While Roadguy was bemoaning this week’s snow-related traffic woes, he faced a pileup of his own yesterday: his spam filter went haywire and temporarily blocked most reader comments. Fortunately, the comments weren’t deleted and were posted by midafternoon, so you can check them out here if you didn’t get the chance.

A few comments on the comments:

• I agree with the folks who preached the virtues of better tires. I bought new ones last year (see post here), and while they aren’t snow tires, they’ve been a huge improvement. As alert reader Newt said, “Yes, it costs money. Yes, your wages are flat. Suck it up and buy them.” Indeed, and they’re cheaper than your next deductible.
• I think I at least partly understand alert reader Laurie’s point about not wanting to brake when it’s slick. As a driver of a stick-shift vehicle, I can ease up on the gas to slow my car down, making it easier to keep from skidding. Automatic transmission cars that go forward even without any gas-pedal pressure always seem like they require too much braking to me, especially when the pavement is slick.
• Major creativity points go to alert reader Fehler, who proposed snow delays for grown-ups: “Pass a law that states a person living more than 10 miles from their place of employment cannot be fired or otherwise disiplined for appearing 15-30 minutes late during ‘commute emergencies’ as declared by the commissioner of transportation or the governor.” But would bosses agree?

I also received a few snow-related e-mails, including one from a colleague who found these stats in a MnDOT shift report from Tuesday: 251 snowplows were available, 164 were out on the road, and there were 184 personnel available for the first shift. So MnDOT wasn’t going full tilt, but as officials have noted, putting more plows onto non-moving highways is no guarantee of improved conditions.

One of the many lingering questions on Roadguy’s to-answer list: Is Minnesota really opposed to putting sand on the roads because it’s too messy? (And if so, should we all chip in for a really big Shop-Vac?) Fortunately, we’ve got several sunny, snow-free days to consider the matter — and the shorter commutes will leave you with more time to share your thoughts.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 8th, 2007 at 6:10 am and is filed under Transportation conversations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.