Not worried about bugging out, or traffic. 

And Bingo was his Name- O!  +1 million

I sat in a miles long line of traffic in BFE South Georgia during the Hurricane Floyd evac of N. Florida in 1999. I remember looking back towards Jax and thinking "damn if  something real had happened you'd be screwed."  I moved to my retreat full time a few months later.

I've lived in N. Ga for all of my 47 years and have never seen an evacuation event.  My grandfather lived here since 1900 (he passed in 98) and couldn't recall one.

We live in the suburbs because of the schools for our kids.  The wife and I would rather be in Blue Ridge or Blairsville (pop. 500-ish), but it doesn't make sense for our family or our jobs.  The only scenarios I can foresee that would rate bugging out, would make the area impossible to bug out from.

A couple posters up raised a great point regarding not knowing everything when something is happening.

Too often preppers get caught in this "I have to have all the facts, look at them for six months before I make a decision" analysis paralysis deal.

That could kill you when time is of the essence.

9/11 NO ONE KNEW what was coming next. Sure we can look back now and think "I was o.k. to not bug out" but THEN you had no idea what shoe was going to drop next. I would submit that the reality of the situation was much dire than we realize. Yet how many people you know bugged out that day?  Compare that to how many sat and stared at TV screens.

People will do the same next time, probably see a few posts on survival forums like "what does the "hive" think? Is it time to bug out?" while people sit and contemplate and "research" the situation, etc.

It's that lack of good, quick decision making that will be the undoing of many people with big stores of ammo, food, guns, etc.

What's being discussed in this thread is "Mass Exodus".   That's about a worse case scenario for bugging out.

That said, my experience with this, I didn't even bother. I bugged in.  By the time, they called for evacuation in my area, they had already done the coastal areas and I'd rather whether a storm in a building than a vehicle.  That said, I have motorcycles which can spit lanes and a boat with a 300 mile range.  

Permanent mass exodus is a different scenario entirely.  Now you are talking you best have a BOL or the best you are is a well to do refugee.  That can be as simple as the family farm, a distant cabin you have, and or a boat that you can live on.  

The number 1 tool in any bug out is your head.  Have plans.  Plans have alternatives or its not a plan its a decision.  Its "If Then".  

Unless you live in an RV or boat already, bugging out by its nature then is last resort, not the first.  Having plans to weather the most likely scenarios without bugging out is preferable to a bug out.  That said, one good fire and we're all bugging out.  BTW, House fire is the number 1 bugout scenario.  

Its a sad reality the unprepared bug out first and anything we can think of a 1,000 others will before us.  That's why we have thread after thread on bugout vehicles.   What you are looking for in a bug out vehicle is specific to your needs but the basic concept is a feature that gives you an edge, advantage, whether its speed, distance, or route.  Like anything else have a plan not a decision and this is where everyone sitting still in a crisis makes their mistake.  What if I'm stuck in bumper to bumper is big deal but its not impossible.  I like the end scenes of the movie "Deep Impact" on this topic because unlike people leaving a storm, facing imminent death, vehicles sat idle as people took to motorcycles, bicycles, and even foot.  Others like the people who decided to bug in as an only option sat in their cars waiting on death to take them.  

Most importantly, "Prepare for the most likely scenario first and least likely last".  Though easily prepared or a week with no utilities actually without much discomfort, I can't tell how stupid I felt having the option of bugout taken from me.  I probably still wouldn't have used it, but its not like Hurricanes didn't happen where I lived nor I hadn't been tracking the storm knowing it was going to close.  In fact, the eye went right over me.  Despite probably not using it, that time to bugout when the bugging out was good passed right over me and I was making the Decision then when it was too late.  I should have known that decision point as part of my thinking.  Don't rely on others to do your thinking.

During 9/11, that morning I was on an airplane when the first planes went in.  Stranded hundreds of miles from home, I ignored the media telling us we'd be back in the air the next day.  Why?  I learned that hurricane the media goes into calm the sheep mode and to think for yourself.  I pretty much kept a rental car and told them they could pick it up then made my way home not the most direct route but the route I knew I had friends and family I could rely on.  In the end, I was home in bed while many were stranded sleeping God knows where waiting on they'll take care us.  Now I'm not going to advise to go experience a hurricane.  I can advise you to be aware of your surroundings and follow trends.  Past events will give you guidance on future events, plan accordingly, and practice better be safe than sorry.  My boss on 911 was telling me to go another 400 miles from home.  I'll pay for it is not much comfort when there isn't anything to buy.

"Prepare for the Most Likely Scenario First and Least Likely last", "Think for yourself", "If you can think of it 1,000 others will.", "Plan has alternative or its not a plan but a decision." and "A bugout without a bugout plan/destination just makes us well to do refugees."  

Tj

Great point.  Planning ahead makes decisions better and quicker, but you still have to make them.

Here's a halffast story about a bug out

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/the-bug-out-a-short-story.172494/