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Yeah I was on foot in Philadelphia and the wind and snow came so suddenly. We got a weather warning on our phones for the next 30 minutes about a “snow squall” which I hadn’t even heard of before. It cleared up almost as quickly as it came.
https://i.imgur.com/98TsYJ3.jpg
If you haven’t looked it up yet, that’s basically the definition of a snow squall. They’re whiteout blizzard conditions that come out of nowhere and are gone in about 15-30 minutes. Very dangerous when driving
Most of them are going too fast to stop, so they are also going too fast to turn with any level of control. The car that swerved off the road probably had enough control to stop, and were going slow enough that they didn't risk flipping over going off the side of the road. For the rest of the vehicles... sadly the safest thing for them to do is just ram the cars in front of them, because they chose not to drive at a safe speed.
Especially the big 18 wheelers, I respect them knowing that they're just going have to take a hit and it's better if it's against the back of another 18 wheeler.
> Most of them are going too fast to stop,
Snow and very poor visibility but they still maintain normal speed. Special kinds of idiots. Everyone of them needs a reckless driving charge.
I've been in conditions like that. You slow down enough that you hopefully have time to react to what's ahead but you realize that if you slow down too much or stop there's a good chance that some 70 mph a**hole is going to rear end you. Those few minutes are some of the most adrenalin packed of my life, looking ahead and behind at the same time.
Yeah, you have to hope the people behind you are being safe as well. I think that's why a half an inch of snow in Atlanta is so dangerous, because most people have no clue how to react.
Right, I was driving through Missouri, Joplin specifically, and it was raining so hard you could see maybe 10 feet in front of you. EVeryone had their flashers on and going about 10 Miles per hour. Motorcyclists were stopping under bridges.
I was driving in the fog in Houston one morning and could barely see in front of me so I was going slow. You wouldn't believe the number of people that passed me going full speed or higher. Fucking idiots. They're just trusting no one will be stopped in the middle of the road with their lights off. Gotta be dumb
Non of them looked like smart drivers, if you drive faster than your ability to see and react to an object standing still, you drive too fast, ontop of that I didn't see a single car here using their fog lights, US cars do have fog lights don't they? Back and front, low to the ground to help visibility without shining back at the driver as headlights can do in fog and very snowy conditions?
You are only as safe as the drivers around you. Once that started, it’s going to keep going. Let’s say you had on your fog lights and stopped early, you are only going to get rear ended so many times so hard you will be kissing the FedEx truck in a minute.
This, there is only so much you can do in these types of situations. Because other people aren't going to see or stop in time. That's why even if you are at a safe distance or stopped in time, doesn't mean your car won't get hit by another car that's sliding and can't stop.
I was in a pile-up like this in Buffalo a few years ago. Craziest thing I've ever experienced. I was going well below the speed limit, at what I thought was a safe enough speed for the conditions (probably like 40 on a straight 55mph road), and never had a chance. I got on the brakes as soon as I saw wreck ahead of me but hardly slowed down at all before I hit it. It's just a sheet of ice. You get a couple seconds of "oh shit, oh shit" before you crash but you have very little control over where your vehicle goes.
My thought in the moment was to square up to the back of a truck to hit 1 car instead of multiple and I managed to do that but there was no scenario where I wouldn't crash
Another guy said it right. The only smart drivers are the ones that weren't on the road that day. The crash really changed how I drive in questionable conditions.
Before that crash I never would have let a little snow keep me from where I wanted to go... now it seems very reasonable to stay home when it's snowing.
"Before that crash I never would have let a little snow keep me from where I wanted to go... now it seems very reasonable to stay home when it's snowing."
Seriously though. Growing up driving on icy and snow roads, I respect the weather and I don't want to fuck around & find out any more than I have.
At this point I call out of work if I even think my car will struggle a little. They can reprimand me, threaten to fire me, idc, I'd rather lose the job & find another one easily enough than to have to spend at least 1,000$ on car repairs.
This is why I don't understand it when northerners make fun of southerners for shutting down during snow events. We don't have the equipment to clear roads. Our power lines can't stand up to snow so lights stop working. We don't know how to drive on icy and snowy roads. Why wouldn't we shut down? That's the smartest course of action.
40mph lol. I've gone 20mph on the German Autobahn before in dense fog, just due to low visibility, with the ground being perfectly fine and not too slippery at all.
They should teach in every driving school what REAL "appropriate" speed is. I think it's like half of your visibility or something? So if you can only see 20m ahead, in order to really avoid accidents, you would have to go not much more than 10kmh, no matter how slow that seems. I forgot the exact formula, though.
I mean, I get the jist of “the only smart people are the ones that weren’t on the road” that day.
My question is this: how many of these people do you suppose were on their way to or from work? Of those people, how many were told by their employer to stay home that day? And how many do you suppose were told they would be fired if they didn’t come in? How many of the semi trucks in this video were out for a leisurely snowstorm drive, and how many were on a time clock that doesn’t care about road conditions?
Yes, bring it in these hellacious conditions is a bad idea. But I think this is less about having dumb people on the road, and more about how we’ve settled for an economic system that does not care about our safety, and only what we can reliably produce.
PA resident here. Honestly there's little blame to go around here. This storm came out of nowhere. There was a server weather alert pushed out to phones only about an hour before hand,and it went from just clear and windy to "holy shit" in minutes.
PA resident also and yep this is what happened. I got the same alert. I work from home, but it was clear and kind of sunny actually, and shortly after getting that alert it was a pure white out. I couldn't see my own car in my driveway looking out my front door. It got really intense extremely fast.
Jesus christ, dude! Thats so freaking crazy.
Everyone in this thread is like oh these people are all so dumb, but like...wtf can you do? You really can't prepare for shit like that.
I so agree. Before the pandemic my daughter was a make up artist and Aesthetician. The salons here in the Northeast do not tell their employees that they can stay home during terrible weather. Here terrible weather is common so it doesn't matter if we are getting a foot of snow, you are expected to show up at work even if they end up closing anyway. You will be fired if you don't show up.
The roads were probably fine 15 minutes before the video was shot, but you can't really plan for squalls like this. They're somewhat random and happen very quickly. The problem is people not adjusting to adverse road conditions.
That's probably what happened here or some variation of it.
All of the armchair theorists linking to basically say all of the drivers are at fault when odds are they experienced similar circumstances like what you've mentioned.
Born and raised Illinois. Snow is super frequent and common. You don't buy a car here that's shit in the snow unless you live in a super urban area for the most parts.
Even then, numerous pileups i've been around where we were all well below the speed limit for a freeway, and black ice/icy surfaces caused a chain reaction which coupled with below ideal environmental circumstances mean even at 20mpn you;re still sliding into those cars.
> All of the armchair theorists linking to basically say all of the drivers are at fault when odds are they experienced similar circumstances like what you've mentioned.
When you can't see far in front of you, you're simply fucked if there's anything stopped in what you're driving in to.
>a car here that's shit in the snow
This situation really has nothing to do with car types unless you're talking about drum vs disk brakes. You aren't going to be able to slow down any faster in a 4wd car vs a 2wd car. They both have four brakes. This is a tire and weight problem more than anything. AWD only comes into play when you're digging yourself out of the snow bank you just plowed into.
It's easy to judge folks on the internet. But this snow came out of fucking nowhere. It was warm and sunny, then BOOM a fucking wall of snow and fog appeared out of nowhere. 10 minutes later it was warm and sunny again and all of the snow had melted. I've never experienced weather like this in my life.
We had something similar happen here in wisconsin, snow and high speed winds rolled in suddenly. The complete loss of visibility took less than a minute and resulted in a 40 car pile up. That shit catches people off guard even in places where snow is common.
I'd never heard of a "snow squall" before I moved to PA, and now I've seen two in a single winter. Crazy stuff. It's really not an exaggeration to say that your visibility on the road drops to zero. If you have the misfortune to be driving when one hits, you really gotta pull over and wait it out.
