And travel by dogsled is ALWAYS a bad choice.

And that's multiple multiple car accidents.

also seem redundant.

by the Department of Redundancies Department.

Pictures suggest that they were driving on snow rather than on roads, which can lead to accidents and injuries and, sadly, fatalities.

The forecast was for snow starting later, and the lake effect snow came down at 2 inches per hour...
that's not only enough to cover the road, it makes it very hard to see...

I went out at 8 am on a bread and milk run and there wasn't but a flake every couple minutes. People who went out to a morning church service could have been much surprised on the trip back home.

Snow is blossoming in Milwaukee," National Weather Service meteorologist Ed Townsend said shortly before 10 a.m. Sunday. Townsend was describing the scene on radar as snow pushed north from Kenosha and Racine counties into Milwaukee.

A winter weather advisory is in effect for southeastern Wisconsin until 6 a.m. Monday. An advisory for snow means the storm could limit visibility, and snow could cover roads.

A multiple-vehicle crash blocked eastbound/southbound I-894 in West Allis around 11 a.m., and another blocked I-94 eastbound at Seven Mile Road in Racine County, according to the state Department of Transportation. Milwaukee County Sheriff's deputies closed I-94 eastbound at Ryan Road to assist Racine County authorities, McLaughlin said.

Several multiple-vehicle crashes also blocked southbound lanes on I-43 south of Mequon Road in Ozaukee County around 11:30 a.m., according to the state transportation department and observers stuck in traffic.

Menomonee Falls Police Department reported several crashes on US Highway 41/45 southbound from Pilgrim Road to Highway 145 around noon Sunday. Southbound lanes were closed at Pilgrim Road at 12:30 p.m., a police dispatcher said.


Read more from Journal Sentinel: http://www.jsonline.com/weather/snowstorm-hits-southeast-wisconsin-could-drop-up-to-6-inches-b99159180z1-234958401.html#ixzz2muabPzn1
Follow us: @JournalSentinel on Twitter

of why I don't miss winter driving in Wisconsin. Been out ice skating in the semi there numerous times and I still am amazed i never had a wreck of any kind.

This was something of a surprise...the forecast was for 16 hours of light snow starting at noon, around 10:30 or so lake effect snow developed and moved up the lake shore dropping snow at about 2 inches per hour

First significant snow of the winter combined with near white-out conditions. Milwaukee plans to use cheese-brine to de-ice. Really. I'm not kidding

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/milwaukees-latest-antidote-to-icy-streets-cheese-brine-b9995766z1-223291751.html

actually do help a lot. Some of the mountain passes in my region are treated with it and it makes a lot of difference, I suspect using it near the lakes is a good idea. But people should stop acting like they are all in LA and can just drive like bats out of hell whenever they get behind the wheel. After driving over 1.5 million miles professionally I am convinced that about half of the licensed drivers in this country should never be allowed behind the wheel at any time due to lack of sense and skill. I can often be heard saying, "Although you have a brand new vehicle, it doesn't automatically mean that your driving skills have improved." Nor does it mean that their skill in judgement has either.

Too bad this is happening but I can't give these folks a free pass on their driving skills either, there are very few cases where knowing that there is going to be a weather event that will have an adverse affect on travel is an excuse for not being more cautious when driving. One unskilled driver could have caused any of these wrecks but a greater number of skilled drivers at the location could have eliminated the severity of all of these... including those in commercial vehicles.

Just sayin'.

Rock salt is what gets used because it's the cheaper option.

there have been, in the past, only a couple options. Idaho and Montana use small gravel and some salt, Wyoming used to use cinders from mining and coke plants. Idaho would also use slag from the phosphate mines/processing facilities. Now Idaho uses the brine stuff on the passes but you can still get your windshield cracked on many roads, but they'll dump a small beach on some passes in ecologically sensitive areas. I have seen some winters where you drive on "solid floor"* for hundreds of miles and dumping any kind of de-icing elements just creates unmanageable chuck-holes.

*solid floor=hard packed snow cover without open patches of pavement.

I spend most of my winters driving in 4WD until spring once the snow sticks to the ground.

winters.. scary, and lucky too. Now I'm on Kaua'i and don't even drive anymore.

Different lives.

I moved to the Rocky Mountains where the roads can be much worse... because we have steep slopes and at least as much snow and ice! And we get more of that double digit subzero cold too. But the air is clean and the water is fresh and the view is awesome.

My nephew went to college in HI, but I never made it over there to visit. Now he lives on the mainland again but I get to see more of him and that's really good.

But you have that perfect weather all the time, almost... and you can probably grow a lot more in your garden! But we both live on or near big volcanoes!

I googled a map of Hawai'ian Islands and this popped up.. Volcanoes and all.



