What is it
about the first real snowfall of the season that stuns Toronto
drivers? Despite Canada’s reputation as a cold and snowy country,
somehow the commuters in its largest city seem to forget how to cope
-- every year.
David Phillips,
Environment Canada's Senior Climatologist, says motorists are thrown
out of their regular habits during the initial winter weather system
-- even if snow accumulation is minor. At the first appearance of as
little as 0.2 centimetres of snow, “the streets are chaotic,” he
says.
“The thing
that’s surprising is that it’s probably only been since April that
we last faced a bout of snow where we had to be careful in our
driving. I mean, it’s not as if it was five years ago,” he says.
“And yet the
same amount of snow -- or double, triple or ten times that -- in
February or March won’t create any problems.”
According to
the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, motorists can respond much
differently to storms at the beginning of the winter than at the
end. During the first major snowfall of the 2004-2005 season on Dec
06, 2004, police recorded 765 property damage-only vehicle
collisions in the GTA.
By comparison,
in the last major snowfall of winter 2003-2004 on March 16, 2004,
police recorded only 160 property damage crashes.
Veteran O.P.P.
Sgt. Cam Woolley believes commuters south of Barrie just don’t get
enough practice navigating through snow. He says, “In general,
people don’t take driving very seriously. The mentality in the GTA
-- not just Toronto drivers but the 905ers -- is you can [safely]
multi-task.”
He says that
police find as the first storm hits, “people are still used to going
through the drive-thru having breakfast, and perhaps doing a little
of text messaging, and a bit of business on the way to work -- and
they’ve got their time budgeted to the minute.”
Once there’s
snow on the road, that changes everything, he says. And yet, “some
people try to keep up their … ‘all-season speed’, we’ll call it. And
then they’ll get into trouble.”
Sgt. Woolley
adds, “Of course the roads are near capacity anyway, so the
slightest problem is going to have huge impacts.”
His advice is
not novel. “What I would suggest to motorists is, leave a lot of
extra time.” He says it’s crucial to depart earlier, “especially for
the first few winter storms,” because other drivers won’t have equal
foresight.
Climatologist
Phillips says Canadian commuters -- and not just in Toronto -- can
be in denial about the first snow. “We almost have to have that
white-knuckling skid before your eyes before we come to realize
that, ‘My God, it IS winter’.”
“What also
amazes me is the way that people dress for the first snowfall,” he
says. “You’ll have people who will skid off (the road) and then
they’ll appear without any coat, or gloves or boots -- [instead
it’s] high heels or good lookin’ shoes. It’s just as if they came
from an underground garage and then made an appearance on the
streets -- and weren’t able to adjust.”
Ed
Drass
National Post
edrass@nationalpost.com
Ed Drass writes
the weekly “Traffic Guru” column in National Post’s Driving