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Looks like Denver a few years ago, the snow that cancelled more than a few trips.
Lols. Phail. Glad I live in Florida where there’s no snow.
CA immigrants driving after a Portland ice storm ( locals will not attempt the MAC club hill during this kind of crap ).
This is Fake & Gay
actually, someone I know posted this and I saw it on facebook, it’s just outside of airdrie, alberta =] And in no way is this homosexual, nor is that an insult.
Well put, joozbawks!
Ahhh, if this is from Canada, then it is definitely real… Only in Canada.
Nah, in the snow storm I’m pretty sure the OP Denver person is talking about a couple years ago, I took my chevy cavalier up a similar sized hill that was littered with abandoned vehicles on both sides the whole way up. That dump was about 3 feet of snow judging by how high it hit me walking up my driveway.
Actually this happens a lot in Texas where people aren’t used to driving in the snow. It happened around Wichita Falls, TX on Dec 24th this year.
I know for a fact that in Iowa we drive sanely in the snow, unlike Texans. We went over spring break in 2008 to the Grand Canyon and it started snowing in Amarillo on our way to Albequerque. The Ford Explorer from Iowa with 4 wheel drive was driving a safe 50 mph in white out conditions. We were passed by Texans driving at least 75 in rear wheel drive sedans. We then passed them a couple miles later spun out in either the median or the side of the road. Only in Texas would people drive 75 in a white out.
yay a story of the day
Im a Texan and this is true. haha We were driving to Wichita Kansas New Years Eve and got stuck in Norman Ok in the blizzard this year.
We weren’t driving badly ourselves but some Texas (and other states) plates zoomed by us and were wrecked shortly after. You gotta be careful!
AGREED! i’m from nebraska and i’d assume we probably drive about the same. my sister lives in texas and she even said they drive in the snow like we drive in the rain.
All you guys from the Lower 48 don’t drive sanely in the snow…in a true white-out ( 3 yds or less visibility) you would max out at like 25…Also you guys need to drive more AWD cars, most people down there use SUVs on the road anyways, so it won’t hurt gas mileage…
haha i’m from austin and when it even snows a little or ices over our whole world comes to a screaming halt. all school and work are canceled, and the people who do venture out wind up on the news for sliding into parked cars. when it rains we all freak out and slow down to twenty miles an hour
jihad says:
January 2, “2010″ at 9:45 pm
Actually this happens a lot in Texas where people aren’t used to driving in the snow. It happened around Wichita Falls, TX on Dec 24th “this year.”
wow there is fail right there
…says the kid who likes it up the ass.
I was there, it was awful.
This is what it looked like about an hour north of Dallas on Christmas Eve.
Um, I live about an hour north of Dallas, and no it didn’t.
I live in McKinney and 75 around Allen/121 looks like that on even a dry day because Dallas drivers do not possess the intelligence required to drive from point A to B without running into another driver.
Not fake, dude. I had to drive in that. It was HELL! 50km/hr at most for 56km. That was a LONG drive home.
well yeah, about an hour
dude this isnt fact, welcome to canadian weather, where if your in the right place at the right time, it will snow more than a foot in a night, and when that snow turns into black ice on the highway, it’ll create a far greater disaster than any high speed pile up u could Imagen on your big interstates, grow and get educated, thats what participation does round these parts
guess i gotta learn to spell fake and precipitation right first! ^^
Yean, and your a dumbshit
and your a moron.
I believe both of you are in need of grammar lessons.
You’re = you are
as u r
RWJ much?
+1 !!!
your name is fake and gay, but who cares?
I will stick with the snow over hurricanes.
lol bet ur not saying that now
oh, shit.
Snow’s not deep enough to be in Denver… Need a couple more feet to stop traffic in Colorado.
I know that in St. Louis it only takes about half an inch to cause this sort of devastation. You’re right though, it took three feet to bring Denver to a standstill.
Looks like a lot more people should have taken the sentiment from the last “winter” fail to heart and just stayed home.
The problem here (I don’t live in the St. Louis area, but about an hour and a half south of it) is the ice. When we get snow, it’s generally pretty powdery and light. But the ice is horrendous…we had 5 inches of halfway decent snow with nearly an inch and a half of ice laying on top of it. We were out of school for an entire week it was so bad.
I remember one year St. Louis got actual snow, followed by an ice storm. I put on my ice skates and skated on the backyard. Literally. I think I was about 16 at the time, so that would have been… *gulp* 19 years ago.
But you probably had a tight ass from all the skating.
Way to focus on what really matters, HN.
lol…you think it is bad in St. Louis, Tennessee doesn’t even own a single snow plow…it starts to lightly snow and they flat out cancel school….shit like that pic happens, not because of the slick road, but because of shear panic!!!
…There seems to be just an inch or two of snow, how can it cause that..?
Nay, not even 2 inches.
Drop any snow into an area that almost never gets any, and well, no one knows how to deal with it. Now, drop snow in an area notorious for bad drivers and you get the same effect.
