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Opinion: Snow brings out the worst in Burnaby truck drivers

My friend and I found ourselves driving through Burnaby last night at around 10 p.m. – just as the snowfall had picked up again and the temperatures had dropped to below freezing.
burnaby pickup truck
Getting ready to do some damage? A pickup truck prepares to head out on Burnaby roads. Chris Campbell photo

My friend and I found ourselves driving through Burnaby last night at around 10 p.m. – just as the snowfall had picked up again and the temperatures had dropped to below freezing.

The roads in Burnaby were an icy mess and, in hindsight, we shouldn’t have been driving. But we tried to mitigate that mistake by driving a vehicle with proper snow tires and proceeding at a slow pace.

That’s what you do in the snow – you drive slow.

Unless you drive a pickup truck, then you are allowed to drive really fast. OK, I’m being sarcastic about that last point.

What we noticed is that most of the drivers last night were driving under the speed limit because the road conditions sucked.

But dudes in big trucks feel they have every right to step on the gas and drive like conditions are normal. We saw so many truck drivers racing along icy roads, zigzagging through traffic with reckless abandon.

It was sickening.

Dudes, are you compensating for something? Is your destination really that important that you can’t drive slow even once?

If you aren’t late to perform brain surgery at the hospital, then you likely don’t have a good reason to drive like Mad Max.

Yes, I know that these trucks function better in the snow than other vehicles, but they are not impervious to ice. I still saw a couple of these trucks slide into intersections when the traffic light went red and they had to suddenly stop.

The terrible road conditions are looking like they will continue for the rest of this week.

Please slow down.

Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.