Hydro-Phobia

by Andrea Harris

A couple of friends and I took Sugar for a little drive to Southern Utah, not too long ago.  The end of my summer is always signaled by a jaunt to the Utah Shakespeare Festival. It’s the perfect little getaway and the last chance to get in on Utah’s gorgeous sunny weather.  This year, though, Mother Nature had made other plans.  It was a little rude of her not to consult me, frankly.  I was planning to work on my tan.

Nevertheless, off we went, into our blue sky hopes.  But somewhere around Beaver, UT, Mother Nature started to get a little cranky.  It rained. It blew. It howled.  No big deal, right?  I’d just had my tires checked and one replaced.   We were riding on easy street.  

We arrived safely in Cedar, a little wetter for the wear and settled in for a weekend of amazing plays.  It drizzled and spit most of the weekend, but not enough to dampen our spirits.  The drive home, however, was another matter.  You know all that nasty, torrential, house flooding, monster rain that’s been moving across the state?  Well, I got to drive Sugar home through that just as it was ramping up over the southern half of the state.  I know I shouldn’t be such a pansy, but I’m from Utah. THE DESERT. WHERE THERE IS NO RAIN. Usually.

We set off for home in a deceptively light sprinkle. Everything was fine, I assured everyone. It looked like we’d be driving right out of the storm.  But somewhere around a place called Meadow, the freeway turned into a river and we were driving blind.  I couldn’t have been going more than 55 mph on the freeway (in the slow lane, of course) and was still not really in control.  I felt my tires suddenly floating on top of the flood drowning I-15.  With the skill of a (very frightened) ninja, I got to drier ground and headed for the nearest exit.  I may or may not have been in a full blown panic and saying kind of creative things.  It happens. Three cheers for the Chevron station where I nursed my pride and a Vanilla Coke.  We waited for about 30 minutes for the rain to ease up before I let my friend from Connecticut (where they know about REAL rain) take the wheel and get us home.  

So let’s be honest, it seems like we’re in for a seriously rainy Fall. Which is great because we need it around here, but tricky because we’re desert dwellers and rain is usually an occasional affair.  So let’s take five and brush up on our rain driving skills. The video below from DefensiveDriving.com has a great little movie about rain safety.  And don’t forget your new teenage drivers.  Anyone in Driver’s Ed?  Make sure they get some serious rain practice, too!

Tips for Winter Driving

My dad grew up in Wyoming.  His first winter in Utah he stood outside and watched, mesmerized, as the snow fell to the ground.

"Never seen snow?" an acquaintance conjectured.

"I'm from Wyoming," my dad admitted.  "I've seen a lot of snow.  I've just never seen it fall down to the ground.  In Wyoming, it usually blows sideways."

Dad had a lot of experience with snow driving along with a few other bits of expertise.  (Dad had us all practice driving as if we suddenly had come on a cow in the road.  His tip?  Let up on the brake at the last second and hit the thing square on.  Evidently, if you do, you're less likely to flip the cow up on your hood.)  One of dad's most important tips for stopping in the snow: pumping your brakes.

Pumping your brakes is one of the most counterintuitive things to do when you're rapidly sliding toward something, in part because it requires you to take your foot off the brake over and over.  'Course, we kids all learned to drive in cars with "standard" brakes, something that's hardly standard any more.

Virtually every car made in the last 20 years (I totally made this statistic up) has anti-lock brakes (ABS), and the bonus is, with ABS you don't need to pump the brakes--they pulse for you.  Probably one of the hardest things for me to learn to do in adulthood was to stop pumping my brakes in the snow and just trust the car.

The other day, as I slid around in the snow with my brakes pulsing, I realized that now might be a good time to offer up some tips on winter driving.

Photo courtesy: Honda Ridgeline Facebook page

1. Know your brakes.  If you drive an older car with standard brakes, follow my dad's tip and pump the brakes.  If you have ABS, a smooth slow braking job will do the trick.  Don't let the pulsing throw you.  Just keep the pressure on.

2. Keep your distance.  When driving in the snow, you need to keep up to three times the distance that you normally would from a car in front of you.

3.  Slow down.  In any kind of inclement weather, it's important to slow down.  Snow can reduce visibility as well as stopping speed.  Even if you slide into something, if you're traveling slowly it's far likely to be disastrous.

4. Don't stop.  It can be hard to get the car going on slick, slushy roads.  If you can just maintain your slow speed and avoid stopping, that's idea.  When you have to stop, say, to turn across traffic, give yourself lots of extra space as you'll be slower getting going than you thought.

5. Turn into a skid.  The best advice I've seen on this is from an MSNBC travel article.  They said, "If you start to skid, steer the vehicle gently in direction you want your vehicle to go and don't touch the brakes."