Southern rednecks and ND snow are a recipe for disaster.

[Bigjon]

This is a picture of US Hwy #2 between Minot and Williston after about a two inch snowfall. A lot of rednecks from the south who've never seen snow and have no idea how to drive on it. The oil patch is rocking, and vehicles are rolling- I'm told it's like a war zone out there!

With all of the oil workers in this part of the state (many who have never driven in snow!) they are already seeing a huge number of accidents with the minimal snowfall!

So if you are planning any trips anywhere where oil development is high I would definitely recommend giving yourself additional times due to the weather, terrible roads AND un-seasoned drivers!

[MNeagle]

That's worth a big screen:

http://gold-silver.us/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1747&d=1323133814

[Libertytree]

I'm a southern redneck and I can drive better than fine on a snowy and an icy road too. Where's a link to exactly who was driving and where they are from? Did you by chance get to interview any of the drivers and learn they're all from the south...and rednecks to boot?!

[osoab]

I would have to cut the fence if I was stuck in that.

[po boy]

I'm a southern redneck and I can drive better than fine on a snowy and an icy road too. Where's a link to exactly who was driving and where they are from? Did you by chance get to interview any of the drivers and learn they're all from the south...and rednecks to boot?!


Kind of reminds me of all the snowbirds who put on the hazards on i-75 during a rainstorm,you would think if they could drive in snow rain wouldn't be a problem.

[Bigjon]

I'm a southern redneck and I can drive better than fine on a snowy and an icy road too. Where's a link to exactly who was driving and where they are from? Did you by chance get to interview any of the drivers and learn they're all from the south...and rednecks to boot?!

Well I have another story from the south. My parents went to visit some relatives in Baton Rouge and on the return trip, they stayed overnight at the Peabody in Memphis (the place with the ducks). On the next morning a snowstorm had blown in to Memphis and as my dad was checking out they expressed concern that no one should travel in this kind of weather. Dad said he met all of 3 cars on the trip between Memphis and St.Louis and the roads were just fine with just a little snow blowing across them.

What hppened to the spell checker?

[LuckyStrike]

Well I have another story from the south. My parents went to visit some relatives in Baton Rouge and on the return trip, they stayed overnight at the Peabody in Memphis (the place with the ducks). On the next worning a snowstorm had blown in to Memphis and as my dad was checking out they expressed concern that no one should travel in this kind of weather. Dad said he met all of 3 cars on the trip between Memphis and St.Louis and the roads were just fine with just a little snow blowing across them.

1749

[Bigjon]

Kind of reminds me of all the snowbirds who put on the hazards on i-75 during a rainstorm,you would think if they could drive in snow rain wouldn't be a problem.

I've been there, done that and usually it is some little old lady from New York in a big Cadillac who can't see over the steering wheel driving in the middle of the of two lanes at 10 miles per hour.

[Dogman]

It is a hoot , to watch people here drive after it snows. Normally it may snow maybe once a year and only a couple of inches, maybe every 10 years or so we will get more. Snow today and it is gone tomorrow. But most people here do not have the experience to drive in it and always drive too dam fast for the conditions and follow way the hell too close. Dallas is a kill zone, demolition derby dam near during and after any kind of snow.

[po boy]

I've been there, done that and usually it is some little old lady from New York in a big Cadillac who can't see over the steering wheel driving in the middle of the of two lanes at 10 miles per hour.


Yep we have lots of 'em.

[mightymanx]

It's the same In the Seattle area when it snows.

Last year durring the "snopocalapse" (5 inches over 5 days)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5ft097tgr0&feature=related

[Sparky]

I've been driving in snow my whole life, but I gotta tell ya...

Looking at that picture, that's about the most treacherous situation possible, i.e. coming up over a rise and heading down a long incline with no wind barrier. Before you come over that hill, you have no idea what's ahead of you, so it just takes one small mistake by one person to bring down the whole crowd, and there's no way out.

I remember coming over a hill like that once on a 3-lane highway. The guy next to me slipped a tiny bit, and barely tipped the guy on the other side of him. I continued down the hill, and looked in my rear few mirror and saw about a dozen cars behind me coming down the hill spinning like tops. One small nudge had cause a major chain reaction. My heart was pounding knowing it had all happened just a split second behind me.

[Twisted Titan]

So its snowing in the oil patches and thousands are flocking to area with unforgivable weather and terrain for work in a state that had less then a million people with dismal inferstructure



That sounds about right for a massive disater

[Dogman]

http://www.google.com/search?q=can+nicotine+cause+nipples+to+fall+off&num=50&hl=en&safe=off&prmd=imvnsu&source=lnms&ei=SQjeTuGDAu-DsAK_6PyqBw&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=1&ved=0CBYQ_AUoAA&biw=1252&bih=605


1750

[chad]

i don't even bother plowing the road unless it snows 4 inches.

