The Weather Channel has been reporting on this all day.
If you watch the videos a FED EX truck Slams the pile up and goes over the top of several vehicles. They were smashed flat, prob where the fatalities are.
Were fully automatic assault vehicles used?
Global warming kills people.
I just spoke with my son who lives near that accident site. He says the roads are slippery and Texas doesn’t salt or sand, and the people don’t know how to drive on ice. The highways are speed limit 75 and people drive like demons, anyway. Very bad!
Since I would never go to MSN.COM to see it, I will have to wait for the reruns
The worst problems in the Metroplex are the Yankees that know how to drive on snow.
This isn’t snow, it’s ice. And the proper response is to sit at home for a couple of days until it melts.
Roads are actually pretty good north of Dallas. The bridges can be iffy, but as long as you don’t brake or hit the gas, you’re probably OK.
I think the speed limit on that portion of the managed lanes is 75. That will get you run over most days.
The road is elevated and we have been getting sleet and freezing rain for some hours. Quick ice formation.
Prayers up for those involved.
We could get these conditions in a few days down here in Houston, with a predicted low of 15 degrees.
There was one ice storm here 9 years ago, and I still had to go to the plant in Deer Park. I had to wait things out to get home, since 225 was shut down. I wound up using the surface streets as soon as the bridge over 225 opened to get back to Houston. Houston didn’t have sand, but someone dumped some gravel on the bridges going over the bayous.
It’s the bridges and elevated roadways that can get treacherous here. BTW, I used to live up north, and am familiar with “black ice”. It’s hard to see, and can form quickly - just about instantly.
Global Warming Alert!
Local news station there was showing “live” footage from a chopper...unreal . it must span a half mile of highway. Prayers for those who have passed or are injured. I resided in Maine for 10 years and the snow is nothing compared to black ice which is more than likely what these drivers came across...the section is also a raised bridge over a culvert...first to freeze...very sad.
This is literally 1/8 mile from my house and at my exit to I35. Exasperating to read all the stereotyping of Texas drivers and redneck shaming.
There is an exit from the express lanes of the interstate merging in with the regular 3 lanes at this crash scene so you had huge trucks merging in and the roads were icy. Yes. TX and Ft Worth uses sand when icy. But the rain came around 4:00 pm and when the sun sets it is icy real quick. I think the wrecks were around 6:00 pm. Get off their ass about not having it done in time.
I came around a wide, sweeping turn and saw something obstructing the road in the far distance. I tapped the breaks and immediately started to skid. Foot off break; steer out of the skid; lightly tap break; immediately start to skid; foot off break; steer ... repeat; repeat; repeat. Bottom line. You. Could. Not. Stop. Period, and the entire road was blocked from shoulder to shoulder with cars in the ditch on both sides, so there was no way to sneak around. The only thing to do was coast to a stop before you hit, or pick a friendly looking spot in the ditch.
I almost made it. By the time I rolled close to the edge of the crash, I couldn't have been going more than 5 mph. I tapped the brake again and immediately started to skid and immediately corrected. I still might've slowed to a stop before impact but some guy ahead of me had gotten clipped, had spun 180 degrees, and was skidding back towards me with his wheels cut hard the wrong way and his tires spinning like crazy. He had obviously missed the "how to handle a skid" day in drivers' ed.
I haven't had much use for ice since then.
Fortunately there were no serious injuries. People could see the pileup from quite far away; they just couldn't stop. Another dozen cars hit after me. This wasn't a LA freeway where something happens and 150 cars crash in three seconds; this was a road with light traffic moving slowly. It took time to play out. By the time it ended, there was quite an army of spectators at a safe distance off the road, and some of them had walked way back up the highway with flares to give people more warning.