Thursday, January 15, 2004

Today the NorthEast is under a beautiful snowstorm. There isn't much on the ground where I am - perhaps five inches - but it is amazing how many SUVs were off the road. I wonder how much of it is over-confidence and how much of it is the poor stability of what is basically a truck design. [tingilinde] The New Yorker's Malcolm Gladwell wrote a mildly interesting story on this recently, but the simplest explanation is that SUV drivers assume wrongly that better traction implies better ability to stop. Once they feel out of control, they try to steer out of trouble and only create more trouble. This problem is very common on main ski routes like I-80 into Truckee or I-70 West of Denver. 11:02:10 AM