Here's a pic of some cars owned by (or at least parked by) morons at Saturday's Winterfest in Lake Geneva. Everyone knows if you're going to park your car on bad ice it's safer if you line them all up real close to one another, right? 15 vehicles went through the ice. 5 were salvaged and the other 10 were declared totaled.
That last photo is actually quite pretty.
Look at the thickness (thin-ness?) of the broken up ice pieces in that last photo.What did they expect after the way this winter started out?
Recommended minimum ice thickness for supporting various loads:
2" or less -- STAY OFF!
4" -- activities on foot; ice fishing
5" -- snowmobile or ATV
8" to 12" -- car or small pickup truck
12" to 15" -- medium truck
And those thicknesses are for clear, solid ice. White ice or "snow" ice can have as little as half the supporting strength of good ice.
It happens on Lake St. Clair pretty much every year too. 6 cars went though there last week, and a father and 4-year old son were also killed by falling through the ice on a Michigan lake last week, though not in a car.
The way the cars were lined so nicely in rows at Lake Geneva I wonder if it was a sanctioned parking area for the event, in which case there will probably be some legal fireworks down the road.
The DNR's recommendation for cars on ice, even ice thick enough to be considered safe for cars, is to keep a separation of at least 50 feet between vehicles.
A car going through the ice can provide hours worth of entertainment. It's not just a matter of "crack" and then "splash". One winter day when I was working at the casino there was a truck that was plowing an area offshore behind the casino for an outdoor hockey tournament the following day. The truck had one wheel get bogged down into the ice, enough so it couldn't move. For all the rest of my shift, maybe six hours, we got updates from people coming back inside: another wheel had gone in; the tow trucks had arrived; the winches weren't working properly; now three wheels were down and half the bottom of the truck was resting on the ice; now there was several inches of water on the ice; now the truck was listing severely to the right . . . it was a slow-motion trainwreck that just went on for hours and nothing could be done to stop it. Great entertainment!
At least this guy made a valiant effort to save his car! 
If cars sink that slow, it seems like a person could run over to the innertube store and then tie them to the car and paddle it back to shore. 
If cars sink that slow, it seems like a person could run over to the innertube store and then tie them to the car and paddle it back to shore.
A good job for the Mythbusters.
If cars sink that slow, it seems like a person could run over to the innertube store and then tie them to the car and paddle it back to shore.
A good job for the Mythbusters.
If it works, CP could have a sideline business!
One of my friends is a diver and over the years he's done a few tasks for the Michigan State Police and other private recovery operations. At least twice that I know of he's helped retrieve completely submerged vehicles by attaching balloons which are then filled with air. When the vehicle is floated it was then maneuvered to the dock and hauled out by a truck crane. Both instances I know of were just off a landing for a seasonal ferry, where the water was deep (15-20') right off the dock.
It's got to cost the owner's a lot for the recovery (don't know if moron insurance covers going through ice?), but they have incentive to act fast. The fines for not removing a vehicle that's gone through the ice accrue daily up to $25,000, and then there's potential jail time.
down south Texas its been globally warm all over due the presence of the Goerge Bush Weather Machine. High was 70 today and went for a ride on the motor scooter. Still trying to hit the dime on the speedo but I got scared 
Does CP have a backyard snow depth report for us?
One of my friends is a diver and over the years he's done a few tasks for the Michigan State Police and other private recovery operations. At least twice that I know of he's helped retrieve completely submerged vehicles by attaching balloons which are then filled with air. When the vehicle is floated it was then maneuvered to the dock and hauled out by a truck crane. Both instances I know of were just off a landing for a seasonal ferry, where the water was deep (15-20') right off the dock.
It's got to cost the owner's a lot for the recovery (don't know if moron insurance covers going through ice?), but they have incentive to act fast. The fines for not removing a vehicle that's gone through the ice accrue daily up to $25,000, and then there's potential jail time.
i have a friend that has done the same job. his best stories were when he had to bring up boats.
parking your vehicle on ice? no way.
those people were dumbasses.
if i were attending an event and told to park on a lake, i'm just not doing it. as was shown, mother nature can be fickle.
gotta get me somma that moron insurance, though...
in case my van slides into the river.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RMLt28n0-M
Is that supposed to be, "on moron" or "more on" car insurance?
geico sucks ass. they spend 800 million a year on advertising, but will do everything they can to not spend an extra two bucks on an oem part.
Yeah, for years Geico ran three sustained simultaneous huge ad series, each with a large number of individual ads that were constantly updated: the gecko, the cavemen, and the multi celebrity-hosted real people's stories series. Plus a zillion other smaller series.
Every dollar a company puts into advertising is either a dollar added to their prices or a dollar's less service they can provide. From a customer's aspect that's an especially bad combination for both insurance and investment companies.
An aside, the gecko was first used in 2000 because a Screen Actors Guild strike kept the use of live actors from being available for new commercials.
well, they put too much mayo on my burger...
it was either that, or, go off on them like Michael Douglas in Falling Down.
Yeah I agreed it pretty ridiculous.