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Horrific DFW crash


Todd Gack

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27 minutes ago, RexWilson said:

How does something like this get resolved for insurance purposes. Last person involved seems easy to say at fault. Everybody else ????

I did insurance defense for years and this would be a pain in the ass case. Never had a case like this where ice was involved. There's going to be a lot of unavoidable accident defenses I imagine. 

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maybe i'm showing my age...but don't those big semis/trucks still have CB radios??
if so...how is there not screaming across all channels 'SLOW DOWN BE PREPARED TO STOP MASSIVE PILEUP ON 35!!!' or whatever. 
holy shit that's hard to watch. 

As a fireman in the FWD area I feel well qualified to tell you that you are severely overestimating the amount of functioning brain cells the average citizen possesses. We had multiple fire apparatus struck by vehicles this morning. To the point that I don’t think we have enough reserves to compensate for the out of service rigs.
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maybe i'm showing my age...but don't those big semis/trucks still have CB radios??
if so...how is there not screaming across all channels 'SLOW DOWN BE PREPARED TO STOP MASSIVE PILEUP ON 35!!!' or whatever. 
holy shit that's hard to watch. 

Any experienced responsible over the road driver this time of year looks at weather, road conditions on state websites etc.to prep ahead. Also yea...it isn’t your age that’s showing. These type of roads should have drivers calling May Day over the radio


Unfortunately they give CDLs to anyone with a pulse these days
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1 hour ago, cmontexas said:

I drive this way every morning. The snooze button may have saved my life today. Pisses me off every morning how aggressively people drive in heavy traffic.

The roads weren't even really that bad, but combination of people driving way too slow and people driving way too fast and aggressively because "its not even that bad and all these slow drivers are just stupid "

Check out the front right wheel of the cars next to the guy shooting the video. They look like they were just spinning. I bet the semis were sliding on solid, black ice and had no way of stopping until they hit something. Tragic. Many of those cars should never have been out there this AM.

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57 minutes ago, phdhorn said:

I don't want to hear some schlep from "snow country" say "oh, I know how to drive on that stuff."  I grew up an experienced winter precip driver, and on sheer ice, there's nothing you can do in some situations. This is probably one

I was just telling my son about the idiocy of people cutting their speed in half in the rain or snow.  I said now ice?  Completely different ball game.   Nobody other than a few with highly rigged vehicles drive on ice.

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40 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

THis is not an excuse, because there are none for this circumstance, but this picture appears to be right near the 28th St exit on the North Side of Downtown. When going Southbound, you're coming around a curve and over a rise right where that pileup sits.  

I heard 28th street on one of the reports so you're probably right

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1 hour ago, Newdoc said:

Why are so many people out on the roads???? This is awful!

North Freeway rush hour, bro? That section is narrow and has a rolling terrain. Everything is cool until you pop upthe hill and you're Gomered. Concrete barriers on both sides.

38hdph.jpg

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Those truck drivers are lucky I'm not a judge, otherwise every single one of them would permanently lose their license and spend at least 6 months in jail.

Every single auto and truck driver involved has known since at least yesterday that the roads could be icy today and for the next week.  It's all the news and non-news stations have talked about for days.  And yet here they were, flying down a freeway as they rose over the first of several bridges that begins the descent into the river bottoms and downtown.  

Look at the vids, for at least several of those truckers the old "It's those little cars cutting us off" excuse doesn't apply at all.  Flying down the freeway to save a few minutes, no regard for the weather conditions.  And no fog.    I'm fine with suing FedEx, Amazon, etc if they didn't adjust their scheduling demands on drivers for the predicted icy conditions.  Set a legal precedent.  I wonder if the large number of hirings of foreign language truck drivers played a part.  Specifically non-Spanish speakers (Russian, Middle Eastern, etc.) who wouldn't have local radio and news outlets in their language.  Too many are hired while not being required to have an adequate working knowledge of English.

But ultimately the driver has both a legal and moral responsibility to control his actions, they're front line in charge of a massive, deadly weapon.  No excuses.

