So the south got some ice!

[Jesda]

People are sleeping in their cars, walking, sleeping in chairs at gyms. Crazy what some ice will do to a southern metropolitan area of 5.5m people.

This morning I heard GDOT was sending buses (hopefully with tire chains) to pick up stranded people stuck in their cars.









Friend of mine in Pensacola was stuck in her car for hours. AAA was overwhelmed and couldn't help her. She was ready to use towels in her suitcase to keep warm until a tow truck (for $125) was finally able to reach her.


Having learned how to drive in the PNW, I consider myself a veteran of snow and ice driving. This must be absolutely baffling for southerners.

[Kompresshun]

I grew up in Georgia. I lived there until I was 22 years old and even though snow wasn't common, ice was.

I think it's absolutely pathetic that the entire state seems crippled right now by this. I've had friends posting saying they're stuck in their cars, having to stay in hotels, and ect when they're less than an hour from home. They're acting like a major disaster has happened. I would be getting around fine in it, even if this were when I was younger BECAUSE I LEARNED HOW TO f*** ING DRIVE AND BE PREPARED.

This crap would be a normal day around here. Heck, it's been close to 0 degrees the past two mornings here in Lexington and i've driven the Miata both days.

[Dattebayo]

Seriously, I heard from some friends down there that the roads were actually fully impassable... As in: if you tried to move, you would just slide sideways down the tilted embankment. I remember a storm we had like that about 15 years ago here, it took us 5 hours to get a mile away and turn back and you couldn't even walk on the road safely. We ended up using the "authorized vehicles only" turn-around spot on I-495 to turn around. It was better than sleeping in our car. My guess is GA folks are just stupid because they don't know how to walk... I would leave my car there in a heartbeat vs. all that nonsense.

[Outkast]

I work at a dealer, 7 miles from work, and usually takes me 5 minutes to get home, literally. But yesterday it took 3 hours to go 7 miles. And it had nothing to do with me, I grew up in Colorado, it was the idiots that think they can take the same roads at the same speeds and wrecked causing everything to turn to crap.

[OriginalWheelman]

[audtatious]

Interestingly a large number of the accidents which completely shut down the expressways were out-of-state truckers who are mostly used to dealing with snow.

Sorry, sheet of ice on the expressway when you don't have the removal tools or prevention solutions means you are going to be f***. The city should have shut down the school systems and been done with it, but, nah....that's too much like thinking ahead.

[MinisterofDOOM]

This is @#$%ing asinine. I used to commute 40 miles each way DAILY on roads drastically worse than that for weeks on end. I'm beyond fed up with people who can't drive in adverse weather. STAY OFF THE DAMN ROADS. If you're scared, or inept, or inexperienced, or I don't really give a damn what else, just go away. Just don't drive. There's NO EXCUSE for the scene in that bottom photo. In Idaho or Utah that would just be another day. But in Alabama it's the @#$%ing apocalypse. Every single driver of a PARKED car on that highway should be fined $20,000 and have their license revoked for life. YOU DO NOT STOP ON A HIGHWAY UNLESS YOU'RE ON THE SHOULDER. If you can't get that through your skull you have no business even LOOKING at an automobile, let alone operating one on public roads. You're not making things safer, you're not being cautious, you're being panicky, inept, and stupid. Quit being stupid. It makes everyone else's life worse. That guy STANDING NEXT TO his Ram with the door OPEN? No more driver's license EVER AGAIN.

"Some ice"...? You want to see "some ice"? The roads in Madison County are PAVED WITH ICE for 3+ months out of the year. Can't even see the asphalt. We don't have idiocy like you see in those photos, and as I'm always so quick to observe, Idaho drivers aren't exactly the cream of the crop. If we can do it, everyone can do it.

[Kompresshun]

^OMG WIN



Seriously. I tried to rant on Facebook about it and all of my GA friends got seriously pissed off at me saying things like "We don't have any salt trucks. There was ice everywhere. You don't know what it's like!" and "The roads were impassable. People were stuck everywhere."

The only true statement was "Well, we're just not used to it down here." - YEAH THAT'S OBVIOUS.

I'm sorry, but I have absolutely no sympathy for the people saying they had to sleep in their cars, couldn't get to their familes, and ect. That's awful, it really is, but you know what? I would absolutely find a way to get to my kids and get somewhere safe at least. I sure as hell wouldn't be sleeping in my damn car on the interstate. f*** THAT. THAT'S ABSOLUTELY RETARDED IN EVERY SINGLE WAY.

[Rogue One]

Police: Man stole cars left during Atlanta storm
Posted: Feb 02, 2014 11:10 AM EST The Associated Press

A Georgia man is accused of using a tow truck to take cars that were abandoned in Atlanta during the winter storm and traffic jam.

