In Focus

I’m so tired of driving in the snow.

Friday morning as I was driving into work the snow was steadily falling, reducing visibility. Every time a vehicle turned onto the road it created a little cloud of snow around the vehicle, making it very difficult to see it.

Needless to say, it was a slow drive in, but some vehicles were making it a bit harder.

A van pulled in front of me and I could barely see it. As we came into town, I couldn’t see any brake lights. I kept slowing down until the van came to a stop to make a turn. Only then could I see a hint of taillights and a turn signal because there was so much snow caked on the back of the vehicle that the lights couldn’t penetrate it. I knew they couldn’t see out of their rear window because it was covered in snow. I was glad I didn’t have to continue to follow that vehicle.

Shortly after that I encountered another cloud of snow. After a few miles I could see a large orange shape that turned out to be some kind of grain bin. This thing went all over the road traveling between 10 and 15 miles per hour. It kicked up a ton of snow, making the object impossible to see. There were no lights visible on the object or the trailer and with the road conditions as they were, I was not about to attempt to pass it. Although, several people behind me did pass successfully, and one was on a hill with an oncoming vehicle.

Finally, the vehicle hauling the grain bin pulled over and stopped and I was able to get around it. Of all the vehicles I saw there was a small handful that had their headlights on, making them easier to spot. There were so many close calls I was surprised I didn’t see anyone crash or go into the ditch.

Please remember to turn on your lights when the weather makes it hard to see and please clear snow off of your taillights. Nobody wants to get into an accident, but if other drivers can’t see you there is a higher probability it could happen.