The only real explanation for why am one of the dozens of people in Northern Virginia that knows how to drive in the snow is because I spent four years of my life going to college in Rockingham County. During the winter down there snow was a regular occurrence and everyone knew how to deal with it. There was none of the Northern Virginia escapades of drives either making themselves an obstacle by over reacting or being a hazard by pretending nothing was going on. The normal flow of traffic dropped by about ten miles an hour and everyone went along with it, and when there was an incident the emergency responders knew how to deal with it.
That was my main issue this morning. I knew there would be plenty of idiots on the road and I knew there would be incidents, but I had to be where I had to be and venturing out in this mess wasn't an option. In Rockingham County an army of sand trucks would have been out through the night and plows would have been working overtime to keep the roads clear and nothing would be shutdown for 4-6 inches of snow. It would've been life as normal, but Fairfax County isn't Rockingham County and my only home was that most people would stay in their homes.
The roads for part of the way were somewhat clear of traffic and clear of snow as well. It was just the side and back roads where we were going to have any sort of issue, and that is where I ended up running into this issue and the first responder devoid of any knowledge of how to do his job or of how emergency personnel in places that routinely receive snow would've done his job.
I get off of 66 onto 28 following the tire tracks that had already been laid even though they had no real clear lane designation to them. This got me onto Braddock Road and this is where traffic stopped. I sat in the traffic wondering what was going on and watching traffic in the left lane move by. As cars in front of me got impatient waiting for some sort of direction started to turn around I moved closer to the front of traffic and saw a police car blocking the right lane. Traffic from the left side of the road was getting by, but the cop wouldn't get out of his warm and toasty car to stop that traffic and let the traffic on the right go by.
Eventually all the cars in front of me had grown tired of waiting for direction and turned around. Now that I was the first in line I had a decision to make. I could turn around like everyone else and make the several u-turns required to get to where I needed to go or I could drive around the police car into what I thought was an open left lane, as traffic from that lane had been getting by. Since only the right lane was blocked I went around the police car and proceeded towards my destination. After about 50 or so feet I came to a car stopped in a ditch and a tow truck backing across the left lane to pull it out.
After a couple of minutes the police officer came up to my window and asked for it to be rolled down. This was not a nice police officer ready to help me out of this predicament this was one that wanted to fuss at me. He asked me why I would go around his car when his lights were flashing and I told him he was only blocking the right lane, and then he asked if I saw everyone else turn around and I told him I figured they were just impatient jerks and that he wasn't giving any sort of directions.
He asked me why I wouldn't turn around if everyone else was and I told him I couldn't really get where I was going if I turned around and he still seemed stuck on this point that everyone else turned around. I wanted to give my mother's response of if everyone jumped off a cliff but thought better of it. He then told me I lacked common sense and threatened I would end up in the ditch next. I informed him that I was fine waiting for the incident to be cleared and that when it was I would downshift my car and drive around the corner slowly. I should have informed him I had driven over Afton Mountain in a blizzard but he may have thought this one curve road and 4-6 inches of snow the same.
As it turns out the tow truck drives knew more of how to direct people in the snow than the police officer. They got the car back into the road and then got more business as an impatient jerk on the other side attempted to turn around and got himself stuck (when driving in the snow momentum is key and turning around isn't something I consider a good idea and this is why). Seeing as they were going to be there awhile longer they moved enough and waved me by. I downshifted and went slowly around the corner and made it to where I needed to be and then back home without any further incident.
Knowing how to drive in the snow is a useful skill and the one skill I learned in college that I still use. On this morning though being an impatient Northern Virginian might have benefited me more, but despite what that police officer thinks it is my opinion that being patient and cautious is a better way to drive in the snow than impatient and in a hurry. If he had taken the time to get out of his warm and toasty car to tell people to turn around or to let them through in the open lane before the tow truck started its business then the situation would've been handled better, but he failed at his job as emergency personnel and only made matters worse. This type of knowledge can only come from experience and in Northern Virginia there simply isn't that much experience to be had with mild winter weather and therefore there is the need to turn any winter weather into a major incident.
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