I-26 Plus a Short Lived Thunder Storm Equals Crazy Drivers

Friday offered a wonderful May afternoon in South Carolina and a great day for what should have been a leisurely drive to Columbia.

Except some people out there just can't drive.

Beyond those who insist on driving 65 in the left hand lane and container trucks who routinely block the left lane while trying to pass another container truck running side by side mile after mile there are those who loose control of their cars the second rain hits the windshield.

Add to the mix those who think a thunderstorm requires them to lock up the brakes or drive at no more than 20 mph and you get a lot of bent sheet metal.

As my luck would go, a very brief thunderstorm passed over I-26 just North of Orangeburg around 3:30. This five minute downpour would cause no less than 11 accidents along a four mile stretch of interstate.

The rain quickly pushed across the highway and despite all the clues that these drivers were about to get splashed they still didn't get the message to slow down and pay their attention bill.

The Taurus in the right lane below is all over the brakes as traffic creeps westbound.




At marker 134, a Ford 250 towing a landscape trailer (below) left the road to avoid a rear end accident. The result, a trailer loaded with mowers tangled up in the wires and seven guys trying to lift the trailer off the cables.



A 1/4 mile away in the Eastbound lanes (below) a pair of mini van drivers hit the cables and just beyond that accident another Ford Pickup eats up the wires leaving behind most of the left side on a new truck with the price still on the window.




Another couple of miles and more minivans for the body shop.

One thing leads to another as drivers slow to have a good look, those behind them get slammed from behind.



This all seems so needless to me. The old rule applies, in a line of cars if the first one taps the brakes, a mile behind that driver the cars need to come to a complete stop.

Wake up people! Hang up the cell phone and DRIVE!

But from the look of things along I-26 the DOT installed cables are worth every penny.