(01-29-2014 10:14 AM)Machiavelli Wrote:  It's called taxes which the south abhors. I remember that all pro linebacker dying a couple of years back due to bad roads in Atlanta. You guys realize the economic impact of shutting down a city for two days?

Compared to maintaining a fleet of plows and salt truck large enough to be useful in a metropolitan city like Atlanta to be used 2 days a decade? I would guess it leans towards the plows costing more.

I drive a 4 cyl Acura sports car 365 days a year. My only adaptation is snow tires from November to May and I make it where I need to go every time.

According to the numbers I just made up, 8 of 10 vehicles in the south are 4x4 pick-ups. So with all the raised bro-trucks I saw the last time I was in anywhere remotely "South" how is getting stuck even possible? You're raised two and a half feet in the air, you have knobby tires, and if the amount of rolling coal smoke I saw is any indication, there is plenty of torque.

I keed, but only a bit.

Seriously, If it wasn’t for Obama this Atlanta snow jam traffic would have been much worse.

Less people working, less people stuck on the Interstate during a rush hour snow storm.

That's one small consolation of living under a pool of bitter, frigid air lately -- a decent amount of sun. At least for those of us living on the east side of Michigan. The west side still gets the fun of lake-effect clouds and snow.

http://www.businessinsider.com/atlanta-t...res-2014-1


Best compilation of photos I've seen. Pretty amazing.

(01-29-2014 10:43 AM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  I drive a 4 cyl Acura sports car 365 days a year. My only adaptation is snow tires from November to May and I make it where I need to go every time.

According to the numbers I just made up, 8 of 10 vehicles in the south are 4x4 pick-ups. So with all the raised bro-trucks I saw the last time I was in anywhere remotely "South" how is getting stuck even possible? You're raised two and a half feet in the air, you have knobby tires, and if the amount of rolling coal smoke I saw is any indication, there is plenty of torque.

I keed, but only a bit.

In the south, it's usually ice and not snow that gets people. No 4x4 can beat ice. Unfortunatley, folks around here never have seemed to figure that out.

If you don't know how to drive in it, 4x4 does you no good. It does you no good when an 18 wheeler jack knifes and causes the traffic jam as well.

(01-29-2014 11:06 AM)gdunn Wrote:  If you don't know how to drive in it, 4x4 does you no good. It does you no good when an 18 wheeler jack knifes and causes the traffic jam as well.

I agree 100%. However, idiots around here think a 4x4 makes them invinsible in the snow/ice. Well, until they hit a patch of black ice and hit the ditch.

I had no trouble in my AWD SUV once I got moving (I didn't go over 30, but probably could have). The professional truck drivers paralyzed the city by blocking entire interstates, either by jackknifing across the lanes, or spreading out across all lanes (instead of staying to the right) and failing to make it up hills.

Not to mention the idiots spinning their cars around while sporting Patriots, NYGiants, Yankees, etc. stickers on their cars, and a cell phone stuck in their ear the whole while.

In many areas it was a lot of ice prior to the snow falling. That makes a traffic mess almost everywhere.

What people don't seem to understand is that it isn't about how well you are prepared for and can drive in icy conditions. It is about how well and prepared the other people on the road are. Many of them aren't.

I have a Z71.. When we got snow the last few times I lock it in before backing out of my driveway. I get to a spot where I'm stopped and I think the roads are good, I'll take it out. If I start sliding, I'll pull over and lock it back in and proceed with caution.

(01-29-2014 12:19 PM)dawgitall Wrote:  What people don't seem to understand is that it isn't about how well you are prepared for and can drive in icy conditions. It is about how well and prepared the other people on the road are. Many of them aren't.

I have a farm truck on 35" knobby mud tires that Stanley just described.

Every snowfall, I throw a 20,000 pound strap in the bed and get my jollies off jerking cars out of ditches free of charge.

I've literally had people go 50 feet and slide right back into the ditch, in which case I pretend I didn't see them and go to the next idiot.

