Police watching for 'peephole' drivers as winter weather nears

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.minot.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123170176

Police watching for 'peephole' drivers as winter weather nears

By Larry Copeland, USA TODAY
As snow and temperatures start to fall, it's "peephole driving" season in the USA.

Many Americans have done it: gone outside to an ice-covered vehicle on a cold winter's morning, chipped just enough ice off the windshield to see through and driven away.

Peephole driving dramatically reduces a driver's field of vision, and it increases the likelihood that snow or ice can become dislodged and hit another vehicle or a pedestrian, according to police and safety advocates.

---------------------

"Reasonable people who would never think of leaving their driveway with worn tires or bad brakes will routinely drive their children to school after scraping just a small peephole with which to see out of the vehicle," says Kristiansen, a 26-year veteran in the village of about 42,000 northwest of Chicago.

--------------------

New Jersey strengthened its law last week. Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, signed legislation requiring drivers to "make all reasonable efforts" to remove snow or ice from the roof, hood, trunk and windshield.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-10-25-peephole-drivers_N.htm?csp=24&RM_Exclude=Juno

[Skittles]

1. I can't believe people would drive like this

[Lasher]

2. Have you ever driven a tank?

It's the same thing every day when I take mine to work.

[AzNick]

10. Yes but most of us don't drive tanks

And the tanks I have seen lately have cameras and monitors all around and a dude on top warning him.

[Frank Cannon]

34. If I were driving a tank, I wouldn't worry about crashing into people. n/t

[LeftHander]

76. I used to drive a 72' super beetle in South Dakota....

I played "tank commander" and scraped the inside of the windshield every morning driving to school in below zero weather.

Damn goofy car started when all others would not...

[Dem2theMax]

108. Ahhhh. I had a 73' Super Beetle when I lived in Mammoth Lakes, CA.

It took me about 10 minutes tops to free my little bug after a night of snow. It would be totally buried, and all I had to do was clear enough space to be able to open the drivers side door and get in.
I always backed the car into my parking space. I'd watch others digging their cars and trucks out for over an hour. And I'd be happily driving off to town. It was so easy to clear that car of snow.
And that it drove right out over all that snow - it was better than any 4-wheeler in Mammoth.
Why I sold that car is beyond my own comprehension. If I EVER win the lottery, I'm going to hunt down that car and buy it back.
It was the best car I ever owned. I am an IDIOT for selling it. Sigh.

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. Me either. Never heard of such a thing. Lazy people.

[elehhhhna]

41. seen it in chicago. lazy is the word.

[dysfunctional press]

50. i see it a LOT in the winter...

especially early on in the season- when people haven't picked up an ice scraper yet.

[bobbolink]

105. You start off correct.... it's a dangerous way to drive. THEN you do the RW thing and judge and

call names.

We need to get off our collective superiority trip.

[SDuderstadt]

5. It actually gets worse...

once I saw a driver who had damaged the front end of his car to the point where the hood had stuck open, obscuring the driver's full view. In other words, he could not see a thing out the windshield because of the hood being "frozen" in the up position. He was, nonetheless, attempting to drive the car down a public street by leaning his head sideways and peering out the crack at the bottom of the hood.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. I believe it

Cleaning off snow and ice is a bitch.

[CTyankee]

55. It is and if you don't get up earlier and leave time to run your car a bit to help clear

off the snow, you are really screwed. I hate to do it because I hate to idle my car but I've learned my lesson on this...

[we can do it]

56. Dodging Lazy Dumbasses Who Can't See Where They Are Going Is a Bigger Bitch

[medeak]

57. have winter storm warning for tonight

never drove this bad.....but admit when it's 25 below am relunctant to scrape all the windows. Plugging in motorhome tonight to get the hell out of here.

[Quantess]

4. How lazy can you get!

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. It never fails that I can't find my scraper the first time I need it every winter

That's not laziness. And it happens to a lot of people who live where it snows. So you end up using a credit card or letting your car sit and warm up for what seems like forever until the ice melts. Or if you are stupid, you scrape a small hole and drive away.

[DaveinJapan]

18. It most certainly *is* laziness!

I'm from New England, I can't tell you how many times I've found myself without a scraper. You take the shit off with your arm if you have to (and I have done so), and if you can't scrape off the ice you defrost and wait and run the wipers until it IS safe to proceed. (credit card ain't a bad idea either, though I'd guess it's not too good for the card)

Anything less is irresponsible and wrong.