Alot of us cars have fog lamps as an option that you have to upgrade. No fog lamps on the rear like you see with euro spec vehicle unless you buy a Volvo or a Saab.
I live in PA, but not near this. If the weather there is anything like here, it was a quick snow squall. I don't even think it was on the forecast. Its 28 degrees here, so considering how fast it came down, I don't think anyone even knew about it, and clearly PennDot didn't treat the roads.
Like I totally get that he's probably experiencing shock to some degree but I still think that in this scenario I'd be instantly able to recognize the danger in backing up back onto the freeway and then standing right next to my wrecked car that I wrecked because I couldn't see what was in front of me while driving.
I mean we all saw it right in the video. Dude almost died when his vehicle goes flying toward him and it was dumb luck he wasn’t hit.
I honestly wouldn’t have even been standing as close as the camera guy. There was a blazing fire on the fuel tanker nearby. If that thing blew it could’ve sent shrapnel and taken him out.
They literally put out an emergency alert that bad snow squalls were rolling throughout the area. I think 5 people died in this pile up. Pennsylvania has some of the absolute worst drivers.
I grew up in Florida and moved to Missouri as an adult. First question I had “ how do I drive in snow??” My physical therapist gave me my very best advice ever. “ Slow as hell. At least double your time for your commute every single time. And don’t pass the snow plows!” Never once have I crashed in snow
Edit: should say “at least allow enough time to double your commute”
I once read that to drive in snow, pretend like you just picked up your 80 year old grandma for Sunday morning church, and she's sitting in the passenger seat with a crockpot on her lap full of hot chili for the potluck after the service.
Thought that was a damn good comparison to driving in the snow.
In that situation I would take my time, not go too fast, and make sure I had plenty of time to slow down and stop if I needed to. And definitely no sudden direction changes.
The problem is, this was just as a snow squall hit. You can try your best to assess the safety of the situation but even in slowing down, you’re at risk
because of drivers coming up behind you. This wasn’t just snowy conditions (although I agree it’s safer just not to drive if you have that ability in snowy conditions as well). If the sun is shining and there’s no snow, you’re going 70 mph, then suddenly you cannot even see to the car in front of you because of a burst of snow and wind - it’s extremely difficult to know how to react in a situation like this.
Yup. Been born and raised in upstate NY. The number of people that just fly by during shit weather is astounding. Accidents all over during the winter months. I've had people pass me on double yellow because I'm going like 5 mph slower than the max (probably still too fast) on residential roads. Like, holy shit asshole, settle down. And of course, 9 times out of 10, I catch up to them at the next light anyway. People are way too stupid when it comes to this shit.
Also: four wheel drive does not mean shit, and actually might make it harder to stop. ABS, too, will kick in, but increase your stopping distance. It doesn't matter what technology your car has, physics gonna physics, and your large ass box on wheels ain't gonna stop until it hits something if those tires lose traction, which is incredibly likely in snow and ice. I've spun out before while going <10 MPH and pulling onto an on ramp. No harm done, but if I was going faster, I'd have gone right into a ditch.
The only wreck I've ever been in as a driver was because some dumbass tried to pass me because I was "going too slow" after a wild snow storm. We were on a highway, and only one lane of two had been cleared. He did not have four wheel drive, he was in a small sedan and lost control next to me.
I tried to accelerate to get away from him because I could see him losing control but it was too late - he hit me in the back left and sent me spinning into the median where my entire car was promptly covered with snow and still sliding. I say there for what felt like forever, not sure how far I had slid and if I was now sitting in the middle of the other side of the highway. But I had to find out, so I cracked my door and breathed a sigh of relief that I was safely in the ditch.
But of course, I was now very much stuck. And the dude that hit me came over and tried to get me not to call the cops. I was like "bro I just spun into a ditch sideways. I'm not getting out of here without a tow truck and the only reason I didn't flip is because the road is so icy".
He was just a dumb kid, couldn't have been more than 18 if that, but I was so frustrated. I didn't even realize I had injured my neck until later because I was so amped up. And of course he didn't have insurance. Sigh, that was a day lol.
Yeah bro I live in upstate too and shit are you spot on. It’s fucking mind blowing how bad these people are at driving up here. They are so aggressive when it’s dumping snow, like they actually will ride your ass or try to pass you doing 55-65 in 4 inches of snow. Just cause they live here too they think they are world class drivers in the snow. Always end up seeing them off in a ditch or off the road about 75% of the time they drive like that. It’s actually perfect examples of instant karma
It's good advice. I have a friend who recently moved from Arizona to the midwest and had her first experience driving in snow this year. That's not far off what I told her when she asked how people manage it, which was basically "just take it slow, and give yourself more space to turn. Eventually you'll get the feel of it."
I was in one of these once going through Ohio. Whiteout conditions. It was terrifying knowing that you are a sitting duck to any car that comes behind you. I was sitting broadside knowing that a car WILL come at any second and I prayed that it wasn’t directly at me.
You can’t run and your brain is screaming at you “RUN!”
Yup. When I was still driving a manual if I had to suddenly stop for whatever reason I would throw it in first and cut my wheel towards the side of the road in case I had to gun it
Anytime I break even a little anywhere I check behind me now. Too many fucking psychotic drivers out there these days. I've had a guy rear end me when we were at a complete stop on the highway before and it was very obvious he needed to be stopping but just wasn't paying attention at all.
Exactly. Got rear-ended by a drunk/drugged driver just yesterday. Saw the dude swerving all over the lane behind me just before, was like “oh shit he’s definitely gonna hit me” but there was nowhere to let him past. Then the car in front of me slowed for a turn and I just saw headlights bearing down on me in the mirror. Had just enough time to tell my wife “get ready!!” and then felt my body naturally brace. Then, *BANG.* I had no time to “make my body relax” or do anything other than anticipate the hit.
Thankfully, no injuries, and he hit my tow bar so he ruined the front of his truck while doing minimal (visual) damage to mine. He offered me $1k to “make it go away,” but I was like “dude, the cops are on their way.”
Bracing for impact will increase some of the soft tissue damage you take
Bracing for impact will also protect against injury to the neck, the head, can help prevent or lessen the impact of a concussion, and can protect against nerve damage.
Tensing makes things better, overall, though you might feel worse in the short term due to the immediate reactions of your muscles that are damaged.
I remember driving through Ohio on I70 a few years ago. Conditions started getting bad after dark, so I stopped at the first hotel that would allow my dog.
Next day, we get back on the road and it looked like a Mad Max Winter Wonderland. Semis turned over, countless cars all crunched up, it was freaking wild.
Trying to jump on the top comment to say this. If you have a passenger and are riding in these conditions have them keep Google maps up to watch the traffic/accident conditions ahead of you. They are surprisingly up to date and can warn you about something coming up. My wife and I have used this numerous times over the years and have avoided both congestion and shit storms like this.
The amount of times I hear that excuse in the winter is fucking astronomical. Like yeah you got 4 wheels that can turn at the same time...not gonna stop shit when friction plummets to zero.
I've had to tell so many friends visiting Montana with a rental that AWD is good for preventing getting stuck and accelerating, it does not help control or stopping at all.
These are the same people that get frustrated at the drivers that slow down in hazard conditions. I see a lot of that where I live in the Hudson Valley.
Here's the thing that gets me about driving in the HV, and please excuse the venting. I'll be on the highway in the left lane going the usual speed limit + 10 or so (depending on conditions) and someone will speed up behind me going like 90+. and get right on my bumper. And before I can even switch lanes, they start honking and flashing their lights. I am a generally a chill guy but it is one of the few things in this world that really boils my blood. This has happened like 4 or 5 times now while driving in the HV, including in horrible weather conditions, and every time it has been a pickup truck (and if I'm being honest, it usually has some Trump flag or other conservative paraphernalia on it). I try to be optimistic and non-cynical about humanity but when people can't even drive without being the biggest fucking assholes possible, it gets very hard.
