This particular commute from hell occurred not in the bowels of New York City’s subway system but on a North Carolina interstate. On Sunday evening, more than 100 vehicles were involved in a pileup that covered a six-mile stretch of freeway in Alamance County, east of Burlington. According to the Burlington Times-News, officials say the whole mess started around 4 p.m. with a five-car wreck involving a Jeep landing on top of another car. Sun reflecting off of rain-slicked pavement reportedly blinded oncoming drivers, leading to even more crashes. “It was almost like watching dominoes fall,” Sergeant Danny Jenkins of North Carolina Highway Patrol told the Burlington Times-News.
At least 20 people were injured in the massive pileup, but amazingly, none of the injuries were serious. Jenkins told the Times-News that most of the wrecks occurred in smaller clusters, such as two-car, nine-car, and seven-car wrecks; the highest number of cars involved in any single collision was 12. At one point, Jenkins said he saw one driver rear-end another while recording a cell-phone video of the crash. “Both drivers gave each other the middle finger and they took off,” he said.
The interstate was closed for more than five hours, and crashes were still being called in as late as 9 p.m. “There was an incredibly high number of calls,” Chuck Pickard, shift supervisor for Alamance County Central Communications, told the Times-News. “Highway Patrol is going to have their hands full investigating every accident.”