[proud2BlibKansan]

30. I clean my windows - never said I did not

Just trying to explain why some may not do so.

[DaveinJapan]

47. Wasn't accusing you per se.

If you can't find your scraper, you figure out another way to clear off the car or you don't turn the key.

Anything else *is* laziness, was my point. (and I don't care about "it's cold" or "it's difficult" or any other excuse some idiot who actually drives blind cares to offer up, and I do realize that you are not one of those people)

[SoCalDem]

19. Keep old cancelled credit cards in your purse/wallet..They make great scrapers

2 or 3 together..almost indestructible and good leverage

We used to use a shower curtain draped across the windshield & another one hanging from the back window of our station wagon.. Just pull that puppy off in the am and all the snow with it :evilgrin:

[Quantess]

25. The shower curtain across the windshield---great idea!

[dflprincess]

85. But make sure you still clean any snow off the roof of the car

I hate driving behind some clown who decided to let the wind clean off their car (it's also not legal here).

[Canuckistanian]

92. The big trucks are the worst

Many times I've been driving behind a truck when a GIANT sheet of ice just flies off the roof of the truck.

A few times it's almost damaged my windshield.

[dflprincess]

93. For sure.

Though I understand why they're a bit harder to clean off than say a Civic (that's what I drive, I'm short and I can reach the roof).

[conscious evolution]

110. Rain-X also helps

It keeps the water from totall adhereing to the window.You will still have to brush the snow off but it is a lot easier to remove.

[proud2BlibKansan]

31. Another good trick is to raise up your windshield wipers

That way they aren't stuck to your window.

[Maine-ah]

46. be prepared before it snows, or run into the house and grab a spatula

it works. I use a broom for the light stuff, turn on the car for about ten minutes and then scrape if I need to.

[Bill McBlueState]

51. a credit card?

Never thought of that. Thanks!

[jberryhill]

62. CD Case

The nice thing about CD's is that the cases make better ice scrapers than cassette tape cases did.

[LeftyMom]

8. Wow, that's lazy. Get an ice/snow scraper/brush, people.

I have one and it doesn't even snow here. Hell, it's so warm here that on the rare days our windows ice up we clean them off WITH THE HOSE and it actually works, and I still have one just in case.

[cherokeeprogressive]

9. We get LOTS of that up here in Big Bear Lake.

I go outside at least a half hour before I need to leave and start my truck, turn the heater up to high, and turn the defroster on. The engine warms up slowly enough so as not to shatter my windshield. By the time I go outside to leave, the ice is melted and the windshield wipers have no problem pushing the rest of the snow off.

[paulsby]

17. auto theft is the problem with that

EVERY year, usually round the first cold snap, we have TONS of auto thefts. the thieves wake up early and drive around, looking for people whose unoccupied cars are "warming up". then, they steal it.

we once caught some guys who traveling with a half dozen guys in a mini van, doing these thefts.

it happens like clockwork here, every year.

unless you have a kill switch, warming your car up is an invitation to auto thieves.

kill switches are relatively easy to install, and work to shut off the engine if the person attempts to engage the transmission w/o first flicking the switch.

at LEAST if you are going to warm up yer car, put a club type device on the steering wheel.

in 20+ yrs of police work, i have never taken an auto theft report from somebody who had a club on their steering wheel

[renate]

23. that's really good to know--thanks! n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. It's illegal here to leave your car running like that

I have a remote starter and you can't drive my car anywhere without putting the key in the ignition. I love it.

I hear you on clubs. I use one every day at work.

[paulsby]

49. it's illegal here too

but only on public property. since it's a civil infraction, it doesn't apply on private property, like in one's driveway. the vast majority of these thefts happen right out of people's driveways. i feel really bad for people in this situation, but it really is such an invitation to a thief it's amazing.

[michreject]

38. I have On-Star

If my truck gets stolen, I call em and they tell the police where it's at. The 09 On-Star has the capability to cut the engine off.

[proud2BlibKansan]

86. So did my friend and her car got stolen anyway

She has filed a lawsuit.

[michreject]

109. It doesn't stop it from getting taken

Only in the assisting of recovery. It's a GPS unit. The new system can disable the vehicle.

[proud2BlibKansan]

112. It didn't work in her car

They never found it.

