HUGE accident by my house this morning

rockin30ish

Everyone around here and on my fb are consumed with this story. It's so unreal! And so close to my house. I can see the smoke. They are saying 100-150 vehicles involved, including 50 semis. One carrying acid, another fireworks.A friend who lives closer could hear the fireworks going off. I'm glad I don't have to go anywhere today.

http://woodtv.com/2015/01/09/i-94-closed-in-both-directions-near-galesburg/

wrigleyville

I used to live in Kalamazoo. I checked in with all of my friends this morning. Many of them commute between Kalamazoo and Battle Creek.

I saw a video of the fireworks going off. It was terrifying.

rockin30ish

I'm in BC/Springfield...So yeah. It's a massive accident. I'm surprised there is only 1 fatality and so few injuries. And the hwy is closed through the night. Being from the area, you know how vital 94 is for commuting. The detour traffic is going to make town a nightmare. I'm staying home. Kiddo's tae kwon do is cancelled and DF is out of town for work, so we're hunkered down.

hellosweetie1015

Oh my god. That's awful.

I am thankful that only one person seems to have been killed as of now. I feel like that makes me a horrible, abhorable person. 

lyndausvi

how horrible.

rockin30ish

It doesn't. I think the same thing. It could have, should have been so much worse. I'm thankful it wasn't.

wrigleyville

hellosweetie1015 said:

Oh my god. That's awful.

I am thankful that only one person seems to have been killed as of now. I feel like that makes me a horrible, abhorable person. 

No, I used to work in auto insurance. I feel the same way. I'm amazed more people weren't killed, especially considering the weather today. The windchill was around -25 this morning. I feel for the people involved, including the first responders.

When I worked in insurance, I always told people to stay in their car. It's the safest place to be in a situation like that (unless your car is on fire, obviously). You don't want to be outside of your car if more vehicles start piling up. You can get crushed. If you do have to get out of your car, it's best to get as far off the road as possible and THEN call 911 or whatever.

Still, I've never been in that situation, and I realize logic can sometimes go out the window when you're in shock, people are injured, etc.

It's just terrible, all the way around. Even though there was "only" one fatality, many people were seriously/critically injured.

I hate winter.

novella1186

ugh 94 is so awful. There was a huge pile-up on it during a blizzard last winter near my hometown in Indiana (close to Chicago) It was heart-breaking. I called my mom right away to make sure she wasn't out, and luckily I didn't know anyone involved but there were multiple fatalities. 94 just seems to get dangerous during winter.

rockin30ish

Me too. I think people started getting out of their cars rather quickly. There were a lot of fires.

rockin30ish

94 is dangerous at anytime of year, but it's awful in winter. I hate it. Worst highway ever!

maeday2

Bless you ladies for living in that weather. 

My ex was from a small town east of Grand Rapids. When we broke up I had happy thoughts about never having to deal with that weather again. Consolation prize. I'm just not engineered for snow.

rockin30ish

The man has promised me we will retire somewhere in the Caribbean. He knows my hatred for this weather.

Winter really makes me mad because people somehow forget how to drive. They go 80 miles an hour on solid ice. Then wonder how they ended up in a ditch. I've actually had someone speed past me, only to see them again 5 miles down the road. They weren't on the road anymore.

I'm just glad DF left me his car with brand new tires on it and took mine to the airport this morning.

novella1186

rockin30ish said:

The man has promised me we will retire somewhere in the Caribbean. He knows my hatred for this weather.

Winter really makes me mad because people somehow forget how to drive. They go 80 miles an hour on solid ice. Then wonder how they ended up in a ditch. I've actually had someone speed past me, only to see them again 5 miles down the road. They weren't on the road anymore.

I'm just glad DF left me his car with brand new tires on it and took mine to the airport this morning.

