My Brother Shut Down Atlanta?

Posted on | February 1, 2014 | 63 Comments

Cosmic fate: My brother Kirby was trapped on I-285 during the big weather-induced disaster in Atlanta.

He had to get his driver’s license renewed, which required him to go to the Department of Vital Records — on the east side of town near Buford Highway — to get a copy of his birth certificate. He left on his way back to Douglasville about 12:40 p.m. Tuesday, deciding to take surface streets in an effort to avoid gridlock on the expressways.

It took him nine hours to travel less than 20 miles — via Moores Mill Road and Atlanta Road — to reach the RaceTrac gas station at the intersection of South Cobb Drive and East-West Connector in Smyrna. The scene inside the convenience store was like a refugee camp. Stranded motorists were sleeping on the floor.

After gassing up, buying a sandwich and beverages, Kirby made the fateful decision to heed the advice on the radio: Take the interstate, because they’ll get those cleared before they get to the byways. Going south on I-285, he reached the Chattahoochee River bridge before traffic completely gridlocked.

“We didn’t move an inch from midnight until 7 o’clock the next morning,” he said, and once traffic did start moving, it took him more than five hours to make it the rest of the way home.

So it’s Kirby’s fault.

Fate conspired to subject him to this Herculean ordeal, and all the other people who got trapped in that icy mess were just collateral damage, so far as Fate was concerned.

And I tell that story because some idiot has written an article — at Slate, where else? — blaming the Atlanta Ice Jam of 2014 on racism.

Racism! Of course, that explains everything!

Racism is the Swiss Army Knife of explanations, the duct tape of social science. If you ever encounter a problem that seems to have no obvious explanation — boom! — racism explains it.

Category: Racism

Comments

63 Responses to “My Brother Shut Down Atlanta?”

Zohydro
February 1st, 2014 @ 11:15 pm

Many of us here in the Northeast were a bit amused at that situation…

I’d heard it was actually the lack of infrastructure—that the region hasn’t the resources to deal with ice and a “dusting” of snow on the roads. Bald tyres and little experience driving on slick roads were also cited…
Finrod Felagund
February 1st, 2014 @ 11:23 pm

The simple fact is that the snow moved in at exactly the wrong time. That and the weather service didn’t get the forecast right until mere hours before the snow started. There have been so many false alarms for snow here (my standard line is that the weather service has predicted 14 of the last 3 major Atlanta snowfalls) that people didn’t believe there was going to be any significant snow until it started– and by then it was too late. Everyone decided to cut their day short at lunch, and that’s just when the snow really got bad. Combine that with the Atlanta interstates not having been widened significantly (except for 400 which technically isn’t an interstate anyways) in nearly 20 years, which means there are 2 million more people trying to use those same roads now.

If Atlanta had built the Outer Perimeter as planned and banished the trucks to it, things would be a lot better– 18-wheelers jack-knifing on the slick roads caused most of the major traffic backups.
robertstacymccain
February 1st, 2014 @ 11:25 pm

In the Deep South, they get snow maybe one or twice a year, so investing in a fleet of snowplows and stockpiling road salt doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Mike G.
February 1st, 2014 @ 11:28 pm

I used to live in Atlanta. And the writer at Slate missed the mark completely. Has nothing to do with Raaaaacism.

The problem is they don’t have the resources to combat the kind of weather they saw down there. And 99% of the time, they don’t need salt trucks and plows.

Also, it’s kind of tough to plow and salt 60 miles of 12 lane expressway, and that’s just I-285. That doesn’t include I-75/85 N/S and I-20 E/W through the heart of Atlanta or the I-675 spur towards Macon,

Kirby would have been better off either staying at the RaceTrac or else, taking surface roads out of Atlanta.

But we’re sure glad he made it okay.
robertstacymccain
February 1st, 2014 @ 11:28 pm

“the weather service has predicted 14 of the last 3 major Atlanta snowfalls …”

Exactly — the Boy Who Cried Wolf Syndrome.