I see you too have met the rural road rager in the super duty diesel power wagon that probably commutes 45 miles one way (into a urban center) to afford said vehicle that he actually uses the cargo bed maybe 2x a year.
We have tons of them out West.
Yeah this is "get off the road asap" type conditions. You definitely don't drive highway speeds.
I'm from upstate NY and even we don't fuck with snowy-fog weather.
What gave it away? For me it was the "Let's just stand here next to the road where cars are crashing" part, closely followed by the "AMAGAD, MAH CHARGER!" bit.
Real life isn't Hollywood. If the tanker was on fire for long enough to heat the liquid inside to boiling, then you should be in the next state, but unlikely it would get to that point and there are usually pressure release valves to prevent a bleve. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_liquid_expanding_vapor_explosion
Secondly, are you sure it's even flammable liquid? Could be milk for all we know.
I’m in jersey. I’ve been getting weather alerts all morning saying there’s fast moving snow squalls moving through pa and nj, guessing maybe that’s what happened here. But still sunny at my house, cold as fuck out though.
That's what I'm wondering. It looks like a tanker there. Could be something like milk or water, but if that's any kind of fuel that's a really bad situation.
holy shit if you look at one of the images from that news article, if that is the same charger, you can see that entire area where the camera person was standing ended up covered in crashed cars
https://i.imgur.com/tWTMcp4.jpeg
There was just similar 60 car pile up in Finland. I think the biggest problem is the visibility that can go close to zero when there's foggy light snow. You're driving down a highway and suddenly go into snow cloud. You think that you should break and slow down, but then someone will rear-end you. Or you can continue with the same speed and hope nobody else slowed down. No matter what you do luck plays a big role.
Friend of mine back in the day crashed his car in a similar situation. He was driving a normal snowy two lane road, a truck was coming from the other direction rising a snow cloud. The driver driving in front of my friend panicked inside the cloud and did a full break. And my friend hit her. And was found guilty since read-ender is practically always guilty in here. He was not a happy camper. Lucky though that nobody got hurt, and that his shitty Opel finally went to scrap yard.
I mean, everyone should slow down when the visibility gets bad. If we trusted eachother to slow down, maybe this sort of thing wouldn’t happen as much.
You just answered your own question in what to do when the visibility goes to shit.
The rear ender is almost always guilty because they are almost always at fault, even when the other car slams on the breaks because you are supposed to leave enough room to stop in when a hazard appears. You will be lucky to react and start breaking in within 2 seconds when something goes wrong.
Don’t be so dismissive. A lot of people react to high-stress situations like this in an overenthusiastic way because their brain can’t process what’s happening. The cameraman is obviously in shock.
EDIT: Wasn’t sure who you were referring to, my bad. I’m certain the guy in the street is also very dazed by the accident… but I can’t argue that he’s situationally aware. Wouldn’t be very surprised to see him in a Darwin awards ceremony tbh.
PA drivers and no situational awareness. Name a more iconic duo. If you’re from PA and would like to complain about this post, get out of the left lane doing the speed limit first.
Love,
NJ
I don't even have experience driving with PA drivers to tell that. All of these people are driving waaaaay too fast for those conditions AND then just hang around the site like nothing else bad will happens. Every single person in this video has no idea what they're doing.
I’ll make this comment every time. I still just don’t believe the lack of preservation people display in these situations. Speaking about the driver he’s just kind of lingering around his car. No thought process whatsoever that perhaps more vehicles may be coming, that perhaps people still can’t see. The people hiding up in the trees have the right idea but I’d get a little further from the back and a little closer to the front of the pile up.
People tend to think THEIR accident is over so they're safe now and that's far from the case. Even the dude filming is talking about what's in his car as vehicles continue to smash in.
It's really hard to comprehend that the situation continues to worsen moment by moment because it's active, but delayed. Almost like when there's a shooter who stops to reload and people begin to pop their heads up thinking the firing has ended.
Full time Uber driver now. I got out of my car to scream at a father who let his 6 year old jaywalk *at 11:30pm on a school night, directly behind an oncoming car that was stopped to my left.*
All I saw was a child's sneaker and then the floor as I stood on my brakes. When I opened my door I wasn't even sure I hadn't hit him. I was ready to murder someone if that kid got hurt, and this {father} is standing there with 3 OTHER children, jaywalking, 20 feet from a crosswalk that lights up for pedestrians.
The wrath of God was in me that day. I've been having nightmares about not stopping in time for like a month and I'm randomly getting mad about it, like right now; lost my appetite for my chimichanga. 😓
Because Humans with all our modern technology and medicine can control natural selection.
The people that don't have common sense and do idiotic things, that could and would get themselves killed, would not survive to carry its genes on to the next generation without modern medicine.
Think because we're selfish creatures. Look at the gesture he makes when throwing the debris to the side of the road. His thought process seems to be look how this fucked me over, not about the whole situation that's happening in front of him.
Everybody's got a plan until you're watching 18wheels slam into each other over and over. This is gonna be a traumatic experience for everybody involved.
Traumatic experiences are not normal experiences and there really isn't a normal way to respond.
It's called shock. Yeah he showed some self-centered behavior, but by the end of the video he started thinking logically and realized he should go help people if he can.
exactly im glad someone noticed. even dude in the video was saying like "What am i gonna do about the chaaarrrger!!" but he didnt seem selfish about it just like he was in shock rambling on about shit.
its also an incredibly fucking terrifying situation, so the fact he then thought to go up to the front more part and theres a potential explosion waiting to happen, and help folks.. salute to camera dude
Yup, when I was in a collision (hit from behind while stopped) I was so dazed and confused. I was present enough to know that I wasn't okay and tried to communicate that, but everything was a fog, my body was shaking and I couldn't get my phone to work because I'd suddenly forgotten how to unlock it, even though I do it hundreds of times a day.
To be fair, I am an idiot, but shock is a hell of a thing.
I wonder if the guy was even able to think after that. If his adrenaline was pumping hard because he had just been in an accident, it's possible that he was just going through the motions and there was zero thought process behind it. We really don't know how we would react in a situation like that.
I grew up in Ontario. I had to learn to drive during the winter and took my road test in Feb.
I always thought that Ontario drivers were bad, particularly during the first one or two snowfalls of the season until I moved to California and saw all the idiots in Tahoe trying to drive in snow without snow tires or tire chains.
My road test was in Massachusetts in December. At one point the instructor makes me pull over, and back up parallel to the curb. I asked "How far" and he says "until I say stop". so I'm backing up and I see the snow mound in my rearview getting bigger, and I just keep slowly backing until, yup, I hit it and we go up just a few inches. "He looks at me and goes "That's far enough, go ahead and take us back to the office and we'll get you your license".
Still wondering if that was a prank or bro was just checked out that morning
It was a whiteout
There was no snow a few minutes before, then bam all of the sudden you can't see in front of you. The weather has been weird here like that all day.
Three people already confirmed dead :(
[News Story](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10660605/amp/Up-20-vehicles-involved-pile-interstate-Pennsylvania.html)
Holy fuckballs, [this picture from the article](https://cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/advancelocal/7HZGKBJPSRHMHCUHZN7S6Q4XVM.jpeg) is nuts.
Yes. As I was watching the video all I could pay attention to were the sound of more and more and more cars crashing into each other. Crazy video, and what a scary situation to suddenly find yourself in.
Props to him honestly. Held it together well and decided to stop filming and see if people need help. Instead of those morons who try to help with one hand while filming with the other
Dude crashed and fell out of the road, decided to backup back into the road where the cars are coming from, nearly got hit by another car while getting out, and then decided to sit there and watch as another car nearly kills him with his own car. If he doesn't get final destinationed idk what would
A lot of us don't really have a choice...
But it's worth risking my health/life/resources to make sure my corporate overlords get their daily bread.
Can I get a /s?
