Reply to Sketchy snow driving situation - what’s the right etiquette/safe?

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[quote=Anonymous]I went skiing in WV yesterday. On the drive back to the DC area, it was dumping snow on the mountain highways in WV. I have an AWD Subaru with snow tires.

I’m on Highway 48, which is this amazing modern four lane highway in the middle of the WV Appalachian mountains. It goes over numerous mountain passes and winds through the mountain range. It’s dumping snow, massive flakes and it’s accumulating on the roadway. It’s probably about 330pm and I’m on a 25 mile stretch of road that clearly hasn’t seen a snow plow in a couples hours. Easily 3-4 inches on the roadway and lots more on the side of the road. It’s impossible to see the roadlines and visibility comes and goes without warning. Pretty terrible conditions if you’re not prepared or have the right vehicle.

As I’m climbing another mountain pass, I see a line of probably a dozen cars ahead of me that have come to a stop in the middle of highway blocking both lanes. Fortunately, visibility is decent (400-600 yards) in spite of the falling snow

At the front of the are 3 cars that appear to be part of a caravan - blue sedan, a UHaul small box truck, an older RAV-4. The blue sedan has drifted into the median area of the highway where the snow is deepest and they are stuck. Young men are out trying to get the car loose. The UHaul and RAV-4 have blocked both lanes of traffic so no one can get around the blockage.

The young men get the car out, but then the vehicle gets stuck again in the left lane. We are driving up an incline and the sedan is having a hard time getting traction. The other 9-10 cars stuck behind them are just sitting in the middle of the highway, with our hazards on. Some folks are out of their vehicles and cleaning snow/ice off their windows.

The entire situation seems very dangerous. I’m at the end of the line of cars and nervously checking my rear view mirror, just waiting to see the headlights of an approaching vehicle. Fortunately, visibility is still decent (can see 300 yard behind me) but we really shouldn’t be stopped in the middle of highway during a snow storm. The vehicle in front of me tries to move his tires and it’s become clear that he might be frozen in place and he’s having a hard time with traction. I’m worried we might all freeze our wheels in place on the highway, if conditions worsen

After about 5 minutes, I start honking my horn. The RAV4 and U-Haul still have not moved their vehicles out of the way. They are not stuck because they moved their cars the first time the blue sedan got out of the deepest snow. It’s starting to get foggier and there’s no way I want to stick around in this

I pulled around to the right side of the line of cars, drive to the front through probably 8-9 inches of snow (yay Blizzaks!), and the RAV4 actually moves to try to block me! At this point, I get out of my car and walk to the driver side window, yelling at the older man to pull the car over and let us pass. He begrudgingly does so when the younger men motion for him to move. I got in my vehicle and GTFO of there. I didn’t see any other cars moving as I drove away.

What’s the right thing to do here? These cars clearly were not prepared for a snow storm. My fear is that we would have all been rear ended by a big truck and this would’ve caused a massive pile up. Further, daylight was receding and I wasn’t about to stay in those mountains at night in a snow storm.

Is this a scenario where etiquette and safety norms conflict?

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