Stuck in I95 ice storm, traffic jam

I didn't initially see the the anti-EV FUD that triggered the author's EV-fanboy response, so saw only the latter's wild overstatements and claims of superiority. His claim that "my EV expertly navigated the ice" while countless non-EVs slid is ridiculous, that is much more a matter of tires and driver than fuel source. His statement (not initially pasted here) that "EVs can readily navigate floodwaters" where gassers can't, is deadly wrong.

Most of his other claims are also for things that are really fuel-agnostic, and driven mostly by driver preparedness. Going back to the trucker twitter feed that triggered this dueling editorial string, even that trucker called it a matter of driver preparedness. It was a subsequent reader who ignorantly latched on to the EV angle and ran with it.

https://twitter.com/myworldtaw
https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/truck-driver-believes-lack-of-preparation-led-to-chaos-on-i-95-in-virginia

"The weather itself wasn't the biggest problem. It was the lack of preparation I found on the roads themselves," Marchand said. "Perhaps people aren't used to driving in that type of weather here as well. I'm from Canada. This isn't a big deal in terms of the weather itself. We would have had that highway cleared rather quickly. I can't fathom that one would be stuck on an interstate for 12 hours or more at a time."

Luckily, Marchand said he was prepared for winter weather and had plenty of supplies.

"I probably have somewhere between 72 hours and 96 hours of fuel onboard, so I'm not worried about that," he said. "I've got reasonable amounts of food and enough water for a couple of days."

Many other drivers weren't as prepared as he was, though. Marchand said he got out of his truck to check on others who were stranded.

"A little bit later in the night, I had someone knocking on my door. He was driving a Tesla. He had his children in the car plus his wife, and they were running low on battery power and had virtually no supplies," he said.

Marchand said he was able to give them water and spare blankets to help keep them warm.

"The average traveler isn't prepared for this. That's part of the problem," he said. "I carry a shovel in the truck. A good snow brush. Salt, so if I get stuck, I can free myself. But that's just kind of lost on the average traveler, unfortunately."

 

especially in the mid atlantic where storms used to be more rare. sometimes it takes a catastrophy to wake us up

 

about ten years ago, i learned to use the last bathroom before the beltway the hard way

i guess i'll get gas the next time as well.

 

By proxy, reading the travelogue and media interviews of the real "original author". I.e. the previously linked Canadian trucker with more winter driving experience and less expressed energy prejudice than any subsequent commenter, present company included. He assisted many under-prepared and stuck travelers, but a partisan latched on to just one tweet:




On the opposite side of the continent, I was dealing with equally bad conditions for an even longer distance. But was fortunate to be on a route not suffering multiple jackknifed semis at that particular time. Such does happen too often this time of year. Had a pair of them blocked both forward and retreat directions, I'd have been stalled in an I90 traffic jam in deeper snow that lasted much longer. But at least I was aware that impending road closure was very likely. Which did happen, for 89 hours, shortly after I made it through.

 

Great! What did you come up with? I'd like to see how closely it matches the Tesla m3 heater energy use test I found on the internet a few days back.

 

IYKYK.....

There's "back east" snowbound and there's "out west" snowbound.
This includes some of the "lake effect" parts of the Eastern US as well.

Generally people who are already used to buying summer AND winter tires are smart enough NOT to get caught on I95 during a snow storm.

However (comma) sometimes you have no choice in traveling through less than ideal weather, and you have to anticipate that sometimes road traffic proceeds at the pace of the least capable driver.

Hope is NOT a plan.....

 

Updated: The color of the scales caused me some confusion.

Thanks Bob. That's interesting. It looks like 2.25 kWh to maintain the temperature at 75 degrees for 45 minutes, and even less to maintain it at 65 degrees for a similar period of time. The model 3 sr+ battery is about 82 kWh (I think), so that would keep the car warm for most of two days.

Of course, all day traffic jams in freezing weather is not normal, so this falls under the category of "edge case". Some day the "departments of transportation" will understand that we have marvelous ways to communicate and that people can be turned back or detoured 10, 20 or even 50 miles before they get stuck in a snowbound traffic jam.

I encountered an interesting radio feature when driving through the southern Oregon mountains last month. I was listening to XM Radio (satellite) as I passed the sign that said to tune to 1610 AM for traffic reports. The radio automatically switched to that station, allowing me to listen to the ODOT warning to carry chains. Sort of like the TV does with an emergency broadcast.

 

We still have people getting caught out here, but generally far less newsworthy. How much of that is from smaller numbers of people caught, vs how far away they are from the headquarters that decide what is news, remains TBD.

All day road closures in freezing weather, with no nearby detours, are rather common in some places. Though at least here, retreat or some form of nearby shelter are available for almost all travelers.

Some places have been doing that for a long time. That is how I-90 commonly has multiple roadblocks in each direction, to stop most traffic at places with greater capacity for support and accommodation, rather than at the remote edge of the real blockage or avalanche hazard.

That must be is a newer feature than was built in to mine. Either that, or WSDOT doesn't trigger it. But we do have overhead warning signs that are harder to ignore.

 

when you see the number of people out on the roads during declared weather emergencies, it's understandable