Still, as this is FAILblog, those people indeed failed, since with that little snow the road below probably isn’t even frozen.
Isn’t snow by definition frozen?
I don’t really know, probably yeah, but since it’s a lot different from ice, is it frozen in some other way or something? Anyway, I meant ice, as you probably got it, and technically, the road still isn’t frozen, but the water on top of it that became snow.
Snow can be slick, if it’s the wet, heavy kind of snow. I was just in New Mexico and they got about 8 or so inches in the city I was visiting. Between the train station and the city (about 30 minutes away in good weather) we saw 7 single car accidents. One of those had slid off the road and into a rock wall. And THAT was a four wheel drive vehicle.
4 wheel or 2 is not difference you need tyre made for winter and if you dont ave them stay home.
I’m pretty sure the good folks who live in the mountains of New Mexico, have the proper tires. I’m just sayin’.
Back in the day, when I was a nipper and walked to work, we saw a car overturn at the bottom of the hill my parents live on. She had a 4 wheel drive with deep treaded tyres.
Sometimes it just takes you by surprise, and in England we don’t teach people how to correct skids or even the correct ettiquette for snowy or foggy driving. Shame really, because snow and fog happen at least once a year.
Sweden here.
Had a rather bad snowstorm the other day. About ten inches in places, sight was perhaps 100yards if you were lucky. 5 accidents in total according to newsreports.
People must learn that you shouldn’t drive beyond your and the car’s ability.
Do you guys spend time on a skid-pan/caster to prepare for bad driving conditions and skid control?
It’s completely a person fail, whether fail at the driver for not realising they shouldn’t be driving/should be driving more gently and fail at society for encouraging people to go to work/go home when the weather is bad.
In my last job my manager couldn’t believe that when we had some snow and the major roads out of our town were closed because people were driving straight off them that I really couldn’t make it into work… It took me turning up with a car covered in snow three days later for her to believe we had any snow in the first place.
Do you believe in Global Warming in Sweden?
Him not sure in quebec where i live they are people that dont ave good tyre and we ave a new law (that you need winter tyre from 15 december to 15 march). We ave winter 1/4 a year (snow, ice and the 2 in the same time). Some people never learn and dont want to spend money on new tyre.
4 wheel drive probably won’t help you steer, and definitely won’t help you brake. 4 wheel drive will help keep a driver from getting stuck. It won’t really help to keep them from crashing.
4 wheel drive is not 4 wheel stop.
In snow, trying to stop quickly will get you stuck 9 out of 10 times. Steering is the name of the game and having 4 wheel drive improves your steering capability. The front tires are less likely to skid.
I might point out here that all cars have 4 wheel stop. All cars have 2 wheel turn (with a very few rare exceptions). 4 wheel drive doesn’t help you steer at all unless you are executing maneuver that includes acceleration to trasfer weight to the rear of the car. Race car drivers do this sort of thing (especially in autoX), but generally if conditions are slippery you can’t achieve enough weight transfer to matter (because you don’t have grip in the first place).
4 wheel drive helps you go. It won’t help you stop, and it won’t help you turn except in exotic situations that aren’t really relevant in street driving, and especially not on snow/ice.
4 wheel drive IS useful *after* you’ve gone off the road however
(assuming you didn’t wreck one or more of the aforementioned wheels in the process)
Humm…. No. The amount of snow has very little to do with whether or not the road is iced over beneath. In fact, here in Maine, we often get freezing rain followed by a little snow, leading to conditions that look a lot like the picture (dark road = black ice, under just a smattering of snow). You do not want to be driving any vehicle under those conditions.
Trust me, although these people indeed failed, the failure isn’t bad driving under acceptable conditions as you imply, but driving in bad conditions and not adjusting their driving style to the conditions.
Slower on the gas, slower and longer to brake, and slower in general — or better yet, do all you can to avoid driving.
I Agree.. Black ice is what we get in the Dallas area. I cant drive in it so I stay home. Freezing rain, freezing fog, sleet will slick up a road fast here. Then is snow falls on it it + Disaster. There is a HUGE difference in the snow they get in the mountains in Colorado (powder) and the (wet) snow we always get in Texas
It’s not the snow in the Midwest… it’s the ice. There may be no snow at all and the black ice (you can’t see it because it just looks like dark asphalt) will get ya.
RACIST!!!
You can see black ice on asphalt! If the pavement looks wet in places you just treat it as ice even if it isn’t.
Not always, particularly if the asphalt is newer (therefore darker).
There’s the kind you can’t really see unless your face is right near the ground. People always think there’s no ice, so drive as such, and end up off the road, or at least in fender-benders.
Many people drive like idiots in the first place, and then they don’t bother to change their driving habits when the roads are bad. I know the freak-out happens in areas that don’t see snow a lot, but the same thing happens in the Midwest with bad and inexperienced drivers. (I seriously live in an area that has commercials to remind people to stop for red lights!)
bad tires. you’d be surprised how many people have used, slick or inappropriate tires… =/
Americans should studded tires or something.
