Winter Driving Awareness

MHP Winter Driving Awareness

The Montana Highway Patrol released the following video in the hopes that it will encourage all drivers to exercise caution and lower their speeds, especially during inclement weather. The video features dash-cam footage showing a series of crashes that occurred during a blizzard on December 28th, 2014 near Missoula.

Here is a backstory behind the video:

MHP Trooper Wade Palmer and Cadet (now Trooper) Timothy Templeton arrived at the scene of a crash involving a mother and her two small children. Conditions were hazardous as the crash occurred during a blizzard. The dash-cam footage captures a series of subsequent collisions occurring after the initial crash that disabled the family’s vehicle. In the first subsequent collision, a semi-truck hits the passenger vehicle parked on the shoulder of the road, causing the mother to be ejected from the vehicle. She landed in the highway median. Trooper Palmer located the victim in the median and rendered aid. While that was happening, Cadet Templeton saw an out-of-control truck and trailer headed directly toward Trooper Palmer and the victim. Templeton shouted a warning and Trooper Palmer was able to pull himself and the victim to safety within seconds, thereby saving his life and that of the mother. Thankfully, everyone survived. The mother and her two children are on the road to recovery.

The Montana Highway Patrol recommends that when driving in winter weather, drivers slow down, increase their following distance, allow themselves more time to get to their destination, brake gently and have patience.

Wow, I think more drivers should watch stuff like this. We need to be cautious and keep everyone safe. It's not all about the mighty dollar.

Wow, I think more drivers should watch stuff like this. We need to be cautious and keep everyone safe. It's not all about the mighty dollar.

And it's not just for truck drivers. I'm from Quebec, where the winter is often brutal (very cold and LOTS OF SNOW). Now I live in New England, been here for the past 17 years, and I'm always in awe at the amount of vehicles that end up in the ditch at the first snow, or any time it gets icy on the roads. People don't slow down, still pass cars at speed, and big SUV's *******s think they're invincible. I drive a Nissan Armada (big SUV) and I have winter tires. I still adjust my speed to conditions and will drive in a way to keep me out of troubles. Not everyone uses their heads!

Sorry for all the little asterisks? I tried to type as*holes...lol

I should have added that New Englanders are freakin wusses when it comes to snow. Closin schools for an inch of the white stuff falling on the ground!

A jackknifed 19,000 lb truck with trailer attached, mows your car with you inside down. You're ejected, and somehow you're thrown from vehicle across the highway. Because semi jackknifed, the only way you flew across is by sliding under trailer traveling over 30 to 50 mph. In video you can see that you did not fly over trailer.

Wow!

Does anybody see this differently??

If this video does not slow you down and make you more aware, I don't know what will!

Wow. People don't think.

Its really sad that this kind of thing keeps happening over and over again in bad weather conditions.. I'm sure many of you remember the series of huge pileups on I-80 earlier this year? There were dozens and dozens of semi trucks involved that just kept on driving through the snowstorm until they hit the accident and became part of it too.

People need to keep their braking distances in mind and not drive faster than the distance they can see and safely stop in. Constantly ask yourself while driving, "If a parked or wrecked vehicle suddenly came into view in front of me now, could I safely stop in time?" If the answer is EVER no, then SLOW DOWN until you can say "yes" with confidence in that situation.

I think we need to start a "CB Radios Save Lives" campaign. To be honest it seems beyond stupid to me that there are so many drivers out there either without radios in their trucks or with them turned off all the time. Of course it seems stupid to me because I've watched countless people get killed out there over the years and I've witnessed many situations like the ones we're seeing in these videos where drivers did indeed have their radios on and it did save lives. In fact it's been so helpful and important in so many ways over the years that I always considered it one of those critical tools I wouldn't dream of driving without.

You're driving an 80,000 pound rig through blinding snowstorms on slick roads but you don't need no stinkin CB radio, right? That's for old timers hanging on to the past, right? We have newer, better technologies now, right? Besides, people can be annoying sometimes, right?

For you drivers out there that haven't yet gotten themselves or others killed needlessly in wrecks like these because you don't have a CB radio, get a CB radio before you kill someone! And oh by the way, here's your sign:

I think we need to start a "CB Radios Save Lives" campaign. To be honest it seems beyond stupid to me that there are so many drivers out there either without radios in their trucks or with them turned off all the time. Of course it seems stupid to me because I've watched countless people get killed out there over the years and I've witnessed many situations like the ones we're seeing in these videos where drivers did indeed have their radios on and it did save lives. In fact it's been so helpful and important in so many ways over the years that I always considered it one of those critical tools I wouldn't dream of driving without.

You're driving an 80,000 pound rig through blinding snowstorms on slick roads but you don't need no stinkin CB radio, right? That's for old timers hanging on to the past, right? We have newer, better technologies now, right? Besides, people can be annoying sometimes, right?

For you drivers out there that haven't yet gotten themselves or others killed needlessly in wrecks like these because you don't have a CB radio, get a CB radio before you kill someone! And oh by the way, here's your sign:

I understand that people don't want to hear others blabbing on and what not on a CB, but you are 100% correct it can save lives. So for the people that don't have them, get one and when the weather starts looking bad turn it on. Anything extra is great when it comes to being safe. A CB radio can get the message out much faster than trying to dial a number on your phone.