I agree it is funny how much the Southern region freaks out over snow and ice. However, the difference between the north and places like Atlanta is the temps when this happens. It is usually close to freezing so anything coming down can melt and turns into a sheet of ice. Once that happens, it doesn't matter how much experience you have, you are going to slide unless you have studded tires or chains until the road crews can get stuff down on the road. If the precip keeps falling, any sand/salt on the road is useless pretty quickly. It doesn't make sense for areas this far south to have a large fleet of equipment for this kind of weather because it is so rare. My Mom is from Iowa and I have a bunch of family there. They have come to visit in the winter and noted this same thing. Where they live it stays near 0 degrees for long periods of time. The snow isn't going to melt and turn into ice. It can be driven on. Not so much in the south when temps remain near 32 degrees or climb above 32 for several hours and then dip back into the 20's.