America is a big place. Distance from coast to coast > Paris to Moscow. People in the northern parts of the country have proper snow tires.
Stuff like this happens when a freak snowstorm hit a southern US state … one that almost always has a hot climate.
LOL!!! You’d be surprised to find out how many people in CANADA don’t have snow tires, but just have the crappy touring tires they get with new cars.
Don’t assume people in colder climates are smart enough to have snow tires. People are remarkably stupid.
Dude/ette, in the south we get northerners trying to drive on “black ice” or “florida ice”. that’s where there’s jsut enough rain to lift the oil off the pavement so it’s like driving on a giant oil slick. and people unfamiliar with it will continue to drive at the posted speed limit, or even faster, because they don’t realize that it’s dangerous.
as a motorcyclist, i’ve been hit 3 times by drivers that couldn’t stop on wet roads. once was a cop. tires were fine, proper distance, (the cop was even going slow). they jsut hit that patch of wet oil and lost traction.
Is there no justice?
Get that in Oregon as well. We get about 3 months of good weather, and then it rains from September until July.
First good rain in September is when the CA immigrants learn about the oil on top of the formerly dry road.
At least they don’t accidenty so much.
Many states (including my home of Minnesota–and we know snow!) have banned studded snow tires! Minnesota did in the early 70’s. They chewed up the roads too much, making for excessive repair. (And while Americans love their roads, Ghu forbid they should pay anything for them….)
homo
Tires are studs? (wolf-whistle)
Studded tires are illegal in some states. They really, really chew up the roads and infrastructure is expensive to fix. I think in NY, they’re legal, but you have to take them off your car by a certain date.
Aren’t tires considered ‘used’ the moment you drive out of the tire store’s parking lot?
Hahahahaha….I’m led to believe the same thing
No snow tires, not Canada, and those people have probably never driven in snow before.
Summer or 4 season tires will be slippery on little wet snow. No sand or salt on the pavement is another cause. People not keeping a longer safe distance is another one. Bad drivers is the most obvious reason. I live in Quebec and winter tires are mandatory. The highways and roads are cleared often and sanded/salted. Snow is plowed and removed from city streets with snowblowers. If we only had good roads like you have in the USA, it would be easier to drive here in the winter.
Well, Quebec is doing something right, then. Alberta has no mandatory winter tire law, and in Calgary they wait for a few days to clear any street that isn’t a major thoroughfare. They wait for the warm weather system (chinook), you see. They want the snow to melt away so they don’t have to spend the money in clearing it. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a small smattering of gravel, but the ruts caused by traffic is also a MAJOR problem.
Driving on snow isn’t what causes this.
Driving on snow that’s on a layer of ice does. This is most likely the storm that hit the Southwest/Central US on Christmas Eve. If you were far enough south (like I was) it started as rain, which transitioned to sleet, which transitioned to snow. Definitely the worst winter storm I’ve seen in several years.
I was in Oklahoma for this, by the way.
Yeah, I think it’s I-40 in Oklahoma on Christmas Eve. A blizzard of 13.5 inches in a matter of hours, but never mind that. One flake of snow falls here and people get all kinds of crazy and still think they can drive 80 mph. Idiots.
It’s call a chinook… Warm winds that blow over Southern Alberta which bring the temp of the air to above freezing, while the ground is still freezing cold. The night before the hill you are looking at was covered in a foot of snow. During the day a chinook wind blew in, then in the lovely tradition of Alberta weather, a cold front (-35 celcius +windchill) blew in… VOILA!!! Instant black ice! This was close to Calgary, where everyone will tell you “If you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes. It’ll change!”, and when I lived there, we got snow EVERY MONTH of the year! Imagine waking up in August to 3 inches of snow, but knowing that by noon, you’ll have wished you had worn shorts! Until you have lived in it, you could not possibly believe it! Who knew us Canucks had it so crazy!
troll
I live here. This is so not fake. Sadly.
not even close, wrong country. that is between Calgary and Cochrine in Canada Alberta.
The correct spelling is Cochrane and I think it’s actually between Calgary and Airdrie.
Happy Birthday Avis!! (okay, so I just saw on your blog that the second was your birthday and I’m late) Pop another cork anyway.
This picture was taken on a Mon. morning from the westbound lane of I 74 about mile marker 40 in Indiana. I think it was Dec. 14. We made it up the hill in the left lane. The semi that is the farthest up the hill in the right lane was just getting stuck. All of this must have happened shortly after we passed. Then they closed the road. Indiana don’t know crap about road salting.
This is Highway 2 in between Edmonton and Calgary Alberta
Looks like Monument Hill, between Denver and Colorado Springs. Probably the storm of late 2006.
Ouch.
SECOND!
me too.
FAIL. In your mouth.
Wish this was a video. Would have been a lot more entertaining.
Schadenfreude anyone?
