The squalls were horrible. I still can't believe people get our their cars and stand near them. Language.
I-81 pile up in Schuylkill County today (Raw video)
- Thread starter PSUJam
- Start date
When I was a young man I would push through all types of bad weather in an effort to get to my destination. I once drove through an ice storm on my way to Penn State for a Saturday football game. I put myself in harm's way for a few hours entertainment. I made it through safely but others were not as fortunate. Today I am much more circumspect. No event (work, school, concert, game) is worth your life.
Being from NEPA I've driven that stretch of 81 a coupla hundred times.....
That stretch by Tower City, Hegins, Pine Grove, Minersville....the weather can turn on a dime. Fog mixes with snow. You get freezing temps, icy roads, winds....crappy section of highway.
That stretch by Tower City, Hegins, Pine Grove, Minersville....the weather can turn on a dime. Fog mixes with snow. You get freezing temps, icy roads, winds....crappy section of highway.
The sound of crashes. Unbelievable. Snow squalls are killers because you go from blue skies to zero visibility on icy roads in seconds. I've been through a few squalls on I-80 and they are white knuckle holding on to the steering wheel events. Thankfully never was involved in a wreck.
Yeah, coming up over Mountain Top with West Hazleton on one side and Cunningham on the other is also a crazy stretch. Any and all of it can be bad in the winter. I used To drive from Scranton down to the Skook routinely and more than once got a hotel room because the squalls and trucks were terrifying.
OT. I haven’t thought of Tower City in a long time . But back in the day circa 1973 I worked for survey company. Tower city was putting in sewer lines!!! Most of the town had outhouses they used!!! In 1973!! They finally got in door plumbing!! SMH
What amazes me is the speed the truck and car were going in that whiteout. There be lunatics on 81 these days.
Did the same many times returning to my job at Michael Baker in Harrisburg.
Fair, I truly believe the majority of persons in our society are inept in the knowledge of personal survival. Working PennDOT projects in my younger yrs I have experienced similar situtions...
Common sense: slow the hell down to a crawl, if waiting for help, seek higher ground.
From that vehicles dash cam. Think they were going a little fast for the conditions? I don’t care if you have an SUV, slow down!!!
Geez. Unless it was an optical illusion they seemed to be going a might fast for conditions.
Just said the same thing. SMH....we all have 4 wheel stop.
Plus, you're at the top of the tree line. No protection from sudden weather issues.
I see this type of overconfidence from drivers all the time. No matter how good your vehicle is in bad conditions, the laws of physics still apply. How can anyone not at least appreciate that in those types of circumstances their margin for error is a sliver. Then again, it doesn't help you that much if you're driving more prudently when everyone else around you is driving like an idiot. If you're so inclined, time to clutch the rosary beads.
In times like this, its time to get off the highway and seek shelter until conditions improve.
I travel these highways a lot(81, 80, 78, 322, etc). In my younger years I have driven in these conditions. Right around when I moved to State College there was one of these pileups on I 80 near Snowshow where people were killed. I often think about what I would do in these situations. They come up on you so quick what do you do? If you pull over along the shoulder you risk getting hit by someone not paying attention. The next exit may not be close by so in order to get off the highway you need to get off an exit. If you end up in one of these, do you stay in your car, get out, do you try to help others stuck in their car and help them get out? My first instinct would be to get out and get as far off the road as I can to gather myself. Looking at the one person standing next to the car was just insane but maybe they were trying to help. In one of the pictures there was a State Police SUV all crumpled up. Then you see the guy standing on the shoulder with cane. I like to think I would know the right thing to do but after I got off the road up a bank to gather myself I then couldn't stand by and not try to go help others get out of their cars and off the road until things got under control. However, yesterday was friggin' cold.
It is easy to sit here and watch the video and see the pics and Monday morning QB things. However, if y'all ended up in this situation what would everyone else do?
Indeed. Exactly what my wife did yesterday here in Centre County.
Back in olden times...1980's I hated that drive over Crescent Mt. to State College. It could be 50 everywhere else and ice fog, snow squalls and white outs on top of that Mt.
It was always an adventure. Biggest thing is just slow down, by the looks of those videos everyone was driving way too fast for the conditions.
Next, and this is advice I give in any kind of weather and car trouble. Get the car off the road as far as possible and then get out of the car and move even further away.
Its weird but a car sitting on the side of the road is like some kind of evil magnet to the ones passing. I've had a friend die because he was changing a tire for someone and thepassing car hit him.
I think you and I discussed this one before on the old McAndrew Board. One of the most harrowing car rides my wife and I have ever had was descending Crescent Mt. on the way home from Pittsburgh. The fog was so thick. Made that stretch seem to take a lot longer than it really did.
5 people died, all because of insane carelessness. The videos are incredible. Who drives like that in a white out? Just so sad.
If you can get off an exit, do it. This is rarely an option. Past that, pull over - if it is flat, get WAY off the road. After this it gets tough. If you can see far enough behind you to see it's safe, get out of the car and get way off the road. Inevitably there will be a pile-up. After that happens, the risk of someone barreling through and hitting you goes way down, so that is the time to see if you can help anyone. But only help the people at the very front of the pile and slowly work your way back as the pile grows larger. If you want to help people, that is all you can really do unless you want to put yourself at high risk.
I'm a bit of a Darwinist. Some of those people that didn't get hit probably should have. I know it's cold. Get way off the road for at least 10 minutes until the inevitable pileup happens. That one dude who went to his car and then it spun right around him when it got hit is the luckiest sumbitch I have ever seen. I for sure thought it was going to be a John Wick scene of a car swerving and taking out a Russkie or two.
I was involved in a major accident on I-65 and there were fatalities. It happen in early Dec about 6 am when it was still dark out side. Heavy smoke and fog attributed to the accident.
I was driving in the center lane and the fog started to lift. All of a sudden I hit this fog and smoke. You could not see this as you were approaching it as it was dark. I passed a semi truck who was in the right lane. He was stopped. I knew I was in trouble. I hit this pile of cars. There was a car in the left lane that was passing me at the time. My car ended up in front of the stopped semi. Once I knew what happened my first instinct was I needed to get out of my car as I heard cars crashing into other cars.
There was a women with two infants in a car. She ran into the back end of the semi. Her head was decapitated. Others died also. It was a horrific experience. Most of us did not receive a ticket from the state police but they indicated speed definitely played a factor. The Lord was with me that morning as there was absolutely no other reason why I should have lived.
I pray for all those involved in this accident. You have no idea what it’s like unless you go through something like this and survive.
I worked for Lebanon County dispatch for a time shortly after that incident. I know plenty of first responders that went to that crash and the dispatchers who worked it. Nightmare scenario for sure.
This Schuykill County wreck could have been far worse had some of those trucks carrying hazmat items lost containment.
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