Crazy Winter Crashes

Posted on by Steven Symes
Estimated read time 6 min read

Even though the official start of winter is a few weeks off, winter storms are a reality drivers in different parts of the Northern Hemisphere will be facing shortly, if they haven’t already. With that come accidents, some of them horrific. It’s almost like everyone forgets how to drive when snow and ice cover the road, but maybe they never learned in the first place.

Watch these videos to see why street takeovers are so dangerous.

To help get everyone ready, check out these videos of crazy winter crashes. You might learn something about driving when the white stuff falls or just get a needed reminder of what to do and what not to do.

There’s so much to unpack in this video. First, notice people are steering away from the slide, thus they continue to slide. You’re supposed to steer into the slide but that’s counterintuitive, so people panic and do what comes naturally. Speaking of panicking, the one lady hops out of the car right after it’s hit, a dangerous move considering there are out of control vehicles on that stretch of road.

Also, this video just shows “all season tires” is the biggest misnomer. They don’t work well in snow.

This video is a clear example why you need to be driving below the speed limit on snowy freeways. People in these modern times are almost programmed to be impatient and always rushing, but in inclement weather that can lead to serious accidents. This guy driving in his Mitsubishi Evolution is able to slow down and steer away from the tangled mess on the road ahead while the Ford Flex next to him is going faster and barrels right into the stopped vehicles. Honestly, both were going too fast.

The Evo guy keeps his cool, despite all the cussing, and gets out of there before he gets run into by another person going too fast for the conditions.

Target fixation is real and the consequences are even worse in slippery conditions. After one crash on a Minnesota highway, drivers stare at a trooper’s emergency lights, leading them to crash into him and the other vehicles around his cruiser. Other troopers were also hit after this January 2022 storm that officially dropped less than an inch of snow.

Don’t be this person. We understand cleaning off your car after it snows can be a pain and adds to the time to get ready, but it’s the right thing to do. If you have a tall vehicle and you’re short, maybe use a broom or get a stepstool out. Leaving snow piled up poses a danger not only to you but also to other cars on the road.

Right off the bat, we see the Civic driver demonstrate what not to do when sliding on the road, steering away from the slide and pressing on the accelerator. It appears the fresh snow in the median provided enough traction for the car to stop before it crossed into oncoming traffic. All your movements when driving in winter conditions should be slow and methodical, not panicked and rapid.

Even Canadians can struggle with winter conditions as clearly evidenced in this multi-car pileup in Montreal. Before you jump to conclusions, know that all passenger vehicles registered in Quebec are required to be equipped with winter tires during the season. This shows that while winter tires help, sometimes conditions are just too slippery.

Even parking on a slippery slope can end poorly in bad winter conditions. Normally, angling your front wheels toward the curb should bring your vehicle to a halt if it does start to roll, but with the road and curb both covered in slippery stuff, your ride might end up like this police cruiser and the other cars it hits that also go sliding.

Ice alone is many times worse than even with a light blanketing of snow, which can help give your tires some traction. Any icy hill might be so bad even studded winter tires can’t handle them. This incident clearly shows that after an ice storm you really should just hunker down at home instead of trying to go places, unless there’s a legitimate emergency.

Driving sideways while going down a snowy, or rather slushy, road sure looks hilarious but it’s also a sign you don’t know what you’re doing. It helps to put some weight, like bags of sand, over the rear axle of a pickup, especially if it’s a RWD model. Also, laying on the accelerator when this is going on isn’t going to help, but that’s not stopping the guy at the beginning of the video from continuing to try it. You can see a semi struggle with this same issue, but the buy steers into the slide and lays off the accelerator, gaining control immediately.

These guys have the right idea: practice driving in snow and ice using an empty parking lot. While they’re playing and having fun, they’re also learning how to put their car into a slide and get out of it, how much brake pressure to use, how to accelerate without losing control, etc.

Another example of why you need to slow down in snowstorms and even afterward. Snow and ice greatly increase the distance your vehicle needs to come to a complete stop. The risk of running into a pileup on the road ahead is greater. Speeding is a great way to become part of an existing pileup, making it worse.

There’s a big debate about when, if ever, you should get out of your car in a big winter pileup like this one in Pennsylvania. Getting out of his Dodge Charger works out great for the cameraman as he documents the low visibility conditions, causing other cars and semis to plow into his and other stopped vehicles, ultimately leading to a fatal 50-car pileup.

Image via X

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Steven Symes https://writerstevensymes.com/

Steven Symes is an accomplished automotive journalist with a passion for all things related to cars. His extensive knowledge and love for the automotive world shine through in his writing, which covers a diverse range of topics.

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