(01-29-2014 12:49 PM)Jerry Falwell Wrote:  

(01-29-2014 12:19 PM)dawgitall Wrote:  What people don't seem to understand is that it isn't about how well you are prepared for and can drive in icy conditions. It is about how well and prepared the other people on the road are. Many of them aren't.

I have a farm truck on 35" knobby mud tires that Stanley just described.

Every snowfall, I throw a 20,000 pound strap in the bed and get my jollies off jerking cars out of ditches free of charge.

I've literally had people go 50 feet and slide right back into the ditch, in which case I pretend I didn't see them and go to the next idiot.

First time free, second time $50!!

I look at how southerners handle snow and laugh. I also notice how pitiful people up north get when it's 90 degrees.

Back in Quebec, it's been so cold that you'd see people just lined up in stores wearing ski masks. I remember having to leave the house from the second floor because snow blocked the door.

I was appalled when I moved to Denver 30 years ago. My small town of 45K in Michigan had more snowplows than Denver. Then the blizzard of '82 hit and the city was paralyzed for weeks. It ended up costing the mayor his job. But what they did was fit plows onto garbage trucks, of which there was a sizable fleet.

It led to jokes like 'what has 6 wheels and flies?' Mayor McNichols' snowplow fleet.

Atlanta has garbage trucks, right? Might want to look into that idea. Much cheaper than buying snowplows. A little southern ingenuity might go a long ways in emergencies like this.

(01-29-2014 01:09 PM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  I look at how southerners handle snow and laugh. I also notice how pitiful people up north get when it's 90 degrees.

Back in Quebec, it's been so cold that you'd see people just lined up in stores wearing ski masks. I remember having to leave the house from the second floor because snow blocked the door.

I love when it's 90 degrees.

I'm not much of a fan of the northern climate - winter is way too long, basically Thanksgiving to Easter. I only live here for loved ones and pretty rooted here.

(01-29-2014 09:20 AM)gdunn Wrote:  

(01-29-2014 09:06 AM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Here's what you do. It may sound complicated but we've been doing it up North for awhile. You can follow what we have done for decades as an example. Like a blueprint. You tax the populace for a couple of trucks. You buy a big metal thing you put on the front of the truck called a plow. You move the three inches of snow off the road with the metal contraption. You can then go from road to road safely.

So that's feasible for an area that gets snow once every 10 years?

Especially when the normal strategy for snow removal is wait until the sun comes out to melt it away. I'm in my mid thirties and can count of one hand the number of snowstorms that had accumulations that lasted longer than one day.

Also I found that up north their are a lot of private companies in the snowplow business that are contracted out by the city as well. That's another resource that doesn't exist down here.

I always find it funny when people mock the south for their reactions during snow flurries. It's in not like I saw a great deal of foresight and planning when Hurricane Sandy hit NY/NJ.

(01-29-2014 01:44 PM)vandiver49 Wrote:  

(01-29-2014 09:20 AM)gdunn Wrote:  

(01-29-2014 09:06 AM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Here's what you do. It may sound complicated but we've been doing it up North for awhile. You can follow what we have done for decades as an example. Like a blueprint. You tax the populace for a couple of trucks. You buy a big metal thing you put on the front of the truck called a plow. You move the three inches of snow off the road with the metal contraption. You can then go from road to road safely.

So that's feasible for an area that gets snow once every 10 years?

Especially when the normal strategy for snow removal is wait until the sun comes out to melt it away. I'm in my mid thirties and can count of one hand the number of snowstorms that had accumulations that lasted longer than one day.

Also I found that up north their are a lot of private companies in the snowplow business that are contracted out by the city as well. That's another resource that doesn't exist down here.

I always find it funny when people mock the south for their reactions during snow flurries. It's in not like I saw a great deal of foresight and planning when Hurricane Sandy hit NY/NJ.

Yep, it's supposed to be near 70 degrees on Sunday in Atlanta and be above freezing tomorrow. Might as well go spend millions on snow ploys.

My friend is still on the road. She left work at 4pm yesterday.