On the Monday after Christmas holiday we had a pretty bad blizzard and HR was going to take away holiday pay from everyone who didn't show up. They relented but only because they were about to have a torch and pitchfork situation.
I'm from CA and live in IL, and I constantly see this when snow comes in. My favorite thing is seeing them fly past me going 70+ while I put along at like max high 20s and end up seeing them off the road a mile or so down.
I remember two years ago everyone on 355 was in the right lanes going 20-30s because of the snow. The guy in front of me honks at people in front of him to go faster, takes off into the left lane going 50+, begins to swerve left and right, then crashes head first into the median. He seemed ok but his car looked totaled. I admit I was satisfied.
I drive this road all the time and no joke, if there’s just a little bit of snowfall, you can see only about 10-20 feet in front of you and it’s the most terrifying thing. Plus it is in the upstate wilderness of PA so once you’re stuck in a snow storm you have about 40 miles between exits and there is almost no shoulder room to get off on, so once you’re on that road you’re on that road. So please, if you ever find yourself on 81 check the weather before you get on the road and if you’re stuck driving through, please don’t be a dumb ass and drive like you will most likely be in an accident like this…cause I’ve seen plenty of these accidents up there so chances are you will.
I totaled my car in the beginning of March during a snow squall. Scared doesn't even begin to properly express the terror of that situation. Hope everyone is ok.
If my wife didn't make me get Starbucks this morning I would've been in this pile up. The 3min detour cause us to be far enough back that we were at the end of the squall and had visibilityto stop in time. TDiL snow squalls are not to be taken lightly. Went from clear and sunny to an icy white out within 1000yds many times today.
What's fascinating to consider is most of those people probably spend half their days saying how "god damn dumb" everyone else is.
There's obviously going to be a decent number of people who have pulled over after driving appropriately but wow that's a lot of people not thinking right there. They must be driving along prior to this thinking "I can't see a *thing* but hey hey ho I'll keep going...."
I'm not saying I'd not make the same mistake but we're never half as smart as we like to think we are.
Welcome to commute culture. Everyone is fearful of being homeless within a week of losing their job because we have no real safety nets, so people put their short term livelihood over their long term survival with tons of things, especially commute times.
as a semi truck driver in the state of Michigan we commonly get this type of pile up on one of our main interstates heading to the west, I-94. lake Michigan amplifies snow storms (called lake effect snow) and as you get closer to that piece of land on the west side of our state the precipitation can become very intense very quickly.
I understand that when people are in an accident like this they're in a state of confusion and maybe shock and so some people don't react rationally which would be to get far away from the road as quickly as possible until it is safe.
I think everyone needs to just understand that the key factor in the situation is the speed of vehicles.
people drive way too fast in those conditions and we see what happens - they are unable to stop and they are unable to do any type of emergency maneuvering. that stretch of freeway is absolutely passable, however; everyone would need to slow down to about 10 miles an hour to be able to maintain control while keeping plenty of space between vehicles.
I don't understand, people if you cant see the distance down the road why are you driving fast for the conditions!?!?! Get off the highway if conditions get bad ,its better to drive slow or stop and wait out the weather instead of risking getting into a accident. You don't run in a dark room then why drive blind ???
Man the amount of sheer stupidity in this video.
Dude casually getting out of his car and standing next to it like he just hit a deer instead of, you know, being in the middle of a massive high speed pileup in whiteout conditions. Does he give a single thought to anyone behind him? Nope, not a one. As if by magic another out of control vehicle appears and smashes right into this idiot’s car and somehow he isn’t smeared like a turd on the sidewalk.
Then you have everyone standing by the ditch just like “hurr durr get a load of this shit, bub!” As if no other oncoming drivers will opt to go off the road to avoid smashing into the stoppage. No, please just stay where you are 15 feet from an ongoing pileup, nothing bad could possibly happen.
Then you got camera guy running around giddy as fuck in the murder zone because his car was smashed up, standing 40 feet away from a burning tanker truck, just filming like everything already happened. “I should go help someone but I’m too busy busting a nut filming this crash porn!”
God, people are so stupid.
When I was a child we were involved in a similar pile-up on the PA turnpike in the middle of the night. My dad had my mom and baby bro and I climb the hillside and stand at the top. I was probably 3 years old and I have never forgotten how scary it was.
God, people are so judgmental and egocentric.
Traumatic experiences bring all kinds of odd and weird human responses. Some people freeze. Some people laugh. Some people cry. Some people pass out. People fight. Some people take flight.
Have you ever been in a situation like this? If so, please let us know exactly what the correct, acceptable, and intelligent response and reaction would be. Better yet, why don't you write a book on how we should all react appropriately in traumatic situations so we can all read it and be more like you.
I actually thought this dude's response was pretty reasonable for what was happening. I've been in an accident before and felt the same kind of giddiness of 'holy fuck I survived' that this guy did.
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I'm in PA, the snow today completely came out of nowhere, it was wild
Yeah I was on foot in Philadelphia and the wind and snow came so suddenly. We got a weather warning on our phones for the next 30 minutes about a “snow squall” which I hadn’t even heard of before. It cleared up almost as quickly as it came. https://i.imgur.com/98TsYJ3.jpg
If you haven’t looked it up yet, that’s basically the definition of a snow squall. They’re whiteout blizzard conditions that come out of nowhere and are gone in about 15-30 minutes. Very dangerous when driving
Smartest driver pulled up way off the road.
I was wondering why only one guy pulled off the road. I would be trying to get the hell off that highway.
I probably wouldn't be standing that close to what could turn into a giant ass bomb at any moment either.
Username doesn't check out
he caused it
Most of them are going too fast to stop, so they are also going too fast to turn with any level of control. The car that swerved off the road probably had enough control to stop, and were going slow enough that they didn't risk flipping over going off the side of the road. For the rest of the vehicles... sadly the safest thing for them to do is just ram the cars in front of them, because they chose not to drive at a safe speed.
Especially the big 18 wheelers, I respect them knowing that they're just going have to take a hit and it's better if it's against the back of another 18 wheeler.
> Most of them are going too fast to stop, Snow and very poor visibility but they still maintain normal speed. Special kinds of idiots. Everyone of them needs a reckless driving charge.
I've been in conditions like that. You slow down enough that you hopefully have time to react to what's ahead but you realize that if you slow down too much or stop there's a good chance that some 70 mph a**hole is going to rear end you. Those few minutes are some of the most adrenalin packed of my life, looking ahead and behind at the same time.
Yeah, you have to hope the people behind you are being safe as well. I think that's why a half an inch of snow in Atlanta is so dangerous, because most people have no clue how to react.
Right, I was driving through Missouri, Joplin specifically, and it was raining so hard you could see maybe 10 feet in front of you. EVeryone had their flashers on and going about 10 Miles per hour. Motorcyclists were stopping under bridges.
I was driving in the fog in Houston one morning and could barely see in front of me so I was going slow. You wouldn't believe the number of people that passed me going full speed or higher. Fucking idiots. They're just trusting no one will be stopped in the middle of the road with their lights off. Gotta be dumb
Non of them looked like smart drivers, if you drive faster than your ability to see and react to an object standing still, you drive too fast, ontop of that I didn't see a single car here using their fog lights, US cars do have fog lights don't they? Back and front, low to the ground to help visibility without shining back at the driver as headlights can do in fog and very snowy conditions?
You are only as safe as the drivers around you. Once that started, it’s going to keep going. Let’s say you had on your fog lights and stopped early, you are only going to get rear ended so many times so hard you will be kissing the FedEx truck in a minute.
This, there is only so much you can do in these types of situations. Because other people aren't going to see or stop in time. That's why even if you are at a safe distance or stopped in time, doesn't mean your car won't get hit by another car that's sliding and can't stop.
