(no subject)

[asterroc]

Am I reading this right? An inch of snow in Atlanta has resulted in citywide gridlock, people abandoning their cars in the streets, school busses trapped in the streets with students inside for a half a day, students trapped in schools, and residents overnighting in gas stations and Home Depots. Seriously, what am I missing here? If it's really just 1", sure there will be some accidents among drivers who don't know to drive differently in snow, but still, the entire city brought to a halt? For just an inch?

Originally posted on Dreamwidth. comments there. Comment here or there.

Comments

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

What I'm not getting is that I assume Southerners have to slow down when it rains. Do they think they don't have to slow down for snow at all? Or they do slow down for it, but only as much as they do for rain, but snow/ice is worse so it just wasn't enough of a slow-down?

[sildra.livejournal.com]

Slowing down for rain is very, very different from slowing down for ice/snow. I slow down slightly for rain (in a wet climate like the Midwest, which still isn't as wet as the South; n a dry climate I'd slow down a bit more because every rainstorm creates oil slicks on the asphalt) because visibility is worse and traction is slightly worse. I give myself a little more room to stop. But I have never skidded in the rain.

Driving in the snow isn't just about slowing down. It's different. You can't accelerate quickly, you can't stop quickly, you can't turn quickly, sometimes you can't safely change lanes, sometimes you can't even see where the lanes are. People had to explain to me how to get out of a skid (and 9 winters in the Midwest and I still can't do it reliably, although I can at least get enough control or stop myself that I've never crashed). People had to explain to me how to avoid a skid, and even after nearly a decade it takes practice and constant thought, and still doesn't always work if people have worn ruts in the road or if there's ice. When there's an inch or more of unplowed snow on the ground, almost every car skids a bit at almost every intersection (especially the busy ones where the snow has been packed down to ice), but everyone's experienced enough to not get in an accident just because of that. But you have to know not to enter the intersection until everyone has stopped moving, and you have to be confident enough to know that sometimes it's ok if you can't get up enough speed to cross the intersection until the light is yellow. I'd like to point out that I have never gotten into an accident due to snow; I'm actually a pretty good snow driver at this point. But it's still difficult and scary every single time.

A couple weeks ago, in the midst of a snowstorm in Cleveland, an old friend who, like me, learned to drive in LA, but unlike me, his years of snow experience were in DC (a sprinkling here and there, little accumulation) not the Midwest, was giving me a ride somewhere. And he knew to give himself space to stop. He knew to drive slowly. But he didn't know to accelerate slowly. He didn't know how to pick out the lanes on the highway in the dark when they hadn't been plowed. It was scary. It would have been scary if I'd been driving; I'd been in the same situation a month earlier with an experienced snow driver and it was scary with him driving; but with this friend driving it was so much worse. Apparently a week later he accidentally drove into a ditch and got his car stuck (no injuries, minimal damage, but still).

So, imagine a whole city like my friend. A whole city where all anyone knows is "slow down." That's not sufficient, even in just an inch! That will still get you people entering intersections too early, people straddling two lanes, people not being able to stop in time, people fishtailing every time they start or make a turn, maybe even people getting stuck, people spinning off the road, pedestrians stepping in front of cars who can't stop for them, people having nothing they know how to do to save themselves if the cars in front of them suddenly crash.

[sildra.livejournal.com]

Not to mention, as someone who didn't grow up with snow, every time I fishtail I panic a little. A little less each subsequent time, when I haven't gotten into an accident, but still. Fishtailing/skidding is one of the major themes in my anxiety dreams, right up there with showing up to class naked and teeth falling out. Imaging a whole city that panics every time they fishtail or skid, and that fishtails every time they try to start moving or turn at every intersection, and skids a bit every time they try to stop.

[cosmicwonder.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with everything you said. The only reason I know how to drive in snow is that I lived in Vermont.
Plus most cars in Atlanta probably don't have proper tires for this kind of weather. When you have summer tires that are balding, you're not getting anywhere in the snow and ice, even if you know how to drive in these conditions.