Tragedy on I-75 near Gainesville, Fl

[docdoru]

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/accidents/10-killed-in-multiple-crashes-on-i-75-near-gainesville/1212952

[dave01]

Just watched more footage from that. Terrible wreckage and loss of lives.

[Bob Denman]

I just saw it also... Horrible mix of bad conditions, freak circumstances and poor decisions
Our thoughts and prayers go our to all of the families...:pray:

[NancysToy]

Just read about it on AOL. Really tragic! Making us rethink our trip to Florida in March.

[dannymax]

What a nightmare!! Those poor folks....thoughts and prayers to them all.

[SpyderAnn01]

Just read about it on AOL. Really tragic! Making us rethink our trip to Florida in March.

It certainly was a huge tragedy but I wouldn't cancel a trip because of it.

[ARtraveler]

A terrible tragedy. People have a tendency to not pay attention to the conditions when driving. Run the speed limit plus regardless of conditions, drive to close to the car(s) ahead of you, all are recipies for accidents.

[Bob Denman]

:agree: :gaah:

[bruiser]

A terrible tragedy. People have a tendency to not pay attention to the conditions when driving. Run the speed limit plus regardless of conditions, drive to close to the car(s) ahead of you, all are recipies for accidents.

:agree: Last week we had heavy fog in the morning, vis was around 1/3 mile or less. The road I was on has a 70 mph speed. With the fog I was doing 50, but people were passing me at 70 and better. One young lady passed me while texting. :yikes:

[arntufun]

I do not want to take away from the compassion of this thread, but it needs to be said that the troopers should be at fault for these accidents. They all knew that the heavy smoke was not cleared yet and decided to open the road anyway.

If you or I directly caused the death of others we would be charged with manslaughter, but it's ok if your a cop. Why should the police have the authority to open a road based upon their own personal decision ??? :dontknow: This should be left to someone with more knowledge than a cop regarding heavy smoke.

[SpyderDen]

And now the cops are spending lots of time trying to find out who started the fire. Go figure :dontknow:

And true, this is not a Florida thing. Brush fires are in lots of states and fog is in lots more. My brother was in a bad fog accident in WI. School bus stopped in pea soup fog on a 65 MPH highway, semi rig stopped behind the bus. No lights on the semi and my brother hit it at about 55. Died twice on the scene but paramedics got him back and he's still here about 15 years later. But that's your decision.

[BajaRon]

I do not want to take away from the compassion of this thread, but it needs to be said that the troopers should be at fault for these accidents. They all knew that the heavy smoke was not cleared yet and decided to open the road anyway.

If you or I directly caused the death of others we would be charged with manslaughter, but it's ok if your a cop. Why should the police have the authority to open a road based upon their own personal decision ??? :dontknow: This should be left to someone with more knowledge than a cop regarding heavy smoke.

Easy to say and probably not without some merrit. But there are several factors here, some of which we don't have full knowledge of.

You would not believe the tremendous pressure on state agencies to keep Interstate highways open. Any closure puts everyone involved on a very high level hot plate. The longer the closure, the hotter things get. It's easy to say someone messed up once a tragedy takes place, but like the trooper said, none of us have a crystal ball.

It may well be wind direction or other condition change cleared out the problem and it appeared that opening up the Interstate was a reasonable decision. I can't say because I was not there.

And while it is the public employee's job to save citizens from their own stupidity, it isn't always as easy to do as it may appear. The best course of action is for each of us to take responsibility for our own safety and not rely completely upon government.

Usually there is plenty of blame to go around on a tragedy like this one.

[SpyderDen]

:agree: Ron. You are absolutely correct. Keep in mind they shut had to shut down over 24 miles of I75 in predawn. Takes alot of manpower to be able to monitor all the wind conditions over that large of a span. The smoke/fog can change very quickly due to wind direction changes and the heat of the brush fire. One of two major Interstate roads in the state. They did shut it down today for a few hours because of the wind change. Much easier to monitor when you can have eyes in the sky. Just sayin. My :pray: to those families also and also to the personnel who were trying to make the right decisions.

[BajaRon]

:agree: Ron. You are absolutely correct. Keep in mind they shut had to shut down over 24 miles of I75 in predawn. Takes alot of manpower to be able to monitor all the wind conditions over that large of a span. The smoke/fog can change very quickly due to wind direction changes and the heat of the brush fire. One of two major Interstate roads in the state. They did shut it down today for a few hours because of the wind change. Much easier to monitor when you can have eyes in the sky. Just sayin. My :pray: to those families also and also to the personnel who were trying to make the right decisions.

I am sure it will be looked into. The 2 things I always fear in a situation like this are #1- A whitewash and #2- a scape goat. I don't mind heads rolling as long as they are the appropriate ones.

I do feel for the familes who have suffered loss. A number of years ago I rolled up on a 240Z with 4 people in it that had stopped in the fog in Riverside, CA. A fully loaded cement truck ran right over them, he never saw them. It is never a great idea to simply stop in a traffic lane but I still felt very badly for everyone involved.

[arntufun]

I wonder if DR. Conrad Murray said....... "he did not have a crystal ball" he would not be sitting in jail for manslaughter for giving propofal to Michael Jackson. I'm sorry, someone should be held responsible just like everyone else, including DR's. Someones dumb decision cost the lives of these people.


I hope your right Baja, it needs to be looked into and it should be done by and independent investigator and not anyone linked to law enforcement.

[bruiser]

The NTSB is investigating. Yep, the same folks who investigate plane crashes. It's easy to armchair when you don't have the facts. Lets give the pros a chance.

