Why Southern People Don't Drive in the Snow

Summer didn’t officially start until June 20th, but we’ve been feeling the heat in the Nashville and Florida offices for a while now. That’s why we’re doing our best to keep ourselves cool by thinking winter thoughts. 

Does it work? We’re not sure yet. We’ll let you know. In the meantime, to keep up those efforts, let’s talk about why southern people don’t drive in the snow. While we’re at it, let’s take a minute to appreciate the people who do drive in the snow: truck drivers. 

Where Do You Think Our Infrastructure Dollars are Going? 

image description: an icy road surrounded by trees

At our Nashville and Florida locations, we probably have a different definition of “winter” than the people at the Chicago, West Virginia, and Michigan offices. In Tennessee, we get roughly two weeks of what passes for winter, and when that happens, schools close. Businesses have people working from home. There are only three types of  people who leave their houses: those who have to, people who moved here from the Midwest, and people who insist on wearing shorts all the time for some reason. 

Nobody else is going anywhere. If you grew up in a place that required you to tunnel your way to school with a spoon, you’re probably judging us for that. But hear us out. When you only get a little snow and ice, the infrastructure dollars aren’t going to snow plows. It makes way more sense for us to put that money into air conditioner maintenance. It’s genuinely more cost effective to shut everything down when there’s snow on the ground than to invest in snow plows and salt trucks that spend most of their time in a garage. 

Those who drive the existing snow plows are doing their best, but they don’t have a lot to work with. Which means that even though there’s not much ice, the ice that we do get is going to stick around and make the roads very, very slippery. 

Practice, Practice, Practice 

image description: a car on an icy road with trees on either side and a house and garage on the right

Let’s say you wanted to learn to play the piano. To get good at it, you’d have to practice. The key here is consistency. You’d need to practice on a regular basis, or you wouldn’t get anywhere. 

Now, imagine that after two weeks of practice, your piano vanished. One day it’s there, and the next day it’s gone. Don’t worry. It’ll be back for exactly two weeks next year. You can practice again when it shows up. 

Do you think you’d be able to get good at the piano this way? Of course not. 

Driving in the snow is a skill. Skills require practice. You can practice wintertime driving in the South, but you don’t exactly get a lot of opportunity to do that. By the time the snow arrives again the next year, you would have already forgotten everything that you’ve learned. 

The Hills of Tennessee: Great for Sledding, Bad for Driving  

image description: a road with several hills surrounded by trees

There are three things Tennessee is famous for: Dolly Parton, food, and steep hills. That third thing is another reason why we don’t drive in the snow. Hitting a patch of ice is bad enough when the ground is flat. Hitting a patch of ice while driving downhill is a recipe for disaster. As we already established, we don’t even get to practice dealing with these conditions on flat ground, let alone at the top of a hill. 

Thank You, Truck Drivers 

image description: a semi truck driving on the highway on a snowy day

Of course, there’s one group of people who handle all kinds of weather conditions, including snow in the South: truck drivers. They’re the reason why we still have food, fuel, and other essentials, no matter what the weather does. 

Truck drivers are also out on the road when temperatures skyrocket. Items like air conditioning units, ice makers, and electrolyte drinks had to be shipped before they made it to our homes. 

So, while we’re trying to stay cool, we want to take a minute to thank the people who help make it possible. We couldn’t do it without you.