Snow covered missile launcher

24 March 2013

648

R. Linda:

I am being optimistic and hoping THIS is me last snow story, but then it's only March so . . .

In New England where the snowfall totals can be at the extreme end of the spectrum, it has come into law that one may not drive on roads without sweeping clean one's motor from the roof to the license plates. It sounds simple, but when you come out to find your car buried in four feet of the white stuff, just digging it out be backbreaking. So, if you are anything like me by the time you can see the car, you be too tired to start sweeping the snow off it BECAUSE then all that snow would be around the car and there you'd be digging it out for the second time. You see the dilemma and how this crazy process works? Yee-ah.

Well, there was one bloke in Connecticut who had had enough of this foolishness. And he gets me sympathy because for this month alone we have had barrelling snowstorm after snowstorm, and just as we get the snow cleaned away so we can get out, another one comes in and our shovelling job was all for nought. And I be not talking a couple of inches here, it's been 12 to 24 inches each time!

This time our breaker of the law wasn't an Irishman, but one Robert Recio, age 59, who had had it with the snow, had it with the groundhog, had it, just had it with shovelling and winter in general! But unlike the rest of his fellow shovellers, he had totally given up the process and decided to hell with it, he had to go out on the road and by golly, he was going, snow or no snow on his car. However, in his case, he had 7 inches of the white stuff stuck to his motor, and that's not only the roof, that be the entire vehicle including the license plate. Yup. Brave soul, he was even doing this because drivers in New England (if you don't clear YOUR vehicle) will honk you off the road or report your arse. But our brave non-shoveller did clear a bit of a hole on the front driver side of his windscreen to see out of and a wee bit in the back window to see, so he made a wee attempt at clearing. Here see for yourself the back window.

 

Notice the rear license plate -- oops!

So Rob was driving along quite oblivious that for a mile or more the police had been trying to pull his arse over, but well . . . Rob couldn't see out that back window! Yes, the men in blue had followed Rob for more than a mile, their lights flashing and the siren going before Rob pulled over. I tell ya!

Here be a picture of our hero (no he doesn't have a square head, that's just to protect the not-so-innocent) and the flashing lights that he could not see and may I say that the snow covering would certainly blot out the siren sound just from insulation alone? Is it any wonder?

That front window looks pretty good -- sorta. Hey, at least his lights were on!

The police asked Rob if he knew the Connecticut ice missile law, which states: The operator of any motor vehicle, as defined in section 14-1 of the general statutes, shall remove any accumulated ice or snow from such motor vehicle, including the hood, trunk, and roof of such motor vehicle so that any ice or snow accumulated on such vehicle does not pose a threat to persons or property while the vehicle is being operated on any street or highway of the state. Any operator who fails to remove accumulated ice or snow that poses such a threat shall be fined $75.00.

If the operator of a noncommercial motor vehicle violates the provisions of this section and snow or ice is dislodged from such vehicle and causes personal injury or property damage, the operator shall be fined no less than $2000 but not more than $1000 for each offence.  

Let's look at that SUCH VEHICLE one more time just to see what this moving missile launcher looks like:

 

Yea-ah

 Well, "such motor vehicle" from the above description seemed to fit Rob's motor vehicle wouldn't you say? So the police asked our 'tired of shovelling' hero of the highway why? WHY hadn't he removed the snow from his 'such vehicle'? And our fast-thinking non-shovelling hero did not say he was on snow shovelling strike, no he said, he was waiting to get to a petrol station and THEN he would brush off the car. And yes, I can well understand it because if you do the sweeping at home, you have to shovel again, BUT if you do it at a petrol station you can just leave it for the petrol station workers to shovel. Right? What man wouldn't do this and think it a good idea? I ask ya!

But the men in blue didn't agree. They measured 7" of snow on Rob's 'such vehicle'. Yes, they did. They charged our hero of the non-shovelling of snow with negligent driving, the failure to display a license plate properly and . . . wait for it . . . failure to yield to an emergency vehicle! They told Reico it is illegal to drive with that much snow covering his car and that he was a danger to other drivers on the road. All of whom had swept clean their vehicles. Yup, they had.

Something makes me think the men in blue lent our hero a brush to get the snow off before proceeding to traffic court and fine paying. Do you think the judge would tack on community service where Rob will have to go down every city block in New Haven and sweep the snow off 'such vehicles'? Wouldn't that be a deterrent?

I know I shouldn't make light of this subject because I have been behind a swamp yankee or two up here, that had failed to clear 'such vehicle' of snow or ice or both and nearly missed being A.) blinded by the snow storm that suddenly swept off their 'such vehicle' to mine, OR, B.) had pieces of hard ice near about crack me windscreen from the force of the launch backward to where I be sitting trying to drive in a raging blizzard! I tell ya R. Linda! The lazy nerve of some people about snow on their 'such vehicles'!

Gabe
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