damn...

gah.

"Chance favors the prepared mind" - Louis Pascal.

I kinda agree with you, but I bet that driver was looking at his iPod or something. why else would they get so close to the center like that? Looks like he wasn't paying attention, imo. That's what got him killed. If the truck had randomly slammed into him, that would be more like what you're talking about.

I am so sure about what you are saying. It could be a number of things. Maybe he hit a small patch of snow and it jerk his right front wheel causing him to panic and it all goes south from there. My sister once panic going out to Palms Spring and spin her little Collora on the 10 fwy in dry pavement. Its easily done at speed. Remember, driving in those condition, its hard to see sometimes.

It looked like the Explorer wandered into the center of the road and then over-corrected, hit the truck to his/her right and then swerved into the oncoming lane. Bad luck that the semi was right there to kill them in dramatic fashion. A second later and they would have just wound up in the ditch on the other side of the road.

Of course it's impossible to know why that driver wandered but distracted driving is hugely on the rise with hand-held electronic devices. That was a horrific impact. I feel for the trucker.

Yeah, could be anything, but seemed like he was slowly drifting into the center, like he was distracted.

I don't know for sure, just saying driving and reading are not comparable. One puts you at risk of death more than the other. That's just a fact.

it sounds from the audio they are nothern european or Russian...

Doesn't look like North America from the vehicles in the video

did the SUV wander? or did he pull left to look and see if he could pass?

4 lane road.
Early on , we see the SUV move into the left lane to follow another driver past the small truck traveling in the same direction.

At about 0:16, the driver of the SUV drifts too far left, getting the left hand wheels out of the tracks, perhaps to give the small truck being overtaken some room. At that point control was lost.

I have come close to that myself. Not quite the same as going out reading a book.

Best
Les

Actually, contrary to what logic would dictate, it would be much better to switch lanes faster in the condition you describe, especially of the lane you are switching to is more or less travelled than the one you are currently driving on.

As you switch lanes, one side of your car's tires will be on a surface that has considerably less or more traction than the other side. The more time your car spends in a situation where one side has less traction than the other, the greater likelyhood that you will spin.

Thus, it is best to change lanes as quickly as possible while still driving in a safe and controlled manner.

-Z

Holy chit! That's it, I'm driving 10 under the speed limit in the right lane with the blue hairs from now on.

I have seen quite a few SUVs try to pass left on a 2 lane road....

Yhe traffic did seem to be going fast but its tough to tell, I think a lot of people think that because they have 4x4 drive they can travel faster than the conditions allow. I see this in Vancouver a lot, we don't get a lot of snow so people aren't use to driving in it, I grew up driving in snow and ice but at home now when it snows I stay home.
Just shows you that when your numbers up .........
Finn

I used to do serious/fatal traffic accident investigations when large trucks were involved. The sheer violence is horrific. Vehicles and human bodies disintegrate. I've seen the coroner scoop bits of people up with a shovel-like scoop and it has been my displeasure to find substantial bits of what was once a human being wound up around the axles/suspension, etc., of a large truck. A person who started out inside of a substantial automobile.

Bluntly put, you absolutely positively do not want to **** up around a large truck...

angela

+100000000000

I don't mean any disrespect to the people that died but...

The lane wandering followed by the over correction is a classic driver error caused by fatigue IMO.
Thank god it was quick.

Like others have said, no disrespect meant, but that was pure driver error, from what I can see.

First off, undivided 4-lane highway - they're pretty rare around here, but not unheard of. There's a reason most 100 km/h/65 mph highways are divided, and this is it. There's no room for error.

Fresh snow - look at the trees. Combination of wet and snowy conditions always means potential for ice. So you drive to those conditions. Doesn't matter if you're driving a Yugo or a Hummer, you drive to the conditions.

There is absolutely no reason for that SUV to have drifted left, none in the world, save for maybe a child running out into the road. Even in good conditions, there's no reason for him to have done that. Other than something distracting him. Maybe it wasn't something stupid like sending a text message. Maybe he sneezed, maybe he dropped a cigarette, who knows. But really, if there's a potential for that, drive in the right lane. For example, if I have to eat in the car, and it's raining, snowy, or anything other than bare and dry, I pull into the right lane and slow down a bit. And that's on a divided highway.

So let's say the drift to the left wasn't necessarily stupidity, it could've been saved if he hadn't overcorrected by jerking the car back to the right - that's the real problem here. Just gently ease it back. Even if there was a car coming in the opposing lane, worst case scenario is a corner-of-the-car head-on (i.e. headlight to headlight). That would be a nasty accident, no doubt, but not even close to what ended up happening.

Sad story, but preventable. Same as not buckling your kids in. That one really steams me. Again, no disrespect, but there's really no excuse for that. We just did round trip to Florida back in December. Our 3-year-old wasn't feeling well on the way home, and she wanted to take her belt off and lie down. Not a chance. We'd stop for her more often and let her rest or get fresh air, but not a chance would I let her take her belt off.

any guess how fast they were going?

that crash was horrific. sad.

Obviously in that collision seatbelt are irrelevant as are any airbag or safer car designs. I agree it was just bad driving.

When it comes to seat belts in any car I am driving there is no option but buckle up for all passengers. I don't have kids but I used to date (over 20 years ago) and it seems all the women I dated had little kids. I remember on day we were going to go to the State Fair. The lady I was dating had two boys 6 & 8 years old. I told them to buckle up and we went one block and they took off the seat belts. I pulled over and told them there was no option, wear the seat belts or we go back home. They unbuckled 3 times. The third time I drove back home and we did not go to the fair. They were crying and upset. Their mom told me several months later they finally started wearing their seat belts without a problem.

Any way to find out where this happened?