RW blogger David Hinz killed in black ice crash on I-94

[Bozita]

http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2009/11/munith_man_killed_in_early_mor.html

Noted athlete, blogger David Hinz of Munith killed in Friday crash on I-94; 'suspected black ice' blamed
By Danielle Quisenberry | Jackson Citizen P...
November 27, 2009, 10:42PM

In recent years, he maintained a conservative political blog, wrote a suspense thriller and was ranked nationally among duathletes 50 and older.

Decades earlier, he won the Detroit Free Press Marathon, ran with the likes of great American distance runner Alberto Salazar and represented the U.S. at the Pan American Games.
David Hinz, 56, of Munith died early Friday as he drove east on I-94 in Washtenaw County’s Sylvan Township.

He lost control about 6:10 a.m. on “suspected black ice,” and his vehicle hit an abandoned vehicle that had earlier crashed into a guardrail, Michigan State Police wrote in a news release.

A woman had lost control, smashed the vehicle into the rail and was walking from the site at the time of the second impact, police reported. Neither she nor any other people were hurt.

The crash was one of many accidents reported early Friday as temperatures dropped to or below freezing and a light snow covered the ground. Police responded to 30 crashes in Jackson County from 4 a.m. to noon, sheriff’s Sgt. Jayson Strebe said. Eleven of the crashes caused injuries police believed to be minor, Strebe said.

more...

blog link: http://theminorityreportblog.com/hinzsight

[Cirque du So-What]

1. I hate to hear about anyone dying in an accident

no matter their politics. I'd never heard of this person, but I'm sorry for his family & friends.

If nothing else, this story can serve as a warning about the dangers of black ice.

Last Christmas Eve, I was driving on an interstate highway to a family get-together with my wife and son. Road conditions appeared good and the temperature was well above freezing. The road curved to the right and I hit a patch of black ice that remained frozen despite the temperature because it was in deep shadow from a nearby hill. Spinning out of control at 70 mph on an interstate highway is an experience that I don't recommend to anyone. I ran off the road into the median and assessed the situation.

Other vehicles were hitting the black ice and careening off the road, so I pulled up to get the hell out of the way of cars colliding in the median. An SUV steered clear of the wreckage in the median but continued into the opposite lanes and had a head-on collision with a subcompact car, bringing traffic to a stop in the right lane. Cars were coming upon that wreckage at 70 mph, swerving far to the left, and fishtailing in the median. I couldn't get any further away from the wreckage behind me without approaching the cars that were threatening to careen off the freeway at me from the opposite direction.

Although it seemed like an hour, traffic was soon halted in all lanes in both directions. I took the opportunity to assist in the rescue effort of the young man in the subcompact that had been broadsided by the SUV, but he was undeniably deceased. I then helped people get free from their wrecked vehicles, finding nothing in the way of serious injuries among those people. My son gave a report to a state trooper about the collision of the SUV with the subcompact car, as he was the only eyewitness to the event; he still has nightmares about it.

About 90 minutes after I spun off the road, the scene was secured to the extent that the road was nearly ready to be reopened to traffic. The embankment was too steep to reenter the freeway in the direction from which I had come, so I turned around and accelerated in the median to a speed sufficient to propel me onto the freeway in the direction from which I had come. I stopped at a gas station that had a self-service car wash and shakily washed off some of the mud and grass, then got back on the freeway and drove by the scene a second time. Amazingly, traffic was back to normal after having been shut down for over an hour, the carnage had been cleared, and the only remaining evidence was muddy tracks in the median.

[Sal Minella]

2. Wow. n/t

[kid a]

3. Sorry to hear this...PLEASE DRIVE CAUTIOUSLY THIS WINTER

My daughter hit ice about a month ago, slid under an 18 wheeler, and luckily bounced into the grass and rolled, but did not get a scratch on her. She (we) were VERY LUCKY. It happened going 35mph.

Buckle Up and Beware.

Her Prius was totaled:

[blogslut]

4. That is very sad

May his family and loved ones find peace.

[tonysam]

5. Black ice is so bad

I see people driving on the freeway after a snowstorm and they think because they have an SUV or 4-wheel drive they can't skid like everybody else so they will drive 50 or 60 mph on these kind of days. There have been a lot of fatalities because people don't drive carefully in winter conditions.

One time I was driving to work when I hit a patch of black ice. My car skidded, spun around, and ended up on the other side of the road. I was not driving fast, either. Fortunately there were no other cars around. That incident made a believer out of me about taking extra care in winter driving conditions.

[blogslut]

7. I know what you mean

We get some pretty bad weather in the Panhandle of Texas and there's always some fool in an SUV who thinks they're invincible.

Ice on the road > 20 miles per hour - no exceptions.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. My mother once hit some black ice and

flipped the car over the causeway and landed on her roof in the water. If it had been low tide she would have crushed. If it had been high tide she probably couldn't have opened the door and would have drowned. Since it was half-tide she was able to lift her head for some air and then get out of the car. She walked away with only a scratch and some bruises. The car was completely totaled. All the windows but hers were busted out, and I think the rear windshield was too. The back seat was sorta spun around. (Thank God my kids weren't driving with her that day.) It always seemed ironic to me that she survived that only to drop dead of a massive heart attack a couple of years later.

[Sebastian Doyle]

6. Black ice couldn't give a shit about politics

It will take you out, right, left, athlete, couch potato, or otherwise. :evilfrown:

[Name removed]

8. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Renew Deal]

10. I'm not familiar with this guy, but that's sad to hear.

Black ice is very dangerous. I have slid on it before. Thankfully didn't hit anything. It's extremely dangerous.

[liberaltrucker]

11. Condolences to his family

nt