140 car pileup in Texas

Tallon

Holy Crap :eek:


Two killed, dozens injured in 140 car pileup in Texas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdv9oTEmWoY

TWO PEOPLE HAVE died and more than 80 people have been injured when at least 140 vehicles collided in South-east Texas in a pileup that left trucks twisted on top of each other and authorities rushing to pull survivors from the wreckage.

The collision occurred in extremely foggy conditions at about 8.45 a.m on Thanksgiving Day on Interstate 10 south west of Beaumont, about 80 miles east of Houston.

A man and a woman were killed in an SUV when they were crushed by a tractor trailer, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

(AP Photo/The Beaumont Enterprise, Guiseppe Barranco)

DPS trooper Stephanie Davis yesterday identified the dead as Debra Leggio, 60, and Vincent Leggio, 64.

Jefferson County sheriff’s Deputy Rod Carroll said that 80 to 90 people were transported to hospitals with 10 to 12 of those in serious to critical conditions. He said 140 to 150 vehicles were involved in the pileup.

(AP Photo/The Beaumont Enterprise, Guiseppe Barranco)

According to DPS, a crash on the eastbound side of the highway led to other accidents in a dangerous chain reaction. There were multiple crashes on the other side of the highway as well.

Carroll said the fog was so thick that deputies didn’t immediately realize they were dealing with multiple accidents.

(AP Photo/The Beaumont Enterprise, Guiseppe Barranco)

“It is catastrophic,” Carroll said. “I’ve got cars on top of cars.”

Carroll said uninjured drivers tried to help as authorities sorted through the wreckage.

“It’s just people helping people,” Carroll said. “The foremost thing in this holiday season is how other travellers were helping us when we were overwhelmed, sitting and holding, putting pressure on people that were injured.”

Via

Stheno

Saw this on sky news last night, it looked fairly awful

doolox

It should be possible to install radar in cars for use in foggy conditions. Especially if people in desert and semi desert areas like Texas are not used to fog on a regular basis.

Also slow drivers in the outside lane afraid to pull in because of undertaking cars.

Training needed on motorways and freeways.

qz

2 people, while awful, seems relatively low for such a massive crash.

Del2005

doolox wrote: »

It should be possible to install radar in cars for use in foggy conditions. Especially if people in desert and semi desert areas like Texas are not used to fog on a regular basis.

Also slow drivers in the outside lane afraid to pull in because of undertaking cars.

Training needed on motorways and freeways.

No need for radar or any other gimic. You should be driving at a speed that you can stop safely in the distance you can see.

The something else will save me attitude is what leads to these types of crashes.

Matt Simis

doolox wrote: »

It should be possible to install radar in cars for use in foggy conditions. Especially if people in desert and semi desert areas like Texas are not used to fog on a regular basis.

Also slow drivers in the outside lane afraid to pull in because of undertaking cars.

Training needed on motorways and freeways.

Adaptive cruise control is radar and already does this. It exists for about 15years now. Seen here on the VW Phaeton but its available on all the premium marques:


The VAG system however seems to not see "stationary" zero speed objects, its designed to monitor and react to distance between two moving objects, it will work on something thats barely moving however (ie pedestrians). I have read of people using it as a guidance system in fog too, though that does seem a bit mental. I dont know if the newer VAG system now functions on stopped things, prolly does.


The MB system does work on stationary objects and Merc's can be spec'ed with the thermal imaging view too.

spank_inferno

Pretty bad alright.

We bemoan motorway driving here, but I find it no better in the USA.

I've driven hundreds of freeway miles between Illinois & Wisconsin.
I find people on the freeway drive a bit too close to each other at high speed
(more so than the Irish do I find).

The large artic-lorries are bigger and definetely drive faster than here.

And going by my folks Chevy Malibu, the brakes are made of rice-cakes!

pajo1981

Del2005 wrote: »

No need for radar or any other gimic.

