Instead of slowing down, they speed up!

Along with arctic temperatures, it has been snowing for the past couple of days here in Michigan. That, however, has not stopped people from either driving, or being in a hurry — both of which are extremely dangerous in such weather.

There was a gigantic pileup near me involving over a dozen semis (at least seven jacknifed) and over 40 cars, closing Highway 23 for hours. At least one person was killed, and another was in critical condition. The weather was so bad that the medevac helicopter was not allowed to fly. “Whiteout conditions,” they called it. Why anyone would be driving at a time like that escapes me, although I guess there are people who have deadlines to meet, the businesses they serve or work for are open, and if they decided to be safe and not drive, they might lose their jobs.

Another major pileup occurred on Highway 94 which not only closed the highway, but caused an evacuation of nearby homes. A semi loaded with fireworks was hit, and the fireworks went off. I have never seen what a truckload of exploding fireworks looks like, but someone managed to get a video:

What I cannot understand is why so many people just cannot understand that when the roads are covered with ice and there’s a blizzard, it’s time to (at the very least) slow the hell down. But to my astonishment, the dangerous conditions seem to encourage some people to do just the opposite and speed up! It’s as if their instincts are scrambled; they seem to realize that there’s a problem, yet think (if that’s the right word) that they can hurry away from it.

Sigh.

The whole thing reminds me that sooner or later, we will have to do something about the Global Warming that is undoubtedly behind the arctic temperatures.