Counter-intuitive as it may be, following last week’s chaotic afternoon commute, what you have in front of you is a (qualified) defence of Lower Mainland drivers.
I know! I’m as surprised as you are.
I grew up in northern B.C. and lived for several winters on the Prairies before making my way to this place, where lawns are depressingly brown in July, but magically green in December, and where seeing crocuses bloom in February is no big deal – though we will gleefully rub it in others’ frozen faces until mid-April.
So I’m comfortable driving in winter conditions and I, too, have enjoyed my fair share of chuckles at the expense of Lotus Landers in the past.
But it seems I’ve now lived here long enough that I get a little offended when, as inevitably happens at some point every winter, we become the laughing stock of Canada.
To be clear, I’m in no way defending a lack of preparation on the part of many drivers or the people who tell snow plow operators where to be and when.
After last Tuesday, I envision many city operations centres as being filled with blindfolds and dart boards.
But when it comes to driving in the middle of a snowstorm during a Greater Vancouver rush hour, here’s my challenge to folks in the B.C. Interior and beyond.
You try it.
It’s a lot more challenging than you might expect, because there are a few small, but important, differences. For instance, the snow that falls here is heavy and wet and it tends to be a lot slicker than the dry powder that drifts dreamily to the ground inland and on mountaintops.
If building snow forts, pelting your friends with snowballs or squishing around in wet socks is your jam, it’s perfect. For drivers, it’s less than ideal.
Here, next to the ocean, temperatures often hover around the freezing mark in mid-winter, meaning that what was wet snow a minute ago is now rain, but also, it’s now ice. And it’s treacherous.
Now, throw in a lot of hills and bridges and the occasional tunnel.
And then there’s the traffic.
We’re closing in on three million people in Metro Vancouver, which puts a lot of cars on many thousands of kilometres of roads. These roads, of course, need to be plowed and sanded, with the priority (obviously) being whichever one you happen to be on right now.
Of course, plows can’t be everywhere at once, but judging by the regular chorus of blasting horns outside our office, (and here’s where we come to the qualified part) patience is a virtue that a lot drivers around here don’t seem to possess.
Unfortunately, it is one of two key components to driving successfully in the snow. The other, I’m sorry to say, is money.
First, patience. Everything to do with travelling in severe winter conditions takes extra time. That means stopping to clear your vehicle completely of snow and defrosting windows before pulling out of your driveway. Taking it slower in general – whatever the road ahead looks like – is crucial. You’re going to feel a patch of black ice before you see it. Trust me on that.
Slower braking and acceleration are also key. And it’s basic defensive driving to assume that everyone around you is doing the exact opposite.
Knowledge and patience mean little, though, if a vehicle isn’t properly equipped or maintained.
Some people simply can’t be bothered.
But for those struggling to make ends meet, a pricey set of winter tires is an extra expense they can ill afford. And since snow is a relative rarity, they may choose to roll the dice that, if and when it comes, they’ll be safely at home.
When a storm hits at the rush hour, as it did early last week, drivers with all-season tires become other motorists’ worst nightmare, tying up major arteries, making it impossible for road crews to work and sending TV crews scurrying.
Of course, what the rest of the country sees are all the worst parts of the story.
While nearly every news camera in the Lower Mainland was pointed toward the messy tangle on and around the Alex Fraser Bridge, where some commuters spent as long as 12 hours trying to get home that night, thousands of us were making our way uneventfully along – slowly, but without much trouble.
But that’s not a ratings-grabber.
On the other hand, watching videos of vehicles sliding downhill in slow motion and crashing into each other like costly dominoes – while people yell frantically from the sidelines – well, for Canadians who don’t get to pick flowers in February, it’s the next best thing.
Brenda Anderson is editor of the Peace Arch News.