[madan80]

why are they Spraying water??????? its a petrol fire- it should be foam / CO2 based :(

[thefreak]

I guess they started spraying whatever was most easily available at that time... Also I think (though I must admit that I dont know) that CO2 should not be sprayed when there are people around the accident area. They may die of asphyixation.

My thoughts and completely unconfirmed.

[wheeler]

A colleague of mine was involved in this accident. She's been admitted to a hospital in Abu Dhabi with an injury to the head but she is out of danger. She did notice that even after the pile up had started, she could see cars coming in at relatively high speeds and trying to brake hard before colliding with those stationary.

[zibby]

[susan3004]

Remember, this happened in India also about a year back. Our toll was around 40 vehicles at NH1. This also occured due to fog!

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by MaserQ

A few observations I have made while travelling on this route:

1. SUVs (owned by certain strata of society, usually driven by adolescents or slightly older) travel at break neck speeds on the fast lane with no regard to the speed cams. From what I hear, the big guns negotiate a special deal for all their cars annually with the traffic department for accrued traffic fines.

2. Climatic conditions - fog, sand storms, rain do not deter drivers. They maintain their regular speed.

3. Another trick used up the above mentioned SUV drivers is to sneak up right behind you with their headlights switched off at night (in the fast lane) and then switch them back on when dangerously close to you, potentially blinding/upsetting an inexperienced driver.

4. As someone pointed out, a hot beverage and a mobile phone are fixtures.

In usual circumstances, all is well because lane discipline is good. But married with low visibility or rain, this can be a lethal combination.

All very correct. Except that a lot of people (including myself, eh) now brake when (3) above happens. So it happens a lot less.

The abovesaid SUVs also have 2 special lights in front (Costs about Dhs.4,000 each) that are supposedly meant to light up the desert at night. The side-benefit (in most cases, the reason for them being there, too!) of these lights is that if you switch them on as you approach a speed camera, it blinds the camera.

However, there is a lot of speculation now as to how this pileup could have occurred. Quite a few people here have the habit of pulling over to the emergency lane and switching on their hazard lamps when visibility is very low - I've personally seen this during really bad dust storms. This, IMHO is a very dangerous habit as you invariably cannot see the lane markings very clearly in such conditions and these cars startle you if you are in the fast lane. This, coupled with the abovesaid SUVs travelling in the fast lane (sometimes on the emergency lane, too!) may have caused the first accident. The rest of it may have followed.

There is also the ridiculous habit of driving (crawling) VERY slowly in the fast lane with the hazard lamps blinking when visibility is bad. This behaviour is the speciality of certain sub-continental drivers. They simply refuse to move to the slower lanes even when they drive slow. This behaviour is also typical of the species commonly known as "Jumeira Jane" - the SUV-driving soccer mom. Except that they drive slow AND converse on the phone AND smoke a cigarette, all together.

[Torqy]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

There is also the ridiculous habit of driving (crawling) VERY slowly in the fast lane with the hazard lamps blinking when visibility is bad.

@steeroid: Correct me if i'm wrong.

If visibility is bad, it will be bad for ALL LANES. There is no question of better visibility if you're on the fast lane.....and you don't expect the fast lane moving quicker than the slow one in bad conditions....right?

-- Torqy

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by Torqy

@steeroid: Correct me if i'm wrong.

you didn't notice the VERY in caps.

[Mayavi]

139 vehicle pile up (including some heavy trucks) on I-40 near flagstaff early this week, about 100 miles from where I live. This one was also due to bad weather... it was snowing.