Jawohl!
I’d like to know where this happened. If this pic was taken in Germany, I’d bet it shows the winter chaos either at the “Kasseler Berge” or at the “Knüllgebirge”. These places in winter are some drivers’ worst nightmare.
Airdrie, Alberta, Canada.
I thought this was a video.
*happynewyearsqueeze*
haha.. the room didn’t stop spinning since new year’s eve?
My rooms should be spinning later tonight. But not too much… I hope.
I thought Europe was a country?
Sarah Palin reads failblog!
Thank you, Kelly Pickler
look how twisted these cars are, lol.
I love this picture. Of course, I live in Hawaii and am in a tank top as I write this.
*looks out window at the ice on Lake Michigan*
*re-reads Dover’s comment*
*sigh*
*looks out the window at my plain suburban street*
*!magines Lake Michigan covered in ice*
*sigh*
*squeeze*
*squeeze*
It’s really slushy ice, and moves with the “waves”, if it’s any consolation. The REAL ice has yet to appear. By late February it’s almost strong enough to walk on. It used to freeze hard enough to drive on, but alas, those days are gone. But some fool tries it nearly every year.
Round here we have a pond (considerably smaller than Lake Michigan) which froze solid back in February (when England got the REAL snow)
You could easily run or skate across it.
Wtf do you mean, “it used to freeze hard enough to drive on” Those days are gone??? what days? the ice age? I’ve driven on ice that was like 2 feet thick, so am I to draw some retarded conclusion if the ice on that same pond isn’t always 2 feet thick?
Some years it’s colder than others, some years water freezes more than others….the process of making ice hasn’t changed and never will and no morons, the temperature hasn’t gone up, actually, it’s gone down. The real question is, where have the polar bears that used to live on Lake Michigan gone?
“But some fool tries it nearly every year.”
She’s talking about you, isn’t she?
Pssst! I don’t think he’ll get the morans reference.
Which only strengthens your point.
Hee!
Totally OT, I have my own FAIL to share with the world.
Since the government have decided that everyone under 18 is morbidly obese, schools have been forced to provide fruit or fruit juices for students. At my college/school, the juice cartons are very helpfully provided with a straw, and the instruction;
“Pierce hole with srtaw”
After about a year, they still haven’t noticed that.
aside from the spelling error, shouldn’t that read “pierce foil with straw”?
That’s more of a technicality than the correct spelling of straw.
Sadly, that’s the way education’s going over here.
The number of spelling mistakes made by everyday companies never ceases to amaze me. First Paragraph of an English GCSE Guidebook contained not one, but two grammatical errors.
Makes me proud to be British.
Also, people who use the ‘word’ spelt really shouldn’t point out other peoples misspellings.
The real problem is retards who think giving people fruit flavored sugar water is somehow “healthy” and don’t know that until you stick the straw through it, it’s not a hole.
Is that aimed at me?
1. I didn’t manufacture the juice
2. I didn’t use the word “word”
3. Safety
4. It’s 100% pure fruit juice.
Jon, I believe this was aimed at anyone who uses ‘t’ instead of ‘ed’.
He most likely doesn’t think that spelt can be spelt, spelt.
I wonder what he might make of dreamt…
Is this your attempt to claim smartness after saying that ice will never again freeze enough to drive on? Fail.
In general, people who use the ‘word’ spelt aren’t too bright but without you, Al Gore would need to get a job.
See, here’s where you fail: Everyone knows it’s “Smartitude”
God is a troll? Wow. That’ll shake up more than a few religious doctrines.
In the 6 years I’ve lived here it hasn’t frozen hard enough to drive on. A friend of mine has lived here MUCH longer and says he remembers being able to do so, but it’s been more than ten years since he’s seen it done.
Oh, I get it.I drove on ice that was 2 feet thick once, since I haven’t since then, it’s safe to conclude that it’s no longer possible.
You must be the Old Testament *God*…the somewhat angry, vengeful one?
This was near Calgary, Alberta, Canada where they definitely know winter. It was a couple weeks ago where the temperatures were -30C (-22F) so the roads were completely frozen. A little skiff of snow make the roads ice rinks. Somebody died in this particular incident.
Looking at that disaster of a roadway, I’d be surprised if someone hadn’t.
Damn! I thought that road looked familiar. The QE2 (Queen Elizabeth II, yeah, we named our highway after the Queen, go figure) is notorious for accidents like this.
It was probably the hill that caused such a pile up. One person lost control at the bottom of the hill, everyone tried to stop, and slid on the snow, leading to a massive fender bender.
*goes*
*tap-tap-tap-tap*
*figures*
One of the downsides of monarchy is surely all of the entirely unprepossessing bits of public architecture and civil engineering that simply must be named in one’s honour: Johannesburg here in South Africa has a road bridge over rail lines named in honour of QE2’s coronation, and it’s plain and ugly even by the standards of a plain and ugly CBD. If you’ve Google Earth, you can drop in on it at
26 11 49.96 S 28 02 14.84 E
I believe.
