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Yesterday's rain didn't help (washes any pretreat off the road). When I went in this morning, I could see that the roads I drove on had been pretreated...but with what appeared to be very little brine. That told me that they were either being cheap, or didn't have much on hand. Either way, it was not really up to the task of handling how much fell in so short a time.
ANYONE driving in this (not just NC/Southern natives) really needs to learn not to come to a complete STOP when pointed uphill. That way lies grief.
There's a lot of little tricks about driving on slippery roads that you learn over time - and there just isn't that much opportunity to practice around here. That said, when I lived in DC I saw the same stupid mistakes over and over again, and they have PLENTY of snow up there. Maybe it's just human nature.
It's more that their employers (of non essential operations) are the idiots, which is a small percentage of the actual cars you see on the road. Many of them NEED to go to work even though their business did not really NEED to be in operation except for owner greed. It should be criminal for a business to not plan better for extreme weather events.
Now maybe those folks that move here from colder climates will understand why long-term residents get nervous about pending winter storms. The less often this sort of thing happens, the more disastrous it is when it does.
I love working from home full time, obviously, but I also work for a very caring company (as caring as a huge corporation can be). They sent out a notice at 5pm today that they are closing HQ in the DC area tomorrow because of this storm heading north. They did this several times while I lived in the DC area and even if they were open, we all knew we could just email our manager and tell them we were working from home. Of course, this is a corporate environment and not essential at all. It can all wait until tomorrow or next week.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alaskaboy
I realize you all don't drive much in winter like weather in these parts. BUT COME ON PEOPLE!!!!! The unbelievable, incompetent driving I just witnessed out there is INSANE!!!!!!!!!
The state of NC, needs to build a giant lightly snow covered parking lot with some ice and make people here drive on it for a few hours before issuing drivers licenses.
The weather you are having here is not severe, it's mild, it's nothing anywhere in a northern city. It's business as usual, it's normal commute times, it's people getting where they go without missing a beat. Here? I just watched a guy turn into his driveway with his flashers on and took ten minutes to make a simple turn, holding up cars behind him for miles! And there are hundreds of thousands of drivers out there just as stupid as him right now. THATS WHY IT'S SUCH A MESS!
The roads are fine, you can drive on them, just go a little slower and stop sooner, heavy snow yields decent traction, it's only frozen, ground freezing rain (rare) that causes un-drivable conditions.
INSANITY!!!!! I never wanted to smack so many petrified, ignorant people in my life as I saw out there today.
Even in areas that experience winter weather on a normal basis encounter issues like these. Several years ago in MD, they predicted a "dusting" on a Saturday afternoon. I went out for brunch with a friend and there was nothing. When we came out, it was snowing heavily and had at least 5 inches on the road. The city/county hadn't prepared the roads for anything and there were tons of cars slipping and sliding, abandoned or pulled over on the side of the road and lots of cars having issues getting up a hill close to my apartment. There are stupid drivers, but then there are also conditions that are faster than predicted and more than expected that can catch people off guard.
It took me FIVE HOURS to come from work in Downtown Durham to Cary!! AWFUL!!
The government DID NOT prep the roads for this at all!! (SHAME ON THEM!!) The media has been HYPING up this "bad weather" for days, schools closed, businesses closed, but the roads weren't touched...REALLY?!?! I saw one snow plow after I got into Cary, but a snowplow isn't going to do anything when it's all ICE.
I'm from DC and I'm used to driving in the snow and ice, but unfortunately the NC natives (and others) totally panic and it shows on the road! People were driving 5 mph when it was only dusting and turning a two-lane road into a one-lane trail ride.
Be considerate of the conditions...leave space in front of you, when you see a car slide backwards down a hill, don't go up the same way (*monkie-see-monkie-doo*), when someone in front of you is stuck and is sliding, DON'T MOVE up closer!
Today was THEE MOST awful, frustrating commute of my life!
I feel for you and I grew up in the DC area as well, but DC drivers are notoriously awful in all kinds of weather conditions (Rain, Ice or Snow). I have never once heard in my life that DC drivers are used to driving in the snow and ice, unless they're used to driving bad in it!
ANYONE driving in this (not just NC/Southern natives) really needs to learn not to come to a complete STOP when pointed uphill. That way lies grief.
There was actually a Raleigh police man on a section of Millbrook who was stopping motorists to give this exact advice. I wish I had a hot cup of coffee I could give him. He was the only Raleigh policeman I saw while driving around this afternoon. I hope that they were all spread out which is why I only saw the one.
The snow started right as I finished lunch and my intention was to go home. Traffic was so bad that I tried 3 different ways and couldn't get anywhere. I decided to head back to my office. I stayed there for just a while but headed back out around 4:30pm. Roads were still bad but traffic was much better than around 1:30pm. I got home in 60 minutes from Falls of Neuse & Millbrook to Brier Creek when it usually takes 30 minutes, so not too bad. I went Wake Forest Road to Millbrook, Six Forks Road, 540 and Lumley Road.
My partner got the worst of it. He actually left his car on some Durham street because the roads were too slick for him. He managed to get a ride from someone but still had to walk home for about 2 miles in the snow (and it was uphill both ways!). Guess if we will try to drive to work tomorrow? No, I don't think so.
This thread has been so useful and helpful in getting up to the minute updates on how people are doing in the triangle. Thank you for starting this thread and for all the people who have posted updates on it. I have been using this thread to keep track of the weather as much as I have been using weather.com, NWS, WRAL etc.
The productivity lost by sitting in hours and hours of traffic is far greater than letting your employees work from home, which I'm sure many of them could have. It is a bit ridiculous. I know I for one will be staying home the next time we get a winter storm.
I was one of those folks with a 5 hour commute home today. My job does not have the option of working from home as we work in a secure environment that is not accessible from the outside. I would love that option, but it simply is not something allotted to me and the other folks I work with. It would have been nice though if the folks that HAD the option stayed off the roads which would probably have helped with my commute time today.
I live in DC (NoVA), and I can confirm that drivers are awful at driving in snow here. Notoriously so.
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