Why was there such chaos in Atlanta over a snowstorm?

[Matt Collins]

Because that's what happens when the government is in charge of the roads and the schools.

[DamianTV]

Chance favors the prepared, and they were not prepared as that type of weather is not typical. Also, media hype.

[MelissaWV]

Because that's what happens when the government is in charge of the roads and the schools.

Close but no cigar.

That's what happens when people lose all common sense and let the Government decide when to stay home or go to work.

If there's a chance that what's already a hellish commute is likely to have ice and snow and wind added to the mix, I would not go in to work, and I'll be damned if kids were going to go to school with the chance I would not be able to pick them up.

[VoluntaryAmerican]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idKTSwKeM3I

[TaftFan]

Yeah. It has been a disaster here.

Schools let out early Tuesday...to the peril of teenage drivers.

And the people getting off work...well, millions of people were stuck for hours on end.

[DamianTV]

Two feet of snow falls on major city in Canada? Not even barely newsworthy. Why? They're prepared. Two feet of snow in Hawaii, or Jamaica? Newsworthy due to rarity of even. However, the resulting events come from a recipe for disaster. Inexperienced Drivers, unprepared city with no snow plows (New Orleans), no snow tires, no chains or cables, very slick roads with freezing roads, expect it to get bad.

[Zippyjuan]

People out here freak out when it rains and the roads get a bit wet. Always a spike in accidents. People unfamiliar with the condition don't know how to deal with them. Places like Atlanta don't have to deal with snow so they don't bother spending money on gear which will help them deal with it. Chicago? They expect snow and have the gear and patience. Doesn't matter who is in charge.

[VIDEODROME]

IMO traffic in Atlanta every working day is a disaster.

[cajuncocoa]

People out here freak out when it rains and the roads get a bit wet. Always a spike in accidents. People unfamiliar with the condition don't know how to deal with them. Places like Atlanta don't have to deal with snow so they don't bother spending money on gear which will help them deal with it. Chicago? They expect snow and have the gear and patience. Doesn't matter who is in charge.
^^This.

[fr33]

Close but no cigar.

That's what happens when people lose all common sense and let the Government decide when to stay home or go to work.

If there's a chance that what's already a hellish commute is likely to have ice and snow and wind added to the mix, I would not go in to work, and I'll be damned if kids were going to go to school with the chance I would not be able to pick them up.

He's not really wrong. On a privately owned road the owner would likely want people traveling on icy days and therefor have more need of salt and sand so that his customers would buy his services. Govt workers in charge of the roads get paid regardless and hide behind the excuses of not enough tax dollars or man power. They suffer no monetary consequences of fewer people using their roads or from the traffic jam effects of the freeze. The private owner would suffer greatly from it.

[Root]

I drive through a lot of snow storms. You have to understand the nature of the type of stuff coming down. Very scary sometimes.

Last snowstorm here NJ was a very dry powdery snow. The State was salting the shit out of the highways making them greasy instead of just plowing it and letting the wind do the rest.

Dumb. Very dumb.

[Henry Rogue]

Up here, once we get a nice coat of salt on the roads, the roads are pretty good most of the winter. Of course we have plenty of snow plows to deal with snowfall, including private companies clearing parking lots. The worst is a heavy wet snowfall early in the winter when we don't have a good salt base down yet. And open country roads when the snow is dry and there is a good wind, we get some pretty high drifts across the roads, doesn't even have to be snowing for the drifts to occur, three foot drifts easy and they will fill back in after the plows go through. I was in a whiteout the other day and it wasn't even snowing, it didn't last long, maybe half a mile.

[Henry Rogue]

I drive through a lot of snow storms. You have to understand the nature of the type of stuff coming down. Very scary sometimes.

Last snowstorm here NJ was a very dry powdery snow. The State was salting the shit out of the highways making them greasy instead of just plowing it and letting the wind do the rest.

Dumb. Very dumb.True, sometimes they make it worse, it depends on a lot of factors.

