Quote Originally Posted by tulip View Post
If the city were to spend umpteen dollars on extra plowing equipment that would get used perhaps once every 10 years, they would be rightly criticized.
Steven Pearlstein had an interesting column on that today:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...903503_pf.html

BTW, I never owned a car or drove in snow until I moved to DC. I read this advice from AAA which I have found very useful: You basically do 3 things when you drive -- accelerate, brake and steer. In slippery conditions, only do one of those things at a time.

Also some stuff I learned in 8th grade physics have been useful. You get better traction when you go slowly than when you go fast, so if you are stuck in snow, apply gentle pressure to the gas pedal. If you spin your wheels fast, you'll never get anywhere. And of course momentum is mass x velocity, so you have less momentum (and therefore can stop easier) if you're going more slowly.