We got snow today in Helsinki, and it was also cold, and as a result the traffic got stuck. There were over 100 traffic accidents, and many roads were completely blocked. It took me 1 1/2 hours to get home from work; it could have been much longer.
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6 comments:
Hmmm. One would think that with all of the snow that you get, people would have more experience and would crash less often. I guess not. LOL
@Paul, when we had our first finnish winter two years ago, I realized quite fast that when the snow is falling, there is the same kind of mess in Finland or France. But there is much more equipment here to get rid of the snow so the situation gets back to normal really, really fast.
@Juha, the day looked quite hectic indeed!
@Paul: This was the worst snowstorm in Helsinki in several years in terms of traffic conditions.
There were two factors why it was so bad. First, the lightweight snow was floating in air, sometimes reducing visibility to 20 meters or less,
Second, the snow stuck to the street surface, making it slippery as ice. And because it was so cold, it wasn't possible to use salt to melt the snow and ice on the streets.
In fact, in the region surrounding Helsinki there were 300 traffic accidents yesterday.
@Christophe: Indeed it was.
And from someone with a bit more northern perspective of it all, the main reason is that drivers do not really take the weather into account in the south. Speeds and safety distances are not adapted to the conditions and thus we get these huge pileups.
@Christophe: the mess is in the south, not a few hundred kilometers north anymore ;)
@ramin: I'm afraid you are right about this. And it only takes one mistake to get a pileup of cars and trucks.
I bought new (studded) winter tires last November, and that investment has been certainly worthwhile. But still, I try to keep a good distance to the next car.
@ramin well, the low traffic density related to low population density certainly helps up north. I remember last summer driving in Punkaharju, Kuopio and Vaasa areas was a real pleasure and I got really mad and shocked when coming back to helsinki area. It felt like all the drivers all around were really aggressive here...
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