would you think that’s it’s weird to hear about a car driving on a lake?

33 comments

1. In South Beach? Yes. In Saskatchewan? No.

2. Guess they never watched Ice Road Truckers

3. Are we talking about an Amphicar or a frozen lake?

4. I’ve seen too many people have their truck go through the ice to bother with that personally.

   It isn’t crazy, but it isn’t always smart. Lake ice depth can vary a lot even on the same lake. Not to mention the pressure waves cars make on ice that can weaken it.

   I don’t find it shocking that people somewhere where lakes don’t freeze consider it crazy to drive on them.

5. I can understand that someone from the southern part of the country would be surprised by this.

6. If it’s far enough north in the dead of winter, it would not be strange to me.

7. Every winter or two we have some idiots go out and play on a frozen lake somewhere in Indianapolis and they often die. And if they don’t die, they cause thousands of dollars of taxpayer resources to be rescued, treated, and hospitalized.

   So yeah in general I would consider this a thing smart people don’t do.

8. No. I’ve also lived in MI and WI where it was extremely common. In PA you might get more bewildered looks.

9. I wouldn’t think it’s too weird…as long as it’s in a location that gets a lot of very cold weather in the winter.

   My grandfather used to tell me about going to school on the school bus in the 1930s, and in the wintertime, the bus would drive over the frozen lake. Couldn’t imagine that happening today. For one reason, the ice depth on that lake today isn’t anywhere near what it was in the 30s, most years. But, of course, even if there was enough ice, there would be outrage if a school bus driver decided to take a shortcut over the frozen lake.

10. I would not.

11. Don’t ice truckers in Canada drive across lakes?

12. It’s not at all strange in the northern regions.
    The movie four brothers would blow their minds lol

13. Knowing the location? No.

    If they said that about being out on a frozen lake here in New Jersey? Yes.

    They just don’t get that frozen here.

14. It’s a pretty foreign thing to me here in Florida. But I have family who lived in Canada for a bit and remember they would ice skate to work if it was cold enough.

15. Obviously not common where I’m from, but I’m travelled enough to know it gets that cold in some places. For me, I just wouldn’t feel comfortable driving a 1.5 ton machine on ice where I couldn’t be 100% confident it would hold the weight at all points

16. Normal to the point of being default behavior, in Alaska. Some places you can *only* get a car there if you cross the ice.

17. It’s not commonly done in PA, as it rarely gets cold enough for long enough to make that a sane thing to do, but I think most people would understand the concept.

18. I wouldn’t be surprised by it nor would I think it’s all that crazy depending on where you are. Ice fishing is a thing in Pennsylvania, but it is kinda niche, and you really can’t ever drive a car on the ice.

19. No, I live in Michigan lol

    I still think you’re crazy for doing it though, that just seems like tempting fate.

    Story time!

    So when I vehicle falls through the ice it’s the responsibility of the owner to get it out, and there is quite the fine associated with it. Car, truck, golf cart, whatever. It’s an environmental hazard and the state takes it seriously….

    …if they know about it. But who’s to say they have to? If it falls through the ice, just shut up about it, go home, and take you L.

    So my in-laws’ lake was drained a couple years after some dam failures in northern Michigan. So they drain the lake to repair the damage, and all sorts of things showed up. Half cut down trees, garbage, appliances, and most hilariously, a snowmobile.

    And not just any snowmobile, a late 80s snowmobile.

    Now snow mobiles are registered, just like cars or boats, the VIN (or whatever the equivalent is called) can be tied back to a person.

    So we were all speculating that the state or DNR or whoever came and got this snowmobile, checked the numbers, and some Michigander who retired to Arizona a decade ago got a nasty fine for a snowmobile that fell through the ice in northern michigan 30 years ago that they had forgotten all about lol

20. As a midwesterner this is like, tradition.

21. People do it up north all the time. Nothing weird about it in the US. Maybe it seems weird to people raised in the south.

22. No, it is perfectly normal to see people out on the lake in winter fishing or even snowmobiling.

23. I understand that lake up north freeze and that this is possible, though I have never actually seen a frozen lake, so it still feels strange.

24. I wouldn’t be surprised. Ice fishing is a thing. I wouldn’t want to drive on a lake but it’s possible here in the winter.

25. No. I imagine I would find it odd if I hadn’t seen it every winter for my entire life, though.

26. I would know what you mean but I would never do it. Whenever we ice fish we park on land.

27. No. Ice fishing is common here in Maine and plenty of people drive out on the lakes.

28. No. Ice fishing is common here in Maine and plenty of people drive out on the lakes.

29. No. Ice fishing is common here in Maine and plenty of people drive out on the lakes.

30. I’ve done it in Vermont, where confidence in the lake ice was very high. Not many other places have those conditions.

31. We’ve had maybe 6-8 days below freezing this winter. So…no that’s not normal for my region at all.

    This is a regional thing and one that I associate solely with the inland upper midwest. Most places aren’t cold enough.

32. America stretches through a lot of climates, and people will have vastly different takes on what can be done on a frozen lake. From cities with 10′ of snow a year, to cities and people who’ve never seen snow.

    There is a popular show, “Ice Road Truckers”, which follows people driving on a frozen water body. I imagine the people that have never seen snow will have trouble connecting the frozen water in TV to an every day lake.

33. Nope. Grew up in MN and ice fishing was a part of my childhood. Driving out on the lake was and still is 100% normal. Couldn’t get me to do it now but it was fun as a kid because my uncle would bring one of the old Rupp snowmobiles he had and my cousins and I would go rip around on the lake with a toboggan or inner tube behind us. One winter we got the bright idea to use downhill skis.