4-wheel drive equals 4-wheel dumb
By Ralph Dickerson
I truly believe we need to enact a law that mandates that any person wanting to purchase a 4-wheel drive vehicle take a 6-week class on how to drive such vehicles. I suggest this course of action because too many people behind the wheel of these vehicles do not know how to properly drive them; too many of these drivers think a 4-wheel drive vehicle allows them to drive 50 to 60 MPH on snow and ice, which places everyone else on the road with these drivers at risk.
As I drove into work Tuesday morning, in my 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt, I operated my vehicle at a reasonable speed. With highway 60 covered in snow and a thin layer of solid ice, I drove my car at 30 MPH. This speed allowed me to keep my car under control, but it did take me longer to get into work.
As I passed Vastwood Park, I glanced in my rearview mirror and noticed a blue Chevrolet pickup truck in the left hand lane coming up on my position rather fast. I kept an eye on the vehicle as it closed on me. It flew past me running at about 50 to 55 MPH!
These drivers think because they operate a 4-wheel drive vehicle it allows them to drive much faster than regular vehicles—they do not! A 4-wheel drive vehicle is misnamed anyway.
A 4-wheel drive vehicle simply has two wheels driving the vehicle, one on front and one on the opposite side back. While this configuration gives the vehicle more drive traction, it does not give the vehicle more stopping traction. A 4-wheel drive vehicle has the same stopping traction as a traditional drive vehicle of the same model.
For example, a Ford F-150 pickup truck with 4-wheel drive has the same stopping traction as a simple Ford F-150 pickup with the same brake package. The same amount of rubber is in contact with the road on both vehicles. If a regular F-150 slides on ice at 30 MPH, so does the 4-wheel drive model. The only thing driving at 50 MPH on snow and ice in a 4-wheel drive does is increase the chances dramatically of getting in an accident and either killing or severely injuring yourself or people in another vehicle.
Roughly 15 years ago my father and I decided to visit my sister in Minnesota over the Christmas holiday. We drove his little Nissan pickup truck for the trip. As expected, we ran into some snowy weather on the way, and we simply slowed down and kept on going. Sometime later a 4-wheel drive Chevrolet pickup truck blew by us in the left hand lane. I turned to my father and said, “If that idiot does not slow down he is going to wreck and possibly kill someone.”
The words were barely out of my mouth and proved somewhat prophetic. All of a sudden we saw the pickup truck start to spin out of control. It spun right off the road and into the median before coming to rest. Luckily he did not hit anyone, nor was he hurt. My father looked at me and said, “That is the best place for him, off the road where he cannot hurt anyone!”
I agree with my father. When snow and ice hit, the best place for idiots with 4-wheel drive vehicles is off the road where they c
