Atlanta is shut down/ Personal worse commute ever

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bsmit212

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Kennesaw, GA
Had my worse personal commute home yesterday. I live 50 miles from my office and normally take me about 45 mins to 1 hour to get home. Yesterday 5 1/2 hour because of ice. Had to pick up my 9 month old about 1 hour into the drive from day care. That rasied the stress some just having her in the car on the roads. She was nice enough to sleep the first 2 hours she was with me, then she woke up. After that there was a lot of screaming and crying. Luckily did not lose complete control of my truck till I was almost home and ended up hitting a curb and now I need to get and alignment done on my truck and hope that is it. Then my wife could not make it home. She had to stay the night with a friend which lives near her work.

However I am still feeling blessed that my whole family made it to a safe and warm place last night. From watching the news this morning it looks like lots of people did not and ended up spending the night out in their cars on the road.

And then too make all you northern people laugh, this is all because we got 2 inches of snow, haha.
 
H

Hikenhunter

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Hey bsmit, I'm from up north of you and I ain't laughing. It sucks driving on ice and in blowing snow no matter where you come from. Biggest problem you guys have is that you aren't used to it so there are more panicked drivers out there when you do get it. On top of that your state DOT isn't equipped to handle these issues so it becomes a major problem when you guys get a little snow. I'm happy to hear that your family all made it through the night without any injuries or worse. So, how did today go?
 
B

bsmit212

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Kennesaw, GA
They got the grid lock cleared out yesterday. roads re-frezzed last night so he city is more or less closed down again till about mid day today. Some people spent more than 24 hours in their cars trying to get home. There were people sleeping in bars, stores, and where ever they could stay warm. We had about 15 employees stay at the office from my company.

After 2011 ice strom, GDOT spent money on some equipment, they issue is that when it started snowing at 12 everyone rushed out of the office and just clogged the road so they could not get the spreaders out cause they were stuck in traffic.
 
Grandpa

Grandpa

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Biggest problem with a storm in that situation isn't the drivers. It's the infrastructure to deal with it. Out here, a storm like that and in two hours every road in the county is plowed and sanded/salted. There may be some drivers with the inability to cope but most could probably adjust rather quickly.
 
Theo

Theo

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Grandpa said:
Biggest problem with a storm in that situation isn't the drivers. It's the infrastructure to deal with it. Out here, a storm like that and in two hours every road in the county is plowed and sanded/salted. There may be some drivers with the inability to cope but most could probably adjust rather quickly.
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Down here in the South, the problem is we usually have a nice layer of ice on the road before the snow ever shows up. And I don't care what anybody says, it is a rare person who can drive on ice and no plow will remove ALL of the ice from the road without damaging the road. Plus add idjit drivers to the mix and you get headline news.
 
ponderosa

ponderosa

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Black ice is very common here as well (eastern Idaho), with or without snow on top, and you're right that plows don't help much with that problem. My town was a real skating rink much of yesterday. The big differences in my view are population density and experience. No one could learn to drive on ice by experiencing it only every few years. That isn't a criticism of southern drivers, just reality. When black ice is a regular event six months of the year, you do get better at it. (On the other hand, I'd probably be paralyzed with fear in a big hurricane). The other issue is just the sheer numbers of cars on the highway. That doesn't happen in rural Idaho. I can easily see how thousands of cars, and drivers who aren't often exposed to those kind of conditions, can be completely gridlocked by what we'd consider a typical winter day.
 
Grandpa

Grandpa

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Theo said:
Down here in the South, the problem is we usually have a nice layer of ice on the road before the snow ever shows up. And I don't care what anybody says, it is a rare person who can drive on ice and no plow will remove ALL of the ice from the road without damaging the road. Plus add idjit drivers to the mix and you get headline news.
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Oh we get our share of sheet ice as well. As I said, our highway depts can deal with it very well. Pre storm chemicals such as calcium chloride drop the freeze point drastically. If the temps go lower then out come the sand/salt. As Ponderosa said, this happens many times a year around here so we do get used to it. Each of my kids had to take MY drivers training course as well as the states. Mine involved "cutting cookies" on a vacant icy parking lot.:tinysmile_twink_t2: something every kid needs to have a chance to do.
 
Theo

Theo

eyebp's mentor
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Grandpa said:
Oh we get our share of sheet ice as well. As I said, our highway depts can deal with it very well. Pre storm chemicals such as calcium chloride drop the freeze point drastically. If the temps go lower then out come the sand/salt. As Ponderosa said, this happens many times a year around here so we do get used to it. Each of my kids had to take MY drivers training course as well as the states. Mine involved "cutting cookies" on a vacant icy parking lot.:tinysmile_twink_t2: something every kid needs to have a chance to do.
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My dad did pretty much the same with me. But since I only get to practice those skills about every 5-6 years, I wouldn't exactly say that I'm proficient with those skills. :) Kind of like shooting a gun. If you only shoot a gun every 5 years, you're probably not going be much good at it.
 
C

charley

New Member
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w pa.
I know where you live Coz and that area has been shut down a few times this winter from the ice. You may have been ok out on the farm with the big 4wd but the cities and the interstates were closed for days. That 78 would feel good bout now though. We are above freezing today for the first time in quite awhile. My sister lived about 8 miles out of Rio Vista. Still have family around the metroplex.
bsmit glad you and the family made it safe and warm through the night. Ice is near impossible to drive on.
 
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Theosus

Backpacking Noob
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722
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Near Columbia SC
Typical South Carolina winter here. Snowed, stuck around for three days, then rain and fifty degrees. Snow all gone... Today was 70. Tomorrow back to 40. That's why we laugh at northerners that "put up" clothes by season.
 
jason

jason

fear no beer
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Hikenhunter said:
Yep I know what you mean but sometimes you just gotta go for it and to heck with the whiners.
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Yeah, I'll be doing that tomorrow with a renter. They will not be happy with the news, and a good chance they will raise a fit.
 
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