Black Ice: The Cold Dark Killer

Recently on December 1st, there was a large accident in Worcester, Massachusetts involving 70 cars. This accident was caused by black ice on the road. The plow trucks were not out early enough sanding and salting, which would have improved the road conditions. This made Rt. 290 vulnerable and dangerous.

These wrecks can be caused by the driver confusing black ice with wet pavement. Black ice is a form of slippery ice that is very common. A driver’s ability to negotiate a car is impacted by black ice causing the car to veer and slide across the road. Black ice is sometimes called clear ice. It is a thin layer of transparent ice. It takes 9 times longer to stop on black ice than regular ice. That’s crazy!

75% of car crashes are caused by wet roads, and wet roads happen when there is a snow storm or rain storm. If the weather is really cold, the wet pavement can turn into ice and lead to whirling and skidding across the road and having the car go out of control.

This happens because the plow trucks are not out early enough making the roads more safe. The plow trucks should be equipped and be proactive during this kind of weather.

The car accident in Worcester, Massachusetts on Rt.290 was not the only car crash that was caused by black ice. There are many other car accidents that are caused by these icy conditions.

Icy Road Safety stated there are about 6 million car crashes each year and about 15% of the accidents are caused by icy roads and snowy conditions. Cars should not be on the roads in these kind of elements. Most of the icy condition mishaps happen on the highway.

There are many solutions to this problem. People tried to remove the ice from the roads by using salt. It does help but I don’t see a huge difference. People are trying to come up with new ideas to stop the car accidents that are caused by black ice. One of the ideas is very interesting. A group of people are creating a product or machine, that looks like a sprinkler. It will be attached to plow trucks and the plow trucks will sprinkle this formula that is made up of salt water, water and many chemicals that will get rid of most of the black ice. It could of stopped the big accident on Rt. 290 in Worcester.

This product could help prevent many people getting into an awful car accident. This solution may get rid of most or even all black ice.

I took this on my Iphone. I used the inkwell effect on instagram. I also, made the flower look clearer then the rest of the picture with IPhoto. This flower was on a tree in my backyard.

That Time of Year: Spring

Spring,

It’s that time of year,

Where pretty flowers bloom,

When there is breezy air,

When there is sunshine,

When there are warm afternoons,

When there is AAU season,

When school is coming to an end,

What is a dream,

What is Spring,

That time of year

 

This was taken on my iphone4s. I was in Florida on a pier as the sun was setting. I did not put any affects in it.

 

The Difference a Year Makes

Many things remain the same each year.  We always have birthdays at the same time, school starts and ends similar to every year, and holidays also come and go at the same time every year, but what always will change is the weather. Last year was nice and warm around spring time, but this year we will say it’s different a lot different.

                                Old Spring                                                                                                          New Spring

                            

Photo Credit: promanex                                                                                      Photo Credit: Herry Lawford

According to the National Weather Service the average mid March temperatures are around 35º to 37ºF. Last year this average was a lot higher than the average overall. The mid March average temperature was 73º to 78ºF. This year the average temperature dropped to 25º to 34ºF in the mid March time period.

Many things stay the same in a year, but we can always count on the weather to change.

Links

(Old Spring)- http://www.flickr.com/photos/promanex/3382448536/

(New Spring)- http://www.flickr.com/photos/herry/3247003944/

On with thy Pants

As I went into the ski resort, I was blown away by how many boys were wearing shorts!

Now a day, boys think it is cool to wear shorts in the winter. When it is 30 degrees out, boys like to sag their pants down to their ankles. They think they look cool but personally, I do not think they do.

If live in New England, it is ridiculous to wear shorts.  I get it that you think you look “cool,” but you look like you are going to freeze you legs off.  When people get too cold then can get hypothermia or get frost bite and that can lead into a big issue. It does not cause hypothermia, it dries your skin out. Boys seems like they want to get sick and have dry skin. Living in Florida, people can pass by, but it just doesn’t work in New England.

There is some reasons you can wear shorts in winter. If you live in Florida, that is another story. There, it is warm and they do not experience the winter coldness. If you play basketball or do soccer then I think it is okay to wear shorts in winter. During athletic sports is an exception to wear shorts. Afterwards, if I were you, I would put sweatpants on to keep warm. Another exception to wear shorts in the winter is you are inside. I wear shorts inside my nice, cozy house if it is mildly warm out, but if it is not warm, then there is no chance I would even think about wearing shorts. These few exceptions into wearing shorts is not an excuse to wear shorts everywhere.

As the temperature drops, boys think it gets warmer outside. Something boys will never know is how bad it really is. Getting sick is a big problem. Once one person gets sick the whole school ends up sick. You can end up with hypothermia and/or dry skin  by wearing shorts. Wearing shorts is just a bad idea.

Wearing shorts in winter is a crazy, ridiculous idea that should not be done. Some exceptions are made but there is very few. It causes people to look sick and it just does not look good. Shorts are made for warm, hot weather: not New England.