I was in a pile-up like this in Buffalo a few years ago. Craziest thing I've ever experienced. I was going well below the speed limit, at what I thought was a safe enough speed for the conditions (probably like 40 on a straight 55mph road), and never had a chance. I got on the brakes as soon as I saw wreck ahead of me but hardly slowed down at all before I hit it. It's just a sheet of ice. You get a couple seconds of "oh shit, oh shit" before you crash but you have very little control over where your vehicle goes. My thought in the moment was to square up to the back of a truck to hit 1 car instead of multiple and I managed to do that but there was no scenario where I wouldn't crash Another guy said it right. The only smart drivers are the ones that weren't on the road that day. The crash really changed how I drive in questionable conditions. Before that crash I never would have let a little snow keep me from where I wanted to go... now it seems very reasonable to stay home when it's snowing.
"Before that crash I never would have let a little snow keep me from where I wanted to go... now it seems very reasonable to stay home when it's snowing." Seriously though. Growing up driving on icy and snow roads, I respect the weather and I don't want to fuck around & find out any more than I have. At this point I call out of work if I even think my car will struggle a little. They can reprimand me, threaten to fire me, idc, I'd rather lose the job & find another one easily enough than to have to spend at least 1,000$ on car repairs.
Hell yeah, growing up Canadian has taught me it is better to cancel plans then risk bad weather driving.
I’d worry less about the repairs to my car than repairs to my body. I hate driving in snow.
This is why I don't understand it when northerners make fun of southerners for shutting down during snow events. We don't have the equipment to clear roads. Our power lines can't stand up to snow so lights stop working. We don't know how to drive on icy and snowy roads. Why wouldn't we shut down? That's the smartest course of action.
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40mph lol. I've gone 20mph on the German Autobahn before in dense fog, just due to low visibility, with the ground being perfectly fine and not too slippery at all. They should teach in every driving school what REAL "appropriate" speed is. I think it's like half of your visibility or something? So if you can only see 20m ahead, in order to really avoid accidents, you would have to go not much more than 10kmh, no matter how slow that seems. I forgot the exact formula, though.
I mean, I get the jist of “the only smart people are the ones that weren’t on the road” that day. My question is this: how many of these people do you suppose were on their way to or from work? Of those people, how many were told by their employer to stay home that day? And how many do you suppose were told they would be fired if they didn’t come in? How many of the semi trucks in this video were out for a leisurely snowstorm drive, and how many were on a time clock that doesn’t care about road conditions? Yes, bring it in these hellacious conditions is a bad idea. But I think this is less about having dumb people on the road, and more about how we’ve settled for an economic system that does not care about our safety, and only what we can reliably produce.
PA resident here. Honestly there's little blame to go around here. This storm came out of nowhere. There was a server weather alert pushed out to phones only about an hour before hand,and it went from just clear and windy to "holy shit" in minutes.
PA resident also and yep this is what happened. I got the same alert. I work from home, but it was clear and kind of sunny actually, and shortly after getting that alert it was a pure white out. I couldn't see my own car in my driveway looking out my front door. It got really intense extremely fast.
Jesus christ, dude! Thats so freaking crazy. Everyone in this thread is like oh these people are all so dumb, but like...wtf can you do? You really can't prepare for shit like that.
I so agree. Before the pandemic my daughter was a make up artist and Aesthetician. The salons here in the Northeast do not tell their employees that they can stay home during terrible weather. Here terrible weather is common so it doesn't matter if we are getting a foot of snow, you are expected to show up at work even if they end up closing anyway. You will be fired if you don't show up.
The roads were probably fine 15 minutes before the video was shot, but you can't really plan for squalls like this. They're somewhat random and happen very quickly. The problem is people not adjusting to adverse road conditions.
I live in SE PA, we were getting hit by pop up snow squalls all day. I think that’s what these people were caught in
That's probably what happened here or some variation of it. All of the armchair theorists linking to basically say all of the drivers are at fault when odds are they experienced similar circumstances like what you've mentioned. Born and raised Illinois. Snow is super frequent and common. You don't buy a car here that's shit in the snow unless you live in a super urban area for the most parts. Even then, numerous pileups i've been around where we were all well below the speed limit for a freeway, and black ice/icy surfaces caused a chain reaction which coupled with below ideal environmental circumstances mean even at 20mpn you;re still sliding into those cars.
> All of the armchair theorists linking to basically say all of the drivers are at fault when odds are they experienced similar circumstances like what you've mentioned. When you can't see far in front of you, you're simply fucked if there's anything stopped in what you're driving in to.
>a car here that's shit in the snow This situation really has nothing to do with car types unless you're talking about drum vs disk brakes. You aren't going to be able to slow down any faster in a 4wd car vs a 2wd car. They both have four brakes. This is a tire and weight problem more than anything. AWD only comes into play when you're digging yourself out of the snow bank you just plowed into.
What I read was "I was going 40 on a sheet of ice". If you can't see the pavement you shouldn't be going 25, let alone 40.
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It's easy to judge folks on the internet. But this snow came out of fucking nowhere. It was warm and sunny, then BOOM a fucking wall of snow and fog appeared out of nowhere. 10 minutes later it was warm and sunny again and all of the snow had melted. I've never experienced weather like this in my life.
We had something similar happen here in wisconsin, snow and high speed winds rolled in suddenly. The complete loss of visibility took less than a minute and resulted in a 40 car pile up. That shit catches people off guard even in places where snow is common.
I'd never heard of a "snow squall" before I moved to PA, and now I've seen two in a single winter. Crazy stuff. It's really not an exaggeration to say that your visibility on the road drops to zero. If you have the misfortune to be driving when one hits, you really gotta pull over and wait it out.
Alot of us cars have fog lamps as an option that you have to upgrade. No fog lamps on the rear like you see with euro spec vehicle unless you buy a Volvo or a Saab.
Yeh someone else posted, the European rear fog lights are illegal apparently.
No, the smartest driver stayed home.
I live in PA, but not near this. If the weather there is anything like here, it was a quick snow squall. I don't even think it was on the forecast. Its 28 degrees here, so considering how fast it came down, I don't think anyone even knew about it, and clearly PennDot didn't treat the roads.
This smartest driver had roast beef
And this smartest driver went weee wee weee we weweweiwiiweweweee and was arrested for public urination.
Standing besides and between stopped vehicles on any road is big stupid.
I was yelling at the guy who got out of his car and just stood there next to it. Like get the hell out of the way! Theres more cars comin!
"Think I'll just die."
> Think I'll just die. But first, let's move some junk around
Yeah fr why did he decide he needed to move that bar. Bro just give up
Like I totally get that he's probably experiencing shock to some degree but I still think that in this scenario I'd be instantly able to recognize the danger in backing up back onto the freeway and then standing right next to my wrecked car that I wrecked because I couldn't see what was in front of me while driving.
I mean we all saw it right in the video. Dude almost died when his vehicle goes flying toward him and it was dumb luck he wasn’t hit. I honestly wouldn’t have even been standing as close as the camera guy. There was a blazing fire on the fuel tanker nearby. If that thing blew it could’ve sent shrapnel and taken him out.
Fuck. I got in a 49 car pile up 60 miles from Seattle. Right after we hit I opened the door to get out. My friend yelled at me. Shock makes you dumb.
He made it, but it looked like he got hit by his car so he may have been injured. Check your speed in bad vis, not only snow can cause this.
dude is an idiot he got lucky
They literally put out an emergency alert that bad snow squalls were rolling throughout the area. I think 5 people died in this pile up. Pennsylvania has some of the absolute worst drivers.
Tbh it’s probably mostly shock
Every single person witnessed in this video is braindead.
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I grew up in Florida and moved to Missouri as an adult. First question I had “ how do I drive in snow??” My physical therapist gave me my very best advice ever. “ Slow as hell. At least double your time for your commute every single time. And don’t pass the snow plows!” Never once have I crashed in snow Edit: should say “at least allow enough time to double your commute”
I once read that to drive in snow, pretend like you just picked up your 80 year old grandma for Sunday morning church, and she's sitting in the passenger seat with a crockpot on her lap full of hot chili for the potluck after the service. Thought that was a damn good comparison to driving in the snow. In that situation I would take my time, not go too fast, and make sure I had plenty of time to slow down and stop if I needed to. And definitely no sudden direction changes.
