( CNN ) -- Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed on Wednesday defended the city 's handling of a snowstorm that crippled traffic and left motorists stranded for hours a day earlier , and partly blamed local businesses , saying they contributed to gridlock by letting workers leave at the same time . Reed pointed out good things his administration did during a sometimes testy exchange with Carol Costello on `` CNN Newsroom on Wednesday Morning . '' `` We got a million people out of the city , '' Reed said . `` We have not had any fatalities . We cleared the way of all of our hospitals , all of our police stations . '' Costello cut in to say , `` Well , I heard this from public officials before , 'We did n't have any fatalities , ' but that was just by the grace of God . There were a thousand traffic accidents . People got out of their cars on icy roadways in frigid conditions to walk home . '' `` That 's easy to say from your anchor seat , '' Reed said . `` No , I was out stuck in the traffic , '' Costello said . `` I was one of those people . '' Reed said schools and businesses let people go at roughly the same time early Tuesday afternoon as the snow was starting . That was too much for the roads to handle , he said . `` I said immediately yesterday that releasing all of these folks was not the right way to go , '' Reed said to Costello . `` If I had my druthers , we would have staggered the closures . '' Roughly 2 inches of snow left the roads icy , making virtual parking lots out of streets and highways . Many people , including students on school buses , were stranded in vehicles overnight . At a Wednesday morning news conference , Reed said Atlanta city road crews began pretreating streets at 9 a.m. Tuesday , ahead of the day 's snowfall . He said city crews -- which have 30 spreaders and 40 snowplows -- had finished treating `` Priority 1 '' areas such as bridges and exits , and their current focus is helping state crews clear the freeways . Stranded drivers tell their stories . He told Costello the road treatment has been better than in January 2011 , when `` the city was closed for two to three days '' because of a winter storm . `` The city did n't even have snow equipment in the last storm , '' Reed said , later adding that it had `` four pieces of equipment '' in 2011 . Now , he said , besides the sand- and salt-spreaders and snowplows , the city has a crew that has `` been working nonstop in 12-hour shifts . '' At the news conference , Reed said 791 vehicle accidents -- `` 14 with injuries '' -- were reported in the city since Tuesday 's snowfall . He said city firefighters have supported 115 people , including stranded motorists . Asked what he wanted to say to parents of children who stayed in schools overnight after Tuesday 's snowfall , he said : `` What I want to say to them is hold off on trying to get to them . What I can assure ( you of ) is they are safe . '' He added : `` The safest place for them was in the school system . ... I know it is very tough , but we 're going to make sure we 're going to get the roads open . ... But right now , we ( need people to stay off the roads ) . ''
`` If I had my druthers , we would have staggered the closures , '' Kasim Reed says . Roughly 2 inches of snow made virtual parking lots out of roads , highways Tuesday 9 a.m. . Reed says Atlanta city road crews began pretreating streets at afternoon a day earlier .