Winter Driving, Ain't it a Ditch???

It's always alarming to see a car languishing in the ditch. This belongs to one of our neighbours, who reported that having beaten her way through the worst of the winter storm, when she got to Fox Point Road, she figured she was home, and just relaxed a little too soon.

She wasn't hurt - except for her pride and her driving record. The same can't be said for the vehicle. Or for the five inch diameter cedar tree that snapped off and fell across the roof.

The thing about four wheel drive is that it will help get you OUT of the ditch, but it won't stop you from going IN it. If you drop wheels off into that soft snowbank along the shoulder, the car is going to follow the line of least resistance -- which rarely involves struggling back onto the road. Rural roads are often not as wide as the plows make them appear.

Slow down... drive for the conditions... allow extra room... and remember it isn't over until you're in the driveway. Winter tires are you're best friend. I recall being fished out of a ditch years ago by CAA. Larry laconically looked at my shiny new All Season Tires, shook his head, and informed me, "It isn't ALL seasons, girl... It's f***** WINTER." That was my next purchase and I've never looked back!

I'm writing this from one of the Airport Hotels -- I'm flying south on Thursday for some R&R, during which I'm going to learn how to use this new laptop and leap gleefully into the connected era (or something like that) The drive to the city was an eclectic mix of bright sun, bare roads, then wet roads, then Barrie. Need I say more? The last two days have seen snow streamers pouring in off the Great Lakes, dumping more snow on southern Ontario than we received in Muskoka. If you can just get past Barrie, the drive north is just fine.

But, as ever with winter driving, if you aren't driving with care, life is real Ditch!