It took hours to get home from work that night. Usually, the ride was about 45 minutes but with the snow and ice that hit the McHenry area, the roads were slick and dangerous.

North of Libertyville, vehicles heading west on Rt 137 had to climb a hill while the light at Milwaukee Avenue was green. The road was so slick that the cars had to wait back from the bottom of the hill to get up some speed to climb the slippery hill. And once they got going, they had to keep going. Letting off the gas could leave a car stranded on the hill.

Such was the case in the right lane. A car made it halfway up the hill and couldn’t go any further. Either the driver failed to keep the car’s upward momentum going or their tires lacked sufficient tread to make the climb.

With that one driver stuck on the hill, those trying to get through the light were reduced to one lane. The vehicles waiting for their chance to climb the hill were merging down below the hill. Only four cars were making it through when the light turned green. With a delayed rush hour, the traffic was backed up for miles.

As one of the cars was inching its way up the hill, the lady who was driving the car that was stuck on the hill, jumped out of her car and ran across the street to the gas station that was off the Southeast corner of the intersection, about where a coffee shop is today.

By jumping out of her car and running across the one lane of west-bound traffic that was still moving, she forced the driver of the car trying to climb the hill past her to hit the brakes. The driver managed to barely keep some momentum and, with a good set of tires, still managed to make it through the light. Of course, only three vehicles made it through that green light.

As the driver passed the stalled and empty car in the right lane, the driver glanced that way and what he saw sent chills down his spine. The tires on the stalled car were still spinning. No one was in the car but the car was still in drive.

Obviously, the lady driving the car had sat there so long that she forgot the car was in drive. Fortunately, the car wasn’t any less stuck without her behind the wheel than it was with her in the car.

There are two lessons here – learn to drive in a McHenry winter and use the right tires

If the lady in the stalled car had a good set of winter tires, she might still have inched her way up the hill. There’s little doubt that her tires were not in the best condition.

If she had snow tires, she’d have been even better off. The rugged tread of snow tires might have clawed their way up the hill even from a stop halfway there.

A McHenry winter is no time to drive with worn tires. And those who want an advantage are likely to put a set of snow tires on their car. It just makes good sense.