Mass I-94 Pile-up Leaves 1 Dead, 3 Seriously Injured
by Jana Ritter - Published: 1/18/2016Not even a week after the major I-74 pile-up in Indiana, a series of crashes involving 15 semi-trucks and 52 cars occurred on Sunday along I-94 in Southwestern Michigan. The tragedy has left one person dead and 3 with life threatening injuries, including a Van Buren County deputy who was struck while helping a crash victim with a broken leg. Officials say low visibility, people driving too fast for the snowy road conditions and following too closely behind other vehicles are to blame.
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According to the Michigan State Police, the first crash happened in the eastbound lanes at around 2:00 p.m. and involved one semi-truck and 8 cars. While no serious injuries resulted from the initial crash, the incident combined with low visibility caused traffic to back up along the highway. Then approximately a quarter mile behind that crash, two semis collided and caused a chain reaction pile-up involving 44 vehicles, including 8 semi-trucks. It was that accident that left one person dead, 3 critically injured and 11 with minor injuries. If that wasn’t bad enough, a third crash occurred almost around the same time and involved 6 semis and 6 cars. Police say that there were also a number of other accidents involving one or two cars.
Latrelle Pickens of Southfield, Michigan described the scene along I-94 as a brick wall of cars. "We were going really slow. Visibility was poor because of the way the snow was going with the wind. We all had our hazards on because we couldn't see,” Pickens said. "All of a sudden we could see but it was like a brick wall of cars because everyone was stopped." Pickens explains that it was difficult to stop because the road was so slick, from either ice or fluid spilled from other cars in the wreck. She said she braked and was hit from behind by another car, which launched her into a vehicle in front of her. She ended up sideways and another car hit her passenger side. "Looking forward, it was all kinds of semis. I couldn't see where the cars ended. It was just all this wreckage," said Pickens.
The incident caused so much wreckage that police from 4 agencies were called out to the scene to assist Michigan State Police attending to victims and conducting the investigation. The highway was shut down in both directions for 6 hours and re-opened at 8:30 pm Sunday evening. Nearly 70 crash victims who weren't injured were shuttled to a nearby church where the American Red Cross set up a temporary shelter. There, they were interviewed by state police and were later driven back to their vehicles or had to wait for family members and friends to pick them up if their vehicles were too damaged to drive.
I came down 131 where it intersects with 94 between 2 and 3 yesterday. No problems with my truck, it's still shiny side up. I just slow down to make up for lost visibility, it's actually pretty easy. I did see quite a few four wheelers ditched though, I stay the hell away from them in shitty conditions, I'm not letting anyone take me down with them.
The only way is if a four wheeler hits you then it done
this is the reason why I slow down when I can't see a good feet ahead, especially in a big truck, so nothing like this would happen or so I wouldn't run up on anything like this & become one of the faulters or accusers or whatever they called the people @ fault in a more proper term
We would have been in this yesterday but when we got to I69 off of I94 I decided to head south thru Indianaipolis to St. Louis instead of going thru Chicago. Thank God that we went that route. It was about 12:55when we left 94. We would have been in it for sure. God is good
Plp are going to learn to respect mother nature....half the plp out on the rd s probably don't even have a reason to be out there
No, they won't learn
Shouldn't drive careful just in the winter ,but drive carefuler ALL YEAR
You need to cpell more carefuler
And dont blame the weather. Slow your ass down. The snow and ice didnt exactly sneak up on you.
The trucking industry is quite proud of their Speed Limiters that more and more fleets use. But no Speed Limiter can fix ‘To Fast For Conditions’. Plus, following to close. So many drivers (cars and trucks) follow each other way to close and have a bad habit in bad weather conditions of running in a herd. I stay as far away as I can from the herd. The safety gurus have forgotten safety first starts with the driver. Now they think they can improve safety by ignoring the driver and adding gadgets to the truck.
You covered what I was going to say ! Look at the trucks in the pictures from the wrecks ! Most if not all have every available Electronic GADET !
No cb's
That prime trucks top speed might be 65. Vorad radar that can tell speed of the vehicle in front.
Does the Vorad radar know the truck is driving on snow and ice? Does it keep a proper following distance? Plus, can it safely apply the brakes on a slick road? Maybe ruling out the driver as the first line of defensive driving isn’t such a good idea.
Timothy Begle. I agree, I try to stay by myself in the road. Away from the traffic.
You can turn the Vorag off, speed and following to close.
I think vorad must know following distance. That's why they're always doing 59 mph in the hammer Lane...
No cb radios in trucks today. A lot of trucks coming up on the accident could have slowed down or gotten off interstate before chain reaction would have happened. BRING BACK THE CB RADIO!!!
Having pileups just like last year. BUT I seem to see less trucks and more cars. Maybe truck drivers are learning? The cars drivers sure aren’t because they drive faster and tailgate worse then ever. More snow coming across the country starting Tuesday. Hang onto your hats!
