom with the world. You will make millions as the ONLY person on the planet who can read the minds of U.S. federal judges.
Don’t hold your breath SPOOKY, it ain’t happening.
Bea, make sure to tell SSS about your Indian blood, he might cut you some slack.
EC
Only a real fucktard believes the Repugs can do anything past photo ops. SSS likes living in the matrix where Fox News tells him the truth every day.
@ Admin,
Glad you survived..
Ice is a bitch. Even with chains on.
Uphill, you drive with the throttle and keep your wheels moving left/right slightly all the time and hope like hell it works…
Downhill, you drive with the gearshift and don’t touch the brake until you slow to under 10mph. Throw the bitch in “1” or “low” and just roll slowly down the hill… again, hoping the Ice Gods smile upon you…
But then, sometimes you’re just right fooked and all’s you can do is hang on and hope nobody has to die… had that happen to me on I-75 on New Year’s Eve once… rain started to turn to ice. My wipers clogged with so much ice, I was actually hanging my head out the window to drive – trying to gimp to the nearest exit and, hopefully, safety. Stopped at a gas station. I pulled the wipers off my Jeep CJ7 and used hot water in the restroom to get the ice off. Cleaned my windshield, lights, etc, put the wipers back on and went on in 4WD.
I got about 5 miles up the highway when I felt that sick feeling… when you know the ass end of your vehicle wants to overtake the front end… I counter-steered. Nothing. I counter-steered more. Nothing. I blipped the throttle. Nothing. I downshifted, but the little CJ just kept on sliding down the highway – one of the wheels caught a bit of traction and put the Jeep into a flat spin.
Completely out of control, whipping shitties down the center lane… view out the windshield was “Guardrail… Headlights… Taillights… other guardrail… headlights… taillights…” I was pounding the steering wheel in rage and frustration “NO! NO YOU BITCH! YOU FUCKIN’ WHORE! NO! NO! NO!”
The Jeep tagged the guardrail for the right side breakdown lane, which was bad – I had the spare on the back of the Jeep and it was this tire that struck the guardrail squarely… a tire is a big, rubber balloon filled with pressurized air. BOING!! It catapulted me off the guardrail. More spinning. The front right fender hit the same guardrail. CRUNCH!
I finally slid to a stop, sideways in the middle of the highway. My lizard brain told me “Get off road. You stay, you die.” So, I stuck it in first and crawled towards the “safety” of the median – at least having the presence of mind to know that if I tried to take the median (which was much lower than the highway) at anything less than straight down, I would roll the Jeep…
Just as I started to dip over the edge of the median – BLAM!!! – a Chevy crew cab pickup truck clipped the front end of the Jeep, smiley facing my control rods and removing much of the front end. It happened so suddenly, was so loud and was so fast, the Jeep didn’t even move. Just BAM! – a flash of a vehicle moving waaay too fast and Jeep parts being thrown into the air… I think I said something like “AAAUUUGH!!”, and then rolled down the embankment into 2 feet of slushy water….
I climbed out and slogged my way to the other vehicle, some 60 or 70 yards down the highway to check on the other driver… they were fine.
The first thing out of the driver’s mouth was “I’m surprised I hit you. In NASCAR, they tell you to drive right at the accident, because it will be out of the way by the time you get there.”
Me: “You… you aimed at me? Like, on purpose??”
Him: “Well, yeah..”
Me: “Well, ya got me… ”
This played an important part a bit later on when the Highway Patrol goon tried to cite me for causing an accident… I’m standing next to my Jeep in 2 feet of slushy water, trying to figure out if I’m mobile or not, and asshat comes up..
Copfuk: “I’m going to have to cite you for causing the accident.”
Me: “But he hit me! How is that my fault?”
Copfuk: “My investigation of the accident has revealed you are at fault.”
Me: “Well, did your big “investigation” reveal that the stupid fucker who hit me said that he aimed for me on purpose??!”
Copfuk: “Uhh… what?”
Me: “Yeah. When I went to check on him, he told me he aimed directly for me because that’s what they do in NASCAR!…. I guess he neglected to tell you that important bit of information during your “investigation”…”
Copfuk: “I’ll be right back…”
No, I didn’t get cited. Dumbshit in the crew cab did. All’s I did was spin out – by myself – and then head for safety. I suppose there’s a reason why a certain kind of person becomes a copfuk… if I were stupider, I might have sought a career as a copfuk too…
Here… here’s a British Challenger II main battle tank having no luck on ice, despite weighing multiple tons and having treads instead of tires…
Two people died when their cars slid under this tractor trailer on the Blue Route. If this had happened on a weekday, dozens would have been killed.
Admin, the photo you posted, above, illustrates how much pay and working conditions have deteriorated for truckers.
Prior to the 80s, when trucking “de-regulated” and conditions began to spiral downward, truckers made a point of getting off the road in icy conditions as quickly as possible, because their insurance wouldn’t cover them in these conditions.
But thanks to “competition” and downward pressure on pay, these guys are on the road in the worst conditions. Worse, they tend to be far less qualified than the guys who did this job in the past, when the pay was superior. Worst of all, they are far less likely to be well-rested and free of drugs, and their rigs are far less likely to be well-maintained.
Sometimes, “competition” is not the best thing that can happen in an industry.