I commuted on the beltway until 1992, and saw the most freaky driving until I moved to New Mexico. Not the same sort of bad, but really amazing stuff. First, having driven in Anacostia (DC war zone) I thought I’d seen the worst of bad weather driving... until NM, when there’s snow on the ground, the gas pedal is a full-on or full-off switch... nothing in between. And then there is the “roll over” were the car ends up on it’s roof (I saw a guy do this turning into his driveway).
Understand about DC and NM!
Taxi from airport in DC to hotel in Crystal City scared the crap out of me, with all of the lane changes, etc.
Went skiing at Red River NM with another couple, where we stayed in a rented cabin above the town. Went to Taos to ski one day and by the time we’d gotten back to RR it had gotten dark and the roads had frozen over.
Had to go uphill from town to get to cabin, but 2WD Jimmy couldn’t get traction and slid into a big tree at a curve. Local guy who owned the cabin next door came downhill 5 minutes later. Told young son to walk back home (about a half mile) and tell the wife he was taking us to hospital.
He had been on the way to buy some beer, so did a quick stop for a 12-pack in RR. THEN we headed for Taos! This guy was driving a big Olds or Buick sedan on icy roads from RR to Taos at around 60-75 mph! Scary as hell, but that car was huggin’ the road, even on ice.
Nice gent, as he stayed at the hospital with us for an hour or so and drove us back to cabin, after buying another 12-pack. The return trip on ice was more leisurly, at only about 50 mph, so the beer must have mellowed him out a little.