[freespirit]

i don't even bother plowing the road unless it snows 4 inches.

when i lived in western canada, if it snowed anything under 4" they didn't even tell you about it. but then it wasn't uncommon to get over 6-12" of snow overnight.

[Sparky]

I can tell you that the amount of snow is not always the biggest factor in terms of accidents. The important factors are how wet/dry the snow is, the road surface temperature, and the timing relative to commuter traffic. Waking up to 8 inches of dry snow can be less much treacherous that 2 inches of wet snow falling onto super-cooled pavement during the drive-time commute when the plows and sanding trucks can't move around effectively. And freezing rain (rain falling onto super-cooled surfaces) usually trumps any snow situation.

[Bigjon]

I'm a southern redneck and I can drive better than fine on a snowy and an icy road too. Where's a link to exactly who was driving and where they are from? Did you by chance get to interview any of the drivers and learn they're all from the south...and rednecks to boot?!

This was an email sent to me by a buddy who is from a place north of Minot. They are his words, not mine. Edit actually the words might be from someone unknown who originated the email, not real sure.

Sorry, i'm not trying to offend all you southerners.

[Libertytree]

This was an email sent to me by a buddy who is from a place north of minot. They are his words, not mine. Edit actually the words might be from someone unknown who originated the email, not real sure.

Sorry, i'm not trying to offend all you southerners.

I wasn't offended Bigjon, not at all...just sayin.

I spent a Dec and Jan in NJ and PA and I saw plenty of stupidity when it snowed, froze rain and I'm thinking to myself, you'd think these people would know how to do this but the fact is there's shitty drivers everywhere in every imaginable situation. It still blows my mind that people that here in Fl try and drive 70-80 mph in a torrential downpour and I won't even start the whole spiel about the seniors down here "trying" to drive.

[Old Herb Lady]

Just because somebody lives in an area that gets ALOT of snow doesn't mean they know how to drive in it even if they've lived in it all their lives. Liberty Tree got it spot on.

If there's idiots out in the world in everyday general circumstances, they come out tenfold when it snows.

Around here they're like YEEEHAWWW cuz they got them some snow tires & some beer and they're all headed to the store to buy out all the TP & bread .

[Tumbleweed]

I've driven in North Dakota and Montana in the winter time with an eighteen wheeler and driven through stalled vehicles like the one in this op. Lots of people with suv's that think because they have 4 wheel drives they are safe and can go like hell. They're not. People drive in the snow or on ice just like they do when it's dry. They go as fast as they can then jam on the brakes to stop.

The main things you need to do to stay safe are slow down alot, look along ways ahead to see what's happening, make all your moves slow and gradual. If you're on glare ice get the hell off and wait until the roads melt off or are sanded.

[freespirit]

4x4 will let you keep moving in a lot of circumstances, but it doesn't do much to stop you in a hurry...

[MNeagle]

We'll hope they can handle driving in the snow!!



Home improvement chain Menard to fly workers to ND store struggling with lack of applicants

BISMARCK, N.D. - Home improvement retailer Menard Inc. says it will hire workers from its home base in Wisconsin and fly them to North Dakota to staff a store in Minot, which is near the state's booming oil patch and has more jobs than takers.

The company said in a statement that it plans to hire 50 workers in Eau Claire, Wis., where it has its headquarters, and fly them weekly to Minot, which is also in the middle of an unprecedented building boom as it recovers from record flooding last year.

Menard, which has more than 200 Menards stores in the Upper Midwest, said this would be the first time it has flown employees to work weeklong stints, housing them in hotels, but that it "is going to be a permanent solution for as far as we can see."

Minot is North Dakota's fourth-largest city and had been growing rapidly even before the flooding that swamped some 4,100 homes and displaced thousands of residents. Its population grew from 36,500 in 2000 to about 41,000 in 2010, U.S. Census data show. City officials say the present population is nearing 50,000.

That means there's strong demand for building materials. Minot store manager Phil Graef said business is the busiest in the five years he's headed the store, the only big-box building supply retailer in town.

"We were starting to stay even with the oil boom, and then the flood happened," Graef said. "Now, we're trying to get ahead of both of those."

Finding workers to keep up has been tough, he said.

"Everybody has a `now-hiring' sign in their window," Graef said.

Businesses struggle to attract workers throughout North Dakota, which has some 22,000 more jobs than takers and the lowest unemployment rate in the nation, at 2.4 percent, Job Service North Dakota data show. The unemployment rate in Minot is 2.3 percent.

