[http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=Pileup]

> Not surprising given the speed that California traffic moves at and how
> closely the cars are spaced.

>From the time I first saw the place in the mid-80s, I was amazed at how
Californians will drive with their hood ornament up the next guy's
trailer hitch at freeway speeds. Very much a faith-based
institution.

In this case, however, I'd speculate the main cause was a combination
of speed and inattention, not following too close. The guy in the
blue Mustang who started it all by rear-ending the stalled van
appeared to be sailing along at a pretty good clip for a CONSTRUCTION
ZONE. Hello? There are lanes coned off, work lights and four-ways or
beacons on the other side, all sorts of indicators that you need to be
driving with your head up and your speed down.

Some of the people who piled on later also seemed to be carrying a lot
of speed very deep into what was not only a construction zone but also
the scene of an evolving accident, with brake lights and cars in weird
positions and so forth. I've seen any number of accidents, though
none as spectacular and dangerous-looking as this one, caused by people
braking too little too late in a situation they might well have taken
in stride had they been looking and thinking further ahead.

It's also interesting to note the variety of responses by subsequent
drivers. Some stop in plenty of time (including some whose vehicles
are not stereotypically associated with high-effectiveness braking).
Some combine braking with maneuvering whereas others might have been
well advised to do so but did not even try it. At least one proved
unable to stay in one lane with the pointy end forward during an
emergency stop.

Lucky somebody didn't cream a highway worker or two.


Complicating the issue, it isn't clear to me whether the van, stalled
in what appears to be the #1, HOV lane (or is it a breakdown lane?),
had its hazard lights on, or maybe the battery had gone down and they
weren't very bright anymore. It is however possible to imagine an
electrical failure so utter that he couldn't get to anyplace better and
didn't have any lights to show. And it *was* a dark-colored
vehicle, at night. He did have the highly reflective license plate
that is the usual issue these days, though -- this is plainly visible
in people's headlights.

So what was done well?

* Several people handled it with some semblance of aplomb and avoided
being caught up in the various chains of collisions. (For the most
part these seemed to be the people who bled off a good bit of speed
well in advance, presumably because they were well "ahead" of their
cars. At least two of the three drivers who wiped out in the
subsequent accidents, and a fourth who was saved from doing so only by
good skill and/or brakes applied very hard at the last possible moment,
seemed to be carrying a lot of speed deep into the accident scene.)

* The driver who appeared to get slightly sideswiped by the van kept a
level head and didn't allow the mishap to turn into either a loss of
control or a collision with another car.

* The accident victims appeared to stay with their cars and presumably
belted in. A couple of times I've seen people get out and go wandering
around on the freeway when it is still early in the evolution and other
cars are flying past very fast and close. This seems to be a fairly
common reaction. I guess in some situations (fire, or an obvious
short path to a safe haven) it might be justified, but in something
like this, with no way to run and no place to hide, all it does is
increase the likelihood of being the guest of honor in a subsequent
car-pedestrian accident.


--Joe