Panic and the Crowd That Comes With It

I thought I would chime in with a recent event in our community that showed my wife and I how unpreparred and (for lack of a more thoughtful term) completely brain dead the community at large is when a severe event occurs.

We live north and east of the Sacramento Area in a somewhat rural but moderately populated area at about 2200 ft elevation. Two weeks ago at about 4:00PM a large storm cell passed over our area immediately dumping several inches of snow very quickly right near the end of the work day.

My wife and I both believe that we are fairly well prepared people and would calmly manage most situations - which we did in this situation. A quick check of the National Weather Service ( www.noaa.gov )showed that this dumping of snow would pass over shortly. My wife called me just after 5PM to tell me that her three routes home were completely impacted by stopped traffic and that she was to stay with friends near her work until things loosened up. I work about 4 miles away, and looking out my store window could see that all major arteries in our community were at a complete standstill.

What a major portion of the general public decided to do (foolishly) was 'try to beat the storm home'. The end result was a mass of people who were not usually on the road at that time were added to the traffic count AND they were unprepared for the conditions they drove into. Fortunately, no one was hurt seriously, but there were countless spin-outs, fender benders, and people simply abandoning their two wheel drive (no chain carrying) vehicles barely off the side of the road. All traffic on all primary and secondary routes throughout the community were impassible for over 1 1/2 hours purely because of the vehicle load and not because to the snow.

This post is not meant as a rant because 'me and mine' were inconvenienced by this - it's not. We simply sat tight and arrived home safely only slightly later that we usually would have made it home. What I realized by this mess is that ALL primary emergency services (Police, Fire, EMT) were also at a complete standstill and could not respond should a serious crisis or accident occurred; ALL utility providers could not respond to downed power lines, gas leaks etc, because of this mess.

I guess what bothers me is that: the complete stupidity of so many people at once could have caused loss of life and did cause power not to be restored to several areas for hours longer than it could have been restored.

What is frightening to my wife and I is that this was a small incident that ditn't require much thinking on what one should do in a situation like this and our community failed misserably. What will happen should a more serious incident occur?

In a double-blind field poll (OK, so it was just about everyone who came into my store the next day) almost all persons stuck in traffic saw themselves as observers incovenienced by others and not part of the inconvenience.

I can only imagine what will happen when more a serious incident occurs; and look for better ways on having my family prepare to stay out of the thick of things.

Any thoughts or similar stories here? Are there steps you have taken to avoid the mass of panic-ridden public who will be a danger on the road?

I'd like to say I bought a helicopter.

Instead, I live within walking distance of work.

The roads around here can't even handle rush hour, let alone a "panic." I don't know how you avoid it other than having the option and capacity to shelter-in and stay off the road.

We did have a test-run on September 11, 2001. Considering the Pentagon was burning, news reports were saying the State Department and White House complex had been hit and police were yelling at people to RUN-RUN-RUNNNNNN!! away from the Capitol and White House because of incoming aircraft....DC drivers reacted rather well.

No panic that I saw. Drivers were orderly, obeyed traffic lights. In those first few hours, people were freaked wondering when the next wave of the attack would start and where it would hit. But instead of panic I saw immediately that drivers were quite calm, intent on the news and rolling down their windows to share news with strangers on the sidewalk

But a snow forecast does get the mobs rushing to the grocery in a panic over running out of milk-eggs-toilet paper. That is a curious phenomenon.

It seems to me that:

People panic when pressure is exerted and they are not confident in their knowledge of what they should be doing, while they however are still capable of doing something.

When real catastrophe's occur, those who are likely to panic often lapse into stunned immobility, kind of like shock. This leaves the way clear for others willing to act.

Some of these others might be in a panic, however, they seem to be those who have been through some crap without panic and are often both capable and willing to follow someone who seems to know what to do. I think this is often our best hope.

You forgot Bread

One of my friends calls this panic reaction "The French Toast" reaction - you're buying the makings of French Toast

Thats impressive they were calm in DC, in Columbus OH people were crazy. I saw someone in on of those little parking lots where you give the attendant your keys and they park your car couldn't get thier car out so they looked in the booth and found the keys of the car blocking them in and then pulled it out of the way and on to the sidewalk and just left it running with the door open while they got back in their car and drove away. No one was obeying traffic lights and we were some of the last to leave since my wife's employer didn't evacuate the staff until the higher ups were all out of the building.
Snow storms are just as bad, people either try to still go faster than the speed limit or drive half of it in between two lanes blocking both of them.

I forget where you live but it's snowing at 2200ft today in the Sierras? Really? It's been raining and I`m almost at 4,000ft in the Sierras near Tahoe.

Oh, and Dennis it took me 3hrs to get to the valley from my house (1hr) ~2 weeks ago when a storm came in at night. No less than 5 people spun out / stopped on the side of the road 2 of which < 1 mile road, and two had to be turned around as they had no idea how to drive in the snow!! It was amazingly ridiculous.

Maybe we were all in shock.

And the roads were jammed leaving town, it was either go slow or drive on the wrong side of the road.

Cell phones hardly worked for a couple hours, a scary time for parents whose kids were in school or day care.

