God Help Us All! It's Snowing in DC!

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#21

I’ve lived in the DC area my entire life and I’ve seen a lot of snow, so I hope you’ll indulge my mini-rant. My problem isn’t with the people who don’t drive well in the snow. My real problem is being subjected to comments about how “people in this area just can’t drive” and “everybody’s going to run to the store and stock up milk, bread and toilet paper”. These comments might very well be true, but they don’t have to be repeated every fucking time it snows. It’s just not witty anymore. Are you going to follow up with the laff-riot “Why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways” comment?

Here’s why the driving is so bad: Relatively few people grew up in snowy areas. Because of the large government and military presence there are people from all over the country who move here for brief periods. The folks from Hawaii simply aren’t going to handle snow very well.

I hate that things get screwy when it snows. But please, I beseech my fellow Washington-area Dopers, retire the bad driving and grocery store comments.

Thank you.

#22

I don’t think people are trying to be witty; they have a legitimate complaint about the terrible driving and the panic mode into which people in this area seem to go whenever there is a hint of a flake falling from the sky. If the comments are “very well true,” as you said, then how can you be offended by them? People will continue to make the comments until the bad driving and the panicking disappear - i.e, never. :slight_smile:

It may not snow all over the country, but I bet there are more people in places where it does sometime snow than in places where it never, ever snows. (This covers just the U.S., though; I can’t say how many foreign-born people from non-snowing lands are in this area.) Besides, if by not handling snow very well you mean “driving at an excessive rate of speed,” these people cannot use ignorance as an excuse. If I moved to the mountains tomorrow, I would be more careful, not less careful, when driving on those twisty, dangerous roads.

#23

I’m not offended by the comments, I’m just sick of hearing them. The comments are usually made with the implication that the speaker is a great driver surrounded by idiots. Congratulations. I’ve never been in a weather-related accident in my life, but I don’t feel the need for affirmation by talking about other drivers.

I think the issue is whether more people live in areas with significant amounts of snow. Sure, it snows on occasion in Georgia, but probably not enough to make good snow drivers. On the other hand, people from Rochester will drive better because it snows often enough that they get a lot of practice.

Again, I’m as annoyed as you that the place becomes paralyzed by snow. I’m simply asking for the retirement of certain hackneyed responses.

#24

My car is still buried under the 4-5" we got in Rockville. I took the Metro and then the Montgomery County Ride-On bus to get home last night. The roads were paved and the sidewalks shoveled.

This morning, all the roads looked fine and my car is still buried. I probably won’t extract it until tomorrow, sometime.

But, anyway, I’m spoiled by public transportation. My car, a VW Golf, is a trooper in the snow. Never had a problem with it.

I love snow! :slight_smile:

#25

huh? We’ve already had 2 or 3 snowfalls where it was deeper than this already this winter. And I live in Centreville.

#26

My life was relatively unaffected, until I decided to pop in to the local bar. My observation: people not fully accustomed to snow like to do shots of Goldschlager when it does snow. And they’re more than happy to buy them for anyone sitting in close proximity.

My head hurts, and it’s entirely too bright outside.

#27

I knew it!

#28

Yeah, I meant to tell you that that term is well known to my crowd, and we don’t live anywhere close.