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Police: 6 dead in New Mexico interstate crash

AJiveMan

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Police: 6 dead in New Mexico interstate crash

Oh my gosh, a freakin' dust storm caused this. Why didn't folks just slow down and pull off onto the shoulder if they couldn't see? Nobody knows if they did or not, but that's what I would have done.
 
Police: 6 dead in New Mexico interstate crash

Oh my gosh, a freakin' dust storm caused this. Why didn't folks just slow down and pull off onto the shoulder if they couldn't see? Nobody knows if they did or not, but that's what I would have done.

I'm personally not a big fan of pulling off on the shoulder; but definitely agree with pulling off the road. I'll generally pull off at the nearest exit. If I can't see adequately, I'm not going to drive a 3-4 thousand-pound missile blind. Anybody who's driving by tail lights is an idiot.
 
I'm personally not a big fan of pulling off on the shoulder; but definitely agree with pulling off the road. I'll generally pull off at the nearest exit. If I can't see adequately, I'm not going to drive a 3-4 thousand-pound missile blind. Anybody who's driving by tail lights is an idiot.

Years ago driving down in southern Illinois, fog with freezing rain at 5 a.m. in the dark, I managed to get off the roadway entirely, onto the grass, mo better than being a sitting duck on the shoulder. Still unsafe, but better than leaving my rearend out where it was vulnerable.
 
I've never been in a sand storm but have been in several blinding thunderstorms in several states. When you can barely see the tail lights in front of you its past the point of pulling off the road.

BTW, driving in Florida with your emergency flashers on is illegal.
 
I'm personally not a big fan of pulling off on the shoulder; but definitely agree with pulling off the road. I'll generally pull off at the nearest exit. If I can't see adequately, I'm not going to drive a 3-4 thousand-pound missile blind. Anybody who's driving by tail lights is an idiot.

I agree with you. But, I have driven that stretch of interstate many times, there are no exits. From Las Cruces to the Arizona border, 140 miles, there is only 2 towns. I probably would of been trying to stay with traffic until I got to a town. The dust storms out there can last for more than a day. Longtime to be sitting in a car in the middle of nowhere without knowing if you will have enough gas to keep the A/C running.
 
I agree with you. But, I have driven that stretch of interstate many times, there are no exits. From Las Cruces to the Arizona border, 140 miles, there is only 2 towns. I probably would of been trying to stay with traffic until I got to a town. The dust storms out there can last for more than a day. Longtime to be sitting in a car in the middle of nowhere without knowing if you will have enough gas to keep the A/C running.

Next best thing if one must stay on the road: try to get behind a big rig. I used to follow them on my winter trips from Wisconsin back to Chicago in snow storms. My thinking was that they were big enough to push anything out of the way to give me ample time to stop. Could have been dead wrong, but when I didn't have any choice, that's what I did.
 
Next best thing if one must stay on the road: try to get behind a big rig. I used to follow them on my winter trips from Wisconsin back to Chicago in snow storms. My thinking was that they were big enough to push anything out of the way to give me ample time to stop. Could have been dead wrong, but when I didn't have any choice, that's what I did.
The "follow the big rig" isn't a bad strategy. Unless they hit a wall they aren't making sudden stops and will give you plenty of time to slow down if you need to.
 
Next best thing if one must stay on the road: try to get behind a big rig. I used to follow them on my winter trips from Wisconsin back to Chicago in snow storms. My thinking was that they were big enough to push anything out of the way to give me ample time to stop. Could have been dead wrong, but when I didn't have any choice, that's what I did.

I used to commute from Fairfield to Sacramento in the mornings. Many times there was fog so thick that you could only see one of the dashed center lines. I'd pick a semi with good trailer lights and follow along at 45 mph. I managed to always get there in one piece.

Sometimes there would be 55 car pile-ups along that stretch. The inability to see while you are driving causes a form tunnel vision. When a driver gets it real bad, they won't know where they are, and will stop right in the roadway. The other 54 vehicles just keep ramming the crowd.
 
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