Nervous Nelly

Kellybeth124

My 18 year old brother is driving home from school in a snowstorm and I'm so freaking worried about him. He goes to college 5 hours away in the NC mountains and the snow is coming down pretty hard up there. A) He's a bit of a nervous driver as is and he has almost no experience driving in the snow since we don't get that much in the middle part of the state. He called me to tell me that he's driven all of 20 miles and he's been driving for an hour because it's a small highway and traffic is bad leaving campus. UGH.

Tell me it's going to be ok and that I should stop panicking. 

stjoespirit04

Kellybeth124:

My 18 year old brother is driving home from school in a snowstorm and I'm so freaking worried about him. He goes to college 5 hours away in the NC mountains and the snow is coming down pretty hard up there. A) He's a bit of a nervous driver as is and he has almost no experience driving in the snow since we don't get that much in the middle part of the state. He called me to tell me that he's driven all of 20 miles and he's been driving for an hour because it's a small highway and traffic is bad leaving campus. UGH.

Tell me it's going to be ok and that I should stop panicking. 

Tell him to chill out at school, wait it out, and it'll be melted by tomorrow. You silly North Carolinian's and your worrying about powder I'm expecting almost a foot on Sunday. Ick.

hawkilady

Ugh... driving in the snow sucks.  If you talk to him again, tell him to stay in the slow line, drive slow and stay off his cell phone.  If he's nervous and inexperienced the last thing he needs is a distraction and if something does happen, he'll need battery power.  It will likely take him forever to get home, but I'm sure he'll be ok.  The good news is it sounds like traffic is bad enough that he's forced to go slow which will prevent any major catastrophes.

Leigha12

Agreed with hawki. If you talk to him again, don't! lol  He'll be fine. Just tell him to stay off the phone (and plug it in if he has a car charger) and to take it slow. If he starts to worry, it's okay to pull over.

Kellybeth124

He can't stay at school, the dorms close today and everyone has to go home for break, hence the traffic (but yes, hopefully this will force him to go slow).

The problem w/ snow in NC is that we don't really have the resources to keep the roads cleared like you folks up north so driving becomes terrible, especially on secondary roads. It also melts a little bit in the afternoons and then turns to an ice slick over night which is no bueno. A foot of snow here in Raleigh would shut everything down, no joke. For example, the city with the highest viewership of the President's inauguration back in January was Raleigh-Durham. Why? We got a foot of snow the night before and into that morning and absolutely everyone stayed home.

Leigha12

Kellybeth124:

The problem w/ snow in NC is that we don't really have the resources to keep the roads cleared like you folks up north so driving becomes terrible, especially on secondary roads. It also melts a little bit in the afternoons and then turns to an ice slick over night which is no bueno. A foot of snow here in Raleigh would shut everything down, no joke. For example, the city with the highest viewership of the President's inauguration back in January was Raleigh-Durham. Why? We got a foot of snow the night before and into that morning and absolutely everyone stayed home.

If it makes you feel any better about this part, an inch of snow will shut down Austin.  As will the slightest ice accumulation. Same reason--we don't have the resources to handle it. We only have enough sand/salt for overpasses and bridges, and people don't know how to drive in it, and don't have the necessary equipment on our car.  We generally get shut down for a couple days every 2-3 years because of a thin ice layer.

Kellybeth124

Yeah, Raleigh is the same way. I remember in 2000 we got 2 feet of snow in early March and we were out of school for over a week.

angelfire0412

He will be ok! Just put positive thoughts on his trip home instead of worrying, negative ones

I hate worrying about family members too...?

clarisa_b

He'll be forced to drive slow, so that's a good thing. He'll be okay, stop panicking.

hawkilady

Louisville gets shut down with too much snow too... I think its more dangerous driving in it in places that it doesnt happen too often because people do stupid things because they dont know any better.  I grew up in Iowa so I know how to drive in the snow, but here, I stay off the roads as much as possible to avoid the others who dont.

I remember in college when they shut the dorms down over Thanksgiving break freshman year and a bunch of people were stuck because there was a huge snowstorm in Buffalo/Erie and people couldnt go home, flights were cancelled etc.  The school got in big trouble for turning off the power on kids who had nowhere to go because of the storms.  There were several lawsuits filed and the dorms were never fully shut down again.

LarkNow

Leigha12:

If it makes you feel any better about this part, an inch of snow will shut down Austin. 

This is also true for Los Angeles, except insert "rain" for "snow."