🚀 go-pugleaf

Tiny Human Ferret <klaatu@clark.net> wrote:
> 
> "Ken M." wrote:
> > DPH wrote:
> > >
> > > Anybody else think that maybe VDOT was totally asleep and now at least
> > > part responsible for this pileup?
> > >
> > > The storm was not sudden.  I heard about it coming last night on the
> > > radio.  Everyone knew it was going to happen.  And when.  So, were were
> > > the salt trucks?  Why was I-95 icy?
> > >
> > > I think there's just no damn excuse.  A midwest state, this light snow
> > > would have resulted in wet salty roads.  Why does Virginia have to lay
> > > down on the job?  Now there's at least 1 dead and bunches hurt and
> > > thousands of dollars of property damage 'cuz the state can't be bothered
> > > to put salt on one of the most dangerous Interstate Highways in the
> > > country.
> > >
> > > Makes me sick...  11 years to retirement.  That big sucking sound you
> > > hear will be me leaving Virginia.

"The accident scene was three miles long.  Witnesses said motorists fled
their vehicles for their lives as more cars skidded into the chain of
crumpled metal and smashed glass at Aquia, in Stafford County.  They
said people were driving too fast for the suddenly thick snowfall and
slick asphalt shortly before 11 a.m."

"Crews from the Virginia Department of Transportation began spreading
chemically treated rock salt in that area of I-95 as the snow began
falling, said assistant resident engineer Rob Crandol at VDOT.  But
Latina Bundy, a spokeswoman for VDOT in Fredericksburg, said that the
onset of the storm about 10:30 a.m. was furious and that whiteout
conditions settled over the interstate, blinding motorists".

"In Maryland, the pace was similarly frantic".

"There were "accidents everywhere," according to the Maryland State
Police.  Trooper J. Eichelberger said conditions were "deceivingly bad
because they give you the idea they don't look too bad, and before you
know it, you're sliding all over the place.""

"Snow began falling heavily in Prince George's County about 11 a.m., and
within two hours, there had been 140 accidents involving minor injuries,
said Mark Brady, spokesman for the county's fire and emergency medical
services.  "And in the [next] hour, we got 70 additional calls," he
said."

"Among the more serious accidents was a 38-car pileup about 11 a.m. on
the inner loop of the Beltway near Branch Avenue, Brady said. Within
minutes, 15 vehicles were involved in an accident on the outer loop of
the Beltway near Central Avenue.  Officials closed the Beltway at both
Central Avenue and Branch Avenue for nearly an hour to clear both
accidents".

"North of Baltimore, there was a 40-car pileup on northbound I-95 and an
eight-car collision on southbound I-95".

"In Calvert County, a school bus collided with a car, and 30
high-schoolers were taken to the hospital, where they were treated and
released".

http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43244-2001Feb22.html

> > First of all, with a weather forecast like this, all schools
> > and government agencies should have been shut down -- to reduce
> > the amount of traffic on the highways!
> >
> > Since the temperatures never went above 25, everything turned
> > to ice, quickly. The rest is history.
> 
> Um, when the temperature stays below freezing, hardly anything ever turns to
> ice; it would have to liquify first. A good snow is one where the
> temperature was always below freezing.
> 
> I personally figure these folks just forgot that they were driving on snow,
> and next thing they know, kabam. They're sliding sideways at 70MPH with no
> traction towards the equally disoriented vehicle they were following at one
> car-length.


--
Scott M. Kozel    Highway and Transportation History Websites
Virginia/Maryland/Washington, D.C. http://www.roadstothefuture.com
Philadelphia and Delaware Valley   http://www.pennways.com