It’s analogous in some ways to what happened with New Orleans and Katrina — people had ignored storm warnings before and survived, and figured that this would be no different. Then the levee gave way and all bets were off.
CPAguy
February 1st, 2014 @ 11:29 pm

I liked the guys article at first…pretty funny. I used to live out that way. However, traffic is always snarled on the 10th & Peachtree as well as everywhere else in metro Atlanta…so I don’t see how he took that as a sign.

He totally jumped the shark with blaming racism on why the region hasn’t invested in light rail.

Atlanta already has a light rail system that nobody uses.
Mike G.
February 1st, 2014 @ 11:30 pm

I-285 was supposed to take the 18 wheel traffic, snort.
robertstacymccain
February 1st, 2014 @ 11:30 pm

Liberals believe in light rail the way Christians believe in Jesus. Light rail is salvation to them.
CPAguy
February 1st, 2014 @ 11:32 pm

The opening up of 400 was a god send. Of course, the traffic on 400 was the worst in the nation until they completed it, but I remembered the day they turned that sucker loose…it was like magic.
CPAguy
February 1st, 2014 @ 11:33 pm

As I recall. New Orleans actually survived the storm. It was the flooding that doomed it after the levee system failed…but it was Bush’s fault somehow.
Mike G.
February 1st, 2014 @ 11:39 pm

The outer perimeter, weren’t they going to use GA-20 for that? If I remember correctly…and it’s been 30 years since I lived down there…GA-20 circles all the way around Atlanta a few miles outside I-285.
Mike G.
February 1st, 2014 @ 11:45 pm

Bald tyres and little experience driving on slick roads were also cited…

There’s that too.
Finrod Felagund
February 1st, 2014 @ 11:47 pm

Yeah, the Outer Perimeter was going to go roughly where GA 20 is; in the northwest it was going to go around Cartersville, in the northeast it was going to cross I-985 and I-85 very near the Mall of Georgia, in the east it was going to go between Conyers and Covington, and in the south it was going to go very near the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Houston has 3 bypasses, Dallas, Memphis, Chicago, Louisville, and Oklahoma City all have 2 or parts of 2 bypasses. Atlanta more than any other city in the country needs another.
ChandlersGhost
February 2nd, 2014 @ 12:07 am

Next Slate article: “The Racism Behind Opposition to Light Rail.”
badanov
February 2nd, 2014 @ 12:10 am

Is it racist to point out the writer is white?
richard mcenroe
February 2nd, 2014 @ 12:13 am

Oh, yeah, Mistah Smartass Cracka Man? And just WHAT color that snow be? It be WHITE! That’s Raciss’!
Kirby McCain
February 2nd, 2014 @ 12:21 am

I did take the surface streets out. Burford Hwy south to Sidney Marcus to piedmont north to Wesley Drive which makes a straight line for Moores Mill. My plan was to use the East West Connector but it was hopelessly snarled. My Wave app showed another user on the Connector and they were still there when 285 moved at 7 a.m.
Katie Scarlet
February 2nd, 2014 @ 12:30 am

I’ve got about two feet of raaaaacism in my driveway right now with another 1/2 foot expected next week. Do you think I could get Toure to come over and straighten this out? We have extra shovels.
Kirby McCain
February 2nd, 2014 @ 12:39 am

The best explanation I’ve heard is that GEMA based on a early forecast which had the heaviest snow hitting middle Georgia moved it’s equipment south. A NWS update at 3 a.m. was missed or ignored. By the time the snow hit it was too late. The schools knocked off at noon so parents are leaving work to get to their kids. The state began closing offices at the same time. An announcement was made at Vital Records that it would take a bit longer because people were leaving to get their children. So all of this traffic hits the streets almost simultaneously. A true comedy of errors.
Kirby McCain
February 2nd, 2014 @ 12:44 am

Snowjam ’82 was followed by Snowsham ’83.
JeffS
February 2nd, 2014 @ 1:54 am

“But when regional disaster hits—whether it’s the years-long drought of a few years back, or this week’s snowstorm—that means umpteen local and state politicians have to work together on a deadline, putting aside their various ambitions and competing constituencies under adverse conditions in order to deal with a common threat.”

