People who might be unhappy with road crews' performance in response to the return to winter weather conditions during the past week should keep in mind that, in most cases, it is supervisory personnel who determine how good or badly the conditions are addressed.

And, during the past week, those supervisors haven't merited anything close to an "A."

Last Monday produced many serious challenges for motorists that could have been averted — such as on Route 8 south of Butler, on the city's South Side hills and on routes such as Eberhart Road in Butler Township. Meanwhile, Thursday evening provided similar challenges, such as on Mercer and Duffy roads, which boast significant traffic counts.

Fortunately, crews were able to get Thursday's situation under control more quickly than what occurred Monday evening, when city police decided to install flares to block access to Morton Avenue, because of the slick conditions, and other South Side streets — as well as many other streets in the city — were difficult or virtually impossible to navigate.

Crews do a good job of attacking snow-and-ice conditions; that is especially true of the city crews. However, if those crews aren't mobilized quickly enough, travel becomes unnecessarily treacherous, as occurred during the past week, Monday evening especially.

The past week's bad weather wasn't a surprise. It was forecast and arrived about when anticipated. Trouble is, those in charge seemed to be lulled into complacency by this year's milder-than-normal weather.

This winter certainly hasn't overly taxed supplies of anti-skid materials, so such an excuse isn't valid. It was simply a matter of the people in charge "not having their act together."

Winter isn't over. Supervisory personnel shouldn't repeat the past week's errors if additional snow arrives.

— J.R.K.