West Texas weather lately has seemed decidedly Canadian – Cold and Icy. Yankees make fun of us for closing schools and complaining about a mere "dusting" of snow and a few hours of icy sleet. But we didn't move here to shovel snow or apply tire chains.
When snow or ice do make an appearance, we expect it to be a cameo. But we recently had 2 weekends with icy roads. The first day that stuff arrived the Abilene Police department worked over 100 collisions. Since population here is roughly 100,000. That means an accident affected at least one person out of every 500 (if 2 vehicles were involved in each). We learned from it and most of us decided to hibernate when the second storm hit.
Hibernation was nice. But it does have a side effect known as "cabin fever." Once the roads were mostly clear folks grabbed at the chance to get out of the house.
Because storms like this are rare, we don't have the equipment for them. Most of us lack the experience of driving in such slick conditions. And even if we have the experience we know that other drivers don't. We don't have chains or studded tires to handle the ice. Street and highway departments don't have the equipment to clear roads and keep them clear. So as long as the electricity and gas are flowing, I'll continue to recommend hibernation.
When snow or ice do make an appearance, we expect it to be a cameo. But we recently had 2 weekends with icy roads. The first day that stuff arrived the Abilene Police department worked over 100 collisions. Since population here is roughly 100,000. That means an accident affected at least one person out of every 500 (if 2 vehicles were involved in each). We learned from it and most of us decided to hibernate when the second storm hit.
Hibernation was nice. But it does have a side effect known as "cabin fever." Once the roads were mostly clear folks grabbed at the chance to get out of the house.
Because storms like this are rare, we don't have the equipment for them. Most of us lack the experience of driving in such slick conditions. And even if we have the experience we know that other drivers don't. We don't have chains or studded tires to handle the ice. Street and highway departments don't have the equipment to clear roads and keep them clear. So as long as the electricity and gas are flowing, I'll continue to recommend hibernation.
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