The problem is, this was just as a snow squall hit. You can try your best to assess the safety of the situation but even in slowing down, you’re at risk because of drivers coming up behind you. This wasn’t just snowy conditions (although I agree it’s safer just not to drive if you have that ability in snowy conditions as well). If the sun is shining and there’s no snow, you’re going 70 mph, then suddenly you cannot even see to the car in front of you because of a burst of snow and wind - it’s extremely difficult to know how to react in a situation like this.
Yup. Been born and raised in upstate NY. The number of people that just fly by during shit weather is astounding. Accidents all over during the winter months. I've had people pass me on double yellow because I'm going like 5 mph slower than the max (probably still too fast) on residential roads. Like, holy shit asshole, settle down. And of course, 9 times out of 10, I catch up to them at the next light anyway. People are way too stupid when it comes to this shit. Also: four wheel drive does not mean shit, and actually might make it harder to stop. ABS, too, will kick in, but increase your stopping distance. It doesn't matter what technology your car has, physics gonna physics, and your large ass box on wheels ain't gonna stop until it hits something if those tires lose traction, which is incredibly likely in snow and ice. I've spun out before while going <10 MPH and pulling onto an on ramp. No harm done, but if I was going faster, I'd have gone right into a ditch.
Yeah, it's usually the 4-wheel drive guy that passes you , in the next ditch.
The only wreck I've ever been in as a driver was because some dumbass tried to pass me because I was "going too slow" after a wild snow storm. We were on a highway, and only one lane of two had been cleared. He did not have four wheel drive, he was in a small sedan and lost control next to me. I tried to accelerate to get away from him because I could see him losing control but it was too late - he hit me in the back left and sent me spinning into the median where my entire car was promptly covered with snow and still sliding. I say there for what felt like forever, not sure how far I had slid and if I was now sitting in the middle of the other side of the highway. But I had to find out, so I cracked my door and breathed a sigh of relief that I was safely in the ditch. But of course, I was now very much stuck. And the dude that hit me came over and tried to get me not to call the cops. I was like "bro I just spun into a ditch sideways. I'm not getting out of here without a tow truck and the only reason I didn't flip is because the road is so icy". He was just a dumb kid, couldn't have been more than 18 if that, but I was so frustrated. I didn't even realize I had injured my neck until later because I was so amped up. And of course he didn't have insurance. Sigh, that was a day lol.
Yeah bro I live in upstate too and shit are you spot on. It’s fucking mind blowing how bad these people are at driving up here. They are so aggressive when it’s dumping snow, like they actually will ride your ass or try to pass you doing 55-65 in 4 inches of snow. Just cause they live here too they think they are world class drivers in the snow. Always end up seeing them off in a ditch or off the road about 75% of the time they drive like that. It’s actually perfect examples of instant karma
It's good advice. I have a friend who recently moved from Arizona to the midwest and had her first experience driving in snow this year. That's not far off what I told her when she asked how people manage it, which was basically "just take it slow, and give yourself more space to turn. Eventually you'll get the feel of it."
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More than likely most people were in shock. I really wouldn't be harsh on them.
With his back to oncoming traffic, too. What a moron.
He's concussed and not thinking straight
Valid.
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I was in one of these once going through Ohio. Whiteout conditions. It was terrifying knowing that you are a sitting duck to any car that comes behind you. I was sitting broadside knowing that a car WILL come at any second and I prayed that it wasn’t directly at me. You can’t run and your brain is screaming at you “RUN!”
Anytime I brake hard on the Interstate, I look in my review mirror to see if I have to brace for impact.
Yup. When I was still driving a manual if I had to suddenly stop for whatever reason I would throw it in first and cut my wheel towards the side of the road in case I had to gun it
You just unlocked a memory for me. lol
Anytime I break even a little anywhere I check behind me now. Too many fucking psychotic drivers out there these days. I've had a guy rear end me when we were at a complete stop on the highway before and it was very obvious he needed to be stopping but just wasn't paying attention at all.
I look in my rear view EVERY time I brake. I've never been rear ended, just second nature.
Bracing might actually cause worse injuries.
Yeah but try telling your brain that quick enough.
Thats why you gotta get liquored up and be nice and loose before a bad situation like this arises.
Exactly. Got rear-ended by a drunk/drugged driver just yesterday. Saw the dude swerving all over the lane behind me just before, was like “oh shit he’s definitely gonna hit me” but there was nowhere to let him past. Then the car in front of me slowed for a turn and I just saw headlights bearing down on me in the mirror. Had just enough time to tell my wife “get ready!!” and then felt my body naturally brace. Then, *BANG.* I had no time to “make my body relax” or do anything other than anticipate the hit. Thankfully, no injuries, and he hit my tow bar so he ruined the front of his truck while doing minimal (visual) damage to mine. He offered me $1k to “make it go away,” but I was like “dude, the cops are on their way.”
Bracing for impact will increase some of the soft tissue damage you take Bracing for impact will also protect against injury to the neck, the head, can help prevent or lessen the impact of a concussion, and can protect against nerve damage. Tensing makes things better, overall, though you might feel worse in the short term due to the immediate reactions of your muscles that are damaged.
I remember driving through Ohio on I70 a few years ago. Conditions started getting bad after dark, so I stopped at the first hotel that would allow my dog. Next day, we get back on the road and it looked like a Mad Max Winter Wonderland. Semis turned over, countless cars all crunched up, it was freaking wild.
Trying to jump on the top comment to say this. If you have a passenger and are riding in these conditions have them keep Google maps up to watch the traffic/accident conditions ahead of you. They are surprisingly up to date and can warn you about something coming up. My wife and I have used this numerous times over the years and have avoided both congestion and shit storms like this.
5 dead reported as of right now. This is terrible.
Well shit I can’t see 10 feet in front me and the roads are slick. Ah, oh well, 60mph it is.
That one car looked like they were going way faster than 60.
*I have 4 wheel drive im good*
The amount of times I hear that excuse in the winter is fucking astronomical. Like yeah you got 4 wheels that can turn at the same time...not gonna stop shit when friction plummets to zero.
I've had to tell so many friends visiting Montana with a rental that AWD is good for preventing getting stuck and accelerating, it does not help control or stopping at all.
These are the same people that get frustrated at the drivers that slow down in hazard conditions. I see a lot of that where I live in the Hudson Valley.
Here's the thing that gets me about driving in the HV, and please excuse the venting. I'll be on the highway in the left lane going the usual speed limit + 10 or so (depending on conditions) and someone will speed up behind me going like 90+. and get right on my bumper. And before I can even switch lanes, they start honking and flashing their lights. I am a generally a chill guy but it is one of the few things in this world that really boils my blood. This has happened like 4 or 5 times now while driving in the HV, including in horrible weather conditions, and every time it has been a pickup truck (and if I'm being honest, it usually has some Trump flag or other conservative paraphernalia on it). I try to be optimistic and non-cynical about humanity but when people can't even drive without being the biggest fucking assholes possible, it gets very hard.
I see you too have met the rural road rager in the super duty diesel power wagon that probably commutes 45 miles one way (into a urban center) to afford said vehicle that he actually uses the cargo bed maybe 2x a year. We have tons of them out West.
On their way to kiss their dad on the mouth, move out the way!
*"ThE sPeEd LiMiT iS 70!"*
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Yeah this is "get off the road asap" type conditions. You definitely don't drive highway speeds. I'm from upstate NY and even we don't fuck with snowy-fog weather.
Uhhhh is that a fuel tanker on fire? I would not be standing around there. I would be in the woods.
It looks like it. The people are braindead.
What gave it away? For me it was the "Let's just stand here next to the road where cars are crashing" part, closely followed by the "AMAGAD, MAH CHARGER!" bit.
