Dust Storm Causes Fatal Wreck On I-84 In Idaho

Bologna stew a sudden dust storm!!
I say they saw the dark dust storm for 10 minutes before they got near it and entered it at full speed and then suddenly encountered zero visibility and the carnage began.

You enter a dust storm slow and with caution as this professional driver did when he met one in Ohio....

 

First, this was an ugly crash. The DNR truck was bent into a U shape. Amazing that the injury and death toll was not higher.

This section of road is along mostly farming land. Not far off the western hills. Wind, rain and dust clouds can and do pop up very quickly.

 

Maybe, maybe not, I was in Id on 84 once and came up on where they had been working in the median, they had it down to bare dirt and a sudden wind came up that blinded everybody. The last thing I saw were some brake lights coming on and got on my binders. When I got stopped there was several 4 wheelers and a motor home, blocking both lanes and the shoulder. I was less than 10 feet from the first one in my lane and didn't even know it until I got out and walked up.

I topped Black mountain once just as the sun was coming up, and the last thing I saw was brake lights, until I was stopped and the van or reefer in front of me had the sun blocked. Trucks had both lanes and the shoulder blocked. I was close enough that I had to back up to get around so I could get in the median and out of the road. I knew that the next truck topping the hill would not have enough room to stop, so I went around. Once I was in the median, I called on the cb to see how many had wrecked. No one had wrecked, just some drivers thought it was a good idea to stop when the sun blinded them, I went around and probably less than 50 feet in front of them the angle of the road changed enough that the sun was no longer a problem, blue skies and smooth sailing.

 

Never been a dust storm yet but from the signs I believe you’re supposed to get on the shoulder and stop until visibility gets better.

 

That looked wild. Only dust storm I've been in was in AZ on the Reservation area.

 

We get them up here as well. Yet they are called white outs. It is fun to watch the crazy kids fly into them 50 mph. Wait maybe 5 minutes and then proceed when the snow has settled. Then observe the kid went straight out into the trees some 300 feet by missing the turn. They had to call in the national guard to get his car out of the forest with a helicopter.

 

We call them blows and it is not unusual to get caught in them a few times a year on the haul road, you DO NOT stop, there is no shoulder, you slow down and drive by feel, if you can luck out and see a pull out, then get in it and stop, but you usually will not see them, even if a truck is already sitting in it with his lights on.
The last one I was lucky enough to get in, it took me 6 hours to drive 62 miles, but I had to stop and pull my pilot car out of the tundra twice. lol

Coming from New Mexico, I am used to dust storms, And they can come up all of a sudden too.
I was driving along a 2 lane up on the cap once when I noticed a whole herd of cattle running towards the road as fast as they could. I slowed wondering what in the world they were running from, it wasn't long till dust started boiling up from below the cap and blacking out the whole sky. It was like it came straight up the cap and kept going strait up in the air for a mile or so.
I was in a dust storm in the 70's i Amarillo that was killing the engines in a lot of the cars driving down the road, static electricity I guess.

 

With all the farmers plowing the fields during spring and planting the foods we eat should we not be blaming them instead of the people who are supposed to be in control of the vehicle they are driving?