I’m going to offer some professional insight on this bullshit comment. And in the process, probably piss off some commenters here. But I’ve actually lived and worked through similar events, on larger and smaller scales. And I’ve seen this sort of whinging so many times that it sets my teeth on edge.

It’s difficult to lay out all of the problems in a forum like this, especially given the wide range of opinions and lack of understanding of how weather alerts and public notifications are supposed to work. A formal afteraction report, from an objective observer, would be better. So I’ll just give my own assessments … … …

The NWS issued their alert early in the morning, just before 4 AM. Schools buses don’t start picking up kids until, what, 7:30 AM? In this era of modern communications — Twitter, Facebook, radio, TV, texting, e-mails, etc — that is plenty of time to get the word out to the public. It happens frequently across the country, folks, and for a lot of weather related problems. School closures due to weather can and do happen all the time.

In fact, public information and warnings are considered a core capability of government under the National Response Framework — second one on the list.

(Yeah, I know — it’s the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. But it has a few uses, and this is one of them.)

So why didn’t this happen in Atlanta? Here’s are my opinions:

1. Winter storms of this sort are rare in Georgia. No one took the alerts seriously. Did they have reason to mistrust the local weather forecast office? I don’t know. I can only say that I just finished a 3 day trip to Boise, Idaho, and I watched the weather forecasts closely, as driving along I-84 in the winter can really suck. And those forecasts were quite reliable. As they usually are. Of course, I work with those meteorologists on various projects, so my confidence in their abilities is good. They can and do make errors, but they are only human, after all. They provide information, people make their judgments (or “risk assessments” in Newspeak).

2. Winter storms of this sort are rate in Georgia. People are not used to them. In other parts of the country, people would look outside, say “Oh, SHIT!”, and then check the news, and maybe call their employers about coming in late. Or putting on the chains, leaving early, and going slow. Or taking other actions that help them arrive at their destinations safely, and only a bit late. This means breaking normal routine. The residents in and around Atlanta went about their normal routine, with the results we’ve all seen.

In other words, some people were not used to this sort of situation, and made poor decisions due to their ignorance, with predictable results. This includes elected officials, appointed officials, permanent government employees, agency heads, news agencies, employers, employees, and anyone else who thought it a good idea to be on the road that day.

This is not a slam on any personally, including you, Kirby. It is my professional opinion, offered as a lesson learned, and it comes down to this: Ultimately, everyone is responsible for their own actions. So get less ignorant of the world around you.

(This even includes Obama, although it’ll take more than a freak winter storm to get his balls bitten — if Michelle doesn’t already have them in a jar, and under guard deep inside Cheyenne Mountain.)

IMHO, the minimum actions of public officials (at several levels) should have been, at the very least, put out the word that driving conditions might be treacherous, and drivers should drive slower than usual. And put cops on the road to remind them. Ain’t nothing like flashing lights to slow people down.

Alas, the emergency plans for the Atlanta area either didn’t consider winter storms to be a serious problem, or the local governments didn’t take their emergency plans seriously. So neither apparently happened, at least not enough to make a difference. And it’s possible that people would have ignored the warning — I see that even in areas that routinely get snow.

Of course, this wouldn’t have prevented all of the issues, but it could have mitigated them considerably. Because any driver experienced with ice and snow knows to drive slower when the roads are slick. Or stay home if you can.

The problem seems to be that people there simply aren’t used to this sort of event, the consequences were very severe, and everyone has reacted badly, especially the politicians, because this is sort of Charley Foxtrot that directly influences elections.

No? That’s what the Chicago Blizzard of 1979 did; a mayor won election because of this. And Illinois should be used to snow.