 

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7 minutes ago, clapclapclap said:


Those truck drivers are lucky I'm not a judge, otherwise every single one of them would permanently lose their license and spend at least 6 months in jail.

Every single auto and truck driver involved has known since at least yesterday that the roads could be icy today and for the next week.  It's all the news and non-news stations have talked about for days.  And yet here they were, flying down a freeway as they rose over the first of several bridges that begins the descent into the river bottoms and downtown.  

Look at the vids, for at least several of those truckers the old "It's those little cars cutting us off" excuse doesn't apply at all.  Flying down the freeway to save a few minutes, no regard for the weather conditions.  And no fog.    I'm fine with suing FedEx, Amazon, etc if they didn't adjust their scheduling demands on drivers for the predicted icy conditions.  Set a legal precedent.  I wonder if the large number of hirings of foreign language truck drivers played a part.  Specifically non-Spanish speakers (Russian, Middle Eastern, etc.) who wouldn't have local radio and news outlets in their language.  Too many are hired while not being required to have an adequate working knowledge of English.

But ultimately the driver has both a legal and moral responsibility to control his actions, they're front line in charge of a massive, deadly weapon.  No excuses.

 

Thomas J?

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My 2001 GMC Sierra has a mirror display that always spazzes out about ICE when temps are in the bad zone. I usually won't even get on the highways when it displays for this very reason.

Going to be lots of handicapped people in addition to the dead ones. Just horrible all around.

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5 minutes ago, cmontexas said:

Those toll lanes are at least 50% 18 wheelers too charging their company tolltag and during normal conditions wont hesitate to cut you off in the left lane so they can go 62 and pass the other truck in the right lane going 61

I feel the quality of truck drivers have rapidly declined over time. I guess with so much business growing, they need more trucks to deliver. And with this, they need to rush people through CDL class. I feel they give this out like candy. This is also the experience for people in that industry. I am not talking about guys like @drifter379 who have been doing it already. I felt trucks a decade and more ago were very courteous and extremely cautious. Now days, I see trucks going as fast as the 4 wheelers. They will tailgate me. Swerve around me. Not maintain their lanes properly. And every time I look up to see who it is, usually someone very young. This goes for any truck with a CDL. They drive like menaces on DFW highways. The quality of CDL drivers has went to shit. 

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that white pickup that hits (fairly gently by comparison altho i'm sure it didn't feel like it from inside the truck)...

the person/people inside didn't get out, they were still in the car when that really fast semi plows into the whole thing and sends that truck flying where it lands on it's roof on top of a bunch of other vehicles...that was horrific and i just keep thinking i really hope that they hadn't taken their seatbelts off yet. i think the vehicle in front of that truck just got crushed.  

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Also, this happened in the express lane. I guarantee speed was a factor here. And why do they allow trucks to take express lanes? The need to be on the main lanes where they can drive off the side if need be in cases like this. All it takes is  a few cars who wreck with nowhere to go and you have these trucks barreling down and have absolutely nowhere to go. Without these trucks, this is not the incident it turned out to be. I also think too many make excuses for them when this happens. Or any accident on the roads with an 18 wheeler. People automatically think it was the car's fault. They must not see how so many of these trucks drive out there these days.

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9 minutes ago, mchookem said:

that white pickup that hits (fairly gently by comparison altho i'm sure it didn't feel like it from inside the truck)...

the person/people inside didn't get out, they were still in the car when that really fast semi plows into the whole thing and sends that truck flying where it lands on it's roof on top of a bunch of other vehicles...that was horrific and i just keep thinking i really hope that they hadn't taken their seatbelts off yet. i think the vehicle in front of that truck just got crushed.  

The Toyota behind the white pickup was completely crushed. No way they made it out alive.

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7 minutes ago, Vic Mackey said:

Also, this happened in the express lane. I guarantee speed was a factor here. And why do they allow trucks to take express lanes? The need to be on the main lanes where they can drive off the side if need be in cases like this. All it takes is  a few cars who wreck with nowhere to go and you have these trucks barreling down and have absolutely nowhere to go. Without these trucks, this is not the incident it turned out to be. I also think too many make excuses for them when this happens. Or any accident on the roads with an 18 wheeler. People automatically think it was the car's fault. They must not see how so many of these trucks drive out there these days.

