10 vehicle + 1 240Z freeway pileup

[Inf]

Yesterday driving up I-35 in central Texas, traffic was dense, moving at about 75mph (typical for that stretch of road). It was so dense, that maintaining a responsible following distance was all but impossible, because people would constantly cut in if you left any room at all.

From what we pieced together afterward, some idiot in the left hand lane decided he wanted to take an exit AS he was passing it, so he cut across both lanes of traffic to get to it. Chaos ensued. All I personally saw was a truck pulling a low trailer swerving across both lanes with dirt and debris flying everywhere (unsecured junk he had in the trailer, like a big blue Igloo cooler, for one), less than a second later, everyone was standing on their brakes, and I was suddenly coming up against a wall of cars.

It all happened so fast, there was no time to think. All I remember is a blur of getting on the brakes, and hearing tires squealing all around me, realizing I was not going to be able to stop short of the car directly in front of me, so I instinctively swerved into the poor excuse for a left-hand shoulder as I continued to brake. My tires were completely locked up on all four corners (as I discovered by following my skid marks back later). Taking my foot off the pedal to unlock the wheels would have gone against all the instincts that were in control of my actions, even though the rational part of my brain says I could have reduced my stopping distance.

As my Z skidded to a halt, and a cloud of white tire smoke blew past my car, I continued to hear screeching tires, and metal-on-metal crunching and grinding. From the driver's seat, it looked like I had at the very least smashed into the concrete barrier on the left hand side. I wasn't sure what I hit, but I was reasonably sure I had been involved in the impact.

After a few seconds, it seemed everything had come to rest. I didn't even bother trying the driver's side door - all I could see was the concrete barrier. I climbed, with much difficulty, into the passenger seat, and got out of the car. Miraculously, no one had been seriously injured. The guy and his wife in the Saab next to me (totaled) had both their airbags deploy and they both got out under their own power and seemed fairly coherent. I think their seat belts kept them from taking the airbags in their faces at full force. A few other vehicles were also damaged beyond reasonable repair as well, and there were a lot of people wandering around in a bit of a state of shock.

All told, there were about 10 cars that were piled up, and there was somehow a small buffer zone between my Z and all the other cars. I was boxed in, but somehow unscathed. I looked the car over from stem to stern, and could find no evidence of the impact I though I had surely sustained. The front tire was about an inch away from the concrete barrier, without even a skid mark on the sidewall. The fender was only about 2 inches from the wall.

Now, I'm not a religious man in the slightest, but this was an extraordinarily fortunate outcome for me. Not that being held up for several hours on a freeway in the middle of nowhere in 100+ degree heat is a GOOD thing at all, but that it could have been MUCH worse for me personally. There were a number of large trucks and SUVs involved, which, had I been caught between them, I would in all likelihood not be sitting here typing this to you today.

There were so many factors that, had they been different, things would have had another outcome entirely. For instance - the day before I left for my trip, I went to check the tire pressure on all 4 corners. The mechanic I had last had the car at decided to fill all my tires up to 45 PSI, which I lowered to 30 PSI cold, as I normally keep them. This undoubtedly played some role in traction, for better or for worse, which let me end up in that tiny pocket in the middle of all the destruction.

Also, it occurs to me that if I had used better brake control and not locked my brakes up, I probably would NOT have swerved to the left to avoid the car in front of me, and I would have been sandwiched between it and the truck that had been tailing very closely to me previously.

I calmly waited for what seemed like hours for the state troopers and EMS to do their jobs and get things organized. The local news stations, being the vultures that they are, showed up to film the ordeal. Even one car of rubberneckers slowed down so a passenger could take photos of all of us on the side of the road. Some folks have no sense of decency, I suppose.

Once the cars blocking me in from the front were towed or rolled away, the troopers let me go on my way, and I drove away with a renewed sense of caution on the roadway. Every idiot I see pull out in front of me, or coming up behind me could be the one that kills me. I had this mindset for a number of years, and I always felt it kept me safer. By assuming everyone else on the road is irrational and giving them a wide berth, I saved myself a lot of grief. I had somehow forgotten that over the years, and become as complacent as everyone else on the road. I could have potentially avoided this whole situation by taking a much more defensive posture to my driving yesterday.