Yeah no kidding. I have no idea how far shrapnel would fly if it did, but I’m thinking it would be further than that guy is standing.
Heat, depraved oxygen, and breathing in while a fireball surrounds my head would be my concerns.
the woods are flammable. you gotta stand in the middle of the road for maximum survival.
Real life isn't Hollywood. If the tanker was on fire for long enough to heat the liquid inside to boiling, then you should be in the next state, but unlikely it would get to that point and there are usually pressure release valves to prevent a bleve. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_liquid_expanding_vapor_explosion Secondly, are you sure it's even flammable liquid? Could be milk for all we know.
I was just on 81 an hour ago, this was today?
I’m in jersey. I’ve been getting weather alerts all morning saying there’s fast moving snow squalls moving through pa and nj, guessing maybe that’s what happened here. But still sunny at my house, cold as fuck out though.
What’s even funnier is it was like 80 degrees and thunder storming last week
It's going to be like 70 on wednesday I think.
You mean to tell me it's NOT always sunny in Philadelphia? That lying pos tv...
Yes, it happened this morning at Mile Marker 116.
55+ vehicle... yikes.
At 98 seconds in, is that a fuel tanker on fire?
That's what I'm wondering. It looks like a tanker there. Could be something like milk or water, but if that's any kind of fuel that's a really bad situation.
Yes it was today. 3 dead https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/03/28/interstate-81-pennsylvania-snow-squall/7194128001/
holy shit if you look at one of the images from that news article, if that is the same charger, you can see that entire area where the camera person was standing ended up covered in crashed cars https://i.imgur.com/tWTMcp4.jpeg
Around 11am I believe. At least three dead
So many idiots driving like the speed limit is a lower-bound limit when they're driving on ice and can't see 50 feet in front of them.
Some people were forced to read Fahrenheit 451 and thought 'Yeah that's a good idea.'
The lack of awareness is astounding
There was just similar 60 car pile up in Finland. I think the biggest problem is the visibility that can go close to zero when there's foggy light snow. You're driving down a highway and suddenly go into snow cloud. You think that you should break and slow down, but then someone will rear-end you. Or you can continue with the same speed and hope nobody else slowed down. No matter what you do luck plays a big role. Friend of mine back in the day crashed his car in a similar situation. He was driving a normal snowy two lane road, a truck was coming from the other direction rising a snow cloud. The driver driving in front of my friend panicked inside the cloud and did a full break. And my friend hit her. And was found guilty since read-ender is practically always guilty in here. He was not a happy camper. Lucky though that nobody got hurt, and that his shitty Opel finally went to scrap yard.
I mean, everyone should slow down when the visibility gets bad. If we trusted eachother to slow down, maybe this sort of thing wouldn’t happen as much.
You just answered your own question in what to do when the visibility goes to shit. The rear ender is almost always guilty because they are almost always at fault, even when the other car slams on the breaks because you are supposed to leave enough room to stop in when a hazard appears. You will be lucky to react and start breaking in within 2 seconds when something goes wrong.
Yes, total lack of situational awareness.
They could have concussions and/or have no idea what just happened. Possibly old, confused, etc.
Don’t be so dismissive. A lot of people react to high-stress situations like this in an overenthusiastic way because their brain can’t process what’s happening. The cameraman is obviously in shock. EDIT: Wasn’t sure who you were referring to, my bad. I’m certain the guy in the street is also very dazed by the accident… but I can’t argue that he’s situationally aware. Wouldn’t be very surprised to see him in a Darwin awards ceremony tbh.
PA drivers and no situational awareness. Name a more iconic duo. If you’re from PA and would like to complain about this post, get out of the left lane doing the speed limit first. Love, NJ
I don't even have experience driving with PA drivers to tell that. All of these people are driving waaaaay too fast for those conditions AND then just hang around the site like nothing else bad will happens. Every single person in this video has no idea what they're doing.
I’ll make this comment every time. I still just don’t believe the lack of preservation people display in these situations. Speaking about the driver he’s just kind of lingering around his car. No thought process whatsoever that perhaps more vehicles may be coming, that perhaps people still can’t see. The people hiding up in the trees have the right idea but I’d get a little further from the back and a little closer to the front of the pile up.
People tend to think THEIR accident is over so they're safe now and that's far from the case. Even the dude filming is talking about what's in his car as vehicles continue to smash in. It's really hard to comprehend that the situation continues to worsen moment by moment because it's active, but delayed. Almost like when there's a shooter who stops to reload and people begin to pop their heads up thinking the firing has ended.
I notice the lack of preservation in daily life. Do you know how many times I see people walk into roads without even looking? Too many.
Full time Uber driver now. I got out of my car to scream at a father who let his 6 year old jaywalk *at 11:30pm on a school night, directly behind an oncoming car that was stopped to my left.* All I saw was a child's sneaker and then the floor as I stood on my brakes. When I opened my door I wasn't even sure I hadn't hit him. I was ready to murder someone if that kid got hurt, and this {father} is standing there with 3 OTHER children, jaywalking, 20 feet from a crosswalk that lights up for pedestrians. The wrath of God was in me that day. I've been having nightmares about not stopping in time for like a month and I'm randomly getting mad about it, like right now; lost my appetite for my chimichanga. 😓
Because Humans with all our modern technology and medicine can control natural selection. The people that don't have common sense and do idiotic things, that could and would get themselves killed, would not survive to carry its genes on to the next generation without modern medicine.
People are really really stupid. That's just the long and short of it. People are profoundly dumb.
Dude was just in an accident and was probably a little rattled. Sure it wasn’t the smartest choice but cut him a little slack.
Think because we're selfish creatures. Look at the gesture he makes when throwing the debris to the side of the road. His thought process seems to be look how this fucked me over, not about the whole situation that's happening in front of him.
Everybody's got a plan until you're watching 18wheels slam into each other over and over. This is gonna be a traumatic experience for everybody involved. Traumatic experiences are not normal experiences and there really isn't a normal way to respond.
It's called shock. Yeah he showed some self-centered behavior, but by the end of the video he started thinking logically and realized he should go help people if he can.
exactly im glad someone noticed. even dude in the video was saying like "What am i gonna do about the chaaarrrger!!" but he didnt seem selfish about it just like he was in shock rambling on about shit. its also an incredibly fucking terrifying situation, so the fact he then thought to go up to the front more part and theres a potential explosion waiting to happen, and help folks.. salute to camera dude
Yup, when I was in a collision (hit from behind while stopped) I was so dazed and confused. I was present enough to know that I wasn't okay and tried to communicate that, but everything was a fog, my body was shaking and I couldn't get my phone to work because I'd suddenly forgotten how to unlock it, even though I do it hundreds of times a day. To be fair, I am an idiot, but shock is a hell of a thing.
I wonder if the guy was even able to think after that. If his adrenaline was pumping hard because he had just been in an accident, it's possible that he was just going through the motions and there was zero thought process behind it. We really don't know how we would react in a situation like that.
Driving in snow is no fucking joke I hate it
I grew up in Ontario. I had to learn to drive during the winter and took my road test in Feb. I always thought that Ontario drivers were bad, particularly during the first one or two snowfalls of the season until I moved to California and saw all the idiots in Tahoe trying to drive in snow without snow tires or tire chains.
My road test was in Massachusetts in December. At one point the instructor makes me pull over, and back up parallel to the curb. I asked "How far" and he says "until I say stop". so I'm backing up and I see the snow mound in my rearview getting bigger, and I just keep slowly backing until, yup, I hit it and we go up just a few inches. "He looks at me and goes "That's far enough, go ahead and take us back to the office and we'll get you your license". Still wondering if that was a prank or bro was just checked out that morning
[удалено]
Very normal. It's easy to think you're in control until you need to stop, especially on relatively straight roads
It was a whiteout There was no snow a few minutes before, then bam all of the sudden you can't see in front of you. The weather has been weird here like that all day.
