The Brilliance of the American Driver

Because the weather has been so awful in this area, the workers who have been hired to man road blocks are getting over-used. The Idaho Transportation Department has asked some of their other employees (like Mike the new Engineer) to fill in here and there. So Mike has spent a number of nights in the past month sitting in a truck watching movies on his laptop while getting to observe first hand the stupidity around him. He has many many stories, and I'll admit that some of the people I feel sorry for. Like all the high school kids who couldn't get to their ACTs in Rexburg, or the guy who promised his wife that if he went to work, he'd be back in time for her brother's wedding and waited all night hoping for a plow truck that ended up getting stuck itself.

But then there is the DHL driver who tried to talk Mike into letting him through the road block. Mike explained that there were five foot snow drifts and he would not make it. This man proceeded to turn around and take a back road around the barricade. Not two miles later, he found himself of course trapped in a five foot snow drift. He got out of his car and started walking, finding an abandoned house where he called the police asking for help. So at the road block where Mike is sitting, a police car comes up and asks Mike if he can pass to go rescue this guy. Mike gives the same answer . . . "You will not make it." They had to call a plow truck off of one of the major highways to help and eventually did find the guy's car, but it took them quite a while longer to find him. He got a hefty fine and had to call a tow truck to get his car out of the drift. His escapades ended up costing him over $500. I wonder how much money he made while working that night . . .

So Mike and I have created a list of hints for dealing with road closures:

• Don't ever assume that you can make it through just because you have four-wheel drive. Often it takes three plows just to clear the snow and make the road drivable. (and sometimes, even they get stuck and have to call a bigger plow)


• If there is a road closure and huge line of cars waiting, don't assume that they have been told there is a plow truck on the way to escort you. The state workers are advised not to leave their trucks for safety reasons, and often no one has bothered to ask and there really is no plow truck coming. Get out of your car, go ask and make sure that you know what is going on.


• When a road has been closed at night for a week straight, don't promise your wife that it will be open for you to make it back for something as important as a wedding. You are going to be in the doghouse anyway, don't make it worse.


• Don't ever try to go around the barricade or just speed past the road block. You will get stuck and feel really dumb (rightfully so) when someone has to drag you back past the guy who told you so.