But nothing compares to the first good snowfall of the season, when people aren't thinking in snow mode. They keep on tailgating and driving too fast just as they did in the summer months. It leads to some spectacular multicar pileups.

Probably the worst offenders are the SUV drivers*. They seem to think that "4 wheel drive", which does give them better traction for acceleration, doesn't help at all for stopping. Since so many of the SUVs are so massive, they often take longer to stop. It doesn't stop the "Road Gods" from tailgating. I laugh my ass off when I see them stuck in a ditch.

I've driven in over 40 states. Without exception, everywhere I've been, people complain about the bad drivers. The sad part is they're right, as Dave Barry discussed in a recent column ("Here's to life in the fast lane").**

*Full disclosure: I drive a 2001 Honda CR/V, a sorta SUV wanna be. It does have a form of 4 wheel drive, mostly as a form of traction control. It's a gutless wonder and less than half the weight of the big honking SUVs (gets 28 MPG in town), but it does good in snow.

**In his column, Barry discusses using rubber arrows to let drivers mark other bad drivers. I've long thought that a good car mounted paint ball gun would be ideal for this purpose.