100-car pileup on South Korean bridge leaves 2 dead, 42 hurt

Saw the results of this accident on TV. What a mess ... cars, taxis, buses, trucks ... all entangled in one massive junkyard. Gotta drive carefully in the fog ...

From my experience in Korea, I'm surprised this kind of thing doesn't happen more often. They all drive like crazy.

mrsynik: The taxi and bus drivers are definitely more aggressive on the whole, but there's a lot less running of red lights than I see here, and general ignorance when it comes to other traffic infringements. In any case, weather conditions obviously led to what happened here, and on a freeway no less.

Those pictures remind us of this photo of a guy surviving a crash in between 2 semis:

http://altereddimensions.net/2015/oregon-mans-truck-crushed-into-3-foot-space-between-two-semis-survives-unhurt

http://altereddimensions.net/main/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/image_thumb23.png

A 26-car pileup in Oregon involving 100 people in 26 cars resulted in 12 injured drivers and one amazing photograph of a driver who against all odds – survived the horrific crash virtually unharmed. The picture above features 27-year-old Kaleb Whitby, who was driving his four-door pickup truck in the heavy wind and fog when the pileup occurred. In the aftermath, Whitby found his truck crushed and tangled into a small three-foot side gap between two 18-wheeler semi-trucks. Against all logic and probability, Whitby survived the ordeal despite his Chevrolet Silverado being flattened into a three-foot wide space.

“Headed up a slight hill into a curve, Whitby decided to pass the semi-truck in front of him, but then thought better of it. The fog was too thick. He backed off. When he rounded the curve and started descending, Whitby saw the semi again — but this time it was jackknifed across the interstate. He swerved to the right, but ended up hitting the back end of the trailer. It flipped him around, and instantly his truck stalled — leaving him splayed out with his passenger side facing oncoming traffic."

"Then the headlights of an oncoming semi-truck filled the window frame. “I just braced and hoped that everything would be all right.”

When Sergi Karplyuk, the driver of the semi that slammed into Whitby, noticed the wreckage he said he was sure he was going to find a horribly mutilated body. Divine intervention or just blind luck, Whitby’s vehicle appeared to miraculously crush around him, forming a cramped, protective pocket around his body.

“I’ve got two Band-Aids on my right ring finger. And a little bit of ice on my left eye.”

@mrsynik

Maybe there are plenty of car accidents, just that they don't go reported on Japanese news. I'm sure you'd find aplenty in Korean news.

This has turned into a mini international disaster.

Five Thai tourists were among more than 60 people injured in a 105-vehicle pile-up on the highway to South Korea's largest international airport on Wednesday morning, the Foreign Ministry said.

Officials and Yonhap news agency said at least 68 people were injured, including seven Chinese, two Vietnamese and two Filipino visitors. The other four foreign nationals injured were from Japan, Russia, Bangladesh and Switzerland.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/472397/5-thais-injured-in-korea-vehicle-pile-up

If you follow so closely that you can not stop in time then you are just as guilty and so is the next person and so on. A 100 vehicles do not just sudden pile up on top of each other unless as a collective group the majority are stupid and arrogant.

As a driver you MUST be able to safely stop at ANY speed while on a highway if a condition presents its self ahead of you on the roadway such as another vehicle suddenly blowing out a tire or in this condition of bad weather. Fog, heavy rain, low sunlight, etc. are no excuse for driving like an idiot. If you can see far enough ahead, then adjust your driving to match. Being in Korea and around Seoul made me realize that a lot of Koreans drive like they are the only ones that matter. This massive pile up comes as no surprise from what I seen while there in South Korea.

It is so strange but I swear even here in Japan people actually speed up in bad conditions especially heavy rain and drive 1 metre behind you and get really aggressive if you dont speed up. Its not just Korea, here I have noticed people people regularly drive 20-30km over speed limit, cut corners with like racing drivers and go through red lights and stop signs like they do not exist. Not to mention the women with unrestrained children climbing all over the car or the young girl texting, smoking, drinking a coffee and doing makeup all at the same time. As mentioned above it is pure stupidity and arrogance and exists in most parts of the world. Driving is all about driving to the conditions, the weather and flow of traffic. Being conscientious, courteous having complete concentration. Having total awareness and being able to anticipate what those around you may or may not do and act accordingly.

Light fog can turn into zero visibility without warning. Mix-in the apparently icy roads and this kind of thing will happen. People hit the zero viz unexpectedly, hit the brakes, and slide until they hit an immoveable object. If the dense fog is traveling against the traffic flow, it will keep hiding the carnage and catching more people unawares.

Light fog is enough reason to slow down but most don't because they expect things to either stay the same or get better. That's the sign you have no fear of death and some would say is a stupid way to live. Driving is a privilege and not a right.

When driving you have to remember at all times that you are moving at speeds most of the time that a sudden deceleration (crash) will have enough force to detach main blood vessels from key components which will lead to death whether or not you get mutilated during that crash. In simple terms, you will bleed out internally before anyone can help. That's a sad way to go but all it takes is driving faster than your vision safely allows. This applies for fog or even just plain old good weather night time driving. If you can't see what's ahead you should be driving at a speed that you can stop without fear of a collision.

Please drive very carefully during bad weather conditions. It is a common sense to drive even slower during fog and icy roads.

Almost all the drivers involved in this pile-up, if not all of them, were driving too fast for conditions. Slow down in thick fog and ice!