Tell that to the two people who died.

evanSpiddal

spank_inferno wrote: »

Pretty bad alright.

We bemoan motorway driving here, but I find it no better in the USA.

I've driven hundreds of freeway miles between Illinois & Wisconsin.
I find people on the freeway drive a bit too close to each other at high speed
(more so than the Irish do I find).

The large artic-lorries are bigger and definetely drive faster than here.

And going by my folks Chevy Malibu, the brakes are made of rice-cakes!

I can second this about driving in the US, was in Boston a few weeks ago and the way they drive on the motorway there is insane!

I saw a few times people making sudden 4 lane changes to get to their exit while the roads are wedged, and anytime I left the correct space between myself and the car infront of me (as your meant to do) someone would slip into the gap, which could create dangerous situations very quickly.

The best driving moment though was being tailgated by an 18 wheeler because I was sticking to the speed limit, wouldn't want to do an emergency stop with that behind you!

And this was in the space of a week, covering maybe 400 miles!

P.S. Fully agree with the comment about the brakes of a Chevy Malibu, rented a 2012 model and the brakes were horrid!

Anan1

qz wrote: »

No need for radar or any other gimic.

pajo1981 wrote: »

Tell that to the two people who died.

The sad truth is that there is always a compromise between how many people die and how much society is prepared to spend. In terms of lives saved per dollar spent i'd imagine standard-fit radar would offer a very poor return.

kirving

Anan1 wrote: »

The sad truth is that there is always a compromise between how many people die and how much society is prepared to spend. In terms of lives saved per dollar spent i'd imagine standard-fit radar would offer a very poor return.

And airbags, and ABS, and ESC were all very expensive options initially. Once anything becomes mainstream, the cost plummets. I can't see cost being an issue with radar systems in a few years.

Tallon

evanSpiddal wrote: »

The best driving moment though was being tailgated by an 18 wheeler because I was sticking to the speed limit, wouldn't want to do an emergency stop with that behind you!

Let me guess, you were in the overtaking lane, but you were 'doing the limit' so it was okay?

Anan1

Kevin Irving wrote: »

And airbags, and ABS, and ESC were all very expensive options initially. Once anything becomes mainstream, the cost plummets. I can't see cost being an issue with radar systems in a few years.

Airbags, ABS and ESC are still very expensive relative to the number of lives they save. We live in a world where people die every day for the want of pennies.

ghogie91

How in gods name could 140 cars be involved?

for instance like after the first 90 would the following 50 not have gotten the impression that there was a bit of a pile up?

Anan1

ghogie91 wrote: »

How in gods name could 140 cars be involved?

for instance like after the first 90 would the following 50 not have gotten the impression that there was a bit of a pile up?

If you can't stop within the distance you can see to be clear then it doesn't matter whether it's one crashed car ahead or a thousand.

ghogie91

Anan1 wrote: »

If you can't stop within the distance you can see to be clear then it doesn't matter whether it's one crashed car ahead or a thousand.

Why cant people lift the head and look a hundred yards in front of them?

Anan1

ghogie91 wrote: »

Why cant people lift the head and look a hundred yards in front of them?

Did you read the article? It was extremely foggy, and people were driving too fast for the conditions.

Oink

It's horrible and I hope everybody recovers.

But let's be honest here. Whichever way you look at it, as long as nobody gives a siúcra about safety distance, people will keep dying.

EDIT: The way I see it, if the car in front of you suddenly turns into a brick wall and you're too close to stop, it's your fault.

Del2005

pajo1981 wrote: »

Tell that to the two people who died.

If they had been driving correctly for the conditions then there would be no need for radar and would still be alive.

People drive dangerously because cars make them feel safe,but motoring is dangerous and should be treated as such. If you can't stop safely in the distance you can see then you are driving too fast. Technology can fail, remember when Merc unveiled their radar?, so shouldn't be relied upon. Slowing down in bad conditions is reliable.