You would not know that, however, by the way people drove the other night during a brief, light snow fall. There was about 1/2″ of snow on the ground when I headed out for work the other night. This had fallen onto very cold roadways due to the bone chilling cold of the previous two days. None of which is particularly unusual for this part of the country at this time of year.

In addition, it was fairly late at night, so the traffic should have been light because all normal people are in bed and sleeping. Which of course is why I was wide awake and driving to work.

As I drove through the streets of my sleepy little suburb I saw no other vehicles and only a couple of tracks in the snow. Not a surprise at all. The road was a little bit slick, but nothing that a driver who lives up here shouldn’t be able to handle with ease. I expected to be a few minutes later getting to work than I normally was, but I’d still be on time. Or so I thought.

I got to the highway more or less in the same time it normally took me, which was an encouraging sign. It was to be the last encouraging sign I saw until I arrived at work. In the five or so miles to the next highway, I saw three spin outs, including one that happened right in front of me. That one didn’t result in the car leaving the road or any damage, so the driver just continued on his way as if nothing had happened. The others weren’t so lucky and I started to feel sorry for the troopers who would be spending their entire shifts and likely more, writing reports for minor accidents that a little prudence would have prevented.

I continued to drive along cautiously noting the usual mix of drivers. The guy going about 15 MPH in the left lane, the guy in the front wheel drive econobox whizzing by me at 70 on his way to his next accident, the sander wandering aimlessly from lane to lane. Typical.

I was what should have been five minutes from my exit when traffic came to a standstill. Not good at this time of day. I was contemplating the odds of my being able to work my way over to the next exit and making my way to the station on the city streets when some rocket scientist in a four wheel drive SUV came flying up the right hand lane and tried to drive between lanes two and three. At 30 MPH. Into two stopped lanes  of traffic. At least that’s what I think we was trying to do, but I’m not sure. What he actually did was bounce off of three or four stopped cars  and then slid into the guard rail. Not at enough speed to cause any serious damage to the other cars or injuries to the drivers, but it sure was going create a lot of paperwork for his insurance company and the troopers.

No, I didn’t get out to check for injuries. It was way too slick and way too dark to be wandering around on an interstate highway without lots of pretty blinky lights and emergency vehicles. People were already pulling their damaged cars to the side of the road and reaching for their cell phones, so I continued on my way.

I managed to get off the highway and onto the less slippery local roads. Where the driving was far more rational for some reason. Not rational, just more rational. Again I ran into the typical mix of cars with bald tires trying to drive up hills, people who couldn’t be bothered to fill their windshield washer tanks so had crap covered windows, people going too slow or too fast, and people who didn’t seem to realize that brushing the snow from their windshields would help their visibility. Not to mention the people walking in the street because apparently they missed the memo about wearing boots instead of sneakers or sandals in the snow.

I eventually made it to work, a few minutes late and filled with utter amazement at how a little bit of snow causes some people to lose what little driving ability they actually have.