Stuck on I20 EB 14 hours, still sitting.

Hiking Hunter wrote:

edatlanta wrote:
What an idiot he is.

Ed, why is the governor an idiot?

For causing the bad weather? ...no.

I agree he is not at fault here.

For totally blowing the forecast? ... no.

I agree with you here. The weather forecasters don't get it right most of the time either.

For saying what he did about having people who can help? ... no, because ALDOT and the Division of Public Safety do have people who can help. In fact, in the larger cities they have road patrols for public assistance.

This is where we do disagree. All he succeeded in doing is overloading the various 911 centers with calls that there were no resources to help. And where the resources were available they couldn't get to the person calling for one of several reasons. The 911 centers were so backed up that the call wasn't answered promptly and/or the traffic jams were so bad the emergency vehicles couldn't get there. I have first person experience with one 911 center in the Birmingham area. During a normal day they take 300-400 calls. In one 12 hour period after the governor's comment the took 1,500 calls. Most of these were I'm stuck. Who is going to help?

What he should have said was we know there are those stuck on the interstates, etc. We are working at fast as possible to get you out where you can move again. This would not give false hope to those stuck and would keep 911 centers more able to take calls from the true emergencies. Being stuck on an interstate is not an emergency all the time. I am also aware of the road patrols in larger areas. Keep in mind these couldn't help in a lot of cases due to ice and also major traffic jams. Where are they going to drive and what will the do when and if they get to the person that called.

So, Im curious as to why you think he is an idiot?