It may be a small part of it but the truck speed limit in michigan is 60mph and 70 for everyone else. And even in inclement weather I constantly see 4 wheelers flying down 94 and 196 as well as a few trucks. Add to that the shitty road conditions, people driving with no lights on (seems to be a thing with everyone anymore),the speeders, those that crawl or stop in travel lanes and you have a recipe for disaster. I travel through there on a regular basis and see it all the time.
Lots of new drivers have no cb
99.99% of 4-wheelers don't either.
Timothy I slow down with flashers on a mile or so from wreck. It at least gets there attention. That is if someone has a CB going other direction to let me know about it.
The CB radio is a tool a good tool. But I still rather be driving a speed and distance in bad weather that gives me enough time to react. Depending on the other drivers in this present age will let us down.
I have one question....does this either Michigan or Indiana ever think of salting or plowing the roads....or are they like Arkansas its 2 guys a pick up and shovel.....I for one wouldn't have been on that road....these days both cars and trucks drive way to fast for road conditions
These damn electronic logs are causing much of this. Driver's up against a clock daily so they are pushing hard like car's. So when someone screws up its rodeo time on a slick hwy. But Fmcsa thinks ELD'S are saving lives. Since I'm not on an ELD I can time myself not to be in the thick of rush hour. But what do I know after 38 years out here. Never had these more than frequent pile ups back before these Electronic logs came about.
Sorry to say, BUT, some people didn't learn anything from last January 9, 2015 on I 94 in Michigan, thankfully, then, there wasn't a fatality. Slow down in crappy weather and drive smarter. Personal responsibility, not the weather's fault, operator fault period.
,I hear. U. Mr. Willis. Said. Today. At. F W. If there's a. Storm. Park the. Truck at. Trk stops. Call say u did an. They will change the schedule. No. If. Or. But. Mr. Willis. Told his staff. You. Listen to the driver. If he can't. Drive. Change. Schedule. Period. He wants. All driver. Back in one. Piece. An. No. Accident. Period.
We're all good drivers??? Some are better then others. no sense in winning about the bad one ! There going to drive like clowns and do it again anyway! "" its ice and snowing out here let's hurry up and get home"""
Good thing doesn't snow in Las Vegas or Los Angeles cause there's a LOT DUm drivers over here ...
When are you dumb asses goin to learn to slow down when it's snowing. Oh yea. Never..
Donald you're shouting to the wrong crowd. They're out there. We're just bystanders here.
True. Sick of seeing Citidiots driving 80 mph when it's snowing.
Same here. Many times in those pileups 40 mph was to fast. But so many just hurry hurry hurry. People just won't slow down for the weather conditions. The same happens in construction zones too.
Yes sir. Sad but true. Everybody in a hury to go nowhere. Cause god forbid if your late.
I never stick in the middle of the pack in shitty weather. Whos to say all the people ahead of you know how to brake or accelerate or come out of a skid if the shit gets hairy. Worst thing is when you get people that have never driven on snow or ice in it. Every situation is different. Navigating the stupid people is always hard. No matter what your driving 2, 4, 6, or 18 wheels.
Got that right J.d. Wacker even in dry situations. I fall back let them all get in front. Like you said never know.
How many don't use a cb to hear what's going on around them?
In today's world alot!!!!
Can't judge a slick road with the CB. Once everybody starts piling into each other because they are to close together. The CB can't fix that. I'd rather stay a safe distance from those in front of me and keep my speed at a rate that gives me time to stop in time.
A lot has to do with speed but this like the one last year was a complete white out you couldn't see two feet in front of you so your speed at that point means only how much shit your gonna push when you hit it. Or if you do get stopped how many assholes are gonna hit you in the ass. This started as a semi and 4 cars I drove through this area 15 before this happened and listened to it on the scanner and my pager. Three police cruiser were trashed trying to get this under control but cars where traveling way too fast for conditions. There were a total of 8 trucks involved in this and in my opinion that's damn good considering the time of day. The first truck had no axles left on it they were all tore off the truck and trailer. They had issues trying to get the interstate shut down in time to prevent this but from the sounds of things the county west was not moving fast enough with their dispatching to get it shut down. So officers left the scene to shut off the highway. You can blame whatever you want but the simple fact of the matter is lake effect is lake effect it's unpredictable and one minute you can be rolling along at 50 and see as far as your sight allows you and next second it's gone. No CB or slog is going to prevent a white out the best you can do is warn someone. So bringing up that crap is pointless.
Follow this rule of thumb white out or not soon as snow starts you back out of it for 10 minutes. Let everyone get around you. Because in that time if it starts. Your in the clear. If your looking at the horizon or your surrounding area. You will notice how heavy it's gonna be. All about being prepared and aware.
People need to look ahead payattention , listen to news on the radio, most importantly slow down
My thoughts and prayers for all drivers, each day.
There will be more with the storm that's brewing in the mid-atlantic
IMPATIENT Drivers NEVER Drive slow....they don't have the TIME in todays Society....