We were coming back from ski trip in Colorado one year, driving in a blizzard on mountain roads. The only "trick" to those conditions is to drive slow enough that you can keep control over the car. A lot of people didn't seem to understand this. I kid you not, we went past a line of 13 cars in a row, all upside down in a ditch. Now, when you saw the FIRST car in that ditch, why did you not slow down?

theartistformerlyknownas

Holy shit! I'm in MI and hadn't heard about that. 

rockin30ish

Exactly. How do people forget? They live here. The roads get shitty every single year. Why do you still drive like it's July?

Granted, this accident was pretty much unavoidable. It was pure white out conditions. Once one thing happened, it was all domino from there.

rockin30ish

@lolo883 It was even on the Detroit news. I had a friend post a link from Channel 4. But there are a lot of accidents on that side as well. I hear 75 is a bitch today, too.

theartistformerlyknownas

rockin30ish said:

@lolo883 It was even on the Detroit news. I had a friend post a link from Channel 4. But there are a lot of accidents on that side as well. I hear 75 is a bitch today, too.

Yeah my drive in was awful this morning, and I don't need to go downtown anymore. Luckily my whole drive is surface roads right now. 

We didn't even get that much snow, but it was just enough to make that slippery slush layer.

esstee33

Hooooooly shitnuts, that's terrifying. 

wrigleyville

Whiteouts are the worst. You could be going 10 mph, driving soooooo carefully, and then BAM. Zero visibility. I slow down even more, but then I panic that a person behind me won't see that I'm slowed/stopped and plow right into me.

Days like today make me so pissed at H for talking me into moving to Chicago. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE Chicago, and it's always felt like home - but, every winter, I'm reminded that I really, really wanted to move to Seattle. I checked Seattle's forecast for this week, and it's going to be close to 50. I know it's irrational and completely motivated by the weather, but I want to slug H with a pillow. :P

mrsk616

rockin30ish said:

The man has promised me we will retire somewhere in the Caribbean. He knows my hatred for this weather.

Winter really makes me mad because people somehow forget how to drive. They go 80 miles an hour on solid ice. Then wonder how they ended up in a ditch. I've actually had someone speed past me, only to see them again 5 miles down the road. They weren't on the road anymore.

I'm just glad DF left me his car with brand new tires on it and took mine to the airport this morning.

i drive in ohio and there is just so many idiots. part of my drive is across a long bridge and everyone and their prother slows the hell down going up hill. like come on now just a little faster. then the idiots that speed on ice and snow. ill have the last laugh when you end up in a ditch or a wall 

[Deleted User]

whoa that is terrifying!

kmmssg

rockin30ish said:

I'm in BC/Springfield...So yeah. It's a massive accident. I'm surprised there is only 1 fatality and so few injuries. And the hwy is closed through the night. Being from the area, you know how vital 94 is for commuting. The detour traffic is going to make town a nightmare. I'm staying home. Kiddo's tae kwon do is cancelled and DF is out of town for work, so we're hunkered down.

Both of my bio girls have lived in your area, one still does.  I am intimately familiar with sleeping in the woods at Fort Custer!  Fortunately, I never have to do that again.

ETA - that was an AWFUL accident and I did check in with DD to make no one family/friend-wise was involved....

sophhabobopha

Jesus!

ashley8918

OMG, that's horrible!

larrygaga

mrsk616

I almost hit a garbage truck today, but only because they were parked sideways after a curve on a curvy highway and I was barely able to stop. If I didn't have 4 wheel drive I would probably be super-ticketed for hitting a garbage truck. The guys driving it looked at me like I was the stupidest shit that ever did come their way. 

rockin30ish

Again, I'm just glad FI left me his car while he's out of town. New tires are sure nice.

wrigleyville

Now they're saying 200+ cars were involved. I'm not sure if that includes both sides of the highway (gawkers caused another pile-up).

rockin30ish

The accident was across both directions. I think some of the cars they are counting are those that "ditched it" to avoid the actual crash. That stretch of the hwy has been closed since yesterday and is still closed as of now. I think they couldn't have an accurate count until they started clean up. They couldn't really do anything until all the fires burned out.

I drove on 94 today (west of the shutdown area). I've never seen 94 so empty.