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Officials said fog and smoke from marsh wildfires created zero visibility in early Thursday morning.
More than 50 people were injured, four of them critically, in a massive 41-vehicle pileup Thursday in southeast Texas, authorities said.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said the pileup began shortly before 5:30 a.m. when a collision on foggy east-bound state Highway 73 in LaBelle, near Beaumont, started a chain reaction.
Rescue agencies ran out of ambulances after all 20 of the area's units rushed to the scene, and crews began transporting victims on shuttle buses with a paramedic on board, NBC station KPRC of Houston reported.
All told, 54 people were injured, authorities said. Four were reported in critical condition.
Officials said fog and smoke from marsh wildfires created zero visibility in the area.
Before the collisions, eastbound traffic appeared to be moving about 70 mph despite the heavy fog and limited visibility, state troopers told The Beaumont Enterprise. Drivers in the other direction apparently were moving more slowly, they said.
Investigators said some of the cars left no skid marks, indicating their drivers didn't see the stopped vehicles until they crashed.
"I was driving straight down this road, and all of a sudden … just smoke," Jesus Gonzalez told KPRC, describing "a wall of fog, flying objects, a little bit of everything."
Gonzalez and his friends, who weren't hurt, jumped out of their car to help others and were credited with carrying two people to safety.
"They had a gas leak in their car, so we definitely had to get them out," said one of them, Basilio Renovato.
Jefferson County sheriff's Deputy Rod Carroll said the accidents were spread over more than three-quarters of a mile. More than a dozen other vehicles skidded off into the median but didn't hit anything, authorities said.
"Thank God it was before the school buses started running," Carroll told KPRC.
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These people drive like bats out of hell. Think they are safe in the big SUV and air bags all around.
I'm confused here....If you can't see to drive , why do you drive..???......."I can't see honey...keep going anyway".... , and the stupid thing is , it will happen again...
You think they were fogged in at their location and decided to then get into their vehicle and drive somewhere anyway? That's hardly how it happens.
Really---Maybe the speed limit was, oh say 70 MPH? Although I'm sure the fog and smoke played a role, however there have been similar accidents even under dry and clear conditions. I was involved in one that involved probably just as many, if not more cars, due to road contruction. Yeah, they cut off one of the lanes that was below a hill and those coming over it didn't have enough time to "adjust" and it caused a major pile up!
Calling people names is childish, whereas this story has as more holes as a block of swiss cheese. When the flow of traffic is going 70 MPH and then all of a sudden there's a "wall of fog" it's more likely it may have been clear enough and possibly the smoke culminating with the fog instantly changed the conditions enough to cause the first collision, and didn't allow all the other drivers to prepare or respond fast enough.
There's an adage "When the fog rolls in" and this is true in many parts of the country where all of a sudden the conditions change instantly and your like "wow, where did that come from?" This could have happened, but unfortunantly true reporting has gone by the wayside and one is left with a lot of fluff and no substance since majority of articles written by third graders these days (my apologies to the actual third graders who can write). BIG sigh
And this is an example of stupid people doing stupid things.
I've had this situation myself... a wall of fog. The difference is I stopped BEFORE I got into it, got on the side of the road with my flashers on and watched the fools speeding into it and listened to the carnage happening.
Some people must take stupid pills or practice stupidity, because no-one is ever born this stupid. It must be learned from an early age.
in Texas the shoulder is another driving lane.
Then it's not the shoulder.
I think NANA was being sarcastic..................at least I hope.
Lest folks start the Texas drivers bashing: Bad drivers are everywhere. How many huge pile-ups happen every year in California where driving is as frenetic, or in Florida,etc? I was caught up in a sand storm several years ago and slowed down to 45-50 MPH (still too fast) and had several cars pass me at 80+. Scary.
Jethro: Hey Cleatus, Whatcu make of that there smokey stuff in frunt of us?
Cleatus: Shucks, heck if i know! I reckin we had better speed up and get on thru thar fasteren $H!T thru a goose!
