Vermont Now Fails at Winter

Here in northern Vermont yesterday, we had a typical late November morning. It was chilly, it snowed a little bit, and the roads got kind of icy.

This shouldn't be a big deal, but we've come to a point at which a critical mass of people have become too stupid to drive in the snow. Gridlock resulted. Over just an inch of snow. What is this, Atlanta?

A wet road, a snow flurry, and people panicked
themselves into this gridlock.

I'm willing to give a few people a pass. You can't afford snow tires? Well, OK, just do the best you can. Just moved to Vermont and you haven't figured out how to drive in the snow? OK, you'll learn.  But these types should only be in a tiny minority.

How do you explain the fact that enough people sped, spun and twirled their way on the roads to gum up the works completely. Most of these people have lived in Vermont for years. You haven't realized yet that winter happens here?

It's been getting worse here, year after year with incompetent winter drivers. I wonder what happened?  Did common sense go out the window? Did Congress pass a law in which we now must go 30 mph over the speed limit on glare ice while texting, putting on makeup, drinking coffee and eating Dunkin Donuts?

Because it seems that's what everybody is doing.

Well, actually, I'd imagine most people out there are still OK at driving in winter. Which means the dumb ones made thousands of us late for work, irritated, and broke, since we burned off tankfulls of gasoline just crawling along out there on the highway.

It's becoming an embarrassment, this winter incompetence. We Vermonters had a reputation as winter ready and tough, ready for any kind of cold season blast. I remember about two decades ago, a blizzard billed as "storm of the century" was considered "storm of the weekend" here in Vermont.

Now, we wilt like a petunia in Minsk in January at the first sign of a snow flurry. It's sad.

I know I'm going to be painted as a hypocrite when people read this, since it also has a brief video I took of the gridlock on a wet, non icy highway amid light, inconsequential snow flurries. But in my defense, the traffic was moving more slowly than the pace at which I usually walk, and I kept a big distance between my truck and the car in front of me.

Here's the vid:




It's going to be a long winter. Now I know when it snows, even if it's just the lightest flurry, I have to leave for work two hours before I'd normally need to because Dumb Winter Driver will spin out on the Interstate, clueless as to why going 100 mph through a snow squall is a bad idea. (Somebody in central Vermont actually did this Saturday, and was cited into court for reckless driving. Duh.)

Please, Dumb Winter Drivers: Don't drive all winter. Just hibernate. Or move to Florida. Please. We won't miss you. Trust us.

We have a couple of flurries going on outside now. It's snowing at a rate of about three snowflakes per hour. Which means people will panic, and it'll take me three hours to get home tonight, a trip that normally takes a half hour. Sigh.