Slip sliding away

I came to the office a bit later than usual yesterday, as I wanted to see my parents before they headed back to the snows of upstate NY. As a result, the bus I caught didn't quite get me to the office, but dropped me at the nearest Metro station. As I walked the rest of the way to the office, I had a chance to observe a number of other people as they made their way to and from the Metro station. The sleet/snow mix from Wednesday is now frozen into a solid mass that will support my weight, and it quite slippery, especially where its smooth. This presented some difficulties for many of the pedestrians I was watching.

Here's how I deal with such conditions...I have a pair of waterproof hiking boots with rubber soles and a nice deep tread pattern. If there is any kind of texture on the surface I'm walking on, I can traverse it with relatively little difficulty. I have few problems slipping and falling, and, as an added bonus, my feet stay nice and warm.

What struck me was the number of people (both men and women) trying to negotiate the slippery, frozen terrain in dress shoes. Okay, I understand that many jobs require people to dress better than I have to (my hiking boots don't even get a second glance here), but such dress shoes are perhaps the worst shoes for the current conditions. The smooth leather soles provide zero traction, they have virtually no insulation and the salt and other chemicals used to (hopefully) melt the snow and ice leave ugly stains on the shoes. Wouldn't it make more sense to wear a good pair of boots and carry the shoes in a bag? Then, when you get to work, change shoes. Seems simple enough to me...

I'd love to do a survey of local emergency departments and urgent care facilities to see how many people who come in for treatment of injuries resulting from falling on the ice were wearing business or formal style footwear. I'd almost be willing to bet that the majority of these people weren't wearing weather appropriate boots.

The mother of all traffic jams!

This week's storm caused a 50 mile long traffic jam along I-78 in Eastern Pennsylvania, with some motorists stranded for as long as twenty-four hours. National Guard vehicles delivered food, baby supplies and fuel to the vehicles trapped in the back up, which was caused when the traffic was unable to climb a hill near New Smithville, PA. It appears to have taken the State Police nearly twenty-four hours after the highway became blocked to close all the entrance ramps to I-78.

[via CBS-3 Philadelphia]