[normhead]

For your amusement...
http://newsandbusiness.rogersdigitalmedia.com.edgesuite.net/videos/136392440...8231028001.mp4

[RoxnDox]

Wonderful find, Norm - thanks for sharing that, eh!

[normhead]

Thank my Uncle Ron, he sent it to me.

[RGlasel]

Curling in Montreal

Hey, there's no sweepers and no skip holding a broom, that's not curling. More like street shuffleboard to me. Anyway, I'm pretty sure Jacques Cartier was warned about the slippery hills at Hochelaga 481 years ago, yet nothing has changed.

[Tako Kichi]

That was brilliant! I had seen that footage before (the day it was released actually) but the commentary was a fantastic bonus!

I found it amazing how many of those vehicles had their wheels locked up during the slide. Don't these drivers understand that if you get OFF the brakes you can actually steer and slow down by using the engine! The police driver should be ashamed as they should know better and should have had the correct training to drive in conditions like that.

What happened to the ABS systems I can hear some ask? Most of those vehicles were new enough to have had ABS as standard and yet the wheels were still locked up. The answer lies in the fact that ABS only works if the wheels are turning, once they stop turning all bets are off. The drivers should have released the brakes and then re-applied them - gently - the ABS would have kicked in then to keep the wheels rotating thereby slowing the vehicle down and allowing the driver to steer away from other vehicles.

I once had an experience like the one in the video many years ago, long before ABS brakes were invented. I was 'between jobs' and to make ends meet I took a temporary job as a taxi driver in the UK. It was winter time and I was on a steeper hill than the one in the video in a blizzard (there was at least 6" of snow on the ground and ice under that). As I was going down the hill the taxi started to get away from me in the sense that it was sliding down the hill faster than the wheels were turning and it was no use hitting the brakes as that would have put me in the same situation as the video. At the bottom of the hill was a T-junction and a small chain link fence. On the other side of the fence was a 60ft drop onto a major highway! As I was sliding down the hill with panic setting in (and with two screaming old ladies in the back seat!) I suddenly remembered an old bus driver's trick I had heard once. I stomped on the brakes to deliberately lock the wheels and then stuffed the car into reverse, feathered the clutch (it was manual transmission) and gave her some gas. The backwards turning wheels slowed down the descent and I started to breathe again. Now the only problem was the 90° turn at the bottom of the hill! As I approached I realized I wasn't going to stop in time (even with the car in reverse) so I took the only option left. I stuck the car in first gear, clutch out, and as I hit the junction I hauled on the handbrake while turning the steering wheel and executed a perfect, rally style, handbrake turn! It was then just 200 ft or so to my destination and I dropped off the rather white faced old ladies. I decided not to attempt going back up the hill and made my way out of the area via a different route. About 10 minutes later I got a call over the radio from the dispatcher asking me what I had been doing! Apparently one of the old ladies had called to complain that I had tried to kill them with my crazy driving! Talk about gratitude ...LOL... I had just stopped us all going over the edge of the drop and now they were complaining!

[RGlasel]

What happened to the ABS systems I can hear some ask?

The police car and the cars already stopped that were hit by the first bus were the only vehicles to have ABS, and possibly ABS is disabled on police cars so they can do u-turns at speed. ABS is awesome for scrubbing off speed on dry pavement without going into a skid, but in very icy and cold conditions it really doesn't help much. It actually increases the braking distance, especially at slow speeds. I think I recognize the street in Montreal, it is steep enough that feathering the throttle or the brakes won't overcome gravity, even at a crawl as in the video, because the road is too cold to allow heat from the friction of tires sliding to thaw it and provide some grip. The only solution is to use the curb for braking (or let enough vehicles pile up that chain reactions don't make it all the way to the front of the line.)

[robert52]

LOL very good

[cpk]

I think I recognize the street in Montreal

Beaver Hall Hill

[RGlasel]

Beaver Hall Hill

Thank you! I spent most of three months training in 1997 in Montreal and have been fortunate enough to visit a number of times since. Like most of Canada, it's beautiful in the summer, but handling winters takes a certain amount of character, so I figured it must have taken a special combination of circumstances to turn downtown streets into a vehicular bowling alley. Still funny to watch.

[gaweidert]

I saw this earlier set to the song "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year". i like the curling commentary. Even more clever.

Ice is not fun. I ran into some ice on the north side of Boston some years ago. They had people at the tops of all the hills holding up vehicles until the coast was clear. One car on the hill at a time.

[bxf]

There is one street in Montreal - though I can't remember exactly where it is - which slopes significantly downhill (in one direction only ), and also has a fairly sharp curve to the left (again, in one direction only). At the "corner" of the curve there is a fire hydrant. I recall coming down that hill, approaching the apex of the curve, and my wheels (did I mention I was in a car?) are locked, and I'm sliding straight towards the hydrant. That was way before ABS became common. It was a very scary experience, but fortunately I got enough grip at the last second to swerve and stay on the road.

Events of that type contributed heavily to my decision to pack my bags and move down under. Although I do miss some elements of Montreal life, the weather is not one of them.

[Just1MoreDave]

My road has a tricky section like that. A long straight downhill grade that doesn't look too bad, then a 90 degree turn, with an unfriendly camber. The slope faces north and the city doesn't plow neighborhoods. A couple of cars crash every year. After any snow, there are tracks from all the near-misses. If you are going 30mph at the top of the hill and don't immediately scrub off some speed, you better hope you have new snow tires and no ice. The uphill portion can be pretty clear because it faces south, but the downhill run can be really bad.

[arnold]

Don't these drivers understand that if you get OFF the brakes you can actually steer and slow down by using the engine!

This is true, however once the coefficient of friction approaches zero, there won't be enough friction to steer or even rotate the wheels. I remember once being on a highway and seeing cars some way ahead of me start weaving. They had hit a patch of black ice. Instinctively I lifted of the gas, only to find myself weaving as well. The two cars ahead went off the road, one left, the other right. Just as well, since I was closing on them, and went right through the centre of the two lanes they had been on moments before. On later reflection, I reasoned that I should have de-clutched after listing from the gas, the action of which had an engine braking effect on the front wheels - causing a huge loss of steering. (At no time did I have any thought of touching the brakes).
There is video of airliners hydroplaning, and it is strange to see them float down the runway with the wheels not rotating on a film of water. Experienced pilots would opt for a firm landing to drive the wheels through surface water to make contact with tar, and spin up the wheels.