Black ice to blame - nonsense!

[I Think]

A headline in Castanet news, about a three car crash says
"Black Ice To Blame"

Utter bosh.
To blame are the one or more drivers not able to control their vehicles on ice. If you drive with due care and attention, ice is seldom much of a problem.
When teaching my kids to drive, we used to go and find an empty parking lot covered in ice or snow and practice sliding and spinning, braking and accelerating all good fun and it teaches how to drive on slippery surfaces.

[ferri]

http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-st ... htm#152068

[Fancy]

When teaching my kids to drive, we used to go and find an empty parking lot covered in ice or snow and practice sliding and spinning, braking and accelerating all good fun and it teaches how to drive on slippery surfaces.

Did you start on bare surface to start with? Thinking the surface is the same the whole route is what causes drivers to lose control on black ice - not expecting it and often overcompensating. It would make more sense to have similar conditions to practice on complete with lane markers to simulate what could happen in real life. That's my thought anyway.

[LTD]

try it on a hill and throw some corners in anyone can drive in an icy parking lot sometimes its that treacherous you have no control ive been there pretty helpless feeling when your crawling along and all of a sudden your sliding with no control

[GordonH]

As Fall turns into Winter and temperature drops any moisture on roads (pavement) will turn into ice. Of course ice is clear and takes on its background pavement is black.

added: if ice is compressed snow it would be white.

Drivers need to drive with much more attention to road conditions in next 4 months +/-.

[I Think]

Flat icy parking lots are a great place to learn how to handle an out of control car, no one should confuse that with driving on roads in traffic. As a driver it is your responsibility to control your car, no matter what the conditions are, if you are not capable of driving under a certain condition (eg ice) then don't. It is just that simple.

Not sure how often you get black ice in Kelowna, but in Ontario it was quite frequent, used to get freezing rain several times per season.

[Fancy]

And there are lots of multiple accidents in Ontario because of black ice. The 401 has been shut down completely.

[I Think]

/\, absolutely.

But it is where, many years ago, started learning to drive on the stuff.
Have made my share of mistakes, luckily managed never to bend any cars.

Non the less it is never the ice that is to blame.

[Fancy]

http://www.wikihow.com/Drive-on-Black-Ice
Amazing what one can find on the internet - complete with pictures

[KL3-Something]

I drove glenmore road that morning and saw the collision shortly after it happened. I could tell that the road was icy for its entire length. I was going 20 under most of the way. If people paid attention at adjusted their driving for the conditions there would have been no issues. Don't blame the road.

[Partmanpartfish]

I drove glenmore road that morning and saw the collision shortly after it happened. I could tell that the road was icy for its entire length. I was going 20 under most of the way. If people paid attention at adjusted their driving for the conditions there would have been no issues. Don't blame the road.

Were you in a cruiser, or a private vehicle? I know if I drove 20 under on Glenmore, the risk of injury from road rage would outweigh the risk of injury from the ice.

[Donald G]

The road conditions are rarely ever responsible for an accident. OVER driving road conditions is often responsible for accidents. That includes "black" ice and slush.

[Partmanpartfish]

The road conditions are rarely ever responsible for an accident. OVER driving road conditions is often responsible for accidents. That includes "black" ice and slush.

Thanks for stating the obvious, Donald.

[Donald G]

To Partmanpartfish ...

Obviously, given the number of accidents that people have and blame on the weather, my comments are not "obvious" nor agreed with by everyone but I appreciate that you apparently agree.

[Atomoa]

These posts always annoy me. I have 20+ years safe driving behind me but even I have found myself in a snowbank or sliding straight through a (thankfully) empty intersection.

Black ice will catch you eventually. If you're lucky you'll hit it on a straight stretch and just notice your tachometer revving all over the place and be able to coast out of it. Unlucky is hitting it a shadowy bare corner early morning on a downhill right hand turn. I've seen parked cars start sliding sideways after a black ice accident stopped traffic on the highway. The stopped cars started sliding off the road until the heat from the cars eventually melted the road.

Unless you run studded ice-racing tires all winter, if you hit good patch of black ice you will lose control no matter your skill level or attention level.