It was actually funny watching the shit drivers that day. I was tailing a guy home on another road out of the city and an accident appeared out of the snow ahead of us, he locked his brakes and took part in the accident. I braked well back and laughed my ass off.
The temperature drops very quickly sometimes. What you see on the road is not snow, it is ice. Wet, slippery, polished ice. I stayed in the pub til the roads were sanded and the traffic diminished before I went home, that night.
That’s the right perspective. Too many people in such a damn hurry; you can wait where you are in the warm for a couple of hours, or wait out in the cold for a rescue.
Yes, it’s always a good idea to spend a few hours drinking before driving in the snow/ice.
Because, you know, pubs never serve anything that isn’t alcoholic.
Like water, coffee, soda. or juice.
*campaigns for sarcasm font*
*sign, sign, pass*
I’m opposed to a special sarcasm font. If people aren’t able to figure out the sarcasm on their own, then they don’t deserve to enjoy it.
*Slams fist on bar*
Gimme a cold one… Apple juice.
Ah’m gonna use this here srtaw to pierce that there hole, and best nobody try ta stop me.
With a Fresca chaser?
Cranberry and Club Soda. Cranberry and Ginger Ale. Cranberry, Orange Juice, and Club Soda. Virgin Mary (tomato juice. Tabasco, pepper, Worcestershire)
Not sure it was Calgary, although it could be (resident). And if this were just wet snow it wouldn’t cause that much of a problem. It is when the ground is already frozen and a sudden squall moves in that you get this skating rink sort of effect. The commute a few weeks ago was like this, slow traffic at rush hour polishing up the roads after a squall.
Yes, this was near Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It happened on Nov 27th.
Here’s an article referencing it:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Snow+sparks+road+chaos/2278669/story.html
This HAS to be in Oklahoma. We had a record snowfall in Oklahoma City of 14 in. and there was a 50 car pile-up. Mother Nature fail. Driving fail, etc. Too many fails to name…
Was thinking that. Looks like I-40 where it happened but this looks like the 23 car pile up resulting in 2 deaths near OKC, not Midwest City. Was nasty weather coupled with peoples inability to drive in this weather.
Yes I agree, this has to be Oklahoma City on Christmas Eve in the “Blizzard of 2009.” That whole situation was a miserable fail.
This photo is of Antler hill in between Red Deer and Innisfail(Hahaha real name of town). It was mild and snowy the day before and froze overnight. The semi trucks were actually chaining up their tires to make the hills. This stretch of highway is notoriously bad as it is fairly flat and there are few trees to break the wind.
I was misinformed on the location along Hwy 2
Sorry Restless Dreamer
Yes, this was Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Hwy 2 between Carstairs and Airdrie. November 27, 2009. One person died in the accidents, more than fifty vehicles slid off the road that afternoon. Road conditions were treacherous and although it doesn’t look like much snow, it was the ice that gave most of the problems as Canadian Driver pointed out up there. Speed and a lack of good winter tires were issues as well, for that alone – Fail.
Ugh, I rolled my car near Airdrie that day, trying to avoid the other vehicles stopped in front of me. I’m half expecting to see my car in a ditch in this photo! It was definitely Nov 27th, and I’ve got all the insurance paperwork to prove it
Go to thatwillbuffout.com and then go to page 4, look for the pic titled “Playing in the Snow”. Is that your car?
Haha, no, but those poor bastards, I feel their pain. I guess mine just wasn’t photo-worthy.
I !mag!ne there’s a photo somewhere on the ‘net.
I thought for a minute this was from a few weeks ago in Ottawa on the 416. There was a 72 car pile-up on December 9th. It took forever for them to clear it up but thankfully there weren’t any major injuries.
Correction, November 28, 2009. Lol. Sorry. Anyone curious enough should be able to find archived news stories on this.
Well thank god it wasn’t more winter fail from Portland…. We have too much of that as it is.
Reminds me of I-80 in Oregon last winter (just the road conditions, not the pile-up). But there they have two different things: 1) nobody there knows how to drive in the snow, so the freeways were all but empty, especially around Portland; and 2) Oregon doesn’t believe in snowplows — especially in the Blue Mountains out east where the freeway is regularly transformed into snow/ice many times every winter. I’ve never been through there in the winter without nasty roads, and I’ve only ever seen one snowplow. It was sitting in front of the road closure signs. :S
I-84 or I-5? I-80 doesn’t go thru Oregon. I was on 84 going up Cabbage hill in Oregon 2 weeks ago, bottom of the hill, clear and 45, top of the hill, the road was a sheet of ice, and no plows in sight,
lol… a couple days ago we got 3 inches or so and people abandoned their cars on HWY 26, I-5 and I-84 and walked. This and the inability of people here to drive sanely in snow (either they crawl or they drive like they are racing on dry pavement) meant I-5 traffic was backed up 30+ miles and it took people 7+ hours to get from portland to vancouver WA.
