"The roads are bad out there"
Posted by
Fred SchultzFebruary 05, 2009 11:29 AMMy wife is from the South, and always makes a big deal about snow on the roads. I must confess that I always quietly laugh at her idea of what makes for, "bad roads." As many of us do in the Midwest, we all think we know how to drive on snowy roads. Sometimes, we even get frusterated if we're behind someone that is creeping along on what we believe to be a fairly clear road in the winter.
However, the story I saw in the Herald Times on Thursday gave me great pause. Apparently, 34 vehicles were involved in a terrible wreck on I-69, including several semi tractor-trailers, and at least two people were killed.
The two people killed were in a truck involved in a 34-vehicle pileup about eight miles north of I-465, state police Sgt. Anthony Emery said. One person was hospitalized in critical condition and several others suffered less-severe injuries in that chain-reaction crash, which involved five semitrailers and a fire truck.
The article goes on to report that there were two other massive pileups along the same stretch of I-69. All told, over 70 vehicles were involved in the three separate incidents. The storm that caused these terrible pileups came on fairly suddenly during the day when a lot of people were traveling to or from work.
Indiana law does provide that a driver should reduce his or her speed in order to travel in a reasonably safe manner given the weather conditions that exist at the time. If someone fails to do so and an accident occurrs, then they can be found to be negligent and responsible for the accident. The Indiana State Police are, no doubt, conducting investigations into these collisions and will be interviewing numerous witnesses to see what triggered each of these pileups.
Before getting out on the roads, its very important to make sure that your vehicle maintenance is up to date. Check the tread on your tires and have someone look atyour brakes. Also, lets all remember to be careful and heed a word of caution from those whom we might otherwise dismiss. "The roads are bad out there."