Originally Posted by
lil brown bat
Well, it's not courting imminent death if you're sensible like you say, but I don't think that quite translates to "no reason at all not to go out in a car". Particularly if the 6" of snow is happening in a city, it can easily slow down traffic to the point of causing jams and gridlock, and every car makes the situation worse. Imagine someone who needs an ambulance to get through to them in those circumstances. Not adding to the problem, that's a reason not to go out if you don't have to, I'd say.
Good point.
The worst storm I've ever driven in though happened while I was at work and was not forecast to be nearly as bad. I stayed later to avoid rush hour which may or may not have been a good decision.
Snow depth was one problem but visibility was worse. Even when my wipers weren't icing up everything was white to the point that I was only vaguely aware of where the road was. Fortunately some opportunely spaced cars in the ditch on either side provided some guidance.
This was a number of years ago and I don't remember if there's a particular reason I needed to go home other than not wanting to be stranded at work.
At any rate, in my 4 years of winter cycling there's been a few times that I've felt I should have left the bike at home/work/train station.
In 25 years of driving, there's been maybe only one or two times (though I don't really remember any) that I drove and wished I hadn't attempted it.
Part of that I'm sure is because I have good backups to riding even if it comes down to jogging, whereas for some driving trips the alternative is to stay where you're at.