re: Horrific multi vehicle crash shuts down I-65 in South Alabama

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Like speeding

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That's an assumption. Cruising in the left lane is always illegal, though, regardless of speed.

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People lose focus on 65 between Mobile and Montgomery. It’s one of the worst, most boring interstate drives in the country. Nothing but trees for two and a half hours.

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there are only 2 stops right off the interstate and that have multiple places to pick from to eat at. I think.

Evergreen and Greenville.

There is that kinda new casino in Atmore that you can see from the interstate but it's no doozy.

there is the dolly parton bridge and thaT'S about it.

Have to agree with ya.

I was coming back from ATL in heavy rains. Some drivers seem to speed up in times of poor visibility and traction.

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It’s one of the worst, most boring interstate drives in the country. Nothing but trees for two and a half hours.

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I'll assume you have never driven across southern MN, through the Dakotas, etc...

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From this picture it looks as though there is a skid mark and debris on the left side of the bridge. I am not saying that it is definitely from this wreck but it is there.

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I believe that is the side of the highway the wreck happened on. If you look closely it appears to me you can see the car hauler trailer there in front of the fire truck.

I drive that stretch of interstate occasionally, when I visit family in Louisiana from Montgomery. Some comments:

-- I am a fast driver. I am usually driving 80 when the weather permits, sometimes a few mph faster. I have never been the fastest person on the road on that stretch of interstate.

-- The interstate bridges in Alabama are too narrow in way, way too many cases. My son totaled his car by clipping the end of a bridge railing that was, at most, 4 feet from the right stripe (this was on I-85 going from Auburn to Montgomery.) He shouldn't have been driving, as he was very tired. The narrowness of the bridge gave him no tolerance for error. Thankfully, he was uninjured and it was only one car. But, it was a bit disconcerting driving up on him about 5 minutes later.

-- What everyone is saying about the lack of Alabama state troopers is true. There simply aren't enough to enforce any traffic laws, and everyone knows it.

-- Finally have bought a car with a cruise control that adjusts to the car in front of you. It's a miracle: I find myself feeling much safer not having to game the cruise all the time. It's actually made me a more patient driver, amazingly enough.

-- Even the most modern safety devices don't help when the guy even with your front fender decides he wants the lane more than you do. Was able to avoid that guy a few weeks ago (on I-10 eastbound just before the Apalachicola River).

-- Usually, I-65 is still more comfortable to drive on than I-10/12 through MS and LA. None of them were worse than my recent drive on I-75 between Ocala and Live Oak.

-- The loss of life of those young girls is so horrifying. We can only offer prayers for their families and friends.

Peace.

A lot more pictures and mention that there was a second Tallapoosa van returning from the beach that was ahead of the wreck and didn't see it.

Roy Jr.'s helium balloon almost escaped




LINK

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Nah, its the speeders who weave around them.
Blaming left lane riders is like blaming guns for violence.

No, it's not.

Cruising in the left lane is against the law

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Umm so is speeding! Look I drive on the mid to fast end of things. I usually always stay within 10mph of the speed limit though. You have folks routinely going 80-90mph in the left lane, usually passing cars one after another, not really needing to constantly be going to the right lanes then going right back to the left to pass. At some point that changing lanes action just to pass the slow cars in the right lane catches up to folks as well. 90mph should be plenty fine of a speed to remain in the left lane…

BUT inevitably, there’s some complete idiot a-hole doing next level speed, NLs I call them, driving aggressively at north of 100mph. These folks will never be content nor satisfied being behind anyone at any speed. These are the worst offenders. You know the type, out of their mind speeding and intent on making their own space. Some of these damned fools do it in rain slicked roads as well. I would wager there was one of these drivers in the mix yesterday, at least partially at fault.

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Lots of aggressive drivers think that if you aren't tailgating the person in front of you, you're part of the problem.

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Yep.

People going 85 mph don't bother me if the roads are clear. The ones who ride less than a car length behind the guy in front of them scare the shite out of me.

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You should never cruise in the left lane and you are wrong if you do in every scenario - whether you are driving 50 MPH or 100 MPH. But you don't have to be speeding to be impeded by slow traffic in the left lane.

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This is fine in a vacuum, but the reality is a little more nuanced IMO.

If traffic is light and you can safely get in and out of the right lane, then sure - you are wrong if you’re ever cruising on the left lane other than passing a vehicle or two. But a single lane of freeway can handle a finite amount of traffic. On a two-lane freeway, eventually people have to cruise in both lanes because there’s not enough capacity in the right lane. At that point if everyone is trying to get over immediately whenever a faster car is behind them, all the constant merging in and out of the right lane and the consequential inability to safely merge onto the freeway from on-ramps become far more dangerous.

So I would say that you should always move back to the right lane when you can do so safely. Meaning, without having to cut in and cause the car behind you to suddenly brake.

This brings me to my real point, which is that IMO the biggest cause of danger and congestion on interstates isn’t specifically people cruising in the left lane, or tailgaters/speeders. The biggest cause is the speed difference between the slowest drivers and fastest drivers.

If the average driver is moving along at 70-75 mph and nobody really goes much faster or slower, it’s pretty easy to keep the left lane clear. You don’t have to speed up or slow down much to switch lanes. But if the left lane is moving at 80 mph and the right lane is moving at 60 mph, the situation is much more dangerous.

When you have someone who insists on driving 90 mph in such a situation, and they are impatiently tailgating/flooring it every chance they get, wrecks can easily happen because eventually someone in front of him will need to switch lanes - either accelerating into the left lane or decelerating into the right lane. And the guy driving 50 mph in the right lane is every bit as dangerous, because he’s causing more drivers to go around him.

Longer post than I intended, but I just think this idea that “nobody should ever cruise in the left lane for any reason” is a little naive to the realities of driving on congested freeways. The less drivers in the left lane, the worse the speed differential between the two lanes becomes.