TwoBusy: These are the things you think about when you spend a lot of time in the snow

December 14, 2007

These are the things you think about when you spend a lot of time in the snow

In the wake of the season's first big snowstorm - where it took me 1:50 to travel 7 miles home from work (including a stop at daycare), and apparently I was one of the lucky ones - I have two passionate declarations to make:

1. I'm pretty sure I love my snowblower more than I do my children.

2. It should be illegal to drive a non-AWD or 4WD vehicle in New England in winter. Seriously. It should be like the federal upgrade to digital TV -- a forced obsolescence of an antiquated technology for the greater good. Why shouldn't there be some way to compel drivers to use vehicles that are actually safe to use in a winter environment? I mean, I remember driving my parents' old RWD Volvo 240 when I was in high school, and literally being unable to make my way up a hill in the snow because the freaking car didn't have the traction, technology or cojones to power forward despite the fact that it was designed and built in Sweden, a country that - in my head, at least - is covered in snow most of the year. I was a hazard to myself and to other people, and I was acutely aware that it sucked.

Granted, that was (mumblemumble) years ago, when 4WD was something you only saw in Jeeps. But now... I mean, virtually every manufacturer has AWD options. It's a fully viable and accessible choice, at least for a lot of people. Maybe I'm the only one who gets sick of seeing Solstices and Corvettes and Bimmer 7's spinning all over the road - sometimes off a highway, sometimes toward me - but at some point, choosing a car designed for southern California is a choice to naturally select yourself out of the food chain.

Whatever. Stupid winter driving makes me cranky.

(photo swiped from Boston.com, btw.)

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Comments

I like those little sporty cars with the fancy aftermarket plastic noses and the small tires. They get around great in this stuff. I seen a few stuck on my way home yesterday.

Posted by: above average joe | December 14, 2007 at 12:47 PM

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