150+ car pileup in Michigan leaves one dead, uncounted injured - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Budgie_boy;46896054]One of the trucks in the video stopped perfectly fine, shitty drivers basically.[/QUOTE] You know one of the other truckdrivers probably warned other trucks over radio or something like that.

That was terrifying to watch. I don't know how else to describe it.

[QUOTE=bisousbisous;46895989]You'd think that being through dozens of Michigan winters you'd learn to drive safe.[/QUOTE] Kinda hard to stop when you cant see anything out your windshield. No amount of safety could prevent this other than not driving

[QUOTE=Code3Response;46896297]Kinda hard to stop when you cant see anything out your windshield. No amount of safety could prevent this other than not driving[/QUOTE] Driving for conditions doesn't only account for the weather. It includes traffic and visibility as well. Driving much more slowly for low-visibility conditions could have averted a rather large pileup as traffic would have to naturally slow itself down and giving much more time for people to come to a halt, especially the big trucks.

[QUOTE=Psychopath12;46896317]Driving for conditions doesn't only account for the weather. It includes traffic and visibility as well. Driving much more slowly for low-visibility conditions could have averted a rather large pileup as traffic would have to naturally slow itself down and giving much more time for people to come to a halt, especially the big trucks.[/QUOTE] If you've ever driven anything over three tons... Having 18 wheels and an extra 10,000 lbs loaded on your truck generally makes your vehicle less prone to ice and snow. Sure, when they do lose traction it's a hell of a lot worse, but semis generally don't need to worry about the reduced friction on the roads as much as a compact car or sport type pick up. You can't blame the drivers ability to react on road conditions like these. Sure, you can go 30 mph all the way down the interstate, but it won't help too much because some asshole will always be going faster than you. When that same speedy driver is behind you and loses traction, it's game over for every one.

With how people were talking, I expected much worse conditions than the video shows.

The roads are pretty much just packed ice here right now, temperatures are too low for salt to work and with the constant lake effect snow theres not much that can be done besides clearing off excess snow. Winter is only starting and it's gonna suck.

[QUOTE=FordLord;46896427]With how people were talking, I expected much worse conditions than the video shows.[/QUOTE] The day could be sunny and bright and the driving conditions could still be horrendous. In Minneapolis today the conditions looked great but I passed by like 3-4 accidents on my 15-minute commute to work. Driving in icy conditions is terrifying - in regular conditions, you could recover from spinning out, but in icy conditions you're basically fucked and your car is going to end up in a ditch.

[QUOTE=NeverGoWest;46896241]why didnt anybody get out of their car and go up the road and wave at people[/QUOTE] Did you see the cars swerving off the road? I wouldn't be brave enough to go anywhere near that mess, I'd be pissing myself standing where the cameraman was.

[QUOTE=>VLN<;46895980]Oh my God. That video is surreal. I didn't realize somebody actually filmed the wrecks piling up. Why are they all going so fast? And why couldn't they see or hear the crashes up ahead? In the video, you can see for a pretty good distance. Amazing only one person was killed.[/QUOTE] They probably weren't going as fast as you think but in snowy condition like that, brakes don't work well at any moderately high speed. If they were going 40-50 than I don't see them being able to abruptly stop. I don't think everyone involved in the crash were speeding though, some maybe, but not all. They probably didn't realize the cars ahead weren't moving or see the accident until it was too late to brake in time. Especially the Semi's since they have a lot of weight behind them. As for hearing the crashes, I don't think any oncoming traffic could hear anything. Your series of questions confuse me honestly. If they could stop and avoid the wreck I'm pretty sure they would have. [editline]10th January 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=bisousbisous;46895989]You'd think that being through dozens of Michigan winters you'd learn to drive safe.[/QUOTE] I don't get it either. In NY we have some pretty bad winters sometimes but people still tail-gate, go way too fast, take turns way too fast, go around turns too sharply or make the mistake of thinking 4WD makes you brake better in snow. And for a State where shitty weather is basically guaranteed for several months out of the year an awful lot of people tool around in the snow with two-wheel drive sedans and getting themselves stuck. Also someone mentioned those chains you put on your tires. Those are illegal in some States and counties because they fuck the roads up.

[QUOTE=JakeIsWin;46896336]Sure, you can go 30 mph all the way down the interstate, but it won't help too much because some asshole will always be going faster than you. When that same speedy driver is behind you and loses traction, it's game over for every one.[/QUOTE]That's why in Minnesota if you rear-end somebody it is [u]automatically[/u] your fault, the reasoning being that you should be [i]paying attention[/i] to what's ahead of you and thus shouldn't ever be in a situation where you'll rear-end somebody. Saying "OH WELL EVERYONE ELSE IS GOING FAST" is like saying murder is okay because everyone else is a murderer, and blaming "the road conditions" is basically saying you can do whatever the fuck you want and never be held accountable for your actions. This entire situation was about 150 drivers not paying fucking attention and not driving appropriately for the weather. There isn't any way to put it, and when I heard that kid crying I was immediately ripshit pissed off.

[QUOTE=FordLord;46896427]With how people were talking, I expected much worse conditions than the video shows.[/QUOTE] what are you even talking about.

The roads were shit yesterday morning out where I live, amazed there wasn't any accidents. Even the main interstate roads were completely unplowed for the morning commute.

[QUOTE=>VLN<;46895980]Oh my God. That video is surreal. I didn't realize somebody actually filmed the wrecks piling up. Why are they all going so fast? And why couldn't they see or hear the crashes up ahead? In the video, you can see for a pretty good distance. Amazing only one person was killed.[/QUOTE] Ever driven on a really dry dirt road just behind another car? It's just like that. Visibility is close to nil. The reason the cameraman can film the whole situation is because there's no traffic on his side of the road.

I live a bit south of the area and I can confirm the roads be icy as Fuck. Also can confirm there are a lot of idiots on Michigan's highways.

Jeez, I heard there was a pileup in I-94 yesterday but I didn't think it would be this bad.

I was on the way to work yesterday with my Ma, who's a very safe driver mind you, and we were still sliding all over the place but we still had people speeding on by us despite the conditions. We were both amazed schools were even open, but luckily everything turned out fine. But still Michigan drivers are insane in the winter time, wherever you're going in such a hurry isn't worth putting yourself and others in danger.

[QUOTE=JakeIsWin;46896265]Like TestE said, in the United States, very rarely will you see winter tires. It's generally radial only. [editline]10th January 2015[/editline] It's actually illegal to use them in most states.[/QUOTE] going too fast + the above is the problem

Fuck people speeding, seriously. Pitch black at 8pm, heavy rain, in a 55mph construction zone where lanes are splitting randomly? More like let's go 90mph because I need to get to work 3 minutes earlier so I can get a snickers from the vending machine. Yeah I can understand it's a whiteout but is that not all the more reason to drive slowly? I have no idea how only one person died, that one car was DEFINITELY crushed in between two semis, and who knows how many more were the same. People also don't want to get out of their car because it's snowing and they feel safe inside, it's a real miracle honestly.

[QUOTE=TestECull;46896254] Snow chains are a great idea. They also cost money and get forgotten because they won't see use for 10 months out of the year.[/QUOTE] Chains are illegal to use on the road here in michigan

It's extremely difficult for me to watch accident videos since my accident last year. Because I can empathise sliding and knowing there's not a damn thing you can do but brace yourself. I'm absolutely surprised only 1 died. Last month here in Utah, I had to carve the path for a massive traffic chain behind me on 55 mph roads. I ended up gliding at ~20 for an entire 5 miles because I could only see about 25 feet in front of me, and no one else was ahead of me. Winter is an absolute nightmare, but you can control it when you know to go slow and be extremely cautious of everything around you. Utah is one of the worst states driver wise, so it's not uncommon to see scraps/chunks of cars just spread along the freeway in the winter. Brutal, man. Glad a lot of those people made it out without dying.

Do they not put sand and salt combo on snowy roads after snowplow in US?

Oh shit, and I thought the pile up we had here in NH was bad! Although, I am seriously curious as to why it all happened? Was it foggy right before that area? Was there a big blinding hill crest? Or did people really just think it was ok to go at the speeds they were traveling? Also wonder why the opposite direction seemed to be completely dead traffic wise. I'm kind of surprised a truck driver of all drivers died, considering it looked like more than one of the trucks hit smaller vehicles.

The video really doesn't show how low visibility was. Lake effect snow sucks when it hits as hard as it has been. Those people could barely see in front of their car, and why they were all driving so fast I don't know. I've lived in Michigan my whole life and see drivers like this every winter.

I was driving about 50 miles north of this at around the time this happened. We had been having a huge amount of snow, but around this time it seemed to have calmed down. What probably happened was that people weren't even going that fast, 40-50ish on a highway, and the visibility started good, but quickly turned into whiteout conditions where you can barely see 3 feet ahead of you. Most likely they didn't get a chance to slow down, unless the moment it started they immediately started to slow down. tl;dr sudden whiteout was the cause, these people were probably driving way below the speed limit already.

[QUOTE=Zukriuchen;46895991]braking in a snowy road is pretty hard i reckon[/QUOTE] with that amount of snow on the fucking roads you must be mental enough to go more than 70 kmph heck, that is an overstatement, i'd give 50 is the critical point, more than that and disasters and loss of control is bound to happen. Source: 1 year driver in a country which cannot handle 1st snowday with more than average amounts on the roads.

[QUOTE=>VLN<;46895980]Oh my God. That video is surreal. I didn't realize somebody actually filmed the wrecks piling up. Why are they all going so fast? And why couldn't they see or hear the crashes up ahead? In the video, you can see for a pretty good distance. Amazing only one person was killed.[/QUOTE] Are people in Michigan used to snow? If not it may be they have "all season" tires, which are utter shit. And icey roads are obviously dangerous, more dangerous than most people think.

Those people in the video were very brave to want to go help. Being anywhere near that pileup would've been deadly.

[QUOTE=itisjuly;46897472]Do they not put sand and salt combo on snowy roads after snowplow in US?[/QUOTE] Detroit is basically built on a salt mine, so we exclusively use salt. Compounded by the fact that car manufacturers want your car to rust away so you have to buy another. I really wish we used sand, my jeep is rusting away before my very eyes :c

[QUOTE=JakeIsWin;46896336]If you've ever driven anything over three tons... Having 18 wheels and an extra 10,000 lbs loaded on your truck generally makes your vehicle less prone to ice and snow. Sure, when they do lose traction it's a hell of a lot worse, but semis generally don't need to worry about the reduced friction on the roads as much as a compact car or sport type pick up. You can't blame the drivers ability to react on road conditions like these. Sure, you can go 30 mph all the way down the interstate, but it won't help too much because some asshole will always be going faster than you. When that same speedy driver is behind you and loses traction, it's game over for every one.[/QUOTE] My uncle's a semi driver, and he has said numerous times that a fully loaded Semi in bad conditions can often stop faster and safer than a car, and that can cause wrecks because the people in cars riding to close to semis end up plowing into the back of the stopping rig.