I 35 pile up

[tdwinklr]

I drive this same stretch daily and yesterday the highway to that point was completely fine, no slick spots whatsoever. All of traffic was rollin 65-70 just like a normal day. Common sense had nothing to do with this.

Why not? The unpredictability of this weather has been all over the news for days now. Warnings everywhere. You don't just assume the roads are all clear, everywhere and drive 'normally'. Typical metro drivers down here.

[ThisLadyHunts]

I talked to a guy who went through there 2 minutes before. He said it was dry as a bone until he got a few drops on his windshield and immediately got slick. Less than 3 minutes later that shower came through and a semi truck got sideways and hit a concrete divider and blocked all lanes. This was in the southbound lane at Northside drive. A mile back from that is 28th street, at the top of the hill, and when you top that hill at 28th, you can't see what is below. In a matter of minutes it turned to ice, and when they topped that hill, there was absolutely nothing anyone could do...10mph, or 50mph...they were not stopping.


Terrible thing.

This stuff usually comes from the northwest, which is where I live. I drove from my house to North Ft Worth this morning at 6:00am and turned around to go to my shop about 3 miles north of this accident. I called my guys and told them everything was clear, all roads were dry, and we sent trucks (18 wheelers) out. We got extremely lucky not to have any going that way. We ran trucks all day and hardly saw a slick spot. I have thanked God for that multiple times today. If you've ever sent big trucks out on your insurance, you know what I mean. If you havn't, you ABSOLUTELY DO NOT know what that means, and you never will.

My heart absolutely breaks for those people involved, and they will be inumerable. But this was not a reckless situation. This was a freak situation. I drove all over Tarrant county today from 6am to 4pm and never saw so much as a slick patch.

So save your almighty driving sermons, and your speculation, and all of your pointers. Because I've been on that road a thousand times, and what happened is awful in ways I can't even begin to fathom, and un avoidable...and it's no ones fault but mother nature's.

Pray for those involved, and keep your ignorant opinions to yourself.

All very sobering thoughts. You’ve given much to think about for those foreword thinking enough to learn from this disaster.

[WItoTX]

A good friend of mine grew up in rural Iowa and he told me this was just SOP for them. Water, a day's worth of rations, blankets, and stuff to make a fire. he said when he was about 12 years old he and his dad were stranded for about 16 hours in sub-zero temps, and those preparations likely saved them.

We live in Katy, and my wife and I are never more than a minute or two from a building while driving. I still threw a blanket in her car this morning, and one in mine. If not for ourselves, than the poor soul who broke down on the feeder that didn't prepare themselves.

Why not? The unpredictability of this weather has been all over the news for days now. Warnings everywhere. You don't just assume the roads are all clear, everywhere and drive 'normally'. Typical metro drivers down here.

I think another thread should be started addressing this. I generally agree with your sentiment, but as someone who grew up in the cold, even people in WI don't have "common sense" when it comes to cold. Why would a person expect someone in Texas to have "common sense"?

The correct answer is help educate people who may not know, so they can be better prepared. Not tell them they are idiots because they aren't you.

[Mike D]

One of our partners niece was in the car with her child under the truck circled in red.


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I saw a video where that truck got hit and it was brutal.

Hopefully she and her child are ok.


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[Traildust]

Why not? The unpredictability of this weather has been all over the news for days now. Warnings everywhere. You don't just assume the roads are all clear, everywhere and drive 'normally'. Typical metro drivers down here.

Does that include the truckers who prolly drive 200K miles a year, all over the country, in every driving condition imaginable? Let it go.

[Dale Moser]

Why not? The unpredictability of this weather has been all over the news for days now. Warnings everywhere. You don't just assume the roads are all clear, everywhere and drive 'normally'. Typical metro drivers down here.

Because common sense tells you that you can’t grind all interstate traffic in a major city to 10 miles an hour during rush hour because there is a 1% chance that one hill may be icy. That is simple reality.


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[Mexico]

Hindsight is strong in this thread...

[Terrell_County]

Why not? The unpredictability of this weather has been all over the news for days now. Warnings everywhere. You don't just assume the roads are all clear, everywhere and drive 'normally'. Typical metro drivers down here.

This right here

[Let's go Brandon!]

I saw a video where that truck got hit and it was brutal.

Hopefully she and her child are ok.


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Sad. That FJ Cruiser behind the white truck took the worst of it.

[WItoTX]

Because common sense tells you that you can’t grind all interstate traffic in a major city to 10 miles an hour during rush hour because there is a 1% chance that one hill may be icy. That is simple reality.


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Has that stretch froze over before?

There are court cases covering something similar up north. Situation was paper mills released steam in the winter time, where the steam would blow over the road, freeze on pavement, and was responsible for numerous accidents.

The only thing that stopped it was there was so many major accidents in the same spot, people finally learned to slow down through there if they saw steam over the road.

[ClayW]

Man this is sad. I can't imagine being in that position.

And those of you preaching...do better. Be a good person, for once.

[gekko man]

I drove past it yesterday and it looked like a war zone!

I drive by about 30 mins ago and they appear to have all of the vehicles out.

That area of I 35 can be tricky in dry weather. You roll past 28th Street into the Trinity River bottoms and it can come to a halt in a hurry! The interchange with airport freeway bottle necks everything.

Prayers for all involved!

[eradicator]

I drive that stretch every day for work. I'm not a toll/express lane kind of guy but those barriers saved a lot more grief than what already happened. They would have been unimpeded to oncoming traffic and it could have been worse. Apparently the express lanes were not treated(which I don't have a problem with). Folks looking for lawsuits out of this are not at the top of my list. Prayers up for all involved!

[eradicator]

I drove past it yesterday and it looked like a war zone!

I drive by about 30 mins ago and they appear to have all of the vehicles out.

That area of I 35 can be tricky in dry weather. You roll past 28th Street into the Trinity River bottoms and it can come to a halt in a hurry! The interchange with airport freeway bottle necks everything.

Prayers for all involved!

yessir

[WOODY2373]

That was awful to see.