Now I know I’m the last person to comment on anyone’s driving 
but watching the video it’s amazing how many seem to go full tilt into the already massive pile up.
It seems most modern vehicles in the USA don’t even have ABS, watched a few YouTube videos on trucks and they have 2 airlines and 1 electric line, unlike 2 airlines 2 electric lines and an abs line here, as for the cars, there wheels seem to just lock up.
Some more footage of it.
youtube.com/watch?v=aGNNdkTmHKo
Its not just America we are just as bad.
Was a 100 car pile up on the Isle of Sheppey bridge not long ago.
We have had pretty bad pile ups in the UK as well with equal deaths.
youtube.com/watch?v=gb7wfR6Qt1o
The difference being one on the isle.of sheppy bridge was caused by fog and bad weather . Was veyr low visibility This one seems to be ok visibility . Just icy So can’t compare them really
adam277:
Some more footage of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGNNdkTmHKo
youtube.com/watch?v=aGNNdkTmHKoIts not just America we are just as bad.
Was a 100 car pile up on the Isle of Sheppey bridge not long ago.
We have had pretty bad pile ups in the UK as well with equal deaths.youtube.com/watch?v=gb7wfR6Qt1o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb7wfR6Qt1o
Depends on how things are measured, but it seems the UK is noticeably safer than the USA.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of … death_rate
So saying we are “just as bad” doesn’t seem fair to me.
weeto:
It seems most modern vehicles in the USA don’t even have ABS, watched a few YouTube videos on trucks and they have 2 airlines and 1 electric line, unlike 2 airlines 2 electric lines and an abs line here, as for the cars, there wheels seem to just lock up.
We have two airlines and one electric lead, ABS still works.
Texas drivers won’t exactly have much experience of the freak Canadian arctic type weather that they’ve suddenly been plunged into.
Combine that with what was probably a localised sheet ice surface so normal grip then suddenly no grip they were all just passengers from that point.
Even ABS or any amount of forward planning won’t help when the wheels suddenly have no connection with the road at all.
An oil spill across the carriageway would have a similar effect.
weeto:
there wheels seem to just lock up.
That’s what generally happens if you try to brake with zero friction coefficient between the tyres and the road.Just like ABS won’t help in the event of aquaplaning.
Franglais:
adam277:
Some more footage of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGNNdkTmHKo
youtube.com/watch?v=aGNNdkTmHKoIts not just America we are just as bad.
Was a 100 car pile up on the Isle of Sheppey bridge not long ago.
We have had pretty bad pile ups in the UK as well with equal deaths.youtube.com/watch?v=gb7wfR6Qt1o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb7wfR6Qt1oDepends on how things are measured, but it seems the UK is noticeably safer than the USA.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of … death_rate
So saying we are “just as bad” doesn’t seem fair to me.
Making no excuses for following distance, lack of awareness etc and it seems this accident is down to ice. But it may be the extremes of weather they get that can result in this kind of thing. One of my mates was telling me about car driving in the USA. He said once was driving down a road one time and from cloudy weather just turned into a complete downpour. Said it didn’t even gradually start pouring, it was like someone just switched on a tap, and was like nothing he had ever seen here. No visibility, surface water within seconds, and had very little time to react.
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I recall from many years ago a claim that American tractor units had no brakes on the front axle?
Paid by the mile - most freeways are lightly trafficked compared to here. Having to come to a stand is far less likely to happen away from the cities.
When I first drove on the freeway between LA and San Diego in the early nineties I was amazed at the average cruising speed of trucks but soon got used to it.
Its difficult to spot black ice especially if unusual for it to happen in that area.
That incident was during an ice rain storm.
I was 37yrs old by the time I emigrated and I had17yrs as a lorry driver in the UK and in all that time I never once encountered a full on ice rain occurrence so I am pretty sure that it just doesn’t happen in the UK although someone might correct me.
It is unfortunately not unusual at all over here. Think about the weather temperature being somewhere between just under freezing to maybe even minus 9 or 10 when it suddenly pours down with rain at the same time. It really is quite incredible.