This was just north of Calgary Alberta Canada. This wasn’t Antler Hill. It was in the coulees between Carstairs and Didsbury (another spot with tricky conditions similar to Antler Hill). The comments regarding the ice etc are correct. It doesn’t take a lot of snow. There are tricky spots where the roads seem fine but temperature changes of up to 10 degrees over 4 mile stretch wreak havoc. There are even 4-5 degree changes from the top of the hill to the bottom. So one minute the roads are great because things are hovering just above freezing, the next it’s sheer ice because things have changed in the last few thousand feet. In this particular instance the day was quite cold and windy. The wind blew snow across the icy roads polishing/buffing them into a really slick surface. The person was killed as he tried to run from his vehicle to what eh thought was a safer place.
How often does this HAPPEN in Canada?
Often enough. Calgary gets foehn winds (chinooks) and they raise temperatures up for a few hours, and when it cools down the roads freeze up. I haven’t seen the rest of Canada during the winter time but whenever I drive the QE2 during the winter (which is fairly often, come to think of it) there are ALWAYS cars in the ditch. White-out conditions usually prevail along the stretch from Calgary to Red Deer.
want to see something live. here in germany its impossible ^^
Another Albertan here – I live in Spruce Grove, but have spent much of my IT Executive Management career travelling the province from the border with the US, up and as far as Yellowknife (as well as overseas)…the whole stretch between Airdrie and just north of Red Deer is bad in the winter, but that hill in particular is the >worst< spot for winter driving I've ever been in, anywhere – and that includes "ice roads" to the north, German and Irish "roads" hardly wide enough to qualify as such, and so on. As much a "Fail" as a Tsunami hitting a coastal village – you know it could happen, you take all the proper precautions (and yes, unlikely with that many cars everyone was prepared), and you still get wholloped.
It reminds me of a pile-up I experienced in upstate New York many years ago. My van went into a spin, jumped the guard rail and landed safely. I was the only one of over 100 cars, trucks, police cars and ambulances that escaped unscathed.
There can’t possibly be that many people in Alberta!
GRRRR I saw this stupid pic already.
I don’t get it. What am I supposed to see here?
You come over to Norway and drive in the winter,you will kill yourself and every1 around you.
This is why I can’t wait for summer.
this this is in oklahoma, we had every interstate closed
That looks familiar. I think that is Oklahoma City on Christmas Eve. I was in that “blizzard.”
There’s a highway here..SOMEWHERE! I can feel it!
This is not oklahoma.. You can stop saying “it has to be” cause it isn’t. It’s Alberta, Canada on the 2A in between didsbury and carstairs.
Hey Alberta! I think you sent this crappy snow and now this crummy arctic air our way! Thank you (not) very much! LOL
This looks like I-40 in Oklahoma. If it is, then it rained the night before, then froze. Not long after we got the snow. Most people had no idea there was and inch of ice under the snow.
Hey! You’re not on te road! xD!
looks like a day a 2 years ago out side madison Wi
Its the newest Olympic Event: Winter Parking!
CAR FAIL . SNOW WIN .
KARMA WIN .
this is near Calgary, Canada! it was a mess, i know this because i was one of the people involved in this pile-up…
I see your ice and snow and raise you with tule fog from California’s Central Valley (which has been known to get thick enough to where cars just bounce off).
? My aunty sent me this in a email, and she had taken the picture, its in Canada. so how did it get here?
Among the casualties was a five-member family (two of them infants). Hohoho, what a magnificent fail, chaps, isn’t it? Didn’t we have a good laugh? What’s next? A photo of their mangled corpses? Now that would be even funnier, eh?
Well, let’s see, did a mangled corpse have it’s finger in it’s nose? Did they have on hideous makeup? How’s about an embarrassing shirt will tickle your fancy, eh chap?
*Tosses a ‘w’ into name of last post, ‘cuz that’s funny too*
Isn’t that somewhere near Balzac!?!? Yes its a town in between Airdrie and Carstairs… Balzac, AB I really just wanted to say Balzac.
Hee hee, no matter what they try to tell us the name is, everyone calls it the Balzac mall. ‘Cause it’s just so very fun to say.
That wouldn’t even make people blink in Northern Michigan…There’s not even that much snow.
I challenge you to drive the QEII when there is a slight wind during the winter… snow isn’t the issue its the ice… you can’t even tell the ice is there and unless you have studded tires (and by studs I mean spikes) you are going to slip, slide and crash… most likely in the ditch where the snow drifts are like brick walls. C’mon up and give it a try…
…What about in Balzac?
qwhoooops!
Last February when we got the best bit of snow and blizzard in England for a long time, I was being driven to work in a Land Rover Defender 90, with chains and soft-mud/snow tyres. We were travelling along a flat bit of road at 15mph (about the safe speed for the chains we were rolling) and got rear ended by someone who was actually trying to overtake us, lost control and slammed square into the back of us. I agree with the comments over it being mostly people expecting the road to be dry and sticky. For the record I did actually manage to get my 2WD Civic to work, so it’s possible to use standard road tyres in the hills of southern England on a low powered 2WD… you just need to be gentle.