[cherokeeprogressive]

91. Understood. But if you saw the street I live on, you'd see why that's not a worry for me.

I live at a dead end. Not a cul-de-sac; the street ends IN my driveway. It's about 80 yards long, and slopes enough to be treacherous if you try walking from the road to my driveway. Not only that, but my driveway slopes to about 20 degrees, and from the road you'd be hard pressed to know there was even a car running there.

I totally understand your point, but in my situation, I feel comfortable.

[paulsby]

97. that;s kewl

i'm just trying to protect those who are vulnerable to getting their car stolen. iow, where it's visible from street level, etc. my driveway is really long, and then it curves, so it's not really a concern where i live either. or at least less of a concern.

[proud2BlibKansan]

32. I have a remote starter on my car

Love it! I stand inside and push a button. My car turns on, the ice melts and I am good to go without freezing my ass off while I scrape the windows. And the best part is my car is still locked and no one can steal it while it is warming up.

[Gormy Cuss]

75. That would be the intelligent way to handle it.

There's no excuse for driving with the windows covered in soft snow. The icy layer near the windshield does take time or elbow grease or both, but it boggles the mind that people would drive without even kicking off the loose snow from all the windows -- that takes about five minutes if you have a plastic shovel and not much longer to knock off with your hands.

[gkhouston]

81. Not just the windows. I have a long-handled scraper so I can sweep the roof, too.

It's not pretty when the stuff on the roof comes sliding off in a sheet, especially if it's mounted to a quarter-inch of ice.

[Gormy Cuss]

82. A broom works for the snow on the roof too.

It's stupid to drive away with the mound of snow on the roof but not quite as stupid as the fools like the one in the OP -- what are people like that thinking?

[gristy]

101. oh, please. Shatter your windshied? Just once, put on your winter clothes,

go outside, start your car, scrape off your car, get in your car, and drive to work. Try it. Just once.

[AzNick]

11. How about carving a peephole in your garage big enough for your car

I know many people have junk in their garage but the word comes from the French "garer", to park a vehicle.

[REP]

13. Not everyone has a garage

When I lived in KC, I often had no garage to park in, and had to de-snow the car.

[CrispyQ]

73. LOL.

In America the word garage means 'storage space.' I live on a cul-de-sac of six houses. There are only two of us who park our cars in the garage. All the other garages are stuffed with stuff. One neighbor has so much stuff that half their driveway is full of even more stuff.

[Gormy Cuss]

77. Living in a cold snowbelt area and not leaving room in the garage for the cars = dumb.

The people that I know in New England with garages use them for parking in the winter. It probably helps that their houses have full cellars or basements to store their junk.

Garage as storage seems to be the norm where houses either don't have basements or have only finished basement space. Most people feel the need to store stuff some place.

And yeah, we're odd balls in our CA neighborhood because we use the garage for its intended purpose.

[opihimoimoi]

12. how about cleaning the snow/ice in 34 below zero F...? "Damn, dats cold, just a hole will do"

[MindPilot]

14. Ice? Snow? I do not know of these things.

Actually I do, which is why I no longer call Denver home.

When there is that much snow, a peephole is fine; you can't go fast enough to need more visibility than that. The real problem is when the roads are pretty clear and trucks start shedding those Volkswagen-size hunks of frozen mud.

[Selatius]

15. People probably do it because they're late for work and don't want to spend the time needed.

The result is peephole driving because of the fear of losing a job or fear of the boss.

[MindPilot]

16. As a buddy of mine would say when asked about his big-assed 4x4

"They can't tell you what to drive or where to live, but they can tell you when to be there."

[proteus_lives]

22. Not an excuse though.

There is no excuse for putting others in danger.

[Rebubula]

45. Some people...

...need to learn to leave earlier.

Late people suck

[Violet_Crumble]

20. After seeing that photo, I'm never complaining about ice on my car ever again!

The worst I've ever copped was a light cover of ice on the windscreen that took all of two minutes to defrost once i started the car. No snow or anything like that, though. I don't think I'd survive if I had to put up with snow and scrapers...urgh...

[proteus_lives]

21. They should be!

Anyone who would "peephole" drive deserves a ticket or a tow! They are putting themselves and others in danger.

[d_b]

24. I've lived in AK my entire life

and I've never heard of that one. what a buncha fucking idiots.

[sandnsea]

102. Montana for 15 years

Never heard of it either. I second your fucking idiots.

