Are you prepared to meet your maker?

[viper37]

Tuesday, there was a snow storm in Quebec.  Last of the season, hopefully.

Multiple accidents on the road, some deadly, as usual.

To better understand the situation, you have to know that we practically had no winter here this year.  A little bit of snow, warm weather.  By law, we're forced to have winter tires on our car until March 15th.  Since there was no more snow and the temperature was quite warm (above 0 celsius), on March 15th I took my car out of its winter resting place.

I drive a Camaro.  With summer tires, obviously.

So, last Monday, I check the weather.  1-2cm of snow are predicted (1/2 to 3/4 inch), a little bit of rain.  Nothing I can't handle with my car.  So, Tuesday morning I leave for Quebec city.  No snow, but a grey sky. Temp is about 0-1c at the time.  It's a go.

Halfway through the ride, there's some heavy snow.  Nearly had 2 accidents as I arrived in Quebec city, but I managed fine.  Unfortunately, arriving at my first stop, there's just too much snow and I can't turn, so I hit the concrete border of the parking place.  Fuck.  Anyway, minor damages, no real permanent harm done.

1hr later, I get out, there's really, really heavy snow and it doesn't seem like it's going to stop.  There's about 8-10cm of snow by then (4").  So I proceed to my next stop.  I have a little bit of a hard time getting there, but it all goes well.
Once out, I realized it really is a snow storm.  Fuck.

So, I call some family, hoping they might have a day off (my aunt is a school teacher).  No luck.
There's my cousin, whose girlfriend is home, but they live way north of Quebec city, so I decide I'm almost better off going back home.  It can't be that bad after all.

3rd stop on the way.  Highway isn't so great, but I can manage.  Thought about getting a hotel, figured I'd better get home asap instead.

Back on the highway, I'm driving about 50-60km/h, following traffic.

For those of you who don't know Quebec, or don't drive at all, you have to know that the worst place to be caught in a snow storm is between Lévis (South shore of the St-Lawrence, in front of Quebec city) and Montmagny, a city some 80km east.  The last snow storm before this one, they closed the highway for 2 days.

So, I have my Camaro with summer tires in a snow storm...

It was hard.  Really hard.  But I was ok so far.

Then right after a little place called St-Vallier, 30min east of Lévis, all hell breaks loose.  I really have a hard time seeing where I go, but there's a lot of traffic, so I follow the lights.  I see a snowplower in front me, on the roadside.  Figure if I stay at a good distance, I'm ok.

Then everyone breaks.  Turns out there was an accident a few meters ahead, two vans and a car got out of the road, one of the vans was stuck on a bridge, half the trailer abouve the rail, barely maintening itself there.  Fuck. 

I can't break.

I hit the roadside, avoid all vehicles, try some desperate maneouvers to avoid loosing total control of the car.   And it works.

I'm relieved.

I look up at the mirror.  I see a van coming in behind me.  The van seems to be moving quickly.  I see the trailer moving to the side of the van... Fuck, he's going jack-knife right behind me.

...

I'll never survive.

There's no way I can restard and gain enough distance between the van and the plower to avoid the collision.  If he goes jack-knife, that driver can never stop, that's impossible.

So I was prepared to meet my maker.

But I got lucky.

I managed to restart, gain some distance, and the van driver managed to regain control of his truck.  He finally breaks a little further of where I was.  Had I been unable to move my car, I would either have been crushed between the van and the plower or sent like a bullet toward the plower, neither of wich was a good end for poor Viper.

I was a little shaken, but once things got moving again, I kept on driving all the way home.
Only once I got home did I had my 2nd real scare of the day.
See, I lost control of my car.  For no apparent reason, like it always happen.  I almost got in the other lane, where there were cars driving in the other direction.
I managed to regain control, just before seeing the scared look of the other driver.

So, a few meters ahead, I stopped at the garage where I usually go for all of my car maintenance, and I simply left the car there and asked to be driven home.

I guess, after all, I wasn't that prepared to meet my maker.  But I got real scared.  Made me rethink of many things.  Seeing that van coming in my mirror...  I just wonder how many more close call I'm going to get before the final one.

[Alexandru H.]

Sounds like a good scenario for a "Final Destination" movie. 

[Grey Fox]

C'est tous qu'on peut faire apres sa.

[jimmy olsen]

Hey, you survived and that's all that matters.

[BuddhaRhubarb]

You live in PQ and you don't put winter tires on your car? Wow you are much more macho than I thought. good luck with that.

:p Glad you are ok. That's the kind of thing that'll shake your foundations.

[Grey Fox]

You live in PQ and you don't put winter tires on your car? Wow you are much more macho than I thought. good luck with that.

:p Glad you are ok. That's the kind of thing that'll shake your foundations.

He doesn't use his Camaro in the winter. Before that storm it hadn't snowed in more then a month.

[BuddhaRhubarb]

You live in PQ and you don't put winter tires on your car? Wow you are much more macho than I thought. good luck with that.

:p Glad you are ok. That's the kind of thing that'll shake your foundations.

He doesn't use his Camaro in the winter. Before that storm it hadn't snowed in more then a month.

It's still March in Quebec. You are bound to get another dump. Snow tires don't come off til late April anywhere east of Trawna

[Grey Fox]

Yeah, Viper is crazay.

[viper37]

You live in PQ and you don't put winter tires on your car? Wow you are much more macho than I thought. good luck with that.

:p Glad you are ok. That's the kind of thing that'll shake your foundations.

I usually use my father's car during the winter, he prefers to use his trucks, and I usually don't make long drive during the winter as I don't really like that car.  But I gave him back his car last week, and didn't ask for it the day before, seeing there was no snow predicted.

I suppose GF is right.

[garbon]

Umm, I met my mother and father years ago.

[szmik]

I hit the tree with my car  on Wednesday .... it was really scary.. and it wasn't even fast, but my car is pretty much done.  Awful feeling to see it coming. 

[Tonitrus]

The closest equivalent experience I have had was driving in a heavy rain storm southwest of Houston, on a two-lane rural highway.  Traffic moving about 60mph...oncoming car loses traction and hydroplanes...literally doing at least two to four 360-degree revolutions over into my lane.  I was lucky that I was coming onto a spot with an extra lane for turning right into a school, swerved to the side out of the way, and kept on going.

It happened too quick to be scared, and was amazingly calm afterwords....thinking "daaaayyyyuumm", of course.

[Caliga]

I'm an excellent driver.

[Monoriu]

I was stopped on a highway due to heavy traffic, and it was raining.  As soon as I stopped I checked the rear mirror, and saw that a van was coming - it obviously didn't have enough distance to brake.  I knew it was going to hit me, so I let my car go as much forward as possible. 

It still hit me, but there was no damage at all. 

[grumbler]

I am a self-made man.  I meet my maker in the mirror every morning.

He regrets that as much as I do.