Now there is a lawmaker that thinks passing a law to keep tractor-trailers in the right lane when it snows heavily would help prevent future incidents. Doubtful IMO. For one thing, I doubt law enforcement will be out writing tickets during a blizzard in 25+ MPH winds and whiteout conditions.
Sorry, misread thread title as “people are stuck on high in vagina.”
Sounds like a hairy situation,
I’m not sure if I see the logic of that. Do trucks in the right hand lane not jackknife? trucks are heavy and make nice bulldozers when it’s snowing. I usually get behind them when it’s snowing.
Trucks are heavy and
Make nice bulldozers when it snows
I get behind them
What if a truck starts out in the right lane but can’t stay there?
WOW. I thought the driver had it under control after crossing over the barrier and STILL jackknifed. And then it appears someone else hit him.
All right, I’m late to the thread but I’ll go ahead and jump in.
I’m a news photographer in Washington DC. I worked a 7am - 9pm shift that day. My vehicle is a 2013 Ford Explorer with good tires and many years of experience driving in these conditions.
First, at 7am it was sleet & rain and pretty easy to still get around if you were careful. By 9am that changed as the snow came down thick & fast with heavy gusting, making it almost white out conditions. By midafternoon it was all over but the shouting.
Like Carmageddon a few years earlier the big issue is the heavy snowfall rates in a short period of time. Once the traffic snarls no plow is going to make it out there to clear the roads.
Non 4 wheel drive vehicles are pretty useless in these situations. Four wheel drive vehicles with big rims and thin tires are just as bad. Cargo and contractor vans that left their businesses at 7am thinking it would be okay were useless by 10am.
I travelled east on Rt 50 into PG County - traffic was snarled on every small hill as cars and especially tractor trailers were stuck on the ice - and to be clear it was ice.
Furthermore the temperatures continued to drop throughout the event so the heavy wet snow got compacted into sheet ice by nightfall, temps falling into the low 20’s.
Folks not familiar with the area can judge all they wish about the skills and preparedness of the citizens and governments involved, but until you understand the volume of people who live, work and commute in the area you won’t really understand the reasons why there are no easy answers.
And finally I will note that when we dispatched crews the next day to Fredericksburg to cover the story from DC we sent them way out west - I66 to Rt29 to Rt17 - nearly triple the distance - which crews were able to drive easily on Tuesday.
Here’s a video of some of our coverage. Note I am not the guy in front of the camera.
Thanks for the summary. I came from mid state NY so I have a good idea what real snow looks like.
We can understand getting behind the curve at some point but in this case it didn’t appear that they ever tried to get in front of it.
It was probably always going to be a fail at some point but there was nothing stopping them from shutting the roads down if they couldn’t maintain them.
Not in Vancouver. Or no ice and an inch of snow, for that matter
Most Canadians can drive in the snow. Unless they are too new, too blue, too through, too frou frou or have no clue.