:crazy:

[d_b]

103. Maybe you could pull it off in the country or something

but if you drive around like that in Anchorage you're fucking dead.

Besides, the snow from the windshield is just going to blow up and cover the opening anyway. So unless you wanna drive 5mph...

Idiots.

[Ichingcarpenter]

26. The only reason they do this is

Because they are naked plus grinding and making coffee in their car

[wellst0nev0ter]

27. From This Minnesotan Who Is Likely To Have A White Halloween This Year

"peephole drivers" and their defenders bring a whole new meaning to the phrase "lazy pissmire"

[Raschel]

69. And I hate driving behind them on the freeway! All of their snow and ice blows back on you,

and you can't see what's going on in front of them. :mad:

[theHandpuppet]

28. I hope to hell that law includes drivers of flatbed semis

I was nearly killed several years ago when a sheet of ice the size of a large mattress lifted off the bed of a flatbed semi, became airborne and smashed the front of my pickup. I lost the entire front of my truck but had I been driving a car rather than a pickup that ice would have gone riight through my windshield.

[elocs]

29. I find it amusing to read about how those who live in warm places that get little winter weather

think those of us who battle snow and ice and subzero temps all winter are lazy if we do not perfectly clean our cars of ice and snow. I also find it amusing to see the same people in an absolute panic when they get an inch of snow.

I clean my car well of snow and ice in the winter, but there is a problem which those of us up north are very familiar with: you've cleaned the snow off and scraped the windows and start driving, you get about a block and then the inside of the windshield totally frosts over. That's when I scrape a peephole because this can happen in traffic when you do not have a lot of choices at the moment.

Fortunately even though I park my car outside I can let it warm up when the temps are subzero because I'm not on a city street and car theft is exceedingly rare where I live. When you live where there is lots of snow and ice in the winter along with -20, -30 temps and terrible driving conditions you really think of those who drive in warm places as wimps.

[Greybnk48]

72. Amen Elocs. I used to carry a hamburger flipper in my VW bug

to scrape off the inside ice as I drove to work in sub-zero temps (Green Bay/Appleton area). Some people can't even imagine that.

[elocs]

78. People who have not experienced it cannot understand how quickly the windshield can frost over

on the inside or how it can happen quickly when you are already in traffic. Or how difficult it is to clean the frost off from the inside of the windshield.

[wellst0nev0ter]

106. Change Your Car Air Ciculation System

So that new air will come from outside instead of the car just recycling the old air inside. It'll be by the air conditioning and usually have a picture of arrows pointing from the outside into the car instead of arrows circling inside the car. That should take care of the inside frost.

[conscious evolution]

111. Thanks for that tip.

Inside frosting has always drove me nuts.

On a related note-Where I grew up on the Georgia coast we had to drive across a lot of bridges.During the fall and spring,due to the differences in water and air temps the rivers would have a layer of fog over them.When you drove over a bridge the fog would cause the windshield to fog up.
Instantly.
Well,most people would turn on their wipers to get it off so they could see.
Big mistake.
All that did was smear a layer of crud all over the windshield that was worse than the fog.The best thing to do was white knuckle it for a few more seconds and get across the bridge.Once off of the water the fog will disappear and the windshield would clear up instantly.Without leaving a crud smeared windshield.

[rbixby]

79. Its true!

Once you get moving and some of that loose snow gets sucked into the heater air intake it frosts up the inside, sometimes so bad you can't even see. It usually goes away in a few seconds, but I know in my old van, sometimes it would happen while I was driving down the freeway on the way to work and suddenly I wouldn't be able to see anything. Scary moments! Hopefully it won't happen like that in my new car.

[Retrograde]

104. Isn't that why you have garages?

to keep the snow and ice off the cars during the winter? Of course, this doesn't help if there's a huge snowstorm while you're off at work or otherwise away from home.

We get heavy frosts here in the Bay Area, heavy enough to require ice scrapers (the best Christmas present my family in Buffalo sent me: you can't find them out here). We get similar problems with people driving with a thin layer of slowly thawing ice on their windshields, with a little clean spot to look through.

