As I drove east on Interstate 210 during the late morning hours today a flashing sign advised me that Interstate 15 was closed northbound at Interstate 215.
Rather than listen to my usual talk radio most of the day, for the last few days I have been listening to my favorite music station, Air 1, through which I receive no local news.
Upon seeing the sign telling of the freeway closure, I searched my radio dial for a local station that was providing a segment on local news, and listened in horror at the information provided.
About 50 cars and big rigs smashed up in a chain-reaction accident in the fog during the morning hours on Interstate 15 as the highway snakes up through the Cajon Pass. At the time of the radio advisement, at least 15 people had been injured. Wreckage of the vehicles was scattered for a half-mile, forcing authorities to shut down the freeway.
What started the chain-reaction collision was when a couple of big rigs crashed in the northbound lanes.
The Freeway, as it meanders through the Cajon Pass, reaches an elevation of more than 4,100 feet before it pours the speeding travelers and their vehicles out into the High Desert, and the path towards Las Vegas, Nevada.
As a big rig driver, I drive defensively, knowing that in a battle of gross-tonnage, I drive a killer. Nonetheless, though the culprit that ignited the accident is apparently the crash of the two big rigs, I would like to add another possible cause to the pile-up of causes being blamed:
In Southern California we drive fast, even when visibility is low. Californians spend many hours on the roadways, and many of our routes, of which we drive daily, become so familiar that our attention to detail drops. I believe a little bit of caution on the part of all drivers in this horrific pile-up before the inevitable happened may have steered them away from the chain reaction collision.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
By Douglas V. Gibbs
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