Beware Southern Drivers During Snowstorms

First of all, there are no snowstorms as far south as I live even though the slightest flurry causes everyone to rush to the store and clean the shelves of bread, milk and batteries. It is not safe to be on the road with these fanatics or in the stores, where you may get trampled by the hoards running to stock up on food stuffs they will not be able to cook or keep cold. Never ceases to amaze me that the scenario is always the same. Mr./Mrs. Weatherman swears up and down that snow is coming so children are sent home from school and classes are canceled for the next day only to find the sun shining and kids disappointed there is no snow. These 'snow days' are allowed by the school board which decides if they have to be made up or not.

Then there is the problem of moms and dads in the work force that may get sent home, also. Some are not salaried so they lose pay. And there is the over night wait and see for the next day if work will continue as scheduled, be canceled for part of the day or the entire day. If schools are dismissed but moms and dads are not, then who takes care of the kids. If you do not have paid time off, you have to find someone to tend to kids if the workplace did not cancel. So everyone sits in front of the TV not watching their favorite program but the ticker tape running at the bottom of the screen announcing school closings.

At least 5 or 6 times during the 'winter' they make these snow-is-coming announcements. Someone should hold them responsible for the chaos that ensues with these afterwards. We are now the brunt of jokes by those living in parts of the country that really do have snowstorms to deal with.

Something even more strange about Southern drivers (and I do not remember seeing this in any of the many cities I have lived in) is the reckless driving when it rains. We see rain quite often here so why should that cause drivers to become even more dangerous to be around? You have to guard your rear by keeping one eye on your rear view mirror at all times because the driver behind you has not allowed enough time to stop on the wet street.

At this point, you close your eyes and cringe begging God to stop their car in time. It also means when the crazy driver in front of you slams on their brakes for some unknown reason, you chance rear ending them and causing a 14 car pileup because all the drivers behind you are either doing the same or may be on their cell phone instead of watching what is going on around them.

To lighten up for a minute, let me mention the use or misuse of blinkers which were intended to let other drivers know when you were going to make a turn which may or may not be a legal turn. No true Southerner uses their blinkers. If you get behind someone sporting a license plate from a Southern state with their blinker on, the blinker was on when they bought the car.

Here we have Drivers Ed 101: Skipping Red Lights. Everywhere else in the country, green is for go, yellow is caution to prepare to stop and red means you STOP—period. If your light turns green and you have not looked both ways more than once before you proceed, you may be slammed into by a driver running their red light at a very high rate of speed.

The rest of the country thinks we are kind of slow talking, slow walking, easy going and soft spoken. Visitors are in for a rude awakening if they intend to venture South of the Mason-Dixon Line in a motor vehicle. If you are going to attempt such a thing, make sure your emergency kits are up to date—flares, those orange reflectors you put on the road hoping drivers go around you while rubber necking whatever reason you are stopped. Have your id ready along with your insurance card.

Also God forbid you are in an accident, use that cell phone you are not supposed to be talking on while driving to take pictures of the damage to your car, the street locations, the other driver's car (especially the license plate) and the other driver, if possible. If the other driver produces any kind of id or insurance card, take pictures of those, also. More than likely the other driver is one of those you see on True TV that disappears before or when the police arrive because there are warrants out for them or at the least, they are illegally driving with a suspended license and no insurance even though they showed you both. Are you beginning to see a trend here? When you take the picture of the driver's license and insurance card, check the expiration dates on both.

Other than that “Y'all come back now!”

The author was born and raised in the South so she is an expert on Southern drivers. She is a social media enthusiast with blogs and on Facebook. She has a business entitled Cattle on 1000 Hills but she does not sell cattle or land. She would love to talk with you more about her internet marketing business at http://cattleon1000hills.com/?site=VSophiaR You will not see the author at this site as she has enlisted the help of a friend to tell you her amazing story which is not unique to this business.

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