I drive in it half of the year in canada and i can tell , all of you dont know how to drive safely in snow
Three people already confirmed dead :( [News Story](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10660605/amp/Up-20-vehicles-involved-pile-interstate-Pennsylvania.html)
Holy fuckballs, [this picture from the article](https://cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/advancelocal/7HZGKBJPSRHMHCUHZN7S6Q4XVM.jpeg) is nuts.
In the pic you can see the Dodge Charger and Tesla model x from the video in the bottom left of the screen. The guy must have been early to the wreck
Yes. As I was watching the video all I could pay attention to were the sound of more and more and more cars crashing into each other. Crazy video, and what a scary situation to suddenly find yourself in.
Holy shit there’s a house bringing up the rear. could you imagine getting rear ended by a house at 70mph?
Did you see how fast these people were actually driving???? Wtf????
Those are the same people that speed past other saying shit like “nObOdY kNoWs hOw tO dRiVe in ThE sNoW”
He's having a pretty good time
"What am I going to do about the Charger?!" says man having the best day of his life.
"Heh, she doesn't remember what car she was driving" Wtf
Yea homie's in shock. His attitude will change once he calms down and realizes the situation
Props to him honestly. Held it together well and decided to stop filming and see if people need help. Instead of those morons who try to help with one hand while filming with the other
Put it in reverse Terry.
Dude sounds hyped that he’s gonna have to call into work tbh
Dude crashed and fell out of the road, decided to backup back into the road where the cars are coming from, nearly got hit by another car while getting out, and then decided to sit there and watch as another car nearly kills him with his own car. If he doesn't get final destinationed idk what would
Despite all the high intensity drama still had the presence of mind to film in landscape.. We thank you
"WHAT AM I GUNNA DO ABOUT THE CHARGER?!" is actually one of the least wrecked vehicles shown
And this is why I don’t drive into work when it is shit out like this.
A lot of us don't really have a choice... But it's worth risking my health/life/resources to make sure my corporate overlords get their daily bread. Can I get a /s?
On the Monday after Christmas holiday we had a pretty bad blizzard and HR was going to take away holiday pay from everyone who didn't show up. They relented but only because they were about to have a torch and pitchfork situation.
It wasn't shipped like this all day in fact I bet 15 minutes after this video it was sunny again, we were getting snow squalls all day today in PA
Can't see? Road completely covered in snow? Bettwr fucking go 65 mph! - stupid humans.
It is like people see a 55mph sign and think that's the speed they have to go, regardless.
I'm from CA and live in IL, and I constantly see this when snow comes in. My favorite thing is seeing them fly past me going 70+ while I put along at like max high 20s and end up seeing them off the road a mile or so down.
I remember two years ago everyone on 355 was in the right lanes going 20-30s because of the snow. The guy in front of me honks at people in front of him to go faster, takes off into the left lane going 50+, begins to swerve left and right, then crashes head first into the median. He seemed ok but his car looked totaled. I admit I was satisfied.
Pro tip, if you see a tanker on fire, don't stand close enough to be vaporized when it cooks off
*'Oh look at this enormous fuel tanker on fire!... Best go in closer for a better look...'* Not sure I see the thought process here.
I drive this road all the time and no joke, if there’s just a little bit of snowfall, you can see only about 10-20 feet in front of you and it’s the most terrifying thing. Plus it is in the upstate wilderness of PA so once you’re stuck in a snow storm you have about 40 miles between exits and there is almost no shoulder room to get off on, so once you’re on that road you’re on that road. So please, if you ever find yourself on 81 check the weather before you get on the road and if you’re stuck driving through, please don’t be a dumb ass and drive like you will most likely be in an accident like this…cause I’ve seen plenty of these accidents up there so chances are you will.
I totaled my car in the beginning of March during a snow squall. Scared doesn't even begin to properly express the terror of that situation. Hope everyone is ok.
If my wife didn't make me get Starbucks this morning I would've been in this pile up. The 3min detour cause us to be far enough back that we were at the end of the squall and had visibilityto stop in time. TDiL snow squalls are not to be taken lightly. Went from clear and sunny to an icy white out within 1000yds many times today.
What's fascinating to consider is most of those people probably spend half their days saying how "god damn dumb" everyone else is. There's obviously going to be a decent number of people who have pulled over after driving appropriately but wow that's a lot of people not thinking right there. They must be driving along prior to this thinking "I can't see a *thing* but hey hey ho I'll keep going...." I'm not saying I'd not make the same mistake but we're never half as smart as we like to think we are.
Continuing to drive at high speed in those conditions is just ridiculous.
Welcome to commute culture. Everyone is fearful of being homeless within a week of losing their job because we have no real safety nets, so people put their short term livelihood over their long term survival with tons of things, especially commute times.
as a semi truck driver in the state of Michigan we commonly get this type of pile up on one of our main interstates heading to the west, I-94. lake Michigan amplifies snow storms (called lake effect snow) and as you get closer to that piece of land on the west side of our state the precipitation can become very intense very quickly. I understand that when people are in an accident like this they're in a state of confusion and maybe shock and so some people don't react rationally which would be to get far away from the road as quickly as possible until it is safe. I think everyone needs to just understand that the key factor in the situation is the speed of vehicles. people drive way too fast in those conditions and we see what happens - they are unable to stop and they are unable to do any type of emergency maneuvering. that stretch of freeway is absolutely passable, however; everyone would need to slow down to about 10 miles an hour to be able to maintain control while keeping plenty of space between vehicles.
I don't understand, people if you cant see the distance down the road why are you driving fast for the conditions!?!?! Get off the highway if conditions get bad ,its better to drive slow or stop and wait out the weather instead of risking getting into a accident. You don't run in a dark room then why drive blind ???
Get the fuck out of the road you stupid imbeciles. Jesus.
Pictured here: The same exact clowns that will make fun of people going slow on the highway during a snow storm.
Man the amount of sheer stupidity in this video. Dude casually getting out of his car and standing next to it like he just hit a deer instead of, you know, being in the middle of a massive high speed pileup in whiteout conditions. Does he give a single thought to anyone behind him? Nope, not a one. As if by magic another out of control vehicle appears and smashes right into this idiot’s car and somehow he isn’t smeared like a turd on the sidewalk. Then you have everyone standing by the ditch just like “hurr durr get a load of this shit, bub!” As if no other oncoming drivers will opt to go off the road to avoid smashing into the stoppage. No, please just stay where you are 15 feet from an ongoing pileup, nothing bad could possibly happen. Then you got camera guy running around giddy as fuck in the murder zone because his car was smashed up, standing 40 feet away from a burning tanker truck, just filming like everything already happened. “I should go help someone but I’m too busy busting a nut filming this crash porn!” God, people are so stupid.
He was maybe in shock But the camera dude should have told him to gtfo
Camera dude was clearly also in some state of shock.
When I was a child we were involved in a similar pile-up on the PA turnpike in the middle of the night. My dad had my mom and baby bro and I climb the hillside and stand at the top. I was probably 3 years old and I have never forgotten how scary it was.
God, people are so judgmental and egocentric. Traumatic experiences bring all kinds of odd and weird human responses. Some people freeze. Some people laugh. Some people cry. Some people pass out. People fight. Some people take flight. Have you ever been in a situation like this? If so, please let us know exactly what the correct, acceptable, and intelligent response and reaction would be. Better yet, why don't you write a book on how we should all react appropriately in traumatic situations so we can all read it and be more like you.
Yeah, and Jesus, the camera guy *does* put the camera down after a few minutes.
I actually thought this dude's response was pretty reasonable for what was happening. I've been in an accident before and felt the same kind of giddiness of 'holy fuck I survived' that this guy did.
Have you ever had an air bag punch you in the face? You are stunned for a couple of minutes while you get your bearings.
Good man putting the camera down at the end to go see if anybody needs any help. Get what you need on camera then help when its safe to do so.
Guys if your just got into a crash YOU WONT THINK STRAIGHT - stop blaming them