Metro Paralyzed, Again.

So here's the commute on this beautiful snowing Tuesday morning:

I left the house at about 6:55am. There was about an inch of snow on top of the ice that is around our condo in Kirkland. 124th Ave sounded pretty quiet, so I was expecting a quick drive in. I started down 124th Ave, no problem, down to 85th St and towards 405. Roads were covered with snow, but traffic was light. I decided to skip the freeway because I wanted to have options to change routes depending on conditions, so I went under the freeway and took a left down onto Kirkland Ave.

Kirkland Ave was a bit slippery, and I saw an Explorer spin out under the railroad bridge. It was slick, but not THAT slick *sigh*. I took a left from Kirkland Way onto 106th, heading south, I got a bit sideways going up the hill but that was mostly because there was no-one else around and I put the power down to see what I was dealing with; nothing I could not handle.

I got up to the stoplight in Houghton (68th St?) and had to stop. I noticed glare-ice tire tracks in the lane I was in, as there is a tiny incline into the intersection. When the light turned green I started out in 2nd and still ended up sliding the back-end a foot sideways before the front wheels pulled me through.

Heading down 106th Ave there were a few more cars, and the road was still slick with new snow. When I got to the top of the hill (at about 50th St?) there was a line of cars stopped. I was up far enough to see three cars sideways and jammed against the curbs just down the crest of the hill; I didn't want to even try to deal with these people. So I ducked off onto a side-street, and pulled into someone's driveway to turn around. The side-street was a pretty decent up-hill, and when I backed out of the driveway into the street I started sliding perfectly sideways down the hill. I just pointed the wheels over and gave it a bit of gas and got pointed back down the hill.

I headed back towards Houghton and got back up to the stop light. I was planning to take a left and head down towards State St. and Lake Washington Blvd; it's a much more gradual incline that way. While I was sitting in the left-turn lane waiting for the light, the opposing light went green. Two vehicles, a pickup and a BMW 3-series, were sitting in the lane that I had a bit of trouble getting started on. The pickup pulled away with just a bit of wheel-spin, you could tell that he had weight in back. The Bimmer on the other hand was out of luck. No matter how much the feathered it their tires spun, more and more the car when cock-eyeed, and eventually both back tires were backed up against the curb, the nose of the car across the main lane and into the left-turn lane. Any throttle they gave just spun the tires against the curb.

I made my left, and made it down the curve and eventually to the intersection at Lake Washington Blvd. I was taking an unprotected Left, but there was someone coming towards me. I was having trouble stopping on the down-hill, but then I noticed that they were not moving at all (or rather their back-end was insisting that it gets to go first), so I just took my slow gentle left. I did have to duck around another Explorer that had slid half-way into the oncoming lanes in front of me.

The rest of the trip was uneventful after that, other than getting in and having my co-workers ask "People arn't abandoning their cars ALREADY are they?"

Yes, yes they were.

That prompted us to draft some new legislation that we hope to get before the state before next winter:

If a driver should abandon his vehicle due to adverse weather conditions he must leave the keys in the ignition and the doors unlocked (RCW132.43.56a). If a second and unrelated licensed driver can remove said vehicle without the use of a tow vehicle or similar; said vehicle's ownership and title will be transferred to second driver legally and in whole. Previous owner shall be liable for all liens and debts incurred before abandonment related transfer (RCW132.43.56b). It is the responsibility of the previous owner to trace the new owner and remove all personal contents within 72 hours of abandonment related transfer otherwise personal contents may be disposed of by new owner (RCW132.43.58).

We can dream, we can dream...