(I lived in Chicago from 1984 to 1989; people still complained about the problems caused by the 1979 storm.)

So I hope that when emotions settle down, people will draw the right conclusions from this mess, and learn a thing or two. That may be too much expect, but it could happen. I’ve seen it.
JeffS
February 2nd, 2014 @ 2:02 am

That’s true enough. Which only emphasizes the need to slow the f**k down when driving on ice. Or stay home.
JeffS
February 2nd, 2014 @ 2:09 am

I can’t say about the accuracy of your local weather forecast office, but I wouldn’t put much (if any) of the blame on them. It just may be that they may have more experience in warning about tornadoes than winter storms in your neck of the woods.

Up here in eastern Washington, it’s exactly the opposite. If we hear about a twister (and we *do* get them, mostly F0 and F1), we have at most a couple hours. Assuming that the local weather spotters aren’t calling in reports by e-mail and ham radio first. Snow storms, now, those are much more timely and accurate.
JeffS
February 2nd, 2014 @ 2:15 am

“A true comedy of errors”.

That’s a good description of the problem. And while I’m sitting on my butt kitty corner across the nation from you, I’d say that the weather warning was both missed AND ignored.

Missed by people who should have been alert to weather changes, and ignored by people who were alert, but were not thinking. A few minutes of thought early in the morning might have saved a lot of heartache and pain.
Adjoran
February 2nd, 2014 @ 3:19 am

Exactly right. But it was a couple of years later before the Corps of Engineers admitted in court it was actually their fault.

“Paul” at Wizbang had the story before anyone else. In a nutshell, the CoE ignored the needs of the levee system and the drainage effects of the surrounding delta and instead spent all their time and money improving commercial channels – which made matters worse by screwing up the natural defenses to surges and flooding.
Adjoran
February 2nd, 2014 @ 3:22 am

Just so. Atlanta has consistently stayed at least 20 years behind its road needs for half a century.

However it would be remiss to fail to give the Georgia Department of Transportation their proper respect. They get to as many traffic problem areas as they physically can, and make each one a little worse.
Adjoran
February 2nd, 2014 @ 3:30 am

No, their Jesus is high speed rail. Light rail is more like their Jimmy Swaggert – they know it doesn’t work, but they still kinda love it.
Adjoran
February 2nd, 2014 @ 3:30 am

The rule is: if you has to axe if it’s racist, it’s racist.
Adjoran
February 2nd, 2014 @ 3:34 am

Seriously, Miss Scarlet, how much work have you ever gotten out of someone with a Jeri Curl?

But you ever need someone to stare down a mirror and Obama’s not available, Touré is your guy.

And by “your guy,” I don’t mean you own him or anything, ’cause that would be racist.
Pablo
February 2nd, 2014 @ 7:45 am

We Yankees were laughing our asses off. We barely notice that much snow.
McGehee
February 2nd, 2014 @ 8:13 am

All together now: “Is there anything it can’t do?”
McGehee
February 2nd, 2014 @ 8:14 am

…until it does.
FredBeloit
February 2nd, 2014 @ 9:08 am

Ever hear of Tracy Thompson? Me either, accept for today. In “Slate” right now she argues basically that Southerners are all bigots and, therefore, they made it snow in Atlanta to punish black people. This is a pair of cards from the deck the libruls are now using, the race card AND the geography card.

But buried in her piece is a perfect description by someone named Cash of today’s libruls, though Cash wrote in the early 1940s:

Libruls have a “…suspicion toward new ideas, an incapacity for analysis, an inclination to act from feeling rather than from thought… And, of course, “too great an attachment to racial values”—or, so as not to mince words, racism.”

All of the above quote is taken quite out of the context of her bigoted article and aimed right back at her.
Delaney Coffer
February 2nd, 2014 @ 9:15 am

Snow had nothing to do with it.
Zohydro
February 2nd, 2014 @ 9:30 am

Glorious exposition, comrade…
Delaney Coffer
February 2nd, 2014 @ 9:31 am

” put out the word that driving conditions might be treacherous, and drivers should drive slower than usual.”