California drivers
in soviet russia, road drive you
This is acutally taken out side of Red Deer, Alberta, Canada.. one of the worst snow storms for December 2009.
This is Calgary, Alberta, Canada a few weeks ago
the sad thing is that I learned how to drive in weather ten times worse than this.
Wow. Some of the ppl commenting on this pic don’t have a clue what they’re talking about. That was in central Alberta, Canada. We get snow like that every year. People just forget how to drive on it. And it was actually about 10 inches in a matter of hours that had fallen, and I believe it was -26 to -28 Celsius that day. The plows didn’t get out till the next morning because of the constant snow. That was one hell of a drive home. Couldn’t go over 50km/hr.
It was also extremely icy under the snow. and visibility outside Cowtown was pretty well at one’s hood ornament.
snowball effect
being from Anchorage, i NEVER see driving this shitty in the snow..
I live in the top end of California, in the mountains, and we don’t see this big a crash either — but we do get black ice sometimes with blowing snow dust — I have front-wheel drive and all-weather tires, and I *never* drive fast in winter conditions. In twenty years I only had to chain up twice and that was because the police were making us all do it or not get on the road. If people would just slow down and not be in such a hurry, winter driving’s not that hard. But it takes care and thought — leaves all the meth-heads out, right off the bat.
After a while we just look at it as evolution in action.
Intercourse.
talk about a fail.
Why is this so not LOL? I know it is not Portland, OR, but… it could have been Portland a few days ago. It wasn’t funny. A light skiff of snow that hit frozen pavement and was soon compacted into a slick layer of ice. Didn’t matter how well you can drive on snow or ice, you were stuck in it. People just abandoned their cars left & right. Hit right at commute time, too. Took me five and a half hours to go less than 15 miles. And I grew up in snow country. Never saw anything turn from soft & fluffy to solid ice and deadly so fast. (It isn’t Portland because it was all directions… But it could be Portland because cars are everywhere. Just plain crazy)
this makes me sad.
I wish the uploader would tell where this came from. This looks very familiar, and I would not be surprised if it was taken on the QEII Highway in Alberta last month when they had to close it down.
Ummm… This was outside Calgary. I think I can see my car.
“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…”
must be some pussies in denver cause in Halifax a few years back we got over 3 feet of snow in 1 day…it did shut the city down thou
thats not even much snow, and still they cant drive?
You don’t know .. ^^
This has GOT TO BE in Texas!
Halifax? That’s in Canada, right? The country known for nothing…
you obviously know nothing…so you must be american
Yeah, Canada isn`t known for ANYTHING. Hope you get diabetes and need insulin… oh wait! Can`t be that great a medicine considering it was created by a CANADIAN! I suppose we Canadians should all aspire to being obese, unhealthy, apathetic couch jockeys such as our neighbours the Americans! Why don`t you go watch a basketball game (a game created by a Canadian!) and drink another bottle of piss… oh, sorry, Budwieser.
LOLZ! Glad we get very little snow here. Don’t know how you guys that do put up with it.
It looks like I-80 in Wyoming going to Utah, that shit is always shit down. It’s brutal, I totaled my car there, and I am a Michigan girl for life.
I live in UT and drive a semi. I’ve driven that stretch, and im lucky to be alive. Ice Road Truckers have nothing on Wyoming truckers. And yes, I know this is the QEII in Canada. Funny thing about snow, the deeper it is, the less likely to slide sideways, the lighter on the road, more likely to go spinning. The ruts keep you as straight as the guy that made it. Slow down out there ppl.
To all those saying that this is because the people involved can’t drive, I ask if you understand how Alberta chinook’s work? Temperatures begin at below freezing and all of the sudden a nice warm breeze picks up. As this wind gains force it begins to melt any and all snow in it’s path (All of southern and central Alberta), whether there is 3mm or 2 m (1 inch to 4 feet for my American pupils) this snow turns to h2o. Then, in a matter of minutes, this wind can die off, returning temps to below freezing rapidly. Now, what was a slight skiff of snow an hour ago has become ice… usually covered by blowing snow. Add to that approximately 3000-10000 drivers using the same poorly maintained stretch of highway, and everyone thinking because they have a 4×4 that they can drive at 120km/h (70-75mph) and you’d find that this happens alot! I was on that stretch 2 weeks ago, and what is normally a 2 hour drive on dry roads, became a 4 hour snail crawl because it’s easier to get there on the road than in the ditch!!!
lol amen, you know your stuff girl, i feel safer in my front wheel drive lil car lol then wit them idiots racing down icy roads, winter tires, slower driving speeds and all is good, but if its really that icy just take the gravel roads thats what i do, much for traction, for its very hard to find black ice on gravel lol
ohh yee:():):(:
Why you should change your tires before winter…
now that’s what i call an answer
xD
Let’s not also forget properly inflating tires also. Most drivers have tires that are under-inflated, which substantially reduces traction in slippery conditions. It doesn’t matter if the tires are winter tires or standard either.
