School's out for the day. It's warmer in Chicago than it is here! The roads are all iced, and there have been 140 accidents in and around Austin. It may not have thawed by the time I have to go to work. I find that very scary. Last night was the first time I've driven in freezing rain, and was very cautious. I didn't see any trouble, nor did I realize just how frozen it was until I stepped out of the car and slipped on our gravel drive.
It's just as well that the school buses are not going to be out there sliding around with our precious children rattling around loose inside them.
Hopefully, the sun will come out this afternoon, when the temp finally creeps above freezing. The ice will melt, the water will evaporate, and it won't be as bad when it refreezes tonight. I don't mind cold--I just hate the combination of cold and wet.
"Driving on snow is one thing but cold flat ice is a great example of pure physics and how it doesn’t matter how good a driver you are or how much you spent on your rig or your tires or sometimes even if you’ve got chains – once you lose what little traction you had it becomes a field exercise in applied vector calculus with an extremely low value for coefficient of drag."
This is a quote from a poster on another site. Apologies to Videodrone, but all I know is your nic, or credit would be given where it's due.
At least here in Scotland, we expect to have bad weather.
ReplyDeleteAll the roads and pavements are shining with ice when I go to work each day.
We are lucky to have the gritters (trucks that grit the roads and pavements) out each night. To make sure the amount of accidents are reduced.
It would be very scary driving on a road that had not been sprayed with grit.
I usually walk in the middle of the road, where the cars have driven. There is usually no ice there. Heh
Stay safe, Ronni
I've always found it somewhat surreal and ridiculous that school buses don't have seat belts. As a kid in MI, there was more than once that I was on a bus that went off into a ditch. No harm, but potential for a very scary situation.
ReplyDeleteLisa
Here, they justify it by saying that, in case of an accident, it's easier to get the kids out of the bus if they are not belted in. Also, the seat backs are not high enough. They say that if the seat backs were high enough to provide neck protection, the bus driver wouldn't be able to see the back of the bus in her trusty mirror.
ReplyDeleteWhatever. They are just too cheap to make a safer environment for our kids.
OK, Ronni...step away from the soapbox! LOL!
Good day Ronni
ReplyDeleteIt is so lovely and mild here today. Tomorrow is going to be even better, but we have been warned about severe conditions this Winter.
Warnings always frighten me. The worst Winter in 10 years. Great, I only moved over here 8 years ago. Who knows what to expect.
Get a petition going about those seat belts. When you pay for a service, it should be safe. Especially when they are responsible for children.
Mgt, I wish it were that simple. All our schools are overcrowded, with antiquated heating and cooling units, particularly in the omnipresent portable classrooms. Teachers are underpaid. Administrators are so overworked that Husband's principal is sometimes at school at 3:00 AM. We have what is affectionately (not!) known as "The Robin Hood Plan," whereby wealthier districts contribute money to bring poorer districts up to meet minimum standards. The result is that all schools wind up meeting (barely) those (very) minimum standards. I'd need to do a lot of research that I don't have the time for right now, to do an entry on this. Once the holidays are over, I may devote a bit of time to it, because it is one of my soapbox subjects!
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