This experience has definitely put me back on guard while I'm driving, and I hope it will remind some of you of how inexplicably stupid and careless some of the people you share the roadway with are. Treat them as such! Don't ever give them the benefit of the doubt - the cost is too high when they let you down.

Anyway, this has come out to be a long enough post as it is, so without further adieu, here are the photos I snapped on my phone's camera.

Edited June 23, 2009 by Inf

[sblake01]

You are blessed! It just wasn't your time. Almost like you and your Z were surrounded by some type of force field. My prayers obviously go out to those less fortunate than you in the incident.

[hls30.com]

You are a lucky man.

Sunday before last, an extremely close family friend and her 27 year old son and his Girlfriend were not so lucky. All three died in an as yet unexplained three car accident, that left three others hurt, as well as decimated her family, leaving a husband, a younger son, and a even younger daughter, and church and soccer communitys reeling.

The 27 year old son was driving and somehow his jeep crossed three lanes of five or so lanes of traffic, a large curbed median, and slammed into a car and an SUV, Closing highway 80 for the better part of a day. Mom and son were thrown from the Jeep, and declared dead on the sceene, the girlfriend died in flight to the hospital, three others were hurt in the accident, one treated and released, and two more spent some time on the hospital.

This happend around 1pm on a beautiful sunday afternoon on the way to the beach.

Having an idiot cause an accident because he is too damn stupid to be in the exit lane and to damn lazy to take responsibility for his actions, and take the time hit for using the next exit is inexcusable.

Having an unexplained accident is tragic.

Living through either is by the grace of God, and reminds us how fragile life is and not to take a single breath for granted.

Will

Edited June 23, 2009 by hls30.com

[Carl Beck]

Hi Andrew:

Great report - thanks for sharing the experience with us. Reminds me of my "alligator on the Freeway" experience... so I know exactly how you feel.

Glad to hear that everything went your way on this one.

FWIW,

Carl B.

[Galaxybj]

The Big guy was really watching over you! Living and driving in the Albuquerque area has given me the heightened awareness of those around me. People follow too close, will change lanes if possible (sqeezing in between the cars in that lane) rather than slow down when you are planning to turn, and drive way too fast on the city streets. I personally have had two cases this year where the Big guy was watching over me and my Z. Thank goodness for rearview mirrors and that "magical" opening just when it is needed.

[cbudvet]

Glad you and your car were both ok. Did they get the guy that cut everyone off and caused the whole thing? I echo everyones statements that these things happen every day and we are all lucky to be here when there are a lot of good people that aren't.

carl

[DougN]

Glad to hear you and the Z were not injured!

From the pics, looks like the guy in the Toyota truck saved the Z (intentionally or not) by running into the Saab rather than a Z given that he could have likely went either way. Looked like this helped create the pocket of protection for you and the Z.

Hope they caught the A-hole that caused this all to happen. Unfortunately, I believe people that would make that move in the first place are so self-centered that they probably didn't even pay attention to the chaos that ensued afterwards

[five&dime]

Wow!!! Great story!!! You are extremely lucky Now let's see the tire skid marks

Giggity

[pit crew guy]

I'm so glad all is well with you and your Z. I taught defensive driving classes in the Army for many years, thought I'd seen it all, but still can't believe how lucky I too have been on the roadways lately.

[ChrisB77]

Man! Can't believe how close that Z is tothe barrier. If it was me, I would have been shaking like a leaf. Seems like after it is all over is when it really sets in. Your mind goes thru all the could have beens, then you get really shook up. Glad to see you drove away.

Will. Sorry to hear of the loss close to you. Your story brought a tears to my eyes just thinking of that devasted family. I lived thru a similiar story a few years ago and would never wish that pain upon anyone. Hope you can remain strong and give strength to those without.

Chris

[overdrivex]

good to hear your ok. im just curious though. why did you black out your registration and inspection sticker?

[Inf]

They didn't get the guy that caused it, so far as I know. He was long gone by the time the pileup had happened. People like that are so oblivious, I would be surprised if he/she even knew what they had caused.

I was definitely a bit shaken by the whole experience, and had to double check that I wasn't injured.

I blacked out my registration/inspection stickers because my inspection sticker was 6 months expired :x

I got it inspected yesterday, so it's all legal now. I usually get the inspection done in Dallas where I grew up because I know the local guy there and know he won't take it too far from the station and wail on it for fun. I always hate to see my car disappear around the corner with someone else driving it.