[TransitJohn]

35. You know what I wish they'd enforce?

Write some fucking tickets to my lazy neighbors who haven't shoveled their walks in years! It's a city ordinance on the books, yet no one ever gets a ticket for it, and I like clockwork shovel mine every snowfall. :mad:

[era veteran]

59. I agree

I live at end of a dead end road & clean it off too. Good exercise

[CrispyQ]

74. Hear! Hear!

I live on a corner lot across the street from the community mailboxes. I always shovel our front & side walks & also a little path into the street where neighbors can easily step into the street to cross to get their mail. A few years ago, the neighbor who lived on the side of the mailboxes, would shovel the area in front of the boxes & a nice space on the road for people who drive up to the boxes. Nice guy! Too bad he moved. The new neighbors don't even shovel their walk.

I love shoveling snow. I like doing dishes too. :crazy:

[madokie]

36. 20 years or so back

I built the first project that I first designed using AutoCad. It was a parking garage for one of our local well liked business men because he had the previous winter almost been in a wreck, that probably would have killed him, because of his peephole driving the 1/2 mile or so from his home to his business. Criteria was to build it large enough for three vehicles having a roof and three sides with no doors, one side completely open no supporting posts or anything like that plus if there was going to be a place where a bird could roost and be shitting on his cars then forget it he didn't want it. It took me a few days to figure out how to do it but I finally decided on using pipe for flanges of the i beams I made and used. Built it using two and a half inch pipe, because he already had it, covering it with metal siding.

I've since built many things that I first design on autocad using 3d and I must say it sure makes creating things a hell of a lot easier

The old fart is about 85 years old and still going strong and will tell you right up that in all his years of business the parking garage I built for him was the best damn deal he ever made, I'm proud of that as you can tell :-)

[Tracer]

37. Around here, "Peephole" drivers aren't as big a problem as ...

... the people who clean off the whole car ---- except for the roof.

If you have the misfortune of driving behind one of these jerks, be prepared for a blizzard, as the snow flies off their car directly into your windshield.

[pipi_k]

40. And even if the snow doesn't hit your windshield...

just the very sight of a sheet of snow or ice flying up into the air in front of you can be scary and distracting.

On large trucks sometimes it really is a whole big sheet... :scared:

[WhollyHeretic]

58. I was almost killed by one of those idiots a few years ago

Some ass in an SUV never bothered to clear the snow off his roof and it had turned into a pretty substantial piece of ice. This person was three lanes over from me and I see a huge sheet of ice fly off the top of the SUV and slams onto the top of my truck. My pick up shook like hell when it hit me. If I had been driving a tiny bit slower that sheet of ice probably would have gone right through my windshield. It scraped up my roof and knocked off the antenna for my satellite radio.

[jberryhill]

64. ....or a big honking piece of ice

In the mid-atlantic states, snow tends to have a crust from melting/re-freezing.

[Shagbark Hickory]

39. LOL. That's hilarious. I admit I do that when there ice or frost on the window. Oopsies. nt

[lonestarnot]

42. OMG

[MineralMan]

43. I have a one-car garage, so one vehicle is clear of ice and snow

every morning. For the other one, I keep a push-broom leaned up against the garage. It makes short work of any amount of snow accumulation. Then I fire up the car and let it warm up with the defroster going until the windows clear. Even in -20 degree weather, it never takes more than 10 minutes. I keep the car locked while it warms up.

The push-broom thing, though, is the key piece of snow removal equipment.

[dysfunctional press]

53. we have a 3-car garage and two cars...

but there's so much shit in the garage that neither car will fit right now.

it's on my pre-winter list of things to do. :shrug:

[MineralMan]

87. Better get a move on, I think. Winter's almost here!

[dysfunctional press]

94. i'm sorry- i meant winter 2010.

i am the KING of procrastination.

[ipfilter]

44. Remeber the cardboard sunscreens with the warning

"Remove Before Driving"? I saw someone looking over the top of one while doing 55 down a busy highway. Now that's lazy.

[snooper2]

48. I used to let the car warm up for 20 minutes..

and wouldn't have to worry about the windshield because you put a big piece of cardboard over it BEFORE the storm comes :eyes:

Was a common thing in Missouri, I guess cardboard is a rare item in other states :rofl:


In Texas we just have ice to deal with so the what the defrosters don't get...

this does :)

[tammywammy]

66. I hae that handy ice scraper for the twice a year I need it.

I had a diesel VW Beetle and that sucker took forever to warm up sitting in my driveway (no garage). This year I have a new VW Tiguan, which is gas and I hope on the rare ice day that it'll warm up faster. :)

[dysfunctional press]

52. one of my pet peeves are the people who don't wipe the snow off their lights...

and license plates.

as far as the car in the pic is concerned- once they got up to sppeed on the highway- most of that snow would be blown off- and it can be a fun sight, as the wind catches it, and rips huge chunks of snow off the car and into the air.