Of course it's money.  But it's an excellent question that should be followed-up on.

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10 minutes ago, mchookem said:

that white pickup that hits (fairly gently by comparison altho i'm sure it didn't feel like it from inside the truck)...

the person/people inside didn't get out, they were still in the car when that really fast semi plows into the whole thing and sends that truck flying where it lands on it's roof on top of a bunch of other vehicles...that was horrific and i just keep thinking i really hope that they hadn't taken their seatbelts off yet. i think the vehicle in front of that truck just got crushed.  

One of my uncles is a retired Dallas Fire Department captain, he told me if you are in a massive pile up, under no circumstance should you get out, or undo your seatbelt. You have a better chance in your vehicle with defined crush zones.

CHIEF

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2 minutes ago, CHIEF said:

One of my uncles is a retired Dallas Fire Department captain, he told me if you are in a massive pile up, under no circumstance should you get out, or undo your seatbelt. You have a better chance in your vehicle with defined crush zones.

CHIEF

Yeah, that's always a good rule.  Seriously, the vehicle actually protects you.  Your soft body out there in the open....not so much.

Don't exit the vehicle unless and until all traffic in the area is safely stopped, and even then....maybe.  Get out and get the HELL away from the road.

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1 hour ago, dcar00 said:

it also looked like the pile up started after a crest of a small hill.  those truckers come to the top of the crest they have no chance of stopping at that point and actually gain speed.  horrible.

This is exactly what happened, I'm pretty sure.

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I’ve only been to DFW 3-4 times in my life, and that highway looks weird to me. What’s the deal with the barriers on both sides, while there’s lanes going the same direction next to it? Construction?



Several highways in the area have a set of center lanes blocked off for directional rush hour traffic. One way in the morning, other way in the evening.
Just horrific watching this. About to teach my oldest how to drive. Will be figuring out how to incorporate this footage.
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8 minutes ago, Helobious said:

I’ve only been to DFW 3-4 times in my life, and that highway looks weird to me. What’s the deal with the barriers on both sides, while there’s lanes going the same direction next to it? Construction?

It's something idiotic they built to make more money off the drivers. They call them Express Lanes. You have to pay for them. They are apart of the main highway. The other lanes on each side are free. You absolutely have nowhere to go if something happens. At least on certain highways here, they have an HOV lane with the sticks that fold down if you drive over them in case of a wreck and you need to get out or avoid it. I feel trapped and fear driving on a highway where there are concrete barriers on each side of me and they narrowed it. It's like this when they are constructing the roads, too. My anxiety and stress shoots through the roof because of course, DFW drivers don't care. They are still going to be going dangerously fast.

No one wants to discuss it in incidents like these but I guarantee the people who started this chain of events were going way too fast. It's why you take the express lane in general. To go fast and avoid the main traffic. We don't do snow tires here in Texas. If you had them, you could brake much easier. I guarantee some of them had bald tires. If you are going to drive on ice, why are you driving so fast to begin with? But DFW drivers feel their penis will shrink if they go under a certain speed. I have been tailgated and lights flashed at me from people in dangerous rain. And they swerve around me. And they wonder why so many accidents here on a daily basis, even in bright sunny and dry weather. Texas drivers have to be the absolute worst.

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Too many companies don't give a shit about their employees. They see them as disposable. Holding termination or reprimands over their heads if they don't come into work on these days. Fucking stupid.

Yep. And the deceased will have their jobs posted on indeed before their funerals. Shit ain’t worth it.
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1 hour ago, clapclapclap said:


Those truck drivers are lucky I'm not a judge, otherwise every single one of them would permanently lose their license and spend at least 6 months in jail.

Every single auto and truck driver involved has known since at least yesterday that the roads could be icy today and for the next week.  It's all the news and non-news stations have talked about for days.  And yet here they were, flying down a freeway as they rose over the first of several bridges that begins the descent into the river bottoms and downtown.  

