An Open Letter to Everyone on My Bumper During the Snowstorm

Dear "Drivers Who Were On My Bumper During the Snow Storms,"

What a week huh? It may have felt like winter was avoiding us for a while there, but then it came in and reared its ugly head with three snow storms in less than a week. We went from a considerable snow deficit for the season, to just about where we should be.

Schools had a four-day weekend with cancelations on Friday and Monday. The roads were a mess between the heavy snow, sometimes at a rate of 2 inches per hour, and the mix of rain in Southern Maine that clogged storm drains leaving lots of standing water on the roads.

As someone who has to drive to work early in the morning while these storms are still cooking, I've seen you. Yeah, you. The one who is so close to my bumper in the middle of a snow/rain storm that I can barely see your headlights.

I'd love to do a brake check on you, but that could cause an accident, and I refuse to be the one to do that. You on the other hand, and there are several of you, don't seem to care if you end up sliding off the road or ramming your grill into my backend. What's your hurry?

As far as I'm concerned, you're driving recklessly but you likely won't stop until you end up getting into an accident, and maybe not even then.

With black ice, snow, sleet, and standing water in the road that you can't see until your tires hit it and splash water all over your windshield, why do you think you're invincible to it? Back off man!

When you're that close, you're just asking to be at fault in an accident. Your reaction time to hit your brakes is way longer because you have to compensate for the road conditions. You're probably the same driver that doesn't slow down in work zones on the Turnpike or when the speed limit is reduced to 45 mph because of weather conditions.

I'm not the only one who feels his way either.

I totally agree with Keith. Unfortunately, police are too busy elsewhere getting people through the storm.

So dear driver(s), please take others' safety into consideration. That 5 minutes you might save by going too fast for the conditions could end up costing a lot more than some lost time if you get into an accident.