As people on the internet, we love ranking things and debating who or what is better at any given task. Usually, there's a lot of back and forth for just about every topic under the sun, and being that it's freezing cold in much of the world right now, we decided to pitch you guys this simple question last week.
What country produces the best winter drivers? I checked in on the post in preparation for collecting today's answers, thinking there would be a lot of discussions and disagreements about what countries were the best. The thing is, though, there really wasn't. Pretty much seemingly agrees that one country stands above the rest when it comes to producing competent winter drivers, and you probably already know what it is. On the flip-side of the coin, everybody also seems to agree on which countries produce terrible winter drivers. Again, you can probably guess which those might be. Honestly, it was sort of nice seeing everybody come together like this.
In any case, why don't you scroll on down and check out what countries your fellow Jalops think produce the best winter drivers. Did your homeland make the cut, or are you digging yourself out of a ditch?
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If you look at famous drivers per capita, it's Finland by a long shot.
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Totally agree with the Finns. However, Northern Italy is mountainous and prone to lots of snow (see TV 24/7 now for examples). I would think the combination of Italian and snow covered mountain roads would be a tough challenge to the Finns.
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It's Finland. The episode of Top Gear where Captain Slow got a driving lesson from Mika Hakkinen showed a clip of what it took for teens to get a drivers license in Finland. I would have loved to have that instead of the joke that is driver's ed.
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Living in Finland (tho not Finnish). Indeed, decent winter driving here, not that many accident due snow, ice or just overall cold weather. Most cars on the side of the road in winter just suffered mechanical or electrical failures due to cold. Try that in Paris where I am from and the city will be gridlock
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This is a question that could be proven with a statistical analysis. But if the analysis was done I'd be floored if it turned out to be any other country than Finland.
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suomi. no discussion. rented a mini on my last trip. sooo many fun roads, so few people. lots of places to hone that scandi flick.
Submitted by: fabey & hoser68 & MyKinjaHandleWontFit & Sunseeker & Steve65 & MTmanual2
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Norway by an icy mile. Long dark winter, tricky terrain, etc. Among the very lowest vehicular fatality rates globally. Include extensive driver training, strict adherence to traffic laws, etc.
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Norway is known for extremely varied and harsh winter conditions, but have least road deaths both per capita and per billion km driven.
Submitted by: Jancso Nadler & Anders Bråten
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The best all-conditions drivers have always been Scandihoovian, the most technical drivers were always za Churmens, and the winners because they took the risks where others wouldn't, were the French. Gross overgeneralizations, sure, but it's cultural in Paris-Dakar, Rally, F1, and even on bicycles.
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Weirdly, I have to go with France.
They have more WRC championships, over any other country, with 19. (With Sébastien Loeb alone, holding 9 of them.)
Submitted by: potbellyjoe & Dr.Xyster
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Estonia! No question. Finns and Swedes don't know how to drive cars anymore because they've been driving new and modern cars with driving aids for too long. In Estonia, this skill STILL exists thanks to the old Soviet technology and European cars from the 80s and 90s that are still on the road. But even our 20-year-olds today don't understand how to drive in a slippery snowstorm... Norwegians? With electric cars??? Laughable...
Submitted by: Priit Veski
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I'd say Australia, as their winter does not include snowy and icy conditions. If the question indicated snow and ice, rather than a season, then I'd lean more toward Norway.
Submitted by: Howard Fairfield
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Not a country – but Buffalo drivers are unfazed by feet of snow, zero visibility, a month of temps in the 0-15 degree range, ya we have accidents but you'd be shocked at the conditions we drive in Lake Effect snow
Submitted by: Keith Zalikowski
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Jamaica. Well, they can drive a bobsled.
Submitted by: Giantsgiants
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As a proud American, I can safely say it is definitely not us
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yeah not the US. A lot of us have awd or 4wd and we cant even drive up a hill.
Submitted by: Gordon S. & Scott The Stagehand
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One of the Scandinavian countries, by far. As a Canadian, I am proud of my winter driving abilities...but a lot of my fellow Canadians, especially "new" Canadians, can't drive in winter to save their lives.
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I am very confident in saying it's not Canada.
Too many drivers of gigantic SUVs and trucks that have a confidence level and capability level that are so far apart you could float a St Lawrence seaway between.
I'd say at least 70% of drivers simply don't have the respect of winter driving they need to even begin the pathway where our friends in the nordics are already world class experts – particularly the Finns.
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considering how much winter we get, Canada produces an embarassingly low amount of quality winter drivers
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As a Canadian, I'd love to say it's us, but I think we lost that title a long time ago. It seems like newer drivers are just not getting the proper training, or people no longer understand some physics basics like Newton's laws of motion, or that new cars have too many features that try to take over the driving – or maybe all of the above.
Sometimes I see good drivers, but they are the minority these days.
Submitted by: ChaosphereVIII & dolsh & JaredOfLondon & Dakiraun