[MelissaWV]

He's not really wrong. On a privately owned road the owner would likely want people traveling on icy days and therefor have more need of salt and sand so that his customers would buy his services. Govt workers in charge of the roads get paid regardless and hide behind the excuses of not enough tax dollars or man power. They suffer no monetary consequences of fewer people using their roads or from the traffic jam effects of the freeze. The private owner would suffer greatly from it.

This didn't magically happen because the Government was in charge. In your private owner example, btw, precisely what incentive would the owner have to keep salt and sand and plows onhand for an event that happens very, very, very, very rarely? It'd actually be more cost-effective to close the road and avoid the accidents happening on your property.

It happened because an area experienced weather it does not normally experience.

Oddly people are not freaking out as much about the people partially trapped in their homes by tumbleweeds.

Getting back to this, though, people heard the roads and schools and Government were open, so they herp-derped their way in. If they had looked at things on their own, they might have weighed the pros and cons of the information available and just stayed home to start with, or made backup plans in case things got bad (so weird that no one was able to get all those school kids home for two days...).


Many houses in our neighborhood have been swallowed by tumbleweeds. Here is one such house: Dear wind, please stop. We surrender. You win. Game over. Stop.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VR8OSA51o6A/TVYTsdQ-6gI/AAAAAAAACAw/6v-r9ql3kC0/s400/Tumbleweeds.jpg

[Root]

True, sometimes they make it worse, it depends on a lot of factors.
I don't understand why NJ just can't deal with the snow. We get around 30" of snow every winter. It's not like it should be unexpected.

[fr33]

This didn't magically happen because the Government was in charge. In your private owner example, btw, precisely what incentive would the owner have to keep salt and sand and plows onhand for an event that happens very, very, very, very rarely? It'd actually be more cost-effective to close the road and avoid the accidents happening on your property.

It happened because an area experienced weather it does not normally experience.

There's nothing magical about it.

It's not hard to store salt and sand and those commodities keep for a really long long time. We've got a bunch of people on unemployment yet roads should be iced over or closed. Ridiculous.

The owner's incentive would be competition; something the current monopoly does not face. Anyone can build a road. It's incredibly easy to do. Anyone can salt or sand a road. And it's not hard for drivers to turn off a few feet to a competitor's road that provides a better service.

You are stuck in the mindset of roads that span a whole state, city, or county must be maintained by those monopolies. They don't. The roads dont reach their full potential because of the state.


Oddly people are not freaking out as much about the people partially trapped in their homes by tumbleweeds.Because that's not a real scenario. :p


Getting back to this, though, people heard the roads and schools and Government were open, so they herp-derped their way in. If they had looked at things on their own, they might have weighed the pros and cons of the information available and just stayed home to start with, or made backup plans in case things got bad (so weird that no one was able to get all those school kids home for two days...)
People in northern climates drive daily. It can be done. Sheltering in place does not have to be the norm. There are better options if you replace the coercive monopoly.

[Henry Rogue]

I don't understand why NJ just can't deal with the snow. We get around 30" of snow every winter. It's not like it should be unexpected.I don't know about New Jersey, but that exact scenario you mentioned in post 11 happened here once in one county but not the next. It was the wealthier big city county that salted and made a mess of the roads that day. They usually don't screw up like that though. Not sure why they didn't plow before they salted.

[muh_roads]

With all the money Government collects, you'd think they could always have a bunch of salt and plows ready. In any major city.

Instead welfare queens are too busy lining their pockets.

[VIDEODROME]

Okay so we just had snow, but this weekend it'll approach the 60s. Why not just let the rare southern snow melt and stay home?

The only real problem was people didn't get a warning saying how bad it would be here.

[CPUd]

http://i.imgur.com/OCWOAUl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7OtZEpO.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/0bLmfin.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/NSxAjCl.jpg

[MRK]

Atlanta: where every side of town is the bad side of town.