This is what happens when you don't SLOW DOWN in bad winter conditions

I know how this is going to stop, well at least its a good bet. Its going to come down to what it always does. People don't have common sense so what we need is more big brother intervention. In fact it's already in the works. I was a bit a shocked to find out about how fast the trucking industry has changed with these companies knowing just about everything you do. Brake too hard and you better have an explanation ready for your company, or maybe they'll just turn on that interior facing spy cam. The spy ware they use in trucks are going to be trickling down to cars as well. Insurance companies are using telematics to measure driver behavior. They are teaming with government, auto makers, and cell phone carriers to disable incoming text while that user is driving. Right now the main problem is its tough to tell if your driving or not. But they are working on a solution for that too. You can expect these changes 10 to 12 years.

I also agree, that in the situation, cell phones may or may not of been a part of this accident. I'm no truck driver, not yet anyway. But i've been on roads that you just don't know what your up against until its too late. You can see it in the video. These drivers are probably screaming, yanking on the wheel, applying the brakes, hitting the gas, and yet that vehicle just keeps traveling as straight as can be like its on a string. Doesn't slow down 1 bit. That's solid ice. I've been on ice like that and it was so slick that if I could got out of my vehicle, and providing that I could stand up on my own two feet. I could have pushed my 4x4 truck sideways right off the road.

 

I don't know that there's anything inherently wrong with wifi in a vehicle... But to me its a what the #### moment considering that laws have just banned texting and driving. It made no sense to add yet another potential distraction. ...there's also some personal reasons behind it that are unrelated, but for now I'm miffed at the potential for another distraction of drivers.

...oh and uhh. Since some of us were talking about cb use in rigs... I didn't get home and find that my brother also found an old police and emergency scanner and he didn't give it to me.

Whatever I do with what I don't have is up to me, but I've heard that we can't have scanners in the rigs. I don't mean radar detectors, I mean the communication scanners that let you listen in.

 

You seem to imply crashing into someone is a better option than someone crashing into you. If you cant f'n see, you can't f'n see, and your rig is effectively "disabled".

 

I am of the belief that stupid SHOULD be painful...but it really isn't anymore, which ALLOWS stupidity to go unchecked.

Cars these days are simple to drive...requiring little effort on the part of the steering wheel holder. Power steering took the effort out of turning the vehicle, and when that was too tricky for people to handle, out comes speed-adaptive power steering to make it more manageable for the unskilled driver to handle at speed. Power brakes to help apply more brake pressure, and then anti-lock brakes for people who didn't know how not to over-apply the brakes. Lap belts would hold you in the seat if you lost control, and then they added shoulder straps to keep you from bumping your head on the padded dash or collapseable steering column. That still didn't protect folks enough from their own stupidity, so they started installing inflatable pillows...first in the steering wheel, then the dash, now they are all around you (and even on some MOTORCYCLES) to ensure that you are well protected from your own stupidity. They've even removed much of the responsibility to actually DRIVE the car from the steering wheel holder...with the automatic transmissions to shift the gears, cruise control to keep your speed up, and then adaptive cruise control so you don't have to back it down when you catch up to slower traffic. They have cars that will parallel park themselves, warn the steering wheel holder if they depart from the lane, or alert them to traffic beside them (freeing them of the need to watch their mirrors). Some cars will even stop for you if you miss the fact that you are about to crash into something...car has more sense than the nut behind the wheel these days.

Anyway each "advancement in safety" has come at a price. With each task no longer being the responsibility of the driver to take care of, it frees up their mind and body for OTHER tasks unrelated to their driving...morning paper, breakfast, applying makeup, talking on the phone or texting, etc... Back when you needed both hands on the wheel to go around a corner, and you needed both feet and a hand to shift the gears, and you had to listen to the engine to know when to shift, you didn't have much time for anything else.

Heck, used to be way back when that you had 3 pedals on the floor, but your throttle was a lever on the column, opposite of the one that controlled your spark advance. There were no brakes at the wheels...braking was handled in the transmission. Turn signals meant sticking your arm out the window, which in a lot of cases didn't have glass that could be closed...you used your umbrella to block the rain or keep the cold wind out. Speaking of rain, the windshield wipers were manually operated, too...attached to a handle at the top of the windshield that you'd move back and forth to clear the window. Sure, they still wrecked back then...but when you figure they were still getting used to the horseless carriage, ya gotta cut 'em a LITTLE slack! It was all still new to them, unlike today where very few people are left who can remember life before the automobile.

Start removing a lot of this "safety" and "convenience" crap and make stupid painful again. Then people will either learn to pay attention, or Darwin will take care of them.

 

Theres a Sunday morning service I can attend! Preach my friend! Preach it!

Id thank you repeatedly if I could.

My old sig: "I'm not saying we should kill off all the idiots. If we simply removed the warning labels the problem would eventually sort itself out."

 

How is it the R&L truck was able to visually slow, and none of the others? Because he was paying attention. I'm so sick of our current fascination as a society with finding somewhere else to place blame other than on the individual's behavior. People were travelling entirely too fast for conditions, and it bit them in the ###! Class dismissed!

 

i dont know why we are monday morning quarterbacking,

there were obviously "surprise" conditions here that do not exist during a normal "foggy, snowy" situation

mind you, that big rig that slid into the whole bunch was definitely going way too fast

but i am sure R&L and others drive these conditions more than any of us here, as well as others, figured it was a normal situation

seems like that patch of ice was an anomaly at that time, or else no one would have been able to have maintained their speed prior to that pileup

is there fault? yes and no, but i dont know how slow you think anyone could have been driving to completely avoid getting tangled up in that mess

even the last R&L truck, seems like either he saw what others didnt see or maybe he had his CB on, but i cant accept 193 vehicles just plowed into each other for no other reason than they were all just jerks

 

He was probably talking on the CB with the other R&L truck on an off channel...#1 says "OH (expletive)! BRAKE CHECK! TRAFFIC STOPPE..." crunch. #2 starts backing it down and gets whoa'd up, along with the traffic around him.

 

Absolutely agree; but even the first R&L into the pile slowed far more than any other of the vehicles in the video.

 

Yeah, like who would have thought the road would be slippery under those condtions.




This discussion is worthwhile, because a few, and I mean a very few, will remember what happened and pay more attention and slow down the next tme they run into bad weather.

(and get rear-ended by some supertrucker ratchet jawing on CH 19 about those durn professional steering wheel holders who are afraid of a little snow'.)