bokchoi
Member
I just got home from one of the most severe rainstorms in my area in a long time, and some thoughts occured to me:
Today, we had such massive rain and hail that flash flooding occured everywhere you could imagine, stalling cars left and right; we live in a landlocked prarie, and though such weather is unusual, when it happens the result is pretty similar to dumping a cup of water on a tabletop, and as experienced winter drivers our citizens may be, they have no clue how not to stall in deep water, and end up stalling whole strings of car at a time.
Some concerns came to mind:
To what degree
o ) would you obey traffic laws when the storm struck and stranded you on the road, assuming your vehicle can escape? Being the agricultural-oriented province we live in, trucks and SUVs were going over medians left and right, and what used to be neatly manicured grass is now mostly a mess of mud and mangled sod.
Another thing that came to mind is, would you bug out of your vehicle if it was disabled in some way, but stationary? I don't mean getting out if it before it gets dragged into the river, but more like leaving it behind, along with firearms you have in it, because the engine is stalled from deep water, or snow keeps it from moving at all?
Another thing is that drivers here aren't known to be the greatest in the country; twice today during the storm, for no apparent reason, the car in front of us refused to move along with the crawling traffic, and backed right up to our bumper, effectively boxing us in and giving us rude hand gestures. As we backed up a bit to get out, he promptly backed up more, until we decided that we were getting out by backing out instead. Though there was no apparent rush, I'm still trying to figure out what possessed this person to try whatever he was trying. I suppose if it came down to it, SUV > Fiberglass Chrysler any day.
After this rainstorm, it occured to me that my Toyota 4Runner is probably as tactical of a car as need be, and would probably serve me well in an emergency despite its high fuel demands...
Today, we had such massive rain and hail that flash flooding occured everywhere you could imagine, stalling cars left and right; we live in a landlocked prarie, and though such weather is unusual, when it happens the result is pretty similar to dumping a cup of water on a tabletop, and as experienced winter drivers our citizens may be, they have no clue how not to stall in deep water, and end up stalling whole strings of car at a time.
Some concerns came to mind:
To what degree
o ) would you obey traffic laws when the storm struck and stranded you on the road, assuming your vehicle can escape? Being the agricultural-oriented province we live in, trucks and SUVs were going over medians left and right, and what used to be neatly manicured grass is now mostly a mess of mud and mangled sod. Another thing that came to mind is, would you bug out of your vehicle if it was disabled in some way, but stationary? I don't mean getting out if it before it gets dragged into the river, but more like leaving it behind, along with firearms you have in it, because the engine is stalled from deep water, or snow keeps it from moving at all?
Another thing is that drivers here aren't known to be the greatest in the country; twice today during the storm, for no apparent reason, the car in front of us refused to move along with the crawling traffic, and backed right up to our bumper, effectively boxing us in and giving us rude hand gestures. As we backed up a bit to get out, he promptly backed up more, until we decided that we were getting out by backing out instead. Though there was no apparent rush, I'm still trying to figure out what possessed this person to try whatever he was trying. I suppose if it came down to it, SUV > Fiberglass Chrysler any day.
After this rainstorm, it occured to me that my Toyota 4Runner is probably as tactical of a car as need be, and would probably serve me well in an emergency despite its high fuel demands...
