Snowstorms always seem to make drivers lose 50 IQ points. After observing my neighbors spin their tires trying to get up our steep driveway, I thought I’d offer a couple of tips:
1. If you get stuck in a front-wheel drive car, put the sand under the front tires, not the rear tires.
2. There is only one legitimate reason to own a gas-guzzling SUV, and this is it. Instead of grinding your rear wheels for 30 minutes, switch to 4 wheel drive.
I believe you gave too generous of an IQ estimate.
What you are witnessing is the rat on the lever effect. As the driver spins to pavement the vehicle moves forward a bit.
Classic stimulus-reward
They repeat only to gain another little bit. Seems easy enough !
[I believe you have an overly generous estimate of how high I think these peoples’ IQs were to start with. –Charles]