Multiple-vehicle collision

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A multi-vehicle collision (colloquially known as a pile-up) is a road traffic accident involving many vehicles. Generally occurring on highways, they are one of the deadliest form of traffic accidents.

Pile-ups generally occur in low-visibility conditions, like rain or fog. In such conditions drivers on highways often drive closer together than they should. If one car develops a problem, those behind it cannot stop in time, hitting it. As cars are forced into other lanes and oncoming traffic more vehicles become involved. The most disastrous pile-ups have involved more than a hundred vehicles.

They are particularly deadly as the solid mass of crumpled vehicles makes escape difficult. A fire in one part of the accident can quickly spread to spilled fuel and cover the entire crash area. Vehicles in a pile up are often hit multiple times, increasing risk of injury to the passenger. Moreover cars are often spun during an accident and are subsequently hit from the side, increasing risk of injury or death. Some vehicle occupants choose to get out of their vehicles during a pile up, making them vulnerable to oncoming vehicles. Pile-ups can also overburden local firefighting, ambulance, and police services making quick rescues more difficult.

The large scale of these accidents can close important routes for several days. The destruction and intense heat of fires can also damage roadways, particularly by melting and burning the asphalt. A pileup inside a tunnel is by far the worst, as there is little means for escape in older ones, and the unvented heat may even cause the concrete lining to come apart.

Determining the cause of such accidents is also difficult for investigators and it is often impossible to tell if negligence caused the crash.

Note: the term pile-up is used in particle physics to refer to a situation where a particle detector is affected by several events at the same time.

[edit] Major pileups

• Interstate 75 in Calhoun, Tennessee, between Chattanooga and Knoxville near the Hiwassee River, due to frequent fog; December 1990 involved 99 vehicles. A fog warning system has been installed, and the highway patrol enforces speed limits aggressively. [1]
• Interstate 75 in Catoosa County, Georgia, due to one-time sudden fog in March 2002, about 125 vehicles [2]
• Interstate 75 in south Georgia near Tifton, due to smoke and fog (street lights and signs now in place)
• Interstate 95 in Stafford County, Virginia, 131 vehicles plus two others nearby totaling 80 more, due to a February 2001 snowstorm whiteout
• US 131 near Grand Rapids, Michigan, 85-90 vehicles in a snowsquall in March 2005
• Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania in December 2004, over 70 vehicles, due to heavy snow
• Interstate 5 in California in December 2004, due to fog near Sacramento, 24 vehicles involved
• M42 motorway in the United Kingdom, 1997, due to fog - 3 deaths, 60 injuries.
• Interstate 35 in San Antonio, Texas Dec. 2 1994, 127 car pile-up caused by blinding glare and rain-slicked roads, 67 injuries.
• A15 Motorway in The Netherlands, October 1991, near Ochten, due to fog, 150 vehicles, 1 death, 64 injuries.
• Highway 401 east of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, September 1999, 87 vehicles involved, 8 deaths, 100+ injuries, due to fog combined with a narrow median and congestion. Highway has since been widened to 6 lanes with a concrete median barrier.
• Highway 417 east of Ottawa, February 17, 2006, Severe blowing snow, due to a suddent frontal snowsquall, with zero visibility and rapid flash freeze was responsible for a 40-vehicule pileup including five tractor trailers. 5 people died and 10 others were injured.
• Quebec Autoroute 40 east of Montreal, February 17, 2006. Another pile-up due to the same reasons as the previous one and it involved about 60 vehicules. There were 2 fatalities and about 40 injuries.
• Interstate 96 in Ingham County on January 2005, around 200 vehicles, due to Dense Fog leaving 2 dead and 35 injured.
• On March 13, 2005 around Helsinki, Finland, aroud 300 cars crashed on highways leading to the capital, 3 deaths and 60 injuries. Visibility was very poor due to heavy snowfall and a week of clear weather had given drivers a false impression on safety.