[cbdo2007]

54. The "peephole" on my car isn't snow/ice - it's condensation on the inside of the windshield

so I'm constantly spending the first 5 minutes of driving trying to see out of wherever I can until the defroster actually starts working. It doesn't work while my car is warming up but only works when I'm moving.

[marmar]

60. I can't stand lazy assholes that do that.

Clear the bleeping vehicle!

[TwilightGardener]

61. Guilty...short body and arms, no garage...

Rather than a peephole, though, I'm more of a half-windshielder. :hide:

[progressivebydesign]

63. I'd like to think Natural Selection would take care of stupid people like that..

..but sadly, they usually take innocents with them.

[bridgit]

65. You'd have to be a fool to try an operate a vehicle doing that

More like the season for America's Funniest Home Videos grows nearer

[robdogbucky]

67. I grew up in Wisconsin

I know all about snow and windshields. Those of us that grew up there have defroster use in our DNA. It is easy to turn the defroster on, as cited a couple of times upthread; "scrape off the ice you defrost and wait and run the wipers until it IS safe to proceed."

Having lived here in California for most of the last 40 years, I learned that many native Californians do not konw about the defroster on their cars. Especially here at sea level on the coast. This is not just the issue for snow, it is whenever the dew point is such overnight that the windows fog up. Folks here do not know that little button on every car with the little wavy lines displayed like on a window is the defroster button. Turn that on, turn the fan on with it, and then add some heat. Voila! Windows defrosted and stay that way as long as your defroster is on and is working properly.

I used to rideshare every day across the Bay Bridge (usually with alleged learned yuppies, usually in an upscale family car like a Volvo or Benz) and they invariably had either hosed their car down before leaving home (only works for a while if you don't really defrost and conditions remain the same) or I have seen many that rely on reaching out of their driver's side window to wipe the condensation off the windshield in front of their eyes with their hand or a scraper. Scores of drivers were gently informed by me, the rider in the back seat that allowed them to drive in the diamond lane across the bridge, as to how the defroster worked.

That and turn signal use should be mandatory instructions to all that purchase a car and drive it off the lot in California. Some of them that ski in the mountains have learned about the defroster button, but I find they are in the minority.

Unbelievable but true.


Just my dos centavos

robdogbucky

[bridgit]

68. California is a big state, it isn't all at sea level, some of it gets very very cold & icy

[Raschel]

71. They don't know what the defroster is for? Interesting!

[robdogbucky]

80. I'll try again

"California is a big state, it isn't all at sea level, some of it gets very very cold & icy"

No kidding. Wasn't I clear enough while describing Bay Area and sea level for my reality based direct experience on these matters? I have lived in the Sacto area and I spend a lot of time in the mountains fishing. My description does not apply to those, nor the rest of the state for that matter, it applies only to my direct experience in the Bay Area. I suppose that it only happens to the rideshare drivers in the Grand Lake Theater or Peet's Coffee at Claremont areas, but I highly doubt it. I can only imagine the situation is magnified in SoCal. Oops, I mean the LA basin and nearby environs.

My vehicle does not have the word "defroster," labeling same on the air control area of my dash display. Nor did my last two vehicles prior to this one, only the graphic with wavy lines. When I would ask the driver of said commute vehicle to turn it on, their replies would include, "I thought that was for the back window wiper," or "that never worked for me," or "I never knew what that was for, so I have never used it." Of course if one does not also turn the fan and heat on and occasionally swipe the glass with wipers it won't work as efficiently, but it will eventually clear the glass, even if just on, and no fan and no heat and no wiper.

I have had many a driver wave goodbye to me and say thanks when they dropped me off in SF after the commute. They would invariably have the fan and heat still on high long after the windows were clear, but hey, one step at a time.

Back east they don't recycle as much, they smoke in puplic in many places still, and there are many 2-wheel donor vehicles riding their highways with helmetless drivers, but I guess there is always a tradeoff.

But sticking one's hand out of the window at 60 to wipe or asking the passenger to help wipe down the inside of the windshield while driving just does not get it.

Don't get me started on reading skills.


Just another couple centavos

robdogbucky

[Manifestor_of_Light]

99. You can run the defroster thru the A/C as well.

Running the heat through the AC can work to get the fog off the windshield quickly.