Like they say..Everything is big in Texas.
Texas has to have some of the most inconsiderate, reckless drivers in the US. I would rather drive in LA than Texas. They all think 80 is the minimum speed and turn signals are just accessories and if you can't see the grill of the truck, suburban behind you in your rear view mirror there is too much space between you
The sad thing is that it didn't use to be that way. Drivers in Texas used to be courteous. I won't even visit relatives there anymore. That state really has gone to hell.
Being a bit general aren't we? Unfortunately, many of the drivers in Texas are snowbirds who have escaped the Great White North. I hav elived in Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, and now 4 cities in Texas and there are bad drivers in every state.
Fog can creep up on you as you driver over hills into low-lying areas where the fog first arrives in the morning.
BTW, there are signs in Oklahoma that warn people not to drive into the smoke.
70 mph in blinding fog. Darwin rules.
Tough to feel compassion for people that drive like that.
But it is easy to pity them - I pity the poor fools that don't have any better sense than that.
"Guess what I found in that smoke and fog? A bunch of bumpers, fenders, headlights, turn signals, etc. Good thing I drove in there as fast as possible. Would want to miss out on a smashing experience."
I pity those who have to clean up the carnage.
I only drive as fast as I can see.
If you blink do you have to speed up to catch up to what you saw? I hope you never get some thing in your eye when your driving! "Vrooom-Errrht, Vroom-Errht, Vroom-Errht........"!
I usually throw on my hazards when I'm driving through blinding snow; though I think blinding fog would be worse. That said, there is a shoulder lane for you to pull over on...as long as someone else doesn't decide to pull over and hit you in the process. Getting off the freeway entirely is preferable.
You see this all the time - people driving 70 mph in zero visibility. What on earth are they thinking?
Fog....or SMOG ??
Have you been to Beaumont, TX lately. If you plan a trip there, take a gas mask.
Gas mask? For what, Burrito Farts!
When I lived in TX I was always puzzled by their courtesy on 2 lane roads, where they would ease over onto the shoulder to let you pass, yet were classic road hogs on the freeway hanging in the left lane.
The reason there is courtesy on the two-lane roads and not on the freeway is because there are different kinds of people using those roads. The two-lane roads are used by the country folk - much slower paced and relaxed. The freeways are used by the city folk - always in a hurry, stressed out, and road raging. I prefer the country folks!
How do you leave skid marks with anti-lock brakes?
Drive fast towards a cliff and turn at the last second
In your pants
uUtan;
Well some people don't wipe themselves very well. Oh you mean the car.
ed, the people in those cars left more then skid marks! Their drawers were a total lose!
Just look at the last two governors. Would you want to be on the road when the possibility exists that George W. Bush AND Rick Perry are driving those same roads???
No thanks.
Any state that would elect 2 progressively more retarted Governors in a row probably needs some more Darwinism. IMHO, they both show classic signs of Fetal Alchohol Syndrome.
Texans are Arrmed, Reactionary,stupid and proud of it, what global warming ?? fog in a freakin' desert ?? does that sound normal, Ummm. Probably emissions from a nearby Halliburton petro plant.
The state that gave us Dubya the panty-waste, wife beating wino has lot to answer for.
Guess we'll just turn off the spigot on the oil for the rest of the country.
Texans are far from stupid, but you would expect that kind of general statement from a well groomed, eloquent Yankee.
BTW, it's "retarded" not "retarted"
We get the zero visibility in AZ with dust storms. And idiot drivers do the same thing. Keep going 70 mph into the unknown. Had a big pile up a few weeks ago, fatalities I recall. Some basic common sense would really go a long way.
Perry was seen going down that road at 70 mph in reverse
Its amazing how fearless people become when they are driving. There is a reason blind people can't get a drivers license. I think people are thinking that if they just drive a little farther maybe it will clear up and then suddenly all they here is a loud crunching sound. Its like a herd of cattle stampeding off the edge of a cliff.