I learned to make sure I had not only enough water in my vehicle but ACCESSIBLE to me while sitting and waiting... also enough fuel. When the commute is 1hr and there is only fuel at the start and end of your journey... plan for these waits.

this is one of the main reasons that i left vancouver,bc.
i was sitting in gridlocked traffic one day, cursing at the traffic, when i realized how chaotic it would be if something really bad happened...

for example.. a power outage over a week...
i don't know a SINGLE person who has an alternate form of heat, like a propane heater. or a propane burner to boil water, for that matter. its' really scary...

after my awakening 'vision' 2 years ago, i sold my home and left vancouver for the interior. i am still looking for a suitable BIL retreat with a small piece of land.

it also scared the hell outta me when friends, who think im insane btw, said they would come to me if SHTF for help... these 'friends' still don't know my current location, and i doubt i'll ever tell them where i buy land. they freaked me out.

peace
al

This happens every time here when we get a major storm (this year, we have had 6 good ones). They close all non-essential businesses, and roads are clogged for hours. Of course, when its snowing over an inch an hour, for 6-8 hours, navigation isnt easy. And, there's two kinds of drivers primarily on the road; those who think 4WD allows them to do the speed limit, despite the weather conditions, and those that drive 3 miles an hour, causing issues because people have to go around them. The first time, I left when the office closed; it took me 4 hours to go 25 miles. Every time after that, I simply waited an hour or so, then took back roads, and was home in an hour. Personally, I think the majority of SUV drivers are more of a liability on the road, as the drivers dont know how to control it (nor do they understand exactly what 4WD does...). And, it happens every single snowstorm...people have to relearn how to drive in the snow!

I osted here before but my wife worked in a 30some story building downtown and we carpoooled because there was a several year wait list for parking. Land line phones didn't work either so I was able to e-mail her and told her to get on broad steet and stay on the south side and walk east torward home and I'd get there eventually and circle around and drive on that side and pick her up. hew law firm quietly evecuated all the lawyers and then finall let the staff go so she was one of the last to leave, they all got to watch everyone else in the area fill the streets.

I may have asked this before, but does she still work for that firm? I worked for two different firms one on 9/11 and another during the blackout of 2003. In both, the lawyers were almost all male and much of the staff were women over 50. In both cases, the lawyers stuck around trying to make sure the staff was going to be ok. The captain and officers are not suppose to abandon the ship before the crew. Of course, both were admiralty firms with lawyers that had served at sea.

Yeah, I take the train. I can jog 15 minutes from the station to home, I can walk 5 minutes from the station to work. If it is bad enough that the trains aren't running, I can camp out at one of the fine hotel establishments here downtown, currently running on average less than 60% occupancy. I have an in with the Courtyard Mariott here that would pretty much gaurantee I would have an overnight place to stay and preference. All I have to do is make a quick phone call.

Worse comes to worse, I can always sleep under my desk if need be.

We both hanged jobs shortly afterward. She had started school part time because that law firm treated her like crap partly due to her not having a college degree. She then went on to school full time as I got a better job afterward too. I made several changes between then and now to make us better prepared. We live and work outside the city now which makes us much less vulerable to the traffic for example.

I would rather see them driving slow than fast.
Slow drivers don't do as much damage when they run into you.

I agree with the wait it out when the roads are bad and traffic is heavy too.

Slow drivers cause others to swerve around them, usually in anger or frustration. This can cause them to lose control, and cause an accident. I have seen it many, many times (as I am sure you have too, up there in alberta). I agree, I'd rather be hit by someone doing 5, than 55, but there is danger in going too slow as well.

My eye-opener for this scenario came when I was still commuting 80 miles a day roundtrip for work. There was an accident that closed I-95 about 3 miles from the exit (in either direction) and so we got to sit for 90 minutes unable to move. It turned into a block party of sorts, with people sitting on their cars talking (late spring, so it was warm). I got out my CB and fired it up so that I could find out when the road opened back up (we did not have visual on the closure) and pass the word. It was a good old time. But ever since I have carried more equipment to deal with such an event. Because next time it could be cold, or snowy, or we could be there for a lot longer.
Fortunately, I have a much shorter drive now and I don't need to get on the interstate for it. I still have all the gear. Between my car trunk and my desk drawers I can camp out in the office comfortably for a couple days (which is also handy in case of Delta).
Snow is also a panic-inducer here in MD. I tend to keep my truck in 2WD until I need more just because it keeps me focused. When I switch into 4WD I switch my strategies too, since the physics rules for the operation have just changed. My biggest concern at that point is the guy in the '88 Caprice doing donuts down the road as he tries to regain control...

Same stuff happens in Dallas-Ft Worth, except that the grocery story panic is over milk-bread-meat-disposable diapers.

The ridiculus part of all this is not knowing the weather conditions. Dallas could be shut down for 48-72 hours when snow/ice hits. If one doesn't have enough food/water/medicine for 2 - 4 days then they are simply clueless about a lot of things in life.

looks like the upper mid-west--Minneapolis--is in for the same right now..heavy snow that started around noon..the drive home will be a dog fight..

Dagny, they do that here as well in new england...I do not understand it. Milk, eggs, TP, and, of all things water...which, in a blizzard, I find rather amusing that people stock up on water.

In N KY its Milk, Bread and TP

In Colorado it seems it's ammunition. At least this winter those were the shelves that got emptied most often.

I used to live about half an hour's drive from where I work. So I moved to within 3 miles. I can walk home if I need to. I live in a village so I can get to a small supermarket if I need to, and I keep supplies on hand so I probably won't need to. When picking a new home, I pay attention to access routes and try to ensure I have multiple ways to get in or out.