I don't buy northern drivers are better. It is all relative.
I moved from the south to Milwaukee WI. The first miner snow fall of the winter always cause havoc on the roads. This would occur mid October when the temp would fluctuate above and below freezing. Refreezing any melted snow to ice like it does in Atlanta. I would wait an hour or so before trying to go to work, and would see dozens of cars in the ditches and median and say, “This looks just like Atlanta”.
One year the first snow struck at about 3 in the afternoon. As everyone piled on to the roads to get home, the plows could not plow the roads. Hundreds of down town office worker were stuck in down town Milwaukee in their cars. They had to spend the night in gas stations and mini marts. This was all for less than 2 inch of snow.
Think Lake Shore Drive Chicago 2011.
When these Wisconsinite would poke at me about Atlanta drivers in show, I would ask them what is the Milwaukee annual snow fall? They would say around 50 inches. I would ask what would happen if half of that all fell in one 24 hours. That is exactly what happens when Atlanta gets 1 inch of its 2 inch annual snow fall. It all relative.