"It's going fast and furious here," Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman said. "As it is, there is not a big enough labor force around here, and as it gets colder there is less of one."

The unemployment rate in Eau Claire is 6.3 percent, lower than the national rate of 7.9 percent in October. Mike Schatz, the city's economic development director, said its economy is strong and that there are job opportunities in the town of about 65,000.

"It's not like people can't find work here — there are plenty of expansions going on," Schatz said.

But Menard spokesman Jeff Abbott said there was good interest when the company held a job fair in Eau Claire earlier this month to hire workers for its Minot store. Menard intends to train the workers at Wisconsin stores and send them to Minot "as soon as possible," he said.

Menard has offered a starting wage of $13 an hour at the Minot store, well above the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, which prevails in Wisconsin. It's also the minimum wage in North Dakota, but most jobs there pay more. A listing for a pizza delivery driver in Minot was advertised Thursday at $15 to $20 per hour, plus a $250 signing bonus.

Competition for the Menard jobs has been tough in Wisconsin.

Pam Weaver, of Eau Claire, said her husband, Gary, had his heart set on one of the positions with Menard in Minot but was told Thursday that he wouldn't be hired. No reason was given, she said.

"It's frustrating," Pam Weaver said. "He seemed disappointed."

Gary Weaver, who was laid off from his job as a telemarketer several weeks ago, was back at the unemployment office Thursday filling out job applications, said his wife, a 55-year-old claims auditor for a health insurance company.

"Who would have thought that we'd be in our 50s and struggling?" Pam Weaver said. "We're not the only ones. We've had three different friends who have lost businesses in town in the last five years."

Zimbelman, the Minot mayor, and Menards store manager Graef said they hope some Wisconsin workers eventually decide to make Minot their permanent home instead of commuting more than 500 miles by air to get there.

But Eau Claire's Schatz has another idea.

"We would hope just the opposite," Schatz said. "We want them to bring that North Dakota money back to Eau Claire."

http://www.startribune.com/local/181525751.html

[gunDriller]

That's worth a big screen:

http://gold-silver.us/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1747&d=1323133814

good place for a Hot Chocolate stand !

slippery roads aren't all bad.

when i first got my license i was about 17 in Connecticut. i flunked my first driver's test, 14 out of 20, had to have 15 or more.

anyway, i finally got my license. i was out driving on a local road with a really sharp left hand turn and an oak tree right there at the corner.

and the road was covered in ice.

left a nice big round dent on the right rear sheet metal of the car.

it was the same shape as the tree, can you imagine that !


after that, that old station wagon was mine.

there's other ways to mark your territory besides peeing on all the bushes :)

[EE_]

I bet a working girl could knock down a pretty good living up there.
Probably quite a few of the "non marrying type" up there now.

[Tumbleweed]

I bet a working girl could knock down a pretty good living up there.
Probably quite a few of the "non marrying type" up there now.

I've been hearing they have been flying them in from Nevada for quite awhile now! Business is booming!

[zap]

Well you won't catch me driving in any snow !!


I would just stay home to avoid causing such a catastrophe ! :)

[brosil]

I was in school in Winston-Salem, NC during The Blizzard of 78. It snowed 3" and shut the town down for 3 days. A buddy and I went out driving and watched big old Lincolns and Caddys zip down the road at 85 or so and then slam on the brakes. The underpass supports were loaded with them. The exit ramps are steeper than in the north. The survivors would try and creep up the ramp and slide back down. Then they'd back way up and go for a running start. That would run them off the top because they could't make the turn.
One of our classmates was from Boone and had a Jeep with a winch. He made $1500 that week pulling people out of ditches at $50 a pop. He pulled one guy out of the same spot 4 Times.

[gunDriller]

Well you won't catch me driving in any snow !!

I would just stay home to avoid causing such a catastrophe ! :)

the trick is hitting the brakes 100 yards before you actually need to stop.


but not everyone thinks of that.

staying at home is the optimum solution. traffic accidents are a pain in the ass - at best.

just the thought of getting into a legal entanglement with a not-so-nice person - OR TEN OF THEM - is enough to keep me at home.


i had a genuine fender bender back in 2010, my truck was straddling lanes, slowly turning right, and a Honda sedan tried to sneak past me on the right.

driver wouldn't even give me their license, name, etc.

Blue Book value for their car - less than $2K.

the front left part of their plastic fender detached from the rest of the bumper.

cost to my insurance company - $3500.

they went and had a vacation at my expense.

the other driver was of the Sonoma County Liberal Lesbian demographic.


if you are a guy, NEVER get into an accident with a Sonoma County Liberal Lesbian. unless you're Noam Chomsky or something.

just say it. BWA HA HA. you guys can have a laugh at my expense, i don't mind. :)