The weather outside is frightful, but the roads are even worse.

In dealing with the record-breaking snow, the City has said that it has pulled out all the stops. All the equipment is on the road and every available person is working all hours to get things cleared.

Of course, none of that has changed the fact that many main roads are still rivers of ice and residential streets are providing the opportunity to bottom-out on piles of hardened snow.

What makes the roads especially treacherous are the drivers. Even the best drivers, with four-wheel drive engaging their snow tires, have been sliding on the roads. And unfortunately, not all of us are the best.

For every driver that is skidding around at breakneck speeds, there is another driver slowly drifting into the other lane at 15 km/hr. Very few people on the roads seem to really know what they are doing.

Winter is when we ought to put away our road rage and bring out our common sense and compassion. Please give everyone else on the road a wide berth.

If someone ahead of you is painfully slow, don’t try to teach them a lesson by tailgating or cutting them off – it will just make that bad driver more likely to cause an accident.

If the roads are making you enraged, focus on finding a solution. If you think the City ought to be doing things differently, let them know.

You could also take matters into your own hands. Everyone in the neighbourbood will thank you for clearing that dangerous build-up of snow at the end of the street or by putting down sand or salt on the road just off your driveway.

And don’t forget that you are responsible for clearing your own walkways. It would be terrible if that sweet little old lady up the street slipped while walking her dog.

In fact, if you really want to wage war on the ice and snow, you could offer to clear her walk for her.

With weather, we’re all in this together – it’s all for one, and snow for all.