It is about braking NOT moving forward!

[edyvw]

We had a super mild winter. Never seen before.
Yet, it is Colorado, snow can come any time of the year, and in April? Usually best skiing is in March and April, for a reason.
I know this area like the back of my pocket. This is Eastbound I70, just after one leaves the Eisenhower Tunnel, more precisely the Johnson pipe (It is the Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel). Tunnel sits at above 11,000ft, and 8% grade.
75 car pile up, going downhill. The thing that counts here are tires, not 4WD, AWD, Torsen, Haldex, etc. Just tires and enough beef on your pads, in that order:

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/crash-interstate-70-colorado-snow/

 

[billt460]

Most of the left coast, California transplants who moved there don't know how to drive with water under their tires, let alone snow. This type of thing is not at all surprising, and is getting to be more and more common.

 

[Danno]

That'll put a crimp in TFLtruck IKE Gauntlet testing.

 

[97prizm]

We had a super mild winter. Never seen before.
Yet, it is Colorado, snow can come any time of the year, and in April? Usually best skiing is in March and April, for a reason.
I know this area like the back of my pocket. This is Eastbound I70, just after one leaves the Eisenhower Tunnel, more precisely the Johnson pipe (It is the Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel). Tunnel sits at above 11,000ft, and 8% grade.
75 car pile up, going downhill. The thing that counts here are tires, not 4WD, AWD, Torsen, Haldex, etc. Just tires and enough beef on your pads, in that order:

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/crash-interstate-70-colorado-snow/

Drivers said it became white out conditions only in a matter of minutes. Couple this with driving too fast for conditions and then you just get a chain reaction.

 

[billt460]

Drivers said it became white out conditions only in a matter of minutes. Couple this with driving too fast for conditions and then you just get a chain reaction.

California experiences these massive chain reaction wrecks most every year with the Tule Fog along the I-5 corridor in the San Joaquin Valley. The road conditions themselves remain fine, but the visibility shrinks to near zero instantly.

Many just keep roaring along until they come up on much slower moving vehicles, the next thing is a massive chain reaction wreck. They recently had one that involved 59 vehicles when the visibility dropped to under 10 feet. There are usually always fatalities with these type of massive collisions.

 

[4wd]

Reporting 8 people hospitalized …

 

[Astro14]

Winter tires matter - I’ve still got the Blizzaks on my Volvo R that’s in Denver - though, to be fair, that’s because the car has been sitting since March and I’ll swap it over to summer tires when I am out there again.

I used to see wrecks all the time in Stowe. The combination of Vermont ice/snow, expensive SUVs owned by “flatlanders” and all season tires made for lots and lots of crashes.

The “flatlanders” didn’t realize that stopping and turning were more important than going, and the AWD gave a false sense of security.

3 wrecked Subarus on Winterbird road (feel free to Google map it) on one day alone. The common factors?

Heavy wet snow. Flatlander plates. All season tires.

“But, but, I have a Subaru, with superior AWD!” - yeah, and that doesn’t help you stop on a steep, windy road in wet snow. Here, Let me give you a ride in my RWD Volvo wagon with 4 Hakapelliittas…

 

[IndyIan]

I guess the only way to really avoid these types of accidents is to slow down for the conditions while drivers behind you can still see, and take some flak from others who want to speed blindly into the scene of the accident.
Tires can help, but not with 50' of visibility while going 65mph....

 

[edyvw]

Drivers said it became white out conditions only in a matter of minutes. Couple this with driving too fast for conditions and then you just get a chain reaction.

Hmmm, I would say it is part of equation. I have been at that exact road in whiteout conditions, summer conditions, light snow, heavy snow, pink snow etc.
If there were whiteout conditions, they were metering Johnson pipe. That means that speeds are going to be 20mph, max 30mph. That grade scares people in Summer, and in snowy conditions, they will slow down. I can guarantee you that this started bcs. someone couldn’t stop, and after that it is just chain reaction of people with bunch of heavy SUV’s with piss poor tires, or A/T tires. Then those who actually have good tires are just caught in the middle.
Seen it too many times. Hence, taking scenic road in backcountry to ski there anytime I see clouds let alone if it snows there. You can have best tires, but there is some guy who rented Cadillac Escalade bcs. 4WD, with Ling Longs that were installed by rental company. Add misunderstanding of physics and this is the result.

 

[edyvw]

I guess the only way to really avoid these types of accidents is to slow down for the conditions while drivers behind you can still see, and take some flak from others who want to speed blindly into the scene of the accident.
Tires can help, but not with 50' of visibility while going 65mph....

I can guarantee you speeds were 20-30mph, at most.

 

[RBT]

Hmmm, I would say it is part of equation. I have been at that exact road in whiteout conditions, summer conditions, light snow, heavy snow, pink snow etc.
If there were whiteout conditions, they were metering Johnson pipe. That means that speeds are going to be 20mph, max 30mph. That grade scares people in Summer, and in snowy conditions, they will slow down. I can guarantee you that this started bcs. someone couldn’t stop, and after that it is just chain reaction of people with bunch of heavy SUV’s with piss poor tires, or A/T tires. Then those who actually have good tires are just caught in the middle.
Seen it too many times. Hence, taking scenic road in backcountry to ski there anytime I see clouds let alone if it snows there. You can have best tires, but there is some guy who rented Cadillac Escalade bcs. 4WD, with Ling Longs that were installed by rental company. Add misunderstanding of physics and this is the result.

Ling Longs are great tires. ;-)

Had them on a Camry rental/. Only checked because the car hopped up and down at highway speed like it had a square wheel. Amazing that people buy that crap given how important tires are.