Plenty of people took that retarded gem to heart. That was the problem. Assholes stopping on an icy slope and then surprised they made themselves the front of a giant traffic jam. That whole thing was an exercise in mass stupidity and the fucking police only made it worse. I got from Fayetteville to Dawsonville (90 miles)in 6 hours because I ignored the assholes on the radio who were telling everyone to stay in the traffic jam. Driving on an inch of ice isn’t easy, but it can be done if you don’t have your head up your ass.
Zohydro
February 2nd, 2014 @ 9:33 am

It was the ice!
Kirby McCain
February 2nd, 2014 @ 10:01 am

I should have been back before the weather and traffic turned nasty. They announced that people were going home to get their kids and it would take a bit longer. They left one lady behind. When I got my birth certificate I told her how much I appreciated her staying. The delay however, proved costly.
Kirby McCain
February 2nd, 2014 @ 10:24 am

The final hangup was at the base of 6 Flags hill. There was ice on a fairly level spot giving the trucks problems. A man with a roll up was using the cable to assist the trucks. When a hole opened cars slipped through. Finally the guy situates his roll up so just cars can get through. And I was free at last. The hill notorious for its winter weather disposition had been treated and was very passable. Here’s the kicker, there were no cops there. John Q Citizen was doing all this on his own no help from Cobb freaking county.
Delaney Coffer
February 2nd, 2014 @ 10:35 am

Funny. When I finally made it back to Dawson County, every road in the whole county was pristine. Pretty nice.
richard mcenroe
February 2nd, 2014 @ 11:01 am

Just curious: did GA go Romney or O? I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time this Administration dicked over an unspportive state.
JeffS
February 2nd, 2014 @ 11:06 am

That’s an intelligent approach to a genuine problem. Much better than what my city did — they sold all of their snow plows (the sort that can be attached to the front of dump trucks) because “we don’t need them very often”.

Except that when they need them, they need them badly, the idiots.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
February 2nd, 2014 @ 11:11 am

I did laugh at the Soutern parody on SNL that described snow as “the devil’s dandruff” and “Connecticut confetti”
JeffS
February 2nd, 2014 @ 11:16 am

I’ll bet good money that the jams were caused by people who didn’t know how to drive on ice, period. Like people who stop on an icy slope.

It doesn’t take more than a few idiots to stop traffic dead for hours, especially during rush hour. Been there, done that.
JeffS
February 2nd, 2014 @ 11:20 am

Eh, you pays your money, you takes your chances. You came through all right, even if you were on the road all day.

There have been a couple times when I should have pulled over and gotten a room. I mind me a time when the drive from Snoqualmie Pass (the high point in the Cascades on I-90) to my home in Eastern Washington took 8 hours … … … and the normal drive time is maybe 3 hours.

That was a BAD night.
JeffS
February 2nd, 2014 @ 11:22 am

Heh! True, but I don’t know how Obama could have pulled this one off, unless Wronwright gave him the keys to the weather machine.
Delaney Coffer
February 2nd, 2014 @ 11:30 am

In 6 hours on the road listening to those jerks on the radio, not once did I hear them advise people at all about how to drive on ice. Nothing. How about “don’t stand on the brakes and expect to stop” or “don’t stand on the accelerator and expect to go forward”. These dipshits had a chance to be of some service and instead played the part of announcers at a Nascar race.
JeffS
February 2nd, 2014 @ 11:36 am

That’s exactly my point.
Finrod Felagund
February 2nd, 2014 @ 1:53 pm

Winter storm effects never last long in Atlanta. We’re five days out from when the snow hit and it’s 60F currently.
rmnixondeceased
February 2nd, 2014 @ 2:05 pm

heh. Katrina ‘victims’ should have listened: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOEQTJV_3-w