Following last week’s snowstorm, a friend (and self described strategic thinker) observed that Washington’s traffic (2nd worst in the nation) could be fixed overnight with two strokes of the pen:

Stroke one: Abolish the federal government (which would please certain members of Congress provided THEY still had jobs, a steady paycheck and health insurance.) Or at least move it somewhere else. And then…

Stroke two: Eliminate public and private schools. Shut them down. At least for the winter months. People who wanted their kids to learn to read and write could teach them at home. Getting thousands of busses (and private kid-hauling cars) off the road would make the commute easier for those of us who still had jobs and whose kids are grown.

Why didn’t we (you and me) think of that?

Like so many of his ideas, the simplicity of this one is stunning. While it presents a few problems, all of them could be solved if we all tried really, really hard. I mean the devil is in the details, right?

Unfortunately like many great ideas, nobody has the guts to run with this one.

So here’s a thought: When the weather gets really, really bad and you can stay home, stay home! Spending 11.5 hours in the car getting from your downtown federal job to Frederick, Md., doesn’t help anybody. Camping out on the GW Parkway (which is short of bathrooms) for 5 hours, then running out of gas, doesn’t earn any points. Sitting behind jack-knifed trucks on I-95 may build character, but do we need that?

On Monday, the Office of Personnel Management issued an alert about yet another storm bearing down on the National Capital Region. While it wasn’t expected to impact traffic immediately for that day’s p.m. rush hour (and it didn’t,) it had the potential to produce a terrible ice storm through Wednesday.

So, OPM on Monday said to think ahead. To Tuesday and Wednesday. Talk with your supervisor and check out the possibility of teleworking from home. Consider taking the day off if things got bad.

So what do feds who lived through our earlier storm, which produced nightmarish commutes for thousands, say about riding out bad weather:

• “…I recently (June 2010) joined the federal government. I like the work, like the people and feel I am doing something important. The health insurance is a dream by the way. One thing I cannot figure. Why is it that my colleagues won’t or don’t take unscheduled annual leave when it is offered? So many of them say they don’t want to ‘lose’ a day of leave. If they don’t get time off, they won’t take it of their own volution. I can assure them that in the private sector we were NEVER told to stay home – with pay – and we would have welcomed the opportunity to take a day off, on our own time and dime, just to avoid the traffic hassle. If more federal government workers adopted the attitude that taking a day off on their own won’t break the bank the traffic here might not be such a nightmare for the private sector types who must come in, and the emergency-status government workers who must show up rain or shine.” Hal

For the latest DC area status report, click here: www.opm.gov/status

To reach me: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com

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