[arntufun]

The NTSB is investigating. Yep, the same folks who investigate plane crashes. It's easy to armchair when you don't have the facts. Lets give the pros a chance.

Fair enough. :thumbup:

[NancysToy]

I always wondered why people stop dead and so suddenly, but if you can't even see if you are on the road, you don't really have a choice. For low visibility (something like 1/2-1/4 mile), I wish they taught people a standard speed to cut back to. If everyone cut back to the same speed, there would be fewer of these pile ups, and the slower speeds would be more likely to allow them to stop if they saw traffic stopped ahead. I also cringe when the vast majority of motorists don't turn on their 4-way flashers when they have to slow below posted minimums. Anything you can do to get the attention of the guy drinking his coffee and talking on his cell phone has to help. Stiill a gamble, but less of one.

[bruiser]

Part of the problem is that people today are so distracted with their daily life. It's hurry here, do this, get that done, etc. Multitasking is the new norm. We're all guilty of it to a degree. Technology has made it easy for us to conduct daily business. And so many drivers today don't have the experience to cope with a sudden emergency. Just my opinion.

[BajaRon]

I wonder if DR. Conrad Murray said....... "he did not have a crystal ball" he would not be sitting in jail for manslaughter for giving propofal to Michael Jackson. I'm sorry, someone should be held responsible just like everyone else, including DR's. Someones dumb decision cost the lives of these people.


I hope your right Baja, it needs to be looked into and it should be done by and independent investigator and not anyone linked to law enforcement.

I know we are a bit off the track here but I think this discussion is important.

I don't think it is fair to compare the Michael Jackson situation to this one. The drugs that were administed to MJ have known effects and because they are so dangerous there are accepted, and required protocols. This doctor observed none of the most basic precautions and the end result was virtually inevebidble.

Contrast this with circumstances that probably changed drastically with no warning. If this situation was handleled correctly the variables were considered as accurately as possible and a decision was made. Probably with the idea that if things changed they would again close the roadway.

I’m not protecting anyone here, it could be someone made a very bad call that should have been forseen. I am just saying, sometimes even what should have been a good decision can go bad.

[capt.jim]

My parents live in Ocala, very close to there, sometimes the fog can be widespread and just as bad as the smoke. My brother was going fishing and was involved in an accident on a rural road where a barn had burned and the smoke was blowing across the road at 4:30 am, one second he could see and then solid smoke, before he could hit the brakes he plowed into a 4 car pileup. The police were already there but didn't bother to have someone up the road to warn anyone, it turned into a big deal. His boat ended up 10' inside a chevy astro van, broke the tie down strap like a piece of spaghetti. These things happen quickly sometimes, you don't want to keep going and your scared to just stop, best to get off the road as far and quickly as possible. My heart goes out to all those affected in Gainsville.

[Firefly]

Very sad indeed..... but Scotty you are pretty smart when it comes to safety...... whether the road was open or not-- you wouldn't have gone on it in those conditions.

I've been up in the Smokies when the flashing lights are on that say 5 mph..... and they are not joking. The fog blocked so much you could barely see 10 feet in front of you.....

gotta be super careful under such conditions.

I doubt the cops can be held liable. You drive at your own risk.... and they can only do so much to protect you -- especially from forces of nature.

[spyderdmb1621]

Welcome to sofl...that's why I refuse to ride on I 95






Very sad indeed..... but Scotty you are pretty smart when it comes to safety...... whether the road was open or not-- you wouldn't have gone on it in those conditions.

I've been up in the Smokies when the flashing lights are on that say 5 mph..... and they are not joking. The fog blocked so much you could barely see 10 feet in front of you.....

gotta be super careful under such conditions.

I doubt the cops can be held liable. You drive at your own risk.... and they can only do so much to protect you -- especially from forces of nature.

[dannymax]

Poor visibility may only be one of the contributing factors in this accident, and maybe not even a major one at that.

A few years ago on I-87 in northern NY, a terrible accident occured at a NYS Police/US Border Patrol check point....a more or less permanant check point with warning signs, etc. for approaching traffic. The day of the incident visibility was unlimited, no fog or smoke, a few cars were stopped at the checkpoint when a tractor trailer plowed into them without ever lifting off the throttle. Several vehicles burst into flames and 4 people died.

One person's bad decision can set an event like this in motion and it feeds on itself after that. It will take a little time but the NTSB will sort it all out as to what happened and in what order.

The 'intentionally set fire,' if it turns out to be that, almost certainly was not set with the intention of causing this disaster....a fact that will probably get lost in the weeds if they catch the guy. Jeez, may have just been a local farmer burning some brush....:dontknow:

[Bob Denman]

The NTSB is investigating. Yep, the same folks who investigate plane crashes. It's easy to armchair when you don't have the facts. Lets give the pros a chance.
:agree:
:agree::agree:

[Firefly]

I guess we could all just sit inside on the couch and never go out because something *might* happen somewhere out there..........

Life is filled with risks..... and stuff happens.......

[Bob Denman]

I guess we could all just sit inside on the couch and never go out because something *might* happen somewhere out there..........

...Or we could all just sit quietly inside and let NOTHING happen! :roflblack: As far as I'm concerned; I still have lots of hide on my carcass that deserves some scars... :D

[bruiser]

...Or we could all just sit quietly inside and let NOTHING happen! :roflblack: As far as I'm concerned; I still have lots of hide on my carcass that deserves some scars... :D

:thumbup: :thumbup: