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There was a big pile-up about 10 miles from my house this morning (Right by the runway from Fantasy of Flight, BTW)and I-4 has been shut down all day.  About 70 car and trucks collided in the fog this morning and 4 people died and countless people were injured.  At least 6 Semi's burned to the ground, a BUNCH of cars were totaled.  Every single news person I saw talk about it today said they had never seen anything like this.  They STILL have not re-opened the interstate, and it happened at 4:00 am this morning...

The Chief of the Polk County Fire and Rescue Department said "I have been doing this for 32 years and I have never seen anything like it."

What a mess.,,

Wow.
The moral of the story: don't tailgate in fog, and put your flashers on if you can't see the vehicle in front of you very well.
And... slow down!!

Same thing happened here in the fog on Sunday.  NEWS STORY  It was nasty, I had to drive through the same section of interstate the next morning on my way back to work and it looked like a warzone.

Sounds like the 1997 M42 crash in Bromsgrove

On March 10th 1997, in no less than six separate incidents involving 160 vehicles on the M42, 3 people died, 21 were seriously injured and a further 83 were slightly hurt. In one accident on the southbound carriageway between junctions 2 and 1, 88 vehicles were involved, resulting in one person dead, 11 seriously injured and another 52 slightly hurt. It was approximately 6:40 a.m., there was extremely dense fog and many drivers were travelling far too fast for the conditions. A second accident occurred on the other side of the motorway when "rubber-necking" drivers slowed to gaze at the horror. This time over 30 vehicles where involved in what has been described as "twenty minutes of terror". The investigation into these accidents took over 12 months to complete, with a total of 584 statements being taken. (photos: West Midlands Police and Birmingham Post & Mail).

one of the images from the photos page on the site:

http://www.learn2live.co.uk/Image/m42pile.jpg

Unfortunatly we had a similar accident in Belgium some years ago (1996). To many people died in a pile-up cause by fog on the E-17 in Deinze. Every year the accident is remembered and the police controls speed in that area on that day. I often get chills down my spine when I pass that area.

It's sad that these things happen, so be carefull when driving in the fog.





Heavy fog blamed for huge pileup on Belgian motorway

NEAR DEINZE, Belgium (CNN) -- Police said motorists were surprised by a sudden, thick blanket of fog that descended on a Belgium highway Tuesday, causing a fiery, 120-vehicle pileup that killed at least 14 people. At least 60 people were injured.

The mid-morning accident occurred on the E-17 freeway at Eke-Nazareth outside Ghent, 35 miles northwest of Brussels. The pileup began when a truck slammed into a car, blocking the road in the thick fog.

Officials said that it was one of Belgium's worst highway accidents ever. They also said that an increase of heavy truck traffic on the highway was a contributing factor to the pileup.

A series of small explosions led to fires, which spread quickly through the wrecked cars and hampered rescue efforts.

It's all about speed !...

YES, there is a speed you can slow down to, at which these kind of things won't happen.........

Poor judgement takes out too many folks in their cars..........

Ah, heck, that's a normal morning commute in several large US cities. I know that Boston and LA are notorious for huge pile ups. I have a brother that lives in Atlanta and he has said at times the pile ups are so bad there that it can take 4 hours to drive 15 miles....

It used to be a regular occurrence on UK motorways.. especially on the approach to road works and in bad weather. Things seem to have quietened down over the last 10 years or so, partly due to better driver awareness, car design and  improvements in motorway design and signage, especially relating to road works.

I think the last major pile up here in the UK was caused when a car swerved in front of a convoy of tank transporters heading back to base after serving in the gulf. One of the transporters jacknifed  and spilled it's tank onto the opposing carriageway .... resulting in the motorway being closed for several days in both directions. I happened to have passed the same spot less than 5 minutes before.

Just thought of another one...
Fog lights. Even cheap ones are better than none at all. On my old commute I encountered fog in the winter, after dark, with such regularity that I'd often make half the trip home with the flashers on but headlights off, using just the yellow fog lights to find my way. The white light was just too much in that soup. Deer were another concern, and at least once a week I'd see evidence that somebody had failed to account for fog or deer...

Which reminds me of: the idiots who hit the high beams in fog... you don't need to understand the physics involved to not do this, you have only to see with your own eyes that you can't see squat in fog with all that white light coming back at you!!

And.... slow down!!!
Better yet- if there's a shoulder, pull over if you lose sight of that car that was in front of you a moment before!! This means that vehicle behind you cannot see you. either!!
This is how these pile-ups occur... people either blunder on, not using flashers (which are easier to see in bad vis. than steady lights), no fog lights, going too fast... or they panic and stand on the brakes, which is even more dangerous.  

I'm so glad I don't have to drive every day anymore...

A motorway section near to us is very prone to large accidents, they are almost a monthly occurance. The M5 split section between junction 21 and 20. Leaving 21 its a steep climb up the hill for the lorries, so some accidents happen here with dodgy overtaking manavours, but its on the windy split section, with people with caravans!! and lorries drivers, that cant handle the wind that cause crashes. Its very frequently on the reports for being closed due to an "incident" or accident.

The worst smashup i have sat in a queue for was when 1 person died luckily, but the queue was 3 hours of stationary traffic. It happened just past the junction but we had just past the offslip so couldnt reverse, due to the influx of emergency and highways teams enroute. Twas not fun! It was on the M25, surprise surprise!, and the "offical diversion" which we did not follow was really long, thus adding to the queues!, and was down the M20 to the next junction and back on about 3 junctions later on the M25, we cut through into london and rejoined at the next junction. Lucky my parents used to live in london and knew the shortcut! Luckily also, this smashup was, in all senses of the word, an "accident" rather than human error, if i remember correctly. Very rare