Dear Worcester Drivers
Fellow Worcester Drivers,
I know I'm fairly new in town and have lived in places where there was no snow for the past 16 years, but there's something I still remember that I think you need to keep in mind, too.
You cannot drive a Mini-Cooper in 4" of snow.
This applies equally well to a Nissan SX or a Ford Fiesta. While small cars are great for gas mileage, they pretty much lose that benefit when you spend 20 minutes spinning your tires in the snow because you haven't got enough weight to get any traction. Moreover, you cause everybody else to unnecessarily burn gas and patience when two of you get stuck in the same intersection, resulting in long lines of immobilized traffic.
OK, OK, I admit that I'm just in a pissy mood because it just took me nearly two hours to drive the mile from campus to my home, a trip that normally takes no more than 15 minutes at the peak of rush hour. I guess sitting there and wondering if I'd be able to get out of the car before it became completely buried frayed my nerves a bit, and having a couple of little cars fishtail perilously close to me didn't help much either. I know your commute sucked, too, and I'm sure you were already aware that lots of people were pissed off about the whole thing.
But please, do us all a favor... when the weatherman says that we might get more than an inch of snow, please leave the Miata at home and call a professional. If he tells you that he can't help you out, odds are you might as well just stay home.
I still love you for sometimes letting me make a left turn before you go straight through an intersection. I still want to be friends. Just try to do better, OK?
As for me, my own over-sized monster of a vehicle handled the snow like a trooper. I kept it in low gear the whole way, since I never did more than 5 mph anyhow. I couldn't get up the hill that leads to my street, so I managed to park my car at the bottom and walked the rest of the way. I don't expect to drive tomorrow morning, and most of the snow will likely melt by afternoon.
When I said I wanted to play in the snow earlier, this is not what I had in mind!