I live up there on Kaua'i( the most Northern one) and most of the Volcanoes are down on the Big Island way South.

We do have a year round growing season and that's really good.. summer's still the best even here. But, I live in a studio on the 3rd Floor by the Beach and don't have my own garden. But, that's okay.. there's a Farmer's Market once a week a block from my home and I live above a natural food co-op!

Sounds awesome where you are in the mountains of Colorado.. majestic. I have some memories of slip sliding on the ice coming home at midnight from my job in Denver and glad no one else was on the street! Take care on road, 2naSalit!

Montana/Idaho border, not very far from YNP... definitely along the rim of the caldera and ceratinly over the humongous magma pool below.

I have to travel some distance to get to anything that resembles a city, like at least a hundred miles one way.

My landlord has a two story solarium in his place and he has a lemon tree that actually bears lemons!!! I'm so jealous.

I've been to Montana and YNP in the summer time. Beautiful country.. i shot a moose with my camera in Yellowstone.

is rather unusual but last spring I actually caught FOUR of them all in the same place! A veritable milestone!

I like living close enough to be able to see the park out the window, though it's still several miles off. It's also the general source of my income since all the jobs are related to something with the park in the nearest town, which is also about ten miles away. Too many people in town so I found a little cabin up in the woods just far enough away to not be in the masses when I'm home. Locals rarely go in the park during the summer and only some can afford to go in during the winter unless we go on skis or snowshoes. But do get to ski a lot outside the park so it works out well for me, at least. It's often how I get to town when the weather isn't real cold... like this past week+.

Wonderland, you!

the most awesome and challenging place I've ever lived. But I love it and can't imagine going anyplace else. Has it's drawbacks socially and climate-wise but the wildlife and the smell of trees is what makes me want to see every tomorrow so I'm sticking with it. And even the severe weather events are exciting, until I actually have to go someplace beyond my little hovel in the hills! Don't care if I have to wait for a bear to find something more interesting than my yard before I go out either.

It's all over my FB page-people worried about the GB fans driving south after the game.

It's going to take hours to clear this up.

I grew up in Kenosha.

This storm is kicking butt and not even stopping to take names.

Almost every large, multi vehicle pile-up can be attributed to a single driver making a bad decision.

Low visibility incidents are usually caused by one driver slowing to a crawl in a travel lane.

Everybody else just piles into him/her

Slick road incidents are usually because a single driver is driving too fast for the conditions, loses control and everybody else just piles into him/her.

It's almost always ONE chuckehead at the front.

By an idiot driving too fast.....

The safest speed to travel regardless of the speed limit is that speed which 75% of the rest of traffic is flowing.

If you are all by yourself, with no cars for miles and you spin or stop in a travel lane, there is no consequence.

If you are driving along with the flow of traffic and you spin or stop in a travel lane, is everybody behind you automatically now going too fast?

As I said, the vast majority of the types of multi-car pileups talked about in the OP are cause by one single individual making a bad choice or a bonehead maneuver, leaving the people behind him nowhere to go.

The fact that these sorts of pile-ups don't happen constantly in the winter or every time there is fog, proves that most people do not make stupid moves while driving.

For whatever reason, some individuals feel it is perfectly alright to slow dramatically or come to a stop in a travel lane when they become uncomfortable, instead of putting their car on the shoulder. Likewise, some individuals lack basic car control skills and/or drive well beyond their capabilities in adverse conditions. Blaming the person behind them for having no where to go in such a situation is dumb.

Or react to something in front of you then you are driving too fast for condtions

When the conditions are slick.

Every year you read about those pileups.

I see and hear too many making excuses for hitting someone else from the rear, or going into the median around a curve.

Unrelated: One question on the psychopath test was related to blaming others.

I almost piled in to some clown STOPPED on I-57 in Feb.

Snow had just started to blow. The roads were still dry but the visibility was deteriorating.

I was in the process of slowing down from the speed limit 65 to probably 45-50ish when I saw brake lights. I saw I was overtaking the car ahead of me in the right lane so I head-checked left to pass. By the time I looked ahead again I realized he was stopped.

I think the stabilitrac saved my ass. In fact, I mistook the clunk noise of the right side brakes engaging as me swiping the other car.

I guess, by your measure, I wasn't going too fast since I got lucky and missed....

But fuck. Don't stop on the highway. If things really ARE that bad, put your car on the shoulder or, better yet, as far off in the grass as you can get.

pray for her quick recovery

to those from elsewhere, Sen Vinehout is considered by many or best hope to rid wisconsin of the bastard walker

i live in LA and people suck at driving even in light rain.

i even made some mistakes driving in the rain and started to hydroplane once but was able to get in control again. i got really lucky here and good thing not many cars were around(which is one reason i was driving faster than i should have).

i think part of learning to drive should include driving in controlled areas in various conditions.