I'm in Texas where we have much more of a problem with moisture than with ice.

[Xithras]

89. Yes, but remember that defrosters aren't even standard on many Ca cars.

Why spend the money having one if you live in a place that will probably NEVER see snow over the course of your entire life?

Funny that you should mention the hose thing though...I just did that to defog my windows this morning. I DO know how to use the defroster, but the hose is quicker :D

[robdogbucky]

95. I would question

your opinion about defrosters being optional on Cal cars.

That is like saying brakes are an option because I never drive fast, or parking brakes are an option because there are no hills in my town, or headlights are an option because I never drive at night, etc. It is not a climatic option, it is a basic safety of operation issue and is not dependent on geography or climate. Nor is snow and subzero temps the only times when defrost is needed.

Seriously, I think you are confusing the back window defogger option, you know those little wires that run through the back window? Those would probably be an option like on SUVs, but as for defroster, no, that is not an option. I do see that back window defogger as an advertised feature on some SUV ads, which suggests it is an option on those.

I have never seen anything like the heater or the defroster, or any of the other safety features on a car being an option. AC is a wobbler, because I think when it first became available, it was a reason to charge extra and make it an option. I have not seen that in decades though and every vehicle I have owned in the last 30 or so years had this as a standard feature. I haven't seen crank window handles in a long time either, and the electric window was an option when first offered. The defroster is not lifestyle, it is safety and does not depend on the relative nuances of relative climate, etc. I am pretty sure if you checked with a California dealer they would inform that defroster is standard gear on all makes and models.

One never knows about a condition of temperature, or dewpoint, which can affect window condensation, even in the mildest of climates. Windows can fog up even during warm rain storms in places like Hawaii. It is not just a product of cold and snow. Hey, it could even be the byproduct of teen passion on a back road late on Saturday night. In Laguna.


Morre centavos

robdogbucky

[Xithras]

107. Yep, I was thinking rear window.

See, we native Californians can even confuse which is which :D

Front window, of course, is standard. Back is optional, and many California cars don't have them. My wifes 2005 Dodge doesn't have them.

My Subaru, of course, has heated windshield wipers, seats, side mirrors, back windows, side window defrosters, etc. I think those features have been used three times, and all were during mid-winter trips to the Sierras. Not much call for them otherwise.

[Nikki Stone1]

70. So more tickets for the rushed middle class and NOTHING for the Wall Street bankers who've destroyed

our nation.

[Xenotime]

83. That's probably a typical repug solution to the problem.

[dflprincess]

84. And let's not forget about people who don't clean the snow off their brake lights

(often the same people who are driving with a peep hole).

[bunkerbuster1]

88. I'd forgotten about how enraged I'd get driving to work every day...

After carefully removing all the snow from my reasonably-sized car I'd invariably get behind some big-ass SUV whose owner, of course, couldn't be bothered to take anything off the roof.

Anyway, kudos to Corzine for making that a state law in NJ. Too late for me (moved south, not much snow to fret about here in GA).

[A-Long-Little-Doggie]

90. I saw an asshole who was too lazy to clean the peephole!

Idiot was driving with his head out the window. May Darwin be with him. :evilgrin:

[BootinUp]

96. Reasonable people?

Thats a joke right? Anyone who drives with a "peep hole" is an idiot, plain and simple.

[NYMountaineer]

98. Yup, I've seen that here in Upstate NY

Some people are so lazy when it comes to there cars...

I have an older car, however, and it has a carburetor, so winter mornings require a few extra minutes anyway, so I always have time to clean my windows.

[The Midway Rebel]

100. Lazy? No, sometimes just broke ass poor...

Ice storms, fifteen varieties of snow and bitter cold. A broom takes care of most and I always strive for safety BUT, I have been through it all with the addition of the following vehicle heating problems.

No blower motor: heater core warms but heat only flows into cab or defrost at 55 mph.

Leaking heater core: heat flows in cab along with steam and engine coolant which then refreezes on interior glass in bitter cold temps.

Clogged heater core: Intermittent heat and defrost, usally starts OK but get worse the longer the trip.

I have become a pro at tank driving! No deaths, no tickets and only minor property damage back when I was still a rookie.

[Kaleva]

113. Heater crapped out on my van one night.

Drove home leaning out the window as the windshield was iced over.