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Better day today
Dec. 1st, 2004 10:32 amThe roads are much better today. The ice is confined to the sides of the road where the plows could get (because of all the parked cars). I found out why the roads were so bad. The storm didn't take the road crews by surprise. They decided not to pre-deice the roads (apply deicer pre-emptively). And, after seeing what a mess yesterday was, they have said they would do it the same way again. Myself, I think they were trying to save on overtime (wait until the morning's shift started).
Here was the tally for yesterday: 1 1/2 inches of snow and over 60 collisions responded to by city police. There were uncounted others (including Buster) that are not in that number. A spokesperson for the police said that the number of wrecks was a result of people forgetting how to drive in snow and going too fast for conditions. Given that there were no serious injuries, I think that "forgetting how to drive in snow" was not the problem. Too fast for conditions...is 5 mph too fast? If so, then all city roads should have been closed.
Anyway, I think that in situations like this, where the government commits to a plan of action that negatively affects public safety, it should be held accountable in the same way businesses and individuals are. I think (and not because I am one of the people whose car was hit) that the government should be able to be sued for the consequences of its decision. I mean, having decided not to prepare the roads for the storm, they could have asked people to stay off the roads, but they didn't. They waited until they were getting too many calls in an area, then closed the road. Great planning.
S
Here was the tally for yesterday: 1 1/2 inches of snow and over 60 collisions responded to by city police. There were uncounted others (including Buster) that are not in that number. A spokesperson for the police said that the number of wrecks was a result of people forgetting how to drive in snow and going too fast for conditions. Given that there were no serious injuries, I think that "forgetting how to drive in snow" was not the problem. Too fast for conditions...is 5 mph too fast? If so, then all city roads should have been closed.
Anyway, I think that in situations like this, where the government commits to a plan of action that negatively affects public safety, it should be held accountable in the same way businesses and individuals are. I think (and not because I am one of the people whose car was hit) that the government should be able to be sued for the consequences of its decision. I mean, having decided not to prepare the roads for the storm, they could have asked people to stay off the roads, but they didn't. They waited until they were getting too many calls in an area, then closed the road. Great planning.
S