When do you pull over?

[BMBaccord]

Some family was visiting recently, drove around Cleveland seeing the sights.

On the way back on I-90 the rain was terrible. One of the worst times to be driving. (I was just a passenger) Some people had flashers on or driving slow and such.

Just got me thinkin of when/what do you do in circumstances like this?
The most serious storm/snow you have experienced driving?

Also, how hard does it have to rain for you to pull over or exit, or whatever you do? Curious.


- I drove from Connecticut to Cleveland in a crazy snow storm going about 25 and was sliding almost the entire time. (Couple hr storm) I should not have been driving, but there were no close exits and I wasn't sure where I was. One of the most serious and dramatic times I have experienced driving. Probably the worst snow storm I drove in. Scary stuff. How about you?

[jdmorg]

I have to drive a lot for work (and genuinely just love driving in general), so I've seen it all.

I'll go through a hard rain, but obviously slower. When it gets real bad and cars start pulling over, it's usually the other drivers that make me want to pull over and not so much the rain. I'm usually pretty good with my wipers and some RainX though, but in an older car....yeesh.

I drove down to New Orleans one year a while back for Mardi Gras and we drove through Vriginia and crossed(?) the mountains heading south. As we got higher, it got colder and the conditions worsened from a light rain to heavy, heavy ice. There were cars and trucks in the ditches on both sides every 100 yards. We finally pulled over in a rest area and got out. There was ice over 1" thick on the headlights and covering the grill of our rented Buick Century that just kept blowing on and piling up. That was a great trip.

[mb1208]

Several years ago, my mom and I were going through Emporia, VA (I think) and it was raining so bad people were pulled over with their hazard lights on.. soon we pulled over too. A few months ago it was raining really bad and I had to pull over, but those are the only two times. Here in NC it hardly ever snows or ices, so I don't have to drive in those conditions.

So, I'll pull over if the speed I feel comfortable driving at is slow, because I don't want to be a hazard to the person driving behind me who wants to go faster...and I'll pull over if I can't see anything in front of me, obviously.


I also pull over to text or call, if its important. If not, I usually keep it in my purse until I reach wherever I'm going.

[03LXV6]

I've seen it so bad in Florida where the wipers weren't even effective anymore. I'll take speed down but never pull over. I've also been in rain from NC to NY at night with 90% trucks on the road. That is never fun. I literally had to look to the side the whole way because visibility head on was impossible. The worst thing about rain and trucks is that you can't stay behind them and passing them might be an unsafe speed.

[BMBaccord]

Originally Posted by jdmorg

I have to drive a lot for work (and genuinely just love driving in general), so I've seen it all.

I'll go through a hard rain, but obviously slower. When it gets real bad and cars start pulling over, it's usually the other drivers that make me want to pull over and not so much the rain. I'm usually pretty good with my wipers and some RainX though, but in an older car....yeesh.

I drove down to New Orleans one year a while back for Mardi Gras and we drove through Vriginia and crossed(?) the mountains heading south. As we got higher, it got colder and the conditions worsened from a light rain to heavy, heavy ice. There were cars and trucks in the ditches on both sides every 100 yards. We finally pulled over in a rest area and got out. There was ice over 1" thick on the headlights and covering the grill of our rented Buick Century that just kept blowing on and piling up. That was a great trip.

Wow, I've had ice on the front, but never that serious. That's when you know it is truly bad. It always seems to happen on a longer trip too.

[MM49]

I've been also in a situation "where the wipers weren't even effective anymore". It started raining so hard out of no where so I put my 4ways on and kept going slowly while some did follow me but most of them pulled to right. Trust me it was really bad but luckily it lasted for a short while otherwise it could've been a lot worse.

I have also experienced some other worst/scarey situation where we were on a mountain driving at night its completely dark, raining hard, fear of landsliding(it rains for days so its common), car falling of the cliff if went near the edge of the road(fall is straight down to a river which is flowing hard), etc etc. I also rem at one point it was raining so hard that our car was actually floating with the water because we were driving down the mountain so flow of the water was also going down and it was like a river.

[poorboyaccord]

i pull over when i cant see anymore

[boxster]

My jobs puts me into the worst of driving conditions as I am a collision investigator.
Personal driving I try to avoid bad weather driving. It's not me I worry about, it's other drivers who don't have the proper tires, experience or think 4 wheel drive helps them stop quicker. If I run into bad weather, I usually pull off and have a rest at a restaurant and let the weather pass by. Nothing is worth risking my life for. If it's an appointment, I'll miss it, I can always book another.
Living in Canada I've seen and have driven through it all.
If you're not confortable with the driving conditions, be smart, don't drive.

[xJoeMama78]

The only times I've had to pull over is from haboobs that turn visibility from normal to less than 5 feet in a matter of seconds. Twice last year, no times before that.

[Mike W]

I've done a fair amount of driving the past several years (heck, went from 67k in Dec 2009 to 128k now on my '05 Accord lol) and have never pulled over. Howver I did most driving in my first car ('98 4Runner) and even drove back to college (~200 mi) in tropical storms, Cat 1 hurricanes and snow/ice storms in both the 4Runner and Accord, but here's my worst in which I pushed on:

Drove from Birmingham, AL to Mobile, AL in Dec 2009 as the last long trip in my '98 4Runner before getting my Accord. I had to go up there for a physical and other work related stuff for my engineering co-op job at the time. Left Birmingham about 5pm and was making good time and the weather was really nice for Decemebwr, about 75 degrees...classic Alabama winter weather haha. Heard on the radio that some storms were popping up near Montgomery and Evergreen about 2 hours south but nothing bad. Kept driving and pushed right through them. Then all hell started breaking loose on I-65 between the Evergreen and Atmore exits. Cars, trucks and 18-wheelers were pulling over left and right and hazards were a must in order to be seen it was raining so hard. I slowed down to about 25-30 and let her cruise in 3rd gear. There was so much water on the interstate I felt myself slipping and sliding several times at that speed so I popped her in 4wd and kept moving along. To make matters worse I kept having a bad pain in my lower back and groin. Finally made it home about 1030pm and ending up passing a kidney stone. Looked at the radar info and 13.5" of rain fell in that area in about 2.5 hours...absolutely CRAZY! I love my Accord, but she wouldn't have made it through that.

[stiller fan]

worst weather i have ever seen:

back in 2003, i picked up my friend from duty section muster late at night; we were in the shipyards in portsmouth, va. as soon as he got into my 93 accord, WHOOOSH! torrential downpour. we did 30-40mph and then it quick with alot of water on the road. up ahead, all we saw was this massive lightning show. i told him at the time: "this should be fun, lol". we punched the core of the storm, doing 15-20mph, flashers on, wiper on high, rain coming down so hard at times that a fresh coating of rain-x couldn't keep up with it. car was fishtailing all over the place, car in D2 to help with traction. worst storm ever.

in hindsight, i find out later that 2 supercells merged into one giant one, right over us as we were driving thru it....