SeaCat
Hey, my Halo is smoking
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2003
- Posts
- 15,378
This morning the wife and I headed north on I-95 in the car. They were forecasting rain so we took the car. They didn't forecast this though.
We hadn't been on the road for more than ten minutes and were on the front edge of a bubble when it started to rain. (No traffic behind us but quite a bit in front of us.) I shifted to the far right lane and hit the wipers. Ahead of us I could see tail lights coming on as the rain started getting heavier.
Now remember you get used to driving in rain down here. It's a common occurance.
Traffic started slowing slightly so I pulled further right and looked ahead. All I could see was tail lights coming on. This wasn't good. By this time visibility was dropping, it was maybe a mile and going south in a hurry. I backed off a bit and kept back as traffic slowed even more. Within minutes it was a downpour and visibilty was measured in feet.
I didn't hesitate, I had seen the results of something like this too often. Right ahead of me was a semi and behind me nothing. This wasn't a good place to be. By now traffic was moving at maybe 10 MPH. I pulled further to the right into the breakdown lane as the semi ahead of me hit his hazards and stopped. I crept forward until I had passed maybe ten vehicles then pulled further right out of the breakdown lane and onto the shoulder. (I'm not worried about getting stuck.) Now I'm well out of the lanes of traffic. My wife is looking at me like I'm nuts and questioning why I had pulled off into the grass.
Before I can answer something passes us in the breakdown lane moving fast enough to rock the car.
After about half an hour the rain slows enough where we can see. I shift the car into 4x4 and get out of the grass and onto the shoulder. Shifting back in regular drive I speed up and rejoin the traffic.
On the radio we hear reports of multiple accidents on I-95 caused by people charging full bore into the downpour and plowing into the cars ahead of them which had slowed down or stopped. (One involved a Semi rear ended by another Semi. I have to wonder if the semi hit was the one we were behind.)
We made it to my parents safely.
Cat
We hadn't been on the road for more than ten minutes and were on the front edge of a bubble when it started to rain. (No traffic behind us but quite a bit in front of us.) I shifted to the far right lane and hit the wipers. Ahead of us I could see tail lights coming on as the rain started getting heavier.
Now remember you get used to driving in rain down here. It's a common occurance.
Traffic started slowing slightly so I pulled further right and looked ahead. All I could see was tail lights coming on. This wasn't good. By this time visibility was dropping, it was maybe a mile and going south in a hurry. I backed off a bit and kept back as traffic slowed even more. Within minutes it was a downpour and visibilty was measured in feet.
I didn't hesitate, I had seen the results of something like this too often. Right ahead of me was a semi and behind me nothing. This wasn't a good place to be. By now traffic was moving at maybe 10 MPH. I pulled further to the right into the breakdown lane as the semi ahead of me hit his hazards and stopped. I crept forward until I had passed maybe ten vehicles then pulled further right out of the breakdown lane and onto the shoulder. (I'm not worried about getting stuck.) Now I'm well out of the lanes of traffic. My wife is looking at me like I'm nuts and questioning why I had pulled off into the grass.
Before I can answer something passes us in the breakdown lane moving fast enough to rock the car.
After about half an hour the rain slows enough where we can see. I shift the car into 4x4 and get out of the grass and onto the shoulder. Shifting back in regular drive I speed up and rejoin the traffic.
On the radio we hear reports of multiple accidents on I-95 caused by people charging full bore into the downpour and plowing into the cars ahead of them which had slowed down or stopped. (One involved a Semi rear ended by another Semi. I have to wonder if the semi hit was the one we were behind.)
We made it to my parents safely.
Cat
