I realize this is "Hot"lanta and not given to lots of winter snow storms but from those of us who live in northern climates - very little of this chaos would even have occurred at all. Because:
a) highway crews are prepared with snow plows and sanders
b) people are used to winter conditions and drive accordingly and
c) a lot of vehicles have snow tires.
d) it was only 3" of snow, which is hardly anything!
This just goes to show you that people in different climate zones prepare differently and while you or I may be prepared, a southenern may not be prepared at all for the 1-in-10 year or 1-in-25 year snow storm occurence.

That said -- if you aren't equipped for winter at all, why are you on the road? All people had to do was check the weather forecast/highway hotline to make the determination of whether to travel or not. If you don't have winter travelling experience, don't know how to handle your vehicle in snow/ice, don't have snow tires or at the very least have better quality all-seasons with enough tread then why make the decision to drive? What is so important that you can't defer your trip?

All the rest of the prep items you mentioned are really post-incident preparedness instead of pre-incident. Somebody who was truly prepared and equipped for the conditions probably already made the decision of not to be out driving in the middle of it.

Anecedote: A woman calling into a local talk radio station complained bitterly about how the trucks were kicking up snow clouds and road salt as they travelled during a recent snow storm. She thought that during inclement weather that these types of vehicles had "no business" being on the road and obscuring the vision of small vehicles, while she was simply travelling into the city to shop. Then another fellow chimed in and rebuked this caller saying that the trucks have required schedules for deliveries to meet business/customer/consumer requirements, have better training and more experience driving in snow and if anyone had a real need to be on the road during the snowstorm it was them -- not the shill of a housewife. She became very silent as the light bulb in her little head finally turned on.

The point is: we as the drivers have the responsibility to make the go/no go decision of whether to drive in bad conditions. Why didn't more people in Georgia just say no?