On Riding in the snow or how insane are car drivers?

I had been under the impression that a mountain bike would hack the snow better than a road bike. Not quite.

It snowed about 5cm last night (that's two inches for the Americans in the room). I used Brian's old Rocky Mountain, thanks again Brian. I tried as much as possible to stick to the side roads at first - not smart. The snow was the packing snow, ideal for making snow men or snow forts, not very good for riding through. I tried to ride in the pressed areas where the weight from the car tyres had crushed the snow down hard enough that there wouldn't be the rolling resistance I was fighting on the side of the road, the problem is that crushed snow is very slippery, almost as bad as ice. At one point my wheel skidded out from under me and I had a very slow speed crash, nothing serious, just some scrapes on my right leg.

Ultimately I rolled (and walked) over to Queen Street and rode along Queen. Now Queen is a busy street but at least the snow was just slush and not that much. I was able to ride Queen all the way in, I got splashed a lot and feel pretty filthy, but at least I made it without additional crashes.

I did notice a few of the more idiotic things some drivers did that I think ought to be recorded here just so everyone can be as disgusted with Toronto drivers as I am.

A driver pulled there car out of a spot just after I passed, they passed me then a few blocks later stopped in the middle of the road and started brushing snow off their minivan.

On Queen street a driver in a late model Rav-4 went through a puddle as she passed me, thus spraying mud all over me. I believe she was not paying attention, had she been focused on the road I suspect she would have avoided the puddle. The reason I believe she was not paying attention, when I caught up with her at a red light she was applying makeup. The entire light I stared at her with folded arms, she did not even notice. (I was tempted to hurl a snowball at her window and yell out, "now we're even!") Except lets be honest, that snowball won't even leave a mark, I am still cold from the ride in.

I think there should be a law, anyone who wants to drive must ride a bike at least 20% of the week, then maybe drivers would pay attention.