An enormous pile-up triggered by drivers in the dense fog left California’s Highway 99 closed for hours on Saturday. The 59-vehicle crash closed both the northbound and southbound lanes of the highway for about six hours.
California Highway Patrol officers responded to calls from State Route 99 near Avenue 24 coming in around 8 a.m. Saturday. The area, which is just north of Delano, was socked in with fog at the time. According to CHP’s Visalia office, visibility was down to 100 to 200 feet in places.
When officers arrived they found “carnage out there,” CHP Officer Adrian Gonzalez told ABC30. Cars and trucks were “turned over and up on each other, under each other,” Gonzalez said. The County of Tulare initially posted that up to 150 vehicles collided on both sides of the highway; CHP later revised this number down to 59.
Remarkably, only 10 people needed hospitalization for “minor to moderate injuries,” CHP Visalia said.
“During dense fog avoid travel and DO NOT rely on automatic headlights,” Tulare County officials posted on Facebook. “Because it is not dark, headlights and tail lights ARE NOT illuminated and your vehicle is nearly impossible to see. Make sure to manually turn on your headlights so others have a chance to see you.”
A dense fog advisory remains in effect for much of the Central Valley until noon Sunday. The National Weather Service’s Hanford office said visibility may again go down to 200 feet and road conditions may be “hazardous.”
“If driving, slow down, use your headlights, and leave plenty of distance ahead of you,” the weather service advises.
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This article originally published at Nearly 60 vehicles collide on both sides of California state highway.