Look at the vids, for at least several of those truckers the old "It's those little cars cutting us off" excuse doesn't apply at all.  Flying down the freeway to save a few minutes, no regard for the weather conditions.  And no fog.    I'm fine with suing FedEx, Amazon, etc if they didn't adjust their scheduling demands on drivers for the predicted icy conditions.  Set a legal precedent.  I wonder if the large number of hirings of foreign language truck drivers played a part.  Specifically non-Spanish speakers (Russian, Middle Eastern, etc.) who wouldn't have local radio and news outlets in their language.  Too many are hired while not being required to have an adequate working knowledge of English.

But ultimately the driver has both a legal and moral responsibility to control his actions, they're front line in charge of a massive, deadly weapon.  No excuses.

 

everyone was going too fast. the truckers aren’t the only ones at fault. 

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7 minutes ago, gmr548 said:


Yep. And the deceased will have their jobs posted on indeed before their funerals. Shit ain’t worth it.

Yep. When I worked at a job about 9 years ago, my boss called me early in the morning and told me not to come in. It isn't worth it. This was when DFW would get snow and ice every year. This was leading up to the Super Bowl in 2011 that was at Jerry World. Snowed like 4x that week it seemed. They would put people up in a hotel no charge down the street if they could not make it home. It's sad that is behavior is praised and uncommon. This should be the norm. Hell it is even worse if you work retail or restaurant. They will tell you that you better be dead if you don't show up. Sad thing is, it's most of the very low paying jobs with no real job security who are risking it like this. They live check to check and are desperate not to miss work. This is how companies can have you trapped. They know if they dangle termination, the employee feels scared to miss even a single day.

And I also think too many employees think too highly of themselves. They claim the world's grid will stop if they don't show up to work lmao. Riiiight. Or that they can't be replaced at all and can't miss a day. I saw someone on Reddit this morning mention a janitor and how he can't work from home. I think a building will survive for a day or two if the janitor does not show. 

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Just agreeing with several points that Dallas has always seemed to have the most excessively-aggressive drivers and you’d hope trucks would be blaring out warnings on their CB...

JFC I just can’t imagine...I’ve got two kids in car seats in back driving a CTS.  When I’m sitting at a light on Parmer and an 18-wheeler screams through at 70 to run the light on Brushy, I often wonder just how much energy is behind that monster and pray I’m never rear ended by one of those clowns.   

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27 minutes ago, futureman said:

everyone was going too fast. the truckers aren’t the only ones at fault. 

Many of the truckers had radios to talk to one another, all had various devices, smartphones, GPS, etc. and many of them would have had ice experience at some point in their careers.

Joe Schmoe in his little Toyota?  Not so much.

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3 hours ago, SubliminalHorn said:

Wow I usually don’t have a hard time watching gory stuff. But this hit me differently I guess. Just watching those semis plow into cars obliterating them. Holy fuck 

It's because the people getting crushed never had a chance, and you feel a sense of helplessness about being caught in a situation where somebody kills you, without you having a chance.

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2 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Many of the truckers had radios to talk to one another, all had various devices, smartphones, GPS, etc. and many of them would have had ice experience at some point in their careers.

Joe Schmoe in his little Toyota?  Not so much.

toyota joe shouldn’t be driving 55 when he knows there’s ice on the road. truckers are idiots. toyota joe is an idiot. I don’t understand how people can haul ass in conditions like this morning. I think a lot of people won’t put themselves in that situation. 

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30 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

It's because the people getting crushed never had a chance, and you feel a sense of helplessness about being caught in a situation where somebody kills you, without you having a chance.

And the panic you obviously have knowing that someone else is coming, you just hope it isn’t a semi. Terrifying

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54 minutes ago, futureman said:

toyota joe shouldn’t be driving 55 when he knows there’s ice on the road. truckers are idiots. toyota joe is an idiot. I don’t understand how people can haul ass in conditions like this morning. I think a lot of people won’t put themselves in that situation. 

They're both idiots but the truckers are a lot more likely to kill someone

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