Preparation

There are always stories about how much athletes prepare for games and how much time they spend watching film on their opponents, but who prepares the most for what they have to face? Certainly not city government officials! We just had a, for a better term, blizzard in southeastern Virginia. For the area it was a blizzard. Everyone was watching its progress across the country. Every one heard stories about how much snow it was dumping on its way east—except for Hampton Roads city governments/VDOT. Everyone prepared for it except them. They didn’t prepare for it by spreading salt or even sand—which we have an abundance of. When the snow fell it stuck and no snow plows were in sight. No evidence of them on any streets, highways or even the interstate. You’d think if they would plow anything it would be the major veins of transportation in and out of the area, but no. My wife and I drove over to Chesapeake (20-30 minute drive), but this Saturday it took over an hour. The roads were covered and people were forced to drive very carefully so as not to fishtail and wreck. There was no clear indication of lanes. There was one lane where there should have been three, and that one lane didn’t reside within its designated lines—it weaved slowly over the entire space of the highway. The snow stayed on the highways through Saturday and Sunday and schools closed, business closed and the government closed down Monday. They could have gotten it cleared by Monday easily. I enjoyed having the day off, but schools are still out today. Why, because VDOT does not know how to prepare. They could have called in trucks from other areas, they could have contracted out to local companies, but no they decided to let us risk our own lives to try and get anywhere—that is a bit drastic, but they didn’t do much to help out the people they are paid to service. Maybe in the future they’ll learn from their mistakes—but I doubt that.