Here is the 44th installment of Ten Top Lists of What Not to Do by Marie Ann Bailey of 1WriteWay at http://1writeway.com and John W. Howell of Fiction Favorites at http://johnwhowell.com. These lists are simu-published on our blogs each Monday. We hope you enjoy.
Top Ten Things Not To Do When Driving in Bad Weather Conditions
10. When driving in heavy rain, do not think it’s a good time to tap into your inner child and race your car through flooded areas of the road. If you do, at best you’ll just irritate the drivers around you who will be splashed in your wake. At worst, your car will stall at the next intersection where you find out that the “water” you were racing through is really the effluent from a broken sewer main.
9. When driving in heavy rain, do not forget to turn on your headlights so your car will be seen by other vehicles. If you do, at best you may just have a couple of near-misses as cars turn abruptly in front of you because they didn’t see your dark gray car approach the intersection through the gray sheet of rain. At worst, you may wind up wishing your car had been a neon pink color instead of dark gray after you get the bill for the fender-bender you caused.
8. When driving in heavy rain, do not think that you can safely drive the speed you drive in good weather. If you do, at best, the drag from the inches of standing water on the road will slow you down anyway. At worst, you might suddenly find yourself hydroplaning and, even more unfortunately, headed straight for the broken sewer main.
7. When driving in a snowstorm, do not think that you can save time by having the ice on your windshield defrost while you are driving. At best, everyone else will have stayed home and you’ll have the road to yourself and thereby avoid crashing into anyone. At worst, your insurance company won’t buy your story that the two small holes you scraped from your windshield should have been enough for you to avoid hitting the tractor-trailer when you passed into its lane.
6. When driving in a snowstorm, do not think your fellow commuters will find it amusing if you put a sleigh and reindeer antlers on the roof of your car and honk at everyone to let you through because you are Santa Claus. If you do, at best, the other motorists will let you through because they think you’re crazy and want to get as far away from you as possible. At worst, the other motorists will let you through straight to a highway patrol car waiting just for you.
5. When driving in a snowstorm, do not think your passengers will find it funny if you pretend to have snow blindness. At best, your passengers will help you to pull the car over so one of them will take over the driving (which was your intent anyway but you knew they wouldn’t do it if you just asked). At worst, your passengers will help you to pull the car over, but then leave you stranded on the shoulder because they knew you were faking.
4, When driving in a sudden hail storm, do not think it would be a good idea to suddenly pull over and collect the hail because you’ve never seen it before. If you do, at best, you’ll just have some motorists honk at you while you pack a few hail stones into your lunch bag. At worst, you’ll have a hard time convincing your boss that you’re late for work because when you stopped to collect hailstones, you got knock out cold by a big one and that is why you are acting drunk at noon.
3. When driving in a sudden hail storm, do not think it is a good time to pull out your golf club and trying some putting, no matter how obsessed with golf you are. At best, you’ll get the usual honks and rubbernecking from other motorists who are trying to figure out why you’re on the shoulder of the road swinging a golf club. At worst, see #4.
2. When driving during a heavy weather warning, do not think this is a good time to reenact a scene from your favorite Storm Chasers episode. At best, the storm cell never materializes and you simply waste a tank of gas looking for it. At worst, you wake up in another state but without ruby slippers.
1. When driving during a hurricane, … oh, please, just don’t!
Fiction Favorites 
Also with #10, you might cause a giant wave to cover the smaller car next to you. This blinds the driver who almost hits the exit sign. That driver gets out, tracks you down, and beats you with a live alligator. At least he dreams of it. I really hated driving in Florida.
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I have the same feeling. Never had to pull over cause I couldn’t see anywhere else.
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I wasn’t able to pull over when it happened. I had to take the exit ramp and pray. Thankfully the person behind me was paying attention and slowed down as well.
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I saw a guy playing golf with hail once…only he was not in the road. being from the south I had to go to Michigan in February once and rented a car. I was insanely scared on the night road as the snow was lightly coming down and it blinded me so that I had to use the taillights in front of me for guidance. I was soooo happy to get to my destination. I know I could never live up north.
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I am from Michigan and can tell you horror stories about being trapped in snow on the freeway in the middle of nowhere.
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What do you do…just sit there?
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Well the first thing you try to estimate how long the fuel will last since it is 30 degrees and wind chill of 18. Once that’s done you alternate heat and cold for up to twelve hours. Yes you sit and think. This was in the day of no cell phones. You know not to try and walk out since it only takes a few minutes for the cold to pull you under. One time I was in a whiteout and ran into a snow bank which cover the road. The car was completely buried and I couldn’t open the door. Luckily a farmer saw me go by and dug me out. My car was there for three days. (yes, I stayed with the farmer and his wife.)
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Scary, but it brings back all the old farmer and a stranger jokes to my mind 🙂
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Good morning, John. Great list 😉 And I have to second Charles’s comment. I really hate driving in Florida, good or bad weather 😉
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Me too. Thanks
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If you have to drive through a hurricane…. don’t use my car for heaven’s sake!!
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Unless you have Porsche Carrera Caberlot I doubt it.
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I was once almost stuck in the car in a hurricane. It wasn’t fun.
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I’ll bet not. You must have been terrified.
On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 9:26 PM, Fiction Favorites wrote:
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If only I had read this before I stapled the antlers onto the bonnet of my Mini……
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That’s okay. Come December everyone will be jealous. Till then, not so much.
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And for goodness sakes, do not forget that four wheel drive does NOT mean four wheel brakes.
You may get better traction to move, but the stopping takes that much more room, especially in an suv.
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True enough. I have a four wheel that needs a landing strip length to stop.
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I learned that lesson the hard way.
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