I check my tires once a week and inflate as needed. Since I haven’t had an accident from bad conditions yet I like to think it helps my cause, in addition to cautious driving.
underinflated tires generally cause more traction…i know atleast on dry pavement which causes worse fuel efficientcy…well i shouldnt say more traction but more friction with the road…
It’s not fake. My friends were driving through this. It’s on Highway 2 in Alberta (which runs north and south). This is the section in between Red Deer and Calgary – the worst part of the highway cause that’s the busiest part. It was crazy driving conditions, but most people around here are used to it.
Did he die?
This is for real, happened in early december 2009, just outside of Calgary Alberta. There were hundreds of car crashes that day in the city and on hwy 2 (this hwy). This highway got shut down BECAUSE of this car crash.
Well, this conversation is pretty funny!! Talk about the weather and everyone gets serious!!!
It’s been minus 24 where I am for the past week, with the wind bringing it closer to -40. Luckily the cupboards were well stocked and its been holidays!!!
Oh yeah, and FIRST!
I’d think Canadians could handle it better. I’ve seen this kind of thing in Florida, where they can’t get over the smallest hill in the snow. But Canada? They should be used to it.
over 1,000,000 cans of artificial snow-$200
borrowing a giant snowblower from the store-120$
choosing a perfect location at a hectit overpass and sitting back to watch the chaos-priceless, if you’re caught-$1000 fine and one year in jail.
Wow. It is AMAZING the amount of Oklahomans and Texans convinced “THIS HAS GOT TO BE……..”. They get ONE snow storm, they don’t know how to drive in it, and cause wrecks for the people who HAVE to be out there (Truck drivers who DRIVE in this stuff for a LIVING and are PROFESSIONAL). THEN they act as if the whole world is coming to an end and there couldn’t POSSIBLY be a pile up like this anywhere else, and SWEAR that this happened there WITHOUT reading the MULTITUDE of people confirming it to be in Canada. THEN the dumbasses that want to criticize that there “isn’t even that much snow” OBVIOUSLY are the same dumbasses that CAUSE wrecks like this. Being a truck driver myself I see too many people in their cars thinking they’re invincible in their 4×4s, and “there isn’t even that much snow” to know that this country (America) seriously needs to re-vamp the way we learn how to drive.
Wow, and I thought being in a ditch for 2 1/2 hours waiting for a tow truck with no heat sucked. Well I mean it did, but I guess after seeing this it could have been much worse
Yup, that day stunk. Wasn’t that the day that Edmonton was the coldest city in the world? -47 or something *without* the windchill? Closer to -55 Celsius with the chill?
We live in Airdrie, AB, and some of our friends were stuck in their houses for two days because of the four or five foot drifts that storm blew in.
its all because of one person
I find this picture humorous because there is almost no snow on the ground. In the last three weeks we have had 3 feet of snow where I live, but we are used to it and drive safely.
looks like the outskirts of calgary… rolling hills like that towards the mountains. albertians are pretty much all retarded the first couple snowfalls and drive like idiots…. on summer tires probably.
Haha wow. Thats crazy. Note to self, dont move to where there is snow
…. Wow. Yeah. I can totally see this happening in Cincinnati as well.
To be fair, I think just about everyone would fail that hill.
come to Chicago.
watch professional drivers.
fools.
LOL just south of Red Deer on the QE11 I still have the original email that went around it was taken Dec 4th 2009. The problem wasn’t the snow.. it’s the more than an inch of ice under the snow – the black tracks arn’t hardtop kids.. it’s pure ice. Now add over 50Kh winds that blow straight across with nothing but open field and those Tractor Trailers acting like sails and you have yourself a problem. There is also no salt or sand down yet.
Lol, all this chaos for a couple of inches with snow?
Only you americans can do that! xD
I mean like, wtf?! How can you NOT be able to stop before you drive into the car infront of you? xD
I really hope that americans stay faar faar away from norway in the winter, come here in the summer with your mustangs, chevys and all those hot slim cars with a motor that barely fits into the motorroom ^^
Sometimes there’s this stuff that forms called ice. It makes it hard to stop.
For the record, I’m not American and I have drive in faaaar worse than that crap.
Ha, this looks just like Raleigh, NC. Except we don’t need that much snow for everyone to freak out. Rofl
It took one driver from New Jersey
This is outside of Airdrie in alberta Canada… Its was such an awful snow day… All roads around the province were closed due to this crazy snow storm… and most of the roads are hills…
It was not fun.
is this left side of the road in the UK or right side in the USA i cant tell?????????????????
In Northern British Columbia. You rarely see this. Unless it’s some stupid American who doesn’t know how to drive in the snow. The only way we stop is in blizzards where it snows like 3 feet.