traffic camera footage of 40 car pile up in Wisconsin

[41magsnub]

Skip to 3:45 for the real action and queue the Benny Hill music.

http://www.wisn.com/massive-wisconsin-pileup-caught-on-camera/-/9374034/23398806/-/gpsil0z/-/index.html

1.  Slow down
2.  Get your car off the road if possible when you wreck or stall
3.  Stay in your cars
4.  Pack clean underwear

[charby]

Must be a bunch of native Texans that were going to a Packer's game.

[41magsnub]

Better video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUg5VC_RvGU

[geronimotwo]

Better video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUg5VC_RvGU

guaranteed the driver entering the frame at 1:23 has studded snows........

I can't believe how many people are out of their cars and standing on the road.......

[fifth_column]

And there was only a couple inches of snow that day.  Happens every year; people forget how to drive in snow even though it's only been a few months since the last time they drove in snow.  This phenomenon is one of the reasons for my theory that people get behind the wheel and turn off their brains.  What little brains they had in the first place.

[brimic]

That's stretch is part of my everyday drive. A lot of ahole drivers driving like aholes at any given time. I hope some learning occurred.

[lee n. field]

I was involved in a pile-up in similar conditions about 20 years ago.  Everyone was creeping along at 10-15MPH on when someone up front lost it.  Bumper cars and bent metal, but nobody hurt.

[fifth_column]

I hope some learning occurred.

 

[RevDisk]

Two rules of snow driving. Go slow and only use your brakes when you absolutely positively must.

Looked like the only folks that made things worse were flying down the road. Those going slower were fine.

[AZRedhawk44]

Holy Blues Brothers!   

[makattak]

Two rules of snow driving. Go slow and only use your brakes when you absolutely positively must.

Looked like the only folks that made things worse were flying down the road. Those going slower were fine.

Yep. I saw a lot of intelligent drivers there. I saw some that suffered despite their intelligence, though.

Also, even moving WELL off the road is clearly not a guarantee of safety.

[TechMan]

guaranteed the driver entering the frame at 1:23 has studded snows........

I can't believe how many people are out of their cars and standing on the road.......

I agree.  Then you have them standing on the other side of the cement divider with their backs to oncoming traffic.

[brimic]

Also, even moving WELL off the road is clearly not a guarantee of safety.

There are wide shoulders there. People are conditioned to swerving onto the shoulders when a braking event comes up. I've had people maintain a 10' following distance on me for 10 miles- in the slow lane. When traffic slows up ahead, you usually see tailgaters swerve left or right and they usually end up stopped alongside you.

[Tallpine]

The empty semi-tractors and the Walmart tractor-trailer all managed to slow down or stop without hitting anything.

[fifth_column]

The empty semi-tractors and the Walmart tractor-trailer all managed to slow down or stop without hitting anything.

Exactly.  The road conditions were not the issue in this particular instance.  The issue is a serious, endemic lack of driving skills.

[Gewehr98]

I've basically stopped driving on I-90/94 or I-39 and take state highways to and from.

It's no longer just the FIBs who are driving like a bat out of hell on slick interstates around here, too. 

The day of that pileup, I was stunned at the vehicles who slid through city intersections, when only a fraction of an inch of snow had dropped.   

[brimic]

It's no longer just the FIBs who are driving like a bat out of hell on slick interstates around here, too. 

Ja.
Its bad enough that you have the bat-out-of-hell drivers, but also 'enforcers' who are the type that drive in the passing (left) lane at or below the speed limit,with a mile of open road in front of them.  I saw 3 of these on the way home yesterday- all middle aged white males with obama stickers. Bat-out-of-hell + enforcers on the same roadway is a recipe for disaster when the roads are dry.

[RevDisk]

Ja.
Its bad enough that you have the bat-out-of-hell drivers, but also 'enforcers' who are the type that drive in the passing (left) lane at or below the speed limit,with a mile of open road in front of them.  I saw 3 of these on the way home yesterday- all middle aged white males with obama stickers. Bat-out-of-hell + enforcers on the same roadway is a recipe for disaster when the roads are dry.

It should be illegal to ram "enforcers".

[Nick1911]

It should be illegal to ram "enforcers".

Umm... I think it is?   

[Bigjake]

It should be illegal to ram "enforcers".

bump draft and put em' in the wall

[Tallpine]

I had some close calls when I was younger that taught me to drive well below the capabilites of my vehicle.

More than once I was cruising down an icy canyon 2-lane road and some yay-hoos were parked in the middle of the road with all doors open and standing out looking at bighorn sheep or something 

[Monkeyleg]

It warms my heart to think that my ex--who's absolutely terrified of driving in snow, and is now back in Milwaukee--saw that on the news and is probably now terrified to get in her car. :)

[AJ Dual]

WI/Milwaukee drivers can handle snow, but they're as bad as everyone else on ice, and worse, ice under snow, and they get complacent because of how aggressively county and muni road workers usually salt, creating a wet grab-layer on the road where the snow slushes out of the way leaving a contact patch not much worse than a rainy day.

We've already had our first slippery day a few weeks back, making this all the more inexcusable.

[RevDisk]

Umm... I think it is?   

Gau, phone.  It should be legal, rather.

[zahc]

I'm glad I watched the video. That wasn't even a pileup, just a parade of fail. I was expecting one of those "almost unavoidable" pileups, due to the accordian effect, but no. Just people driving way beyond their traction and visibility.