@atpfm I'm an avid spectator of _ can't drive in the _. Grew up in the PNW, where "nobody can drive in the snow" (and, like Richmond, there's minimal snow-clearing equipment so school could be cancelled for days, and no plows in the neighborhood for the better part of a week).
Spent my teenage days sliding my cars around in the rain (and occasional snow) for funsies. I gotta say, though, the wet snow the west coast gets is as slick as snot, and the terrain can easily make it impassable to anything without snow tires.
I live in the Bay Area now, where, famously, “nobody can drive in the rain”. FWIW, the first rain of the season is no joke; all the oils come out of the road and I bet that's what @caseyliss saw in LA. Again, never crashed in it, but I've certainly been surprised.