Thin Ice

Mist crosses the road in front of me, lighting up in cylindrical clouds from the light of my high beams. As my truck meets with the wall of white in front of me I shift my headlights to the fog setting and slow my speed. A quick glance at the thermometer in the cab tells me that the outside air temperature stands at a frigid 17 degrees fahrenheit. It’s 10:45 P.M. in the middle of January 2019, I’m 65 miles away from home and I’m on a road that resembles an ice skating rink far more than the smooth tarmac of the superhighway. Driving through thick mountain fog, induced by the many rivers that cross the path of Idaho state highway 20 just south of the Montana border, I can’t see very much. Elk and deer frequent the road ways, often keeping close to the rivers in the winter season for warmth and food, they can usually be found in these little pockets of fog. The speed limit stands at 65 mph, but as I approach the fog I drop my speed to 45, then again to 35 when I see just how low the visibility inside the fog is.

As I crawl slowly through the fog I keep a sharp eye out behind me through the rearview. Hitting a large animal is concerning and could do serious damage to my truck. But all it takes is one nitwit driver who doesn’t know to not drive faster than he can see to come barreling through the fog behind me at 70 mph and kill me, or him, or both of us.

For me, even as a 17 year old kid, at this time, driving under hazardous conditions is not out of the ordinary. It’s just what you do for 5 months of the year if you live where I do and as a result of my somewhat unorthodox on the job training if you will, I have never been in a crash even though the odds of not doing so are not in my favor. That being said, I have had far too much experience in dealing with those who do not have the training or experience to operate their vehicles in such dangerous conditions. By the time I had held my drivers license for two years I had witnessed over 7 highway accidents and had had to pull out over 11 drivers who had driven their vehicles off the road and become stuck.

All of these drivers fell victim to the same, sometimes fatal, mentality.

The mentality that through some inexplicable means, they are above getting into an accident, becoming stuck or getting hurt in their cars. Through the progression of modern technology in the auto industry we drive very smart vehicles. Vehicles that can tell us where we are and where we want to go. In some cases they can even take us there without any input from us. Self driving cars are a reality in the world we live in today, and yet the smarter the car gets, the dumber the driver seems to become.

Although the engineering behind the cars that cruise in today’s highways is truly impressive, it does not excuse the driver from a working knowledge of the vehicle’s limitations. No car can stop as fast on ice as it can on pavement. It is a fact of physics as well as a fact of life. But it is very easy to forget that fact when your car seems to be able to do almost everything for you.

As a car enthusiast myself and after having the chance to drive a wide variety of vehicles I am inclined to note that although the advancements in modern vehicle design make them extremely comfortable and easy to drive on the highway, they also make the driver feel a bit disconnected from the systems of the vehicle. In my experience, it is much easier to tell how slick the road surface is from behind the wheel for a somewhat older can than that of a brand new one.

But the fact remains that cars will continue to follow the trend of comfort progression that they have been following for the past 20 years. So the question comes back to the driver and the driver’s training and experience.

The drivers training program in most states although it educates on road laws and proper edicate for driving responsibly, I think it does less than enough for providing examples of real life driving situations and experience. I am of the opinion that the best way to learn something is by doing it. I know of many people who would be more than interested in an extreme weather driving course if it were readily available and affordable. I know that although I have more experience than most with unfavorable driving conditions, I would be more than interested in a course of this nature if I felt that it could truly improve my safety and ability as a driver.