Black Ice Nightmare

[R.S.O'Donnell]

It's not whether YOU can drive on ice.... It's whether others can. And the answer to that is an unequivocal no!!! When the roads get dicey we get off of them and wait it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGaWoNPcbTw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcaw9zyfJTM

[BB_TX]

The problem with that Ft Worth 100+ vehicle wreck was that the weather had not been particularly cold in the previous days. The ground was not frozen. And the surface roads were not iced. But the temperature dropped below freezing during the night. And the wreck happened at the downward sloping ending of an long elevated section of highway. And that elevated portion of roadway had frozen over. A few vehicles had wrecked at the end of that section because of that ice. Then every one coming along behind could not even slow down on the glazed over ice, let alone stop. There were multiple videos taken by motorists on the opposite side of the highway of vehicle after vehicle showing no signs of slowing before slamming into those already stopped. A couple of those semis were just devastating to the cars caught in between.

[R.S.O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by BB_TX

The problem with that Ft Worth 100+ vehicle wreck was that the weather had not been particularly cold in the previous days. The ground was not frozen. And the surface roads were not iced. But the temperature dropped below freezing during the night. And the wreck happened at the downward sloping ending of an long elevated section of highway. And that elevated portion of roadway had frozen over. A few vehicles had wrecked at the end of that section because of that ice. Then every one coming along behind could not even slow down on the glazed over ice, let alone stop. There were multiple videos taken by motorists on the opposite side of the highway of vehicle after vehicle showing no signs of slowing before slamming into those already stopped. A couple of those semis were just devastating to the cars caught in between.

I cringe every time I see one of these pileup videos. The one in Wyoming was also another really bad one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouizU_s-muk

[BiggarView]

Is black predictable? For the layperson technically... no. You have to use common sense. when temps drop below about 38 degrees and water is on the roads, it is prudent to assume there will be black ice. DO NOT DRIVE. Number two, is the urge to "get home". This is absolutely a potential killer. Nothing is that important that you cannot take more time to get there by being safe, not even an emergency. Third, we've gone around the bend on this on here many times but that truck is not up to the job. SRW PU (even a one ton) towing a triple axle trailer weighing upwards of 20+ thousand pounds is a recipe for disaster... this time they were lucky. Yeah you can tow it, but the truth is the tail was wagging the dog in that incident. It was only a matter of time. They drove into conditions they never should have, and they had plenty of warning, you can't say otherwise.

They say there are old drivers and bold drivers but there are no old bold drivers. Not enough pay heed to that sage wisdom. Overconfidence is a killer.

Glad they were not hurt.

[Madmax07]

I live in Saskatchewan so am intimately familiar with black ice. During daylight hours there is literally no way to know if there is black ice on the road other than to tap your brakes to see if you slide, which is not a good idea when pulling a 14,000 lb 5th wheel. At night, you can often tell it’s icy when you meet another vehicle you can see the shiny reflection of the headlights on the road.
My advice is to get off the road ASAP if there is any indication of ice on the road. It’s just not worth driving in icy conditions.

[R.S.O'Donnell]

This popped up in my suggested videos the other day. Definitely worth learning from.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCYeV9RjyPI

[Wisconsin Retiree]

I drive alot of bad weather and when I viewed this video I was immediately tensing up at the conditions, rig size and the speed. It is just the best choice to park and wait it out.

[432bartman]

That video shows just how quickly things can go "south" and once in motion there's not much you can do in that scenario. Hope they were all ok.

[R.S.O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by 432bartman

That video shows just how quickly things can go "south" and once in motion there's not much you can do in that scenario. Hope they were all ok.

No question about it. They were fine. Last I saw they were still getting the truck fixed. 5th wheel probably totaled.

Had something similar happen in Germany on "Winter Reforger 85" in a 5 ton towing a bolster trailer with a truck box on it. Trailer went down an embankment. Almost took the truck full of troops with it.

[dennis hogan]

All I can say is WOW.