Snow Day Blues

Well the snow today is thiker than ... ah ... Well a picture is worth a thousands words. So have a look. This shows just how much snow has piled up around here. I know it isn't much (compared to some places, but Idaho is a high desert. We "never" get more than a couple inches of snow. Two or three at most. But this morning, after having had a full 7 & 3/4 " snow fall earlier... here we are again with deep snow and it's still coming down. And what a time we have been having! I got pulled over and cited for 'wreckless driving'! The reason for this was because I'm prepared for the snow (most people are not.) I bought the Geo Tracker a few years ago, and it does very well in the mud and snow. This summer I put new tiers on it. So it has been so handy! I left Boise the other night, headed for home. The roads had been plowed, but there was still a boken snow floor. I tested my grip on the road and found that I started to get loose at about 60. So I dropped back to between 50and 55 and continued down the highway. Now a lot of people have forgoten a basic rule of the road around here. The "Drive Right, Pass Left" rule. [The reason we call the left lane, "The fast lane" is because slower traffic is required to move to the right.] I found that i was easily traveling faster than most of the other traffic. Not surprising since the Geo is light weight, four wheel drive and equiped with great winter snow gripping tiers! But all too often, lane hogs did not want to give up the left lane. Especially the four-wheel drive pick-up's! I don't know what is up with these guys and thier pick-up's, but no, they don't own the road and they need to learn how to share the road with the rest of us. The sun had gone down, my headlamps were on, so I did what anyone would do.. I politely asked to pass these road blocks by flickering the brights. Some people, even around here in back-woods hicksville, know what that means. To my dismay, an off-duty police officer, (and a pick-up driver) noticed me doing so and called the cops on me. So even after the successful navigation of 20 miles of iced-over roads, and that without slipping, slidding or any difficulty in maintaining my lane... I was cited for wreakless driving. Around here the cops take a dim view of flikering headlights. It's considered "agressive driving" And the fact that I could move along faster than everyone else, in the mind of the dim-wighted cop, just proves his case right? Nope. The truth is that the lighter weight vehicle had the advantage. Given the conditions, the broken-snow floor providing limited tracktion, a light vehicle does better than a big heavy one. This is an American prejudgice I think. We tend to prefer the huge tuna-boat cars, and sherman tank pick-ups. We think that bigger is safer. It isn't always the case! In simple terms the more wieght a car has, the more it resists any change is direction or speed. Remember when you were taught to drive, how they showed you that your breaking distance would increase if you drive a big truck, bus or van? That is due to its greater weight. So it follows then, that a mini-SUV like the Tracker which weighs less than most cars and trucks on the road, would be able to move along faster, and do so safely! The lighter weight vehicle can still accelerate, turn and stop in shorter distances than other, heavier vehicles.