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It's freezing rain, thawing, freezing on the highway in northern Ontario ... stay at home!
(lemmy.ca)
The highways are literal ice, either thawing, freezing or going to become ice later tonight and people all over facebook, messenger, whatsapp, whatever are all messaging each other and me and my family asking what the highways are like today and if they can safely go out. People are dying on the highways this week all over the north. Stay at home.
The safest thing to do is just don't go on the highway when it is raining in December in northern Ontario!!!
I'm reminded of the first ice storm that I can remember. I was walking to the bus stop, slipping and sliding all over the place, when a neighbor poked their head out and said that school had been cancelled for the day. I didn't even think to check because there was no snow on the ground. I slid slowly home and checked the radio (yes, I'm old) - there was our district number being called. I told my brother and we started watching tv.
Not long after that my dad woke up for work, surprised to see us home. He looked out the window and called bullshit. "There's nothing out there!" So he got ready for work as usual, backed out of the driveway, started moving slowly forward... and promptly slid right into the curb. He came back in and called out of work. The ration of shit he gave to my brother and I got served right back to him by his boss.
tl;dr people don't take freezing rain seriously
I used to be the same way and act like a big tough northerner and tell people to suck it up and don't be so scared of a bit of snow or a bit of ice.
After you go through many winters where you heard of family and friends that died in a highway accident when they could have just stayed home, you start to realize how dumb it is to make fun of dangerous situations. My rule of thumb now is ... if I stop to wonder if I should be on the highway, then I get off and stay off. I'd rather look like an overly cautious driver or even be completely wrong than to risk my life or the lives of others unnecessarily.