Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	Atlanta snow insanity and stupidity
Date:	1/28/2014 9:34:12 PM

Having grown up in the north I take for granted that people know how to drive in the snow.  Sadly that is not the case in Atlanta.  :-)

So everyone leaves my office early except me because I have conference calls and I'll wait for the traffic to clear.....brilliant idea.....not!  I leave on my 9 mile drive home that usually takes 20 minutes max......an hour and forty five later I pull into the driveway......I'm one of the lucky ones.  

Going my usual way home I get stuck behind people that stop on a hill and then can't get going.  Finally push one car out of the way and get pulled by a guy with a 4wheel drive truck only to discover my usual route (a side street) is a parking lot. So I go the other direction and make decent progress until I run into another jam.  I go around cars stuck on a hill and run into a very kind soul who is literally directing traffic to get them to wait until a car is near the top of the hill until the next one goes.  He has to scream at numerous idiots that don't get what he is doing. While I waited my turn to take off I asked him how it's going. He said they have had to move 25 cars because people are so inept.  

Finally get home a little after 6 to find out one of my friends took 6 hours from Canton to north Atlanta and one of my daughters schoolmates took 7 hours to go 20 miles. I kind of feel guilty I even complained. One thing I will say, there are a lot of good people out there who helped those that were stuck, directed traffic, put people up for the night so they don't have to go home in the awful traffic and so on.  Definitely a silver lining in an otherwise crazy day.  And to think, where I grew up if we had 6 inches of snow over night we might have a 2 hour delay.  It will be quiet on the roads of Atlanta tomorrow morning for sure.  Hope everyone is safe!

Name:	lakngulf -	Reply
Subject:	Atlanta snow insanity and stupidity
Date:	1/29/2014 9:27:02 AM

Now, I for one do not want to hear the "these folks don't know how to drive in the snow"   There is a huge difference in the well predicted and well packed snow in the Colorados and Dakotas etc and ice, snow and sleet that covers the road in a 30 minute unpredicted span of time.  The weather folks missed this one, caught everyone off guard, and the schools and business threw everyone out into traffic.  And if the tires will not function on ice and snow, there is nothing folks can do.

Saw a picture this morning of a MASSIVE pile up on I65.  Thought is was in our area but most tags were Ohio and the comments indicated it was on I65 up north.

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	Atlanta snow insanity and stupidity
Date:	1/29/2014 10:28:08 AM (updated 1/29/2014 10:34:14 AM)

I think stupidity is a bit harsh.  In spite of spending most of my first 22 years in Arkansas , my wife and I spent six winters in Omaha. while I was on active duty.  One learns quickly in that environment as there are plenty of opportunities to learn.  Not so in the south.  I might assess the situation as the drivers being ignorant of the basic principles of negotiating icy roads simply because they may only encounter them once or thrice in a lifetime, where those in snowier climes encounter them more often, sometimes on a daily basis during particularly long spells.

And I agree with LNG, in that in Omaha once the snow had packed on the road, traction was much better than the black ice so often found in southern winter storm sitations.

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	Atlanta snow insanity and stupidity
Date:	1/29/2014 10:24:01 PM

I agree that driving on packed snow is much easier but it was amateur hour for way too many people that simply do not know how to drive on ice and snow covered roads. The stupidity I saw involved people getting near the top of a hill and then stopping for no apparent reason other than they were getting near the top of a hill. Then they got stuck, then someone tries to pass them but goes so slowly they too get stuck, then the road is totally blocked. I'm sorry but that is stupid driving. Having said that, the vast majority of the people were victims of that stupidity.  This might be a case of if the shoe fits......

Name:	roswellric -	Reply
Subject:	Not stupidity...Selfishness.
Date:	1/29/2014 10:33:20 PM

It took my native Atlanta son 5 hrs from midtown to Brookhaven. Same comments from him. Idiots. The biggest problem moving traffic? BLOCKED INTERSECTIONS. Yes all the selfish twerps trying to gain a few seconds blocked the intersections at every traffic light. Result? it took 2-3 light changes before traffic could move for each direction. Where has civility gone?????

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	Atlanta snow insanity and stupidity
Date:	1/30/2014 9:11:36 AM

They don't understand some of the basic laws of physics.....a body at rest tends to stay at rest..... or momentum......or friction....or gravity.....GOL (groan out loud).

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	Yep, a lot of that too
Date:	1/30/2014 10:47:36 AM

On the positive side there was also lots of good old southern hospitality like the guy in the 4WD truck that pulled me and others up the hill so one road could be unblocked and another guy metering traffic so people got down and up the next hill and on their way.  We will be talking about this one for a long time.

Name:	lakngulf -	Reply
Subject:	Well there it is...
Date:	1/30/2014 11:29:06 AM

4WD Truck + hospitality + helping others those who can't drive up the hill = southern.

Can't drive in ice = southern.

I'll take southern.

Name:	Lifer -	Reply
Subject:	13+ Hour Commute
Date:	1/30/2014 11:49:18 AM

A freind of mine made his 45 minute commute in a little over 13 hours!  He grew up in Minnesota and had to use all his skills to pick his way through abandoned vehicles and crashed vehicles, at times scouting ahead on foot, several u-turns and the patience of Job.

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	13+ Hour Commute
Date:	1/30/2014 11:57:09 AM

One of the things we learned during our stays in cold counry was to always keep your gas tank AT LEAST half full.  I wonder how many of the abondoned vehicles just ran out of fuel.

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	Me too
Date:	1/30/2014 3:40:10 PM

Which is why I am a damn Yankee!

Name:	lakngulf -	Reply
Subject:	Me too
Date:	1/30/2014 4:16:19 PM

Seems to me the smartest driver out there was the one with the 4WD, who I assume was southern. 

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	Me too
Date:	1/30/2014 7:22:56 PM

Even more southern that you could imagine.....he was Hispanic.