Each individual drop of rain instantly turns to ice the second it lands which quickly covers your windshield in thick opaque ice before you can do anything about it. You can imagine the road surface.
Also the speed limit on Interstate 35 in Texas is 75mph and that does include big trucks and most of them are doing that all the time even when it is busy which it usually is.
This was in Texas where snow and ice is not too frequent. It was an elevated section of highway with a slight downhill slope.
ABS is no help at all when, due to Black ice, there is zero grip.
wire:
That incident was during an ice rain storm.
I was 37yrs old by the time I emigrated and I had17yrs as a lorry driver in the UK and in all that time I never once encountered a full on ice rain occurrence so I am pretty sure that it just doesn’t happen in the UK although someone might correct me.
It is unfortunately not unusual at all over here. Think about the weather temperature being somewhere between just under freezing to maybe even minus 9 or 10 when it suddenly pours down with rain at the same time. It really is quite incredible.
Each individual drop of rain instantly turns to ice the second it lands which quickly covers your windshield in thick opaque ice before you can do anything about it. You can imagine the road surface.
Also the speed limit on Interstate 35 in Texas is 75mph and that does include big trucks and most of them are doing that all the time even when it is busy which it usually is.
As they say there’s nothing between Texas and the North Pole but a barbed wire fence.Combine that with the equator being not all that far down the road and across the Gulf of Mexico in the opposite direction it’s no surprise that the weather there is nuts.
Having said that I have seem an ice storm here when the pavement and road was turned to sheet ice.It’s a complicated mish mash of temperature inversions and freezing ground temperatures and warm air battling with cold air.Then all bets are off.
Look on the bright side 2 or 3 more months there then it will be Tornado season. 
I too have seen the videos off the fedex truck going full bore into the pile up , and have to say the fedex drivers are given a time off arrival three fails and you’re out rain , hail sleet or snow makes no difference to the dispatch the time is set! More than a few others are the same . My info came straight from an x Fedex driver of a wiggle wagon who told them to poke it!
JIMBO47:
I too have seen the videos off the fedex truck going full bore into the pile up , and have to say the fedex drivers are given a time off arrival three fails and you’re out rain , hail sleet or snow makes no difference to the dispatch the time is set! More than a few others are the same . My info came straight from an x Fedex driver of a wiggle wagon who told them to poke it!
Doesnt surpise me.
In the UK parcel companies are the worst for pushing drivers.
If you ever do a night run down a motorway its always the usual suspects doing 56mph in a 50. They never slow down for average speed cameras.
e.g. DX Freight, Yodel, Tuffnells, DPD, Hermes etc.
Although saying that Royal Mail trucks are usually pretty good.
Next day delivery comes at a price.
switchlogic:
Now I know I’m the last person to comment on anyone’s driving
Nope… not as we know them.
When I drove there over 20 years ago I was shocked at the lousy brakes they had even though you could do 70-75mph and more. Granted only 36 ton max overall weight but if you needed to stop in a hurry you should have hit the pedal 10 minutes ago.
I think they brought out new brake regulations in 2013 so perhaps that has made some difference to the newer gear.
I’ve been caught up in snow in Texas plenty of times and it wasn’t pretty but ice storms like this are way beyond the capabilities of man or machine not to mind US brakeless wagons,
From what I have been reading, there was no storm.
There had been a light shower of rain earlier and temperatures were low but not extreme. The problem here was that the concrete highway was elevated and therefore colder than the rest of the road. A perfect recipe for black ice.
There is also a comment that the private company that should have treated the road, didn’t.
For a more informed thread about it, Read this: boards.straightdope.com/t/130-c … ead/932717
The concrete barriers…
Either side haven’t helped. Quite literally, nowhere to go other than into the pack.
The accident was mostly confined to a bridge, they freeze a lot quicker than the surrounding roads and don’t really warm up again until the temperature rises. It was also a downhill section of road so once you begin the slide you’re only going one way. That said however most American drivers seem to drive flat out until they absolutely have to brake.