When it comes to the winter weather and icy roads, 88% of BVN students have had issues with driving and collisions, according to a poll out of 128 people from the @bvnnews Instagram, . Sophomore Addison Hull was one of the many BVN students to experience issues because of the extreme weather on Dec. 1.
Hull was driving to school and was about to stop at the yellow light that was about to turn red in the intersection between 127th St. and Nall.
“I hadn’t known what the car in front of me was going to do yet,” Hull said. “With the snow, everything got messed up. The car had finally stopped in front of me, and I thought I had the perfect amount of space to stop.”
Hull had attempted to stop in time to not hit the car in front of her, but her car had kept sliding forward instead.
The snow went through a process of melting and then freezing into ice, causing the roads to be slick. Senior Jeff Cobb also had issues with the recent icy roads.
“I was taking a right outside of Chick-fil-A’s parking lot, and I turned too quickly and my back tires spun out,” Cobb said. “I was almost horizontal to the lanes.”
Even with experience driving in snow, some BVN students are unable to navigate the icy roads.
“There’s definitely an increase in the number of accidents, especially at BVN,” Hull said. “We have some pretty crazy drivers.”
Some students do not feel prepared for the upcoming winter, including Cobb.
“I would pretty much avoid anything that’s on-and-off a slope, ‘cause sometimes that salt can get moved around and whatnot,” Cobb said.
Other students have thought that they were careful enough while driving, but sometimes their own predictions aren’t enough, as seen in breaking incidents or not giving themselves enough time to prepare their cars in the morning for the icy drive.
“I think I was being careful, but I think I could have been so much more careful,” Hull said. “I could start braking way too early, but sometimes that’s not enough.”
Cobb also agrees that braking is one of the factors that come in when driving on the ice. A fast brake could cause a car’s tires to have no traction on the road and then later cause them to slip around. On dry roads, a fast brake would be fine, but on the icy roads, there is no pavement for the tires to grab onto.
“I just make sure to start braking really early and really slowly,” Cobb said. “If you slam on the brakes and you have no traction, you’re just sliding straight forward and not getting anything.”
The collision with Hull’s car was also due to the issue with braking.
“I was going to go straight through the light, but it was about to turn red,” Hull said. “I was already slowing down to stop, but I just kept on sliding.”
Students at BVN are facing the issues that come with the icy roads, as many reported sliding.
“I’ve heard friends say they slid around a lot, or maybe they spun out, but I haven’t heard of any crashes or anything that I know of,” Hull said.
Even without as many collisions, sliding and spinning still scare students at BVN, including Cobb.
“ Once I feel my tires kind of lose traction, my heart starts racing just to think ‘Oh my gosh,’” Cobb said. “And whatever I try to do doesn’t work, whether it’s spinning the wheel or tapping on the brakes or anything.”