Police said Louis Mitchell Jr., 34, was arrested Thursday and charged with auto theft, forgery and other offenses. It's not clear whether he has an attorney.

Atlanta Police Sgt. Greg Lyon told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that a police officer saw an unmarked tow truck pulling a car. The truck fled when the officer tried stopping it. The driver and passenger fled the truck during a chase, sending it crashing.

The vehicles were reportedly stolen in Atlanta and DeKalb County.

Investigators say the two truck was stolen this month. It was pulling a Toyota that was stranded on Interstate 85. The investigation led police to three other cars taken from highways.

[Jesda]

lol

[Bubba1]

^OMG WIN



Seriously. I tried to rant on Facebook about it and all of my GA friends got seriously pissed off at me saying things like "We don't have any salt trucks. There was ice everywhere. You don't know what it's like!" and "The roads were impassable. People were stuck everywhere."

The only true statement was "Well, we're just not used to it down here." - YEAH THAT'S OBVIOUS.

I'm sorry, but I have absolutely no sympathy for the people saying they had to sleep in their cars, couldn't get to their familes, and ect. That's awful, it really is, but you know what? I would absolutely find a way to get to my kids and get somewhere safe at least. I sure as hell wouldn't be sleeping in my damn car on the interstate. f*** THAT. THAT'S ABSOLUTELY RETARDED IN EVERY SINGLE WAY.

I'm not ready to point the fickle finger of fate at those folks stuck on the interstates as it almost happened to me. Some of you might be too young to remember the blizzard of 1996 but I was driving home in my old S13 (on tired all-season radials) during this storm and got caught driving on the PA turnpike after the State Police closed it due to ice. They closed it after I got on. It took me 9 hours to drive 33 miles. I did not abandon my car, as I had plenty of gas, an empty Snapple bottle handy for the call of nature, I knew how to drive on ice, and was able to make my way around the hundreds of completely stuck cars. Given the atrocious level of driving skill of the average "yankee" driver who sees snow/ice several times every year, one should not be surprised that Atlanta area drivers, who almost never see snow would fare even worse with just two inches of snow.

If you want to blame anyone, blame the Georgia governor for his delayed reactions, and local Atlanta area school superintendents for not closing their districts despite plenty of warning of an impending storm.

[audtatious]

If you want to blame anyone, blame the Georgia governor for his delayed reactions, and local Atlanta area school superintendents for not closing their districts despite plenty of warning of an impending storm.

and the Atlanta Mayor. Or how about Obama for not sending in the troops with FEMA or some such crap

[Kompresshun]

I remember the Blizzard of 96 Joel, because I remember my dad driving like a jackass in it and we ended up in a ditch

In his defense, it was a RWD Chevy Blazer with cheap a** tires on it, but yes I do remember that winter very well. It was the only time I ever remember there being enough snow in GA to go sledding.

I agree though - the whole city could have handled the situation better in general. There is no reason they shouldn't have shut things down earlier, ESPECIALLY considering how few snow days they have every year anyways.

It snowed a ton here last night and schools were shut down before I went to bed last night, before snow was even on the ground. My daughters daycare was on delay and they're shutting down early too.

There was a coat of ice on most of the roads though all the way there and to work, but guess what? People were still driving in it. Just driving cautiously and being sensible. It was definitely sketchy in some cases, but by no means impassible.

[RicerX]

I will first ask most of you current northerners (as a former northerner) - how many of you have tornado shelters? In Idaho, the thought of spending $5000 on a quality tornado shelter is probably quite laughable, especially when you could build yourself a snowplow for your property out of an old TJ or CJ for the same money.

Let's use Birmingham, AL as my first example - they just emerged from bankruptcy two or three months ago. They have limited funds to use towards resources for the city. The schools are in rough shape and the crime rate is high. They simply don't have the money to spend on equipment that may or may not be used for entire fiscal years at a time. Things like this ice stuff simply do not happen frequently enough in the south to justify being prepared for it, but I guarantee you during tornado season they are balls-on-point in regards to preparedness.

Even with help, it comes down to residents' overall awareness of the situation. This started happening during the workday and by the time people caught on, it was far too late and the conditions on the roads were very dangerous, especially for the amount of people that were pouring out onto them at once.

While I am critical of terrible drivers myself, you have to remember that there are other circumstances behind the situation besides just s*** driving. There was all around poor coordination of emergency response, schools did not coordinate release times to control the flow of people to get their kids, and then of course you have the morons (that are present in EVERY state) that just have to get out and sightsee.