Nothing like a fresh snowfall to demonstrate the foibles of West Coast drivers.
We joke about how terrified and/or inept those of us who learned to drive in Metro Vancouver are when it comes to the white stuff. Folks who moved here from Winnipeg and Corner Brook and Kitchener, who feel the annual call to switch to snow tires in their bones, frequently mock us.
That may be fair or it may be unfair – we have so little chance to practice, after all.
But one thing we can do with or without practice is to clear our cars of snow properly before getting behind the wheel.
Whether you’ve got a snow brush and ice scraper combo from the hardware store, or you’re using the sleeve of your coat and your least-favourite credit card, please, can everyone just spend a few minutes cleaning their windshields when it snows this winter?
How many times have you been driving after a snowfall only to be confronted by a vehicle with a driver is peering through a tiny window they’ve carved in the three inches of slush on their windshield?
If they’re oncoming, fishtailing on balding all-season tires, it can be a terrifying experience.
The police don’t have the time or staff numbers to pull over every one of these drivers and give them a ticket and a lecture.
They’re busy helping the firefighters pull people out of ditches, especially the ones who put too much faith in the stability of their four-wheel-drive vehicles on days when they should know better.
So please, don’t try to make your way through life peering out like a submarine captain staring through a periscope. Clean up your car, and then maybe help your neighbour if they’re elderly or can’t quite reach across the windshield.
– M.C.