Posted on 11/03/2007 11:23:03 AM PDT by yorkie
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Collisions on a foggy freeway Saturday resulted in a pileup of as many as 100 vehicles and the deaths of at least two people, the California Highway Patrol said.
The collisions included nine big rigs on northbound Highway 99 just south of Fresno, CHP Officer Scott Jobinger said.
"It looks like we had a chain reaction crash in that fog," Jobinger said.
Rescuers extracted several people whose vehicles were pinned under tractor trailers, he said. The number of people injured was not yet known.
Authorities said no hazardous materials appeared to have been spilled in the morning crash.
That section of the freeway will remain shut down as investigators work to determine the cause of the crash, Jobinger said.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
That’s horrible; and so soon after that incident in Southern California where the people were trapped in a burning tunnel.
The really dangerous part about the valley fog is that it is variable and can change suddenly from 1/4 mile visibility to 0....that is when these pile-ups occur.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Hope all Fresno FReepers are okay and accounted for!
It would be interesting to find out if any of these accidents involved trucks travelling into our country from Mexico......
Just a thought.....
This is the second large accident in the past month that involved nine big-rigs.
I imagine we will never be told.
Bumper bullies sometimes lose the gamble.
There have been a number of overturned tractor-trailer incidents in the Houston area in the past few weeks that have made me wonder about this.
You are correct in your point that if this is a new trent, the knobs in the media are going to be very tight lipped about it.
These huge pile ups have been happening for many years. Trouble is, one cannot know what to do when they run into a fog bank, slow down, drive off the road and stop, maintain speed? Any choice opens one up to a serious collision. A fix would be to promulgate a rule among all drivers as to what to do when encountering a fog bank. Stopping until it cleared up seems like a good idea.
Stay off the roads Jim!
Oh and Happy Birthday
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
That's unfair. You have no idea what the cause was. Have you ever driven in a Tule fog?
Wow. A pileup on Hwy 99 in the fog near Fresno. That’s never happened before.
Sheesh. Slow down, people, unless you can see through thick fog.
I heard about this. Live in Fresno. Hwy 99 is absolutely treacherous, even without fog. This is horrible. I have driven in the fog on 99 from Fresno to Sacramento many times. I try to get behind one of those big trucks and just stay there. The truckdrivers don’t mind. This is the first pile-up of the year; there are usually a few each year at around this time.
1st serious fog of our season. Fog is tough to drive in. You’re afraid to go too fast and afraid to go too slow. Unfortunately, not everybody has the same plan (fast or slow).
That's sometimes a bad place to be if another truck is behind you. You could become the meat in a big rig sandwich.
When I lived in Germany they had these huge 400+ car pileups on the Autobahn just outside of Munich every year. Going a 100+ and hitting fog, well, it was like bumpercars.
And take your foot off the brake and turn off your lights! In that kind of fog (we have similar in Daly City) people behind you think you are on the road and moving otherwise.
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