Over 40 Vehicles Involved In Multiple New Orleans Pileups

Six crashes involving over 40 vehicles piling up on a single bridge in New Orleans on the morning of December 17 shut down traffic in both directions. Video footage of the aftermath of the pileups shows some vehicles were seriously smashed up, including a semi-truck.

Another airplane lands on a road, getting into a crash with cars.

Not surprisingly, a total of 33 people were sent to the hospital. What is shocking is not a single individual suffered life-threatening injuries and most are minor. Considering how mangled some of the cars in the footage are, like the minivan at the beginning, we would’ve thought there had been at least a few fatalities and several in critical condition.

Harrowing scenes from the Causeway Bridge which is closed in both directions due to multiple crashes involving over a dozen vehicles. https://t.co/FLpmvkgr0X pic.twitter.com/wBFRHiyEg4

— FOX 8 New Orleans (@FOX8NOLA) December 17, 2024

According to local news station Fox 8, the different pileups happened at different points along Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge, including two at the same mile marker, just on opposite sides at almost the exact same moment.

In one of the crashes, a police officer who responded to an initial collision was rear-ended by other cars. That might sound ridiculous, and it is, but there was a factor driving all these accidents.

That factor was fog, with a thick blanket enveloping the bridge starting at about 8:30 am. Visibility was cut to less than a tenth of a mile. But we’re guessing drivers didn’t adjust their speed or driving style, setting them up for collisions.

In the wintertime, whether you live where it snows or you’re just dealing with more rain, fog, etc. than normal, you need to adjust how you drive to conditions. When the road surface is slippery or you can’t see as well, you need to give yourself more time to react just in case you come across a crash scene or something else unexpected.

By noon the bridge was still closed as officials scrambled to get the cars not involved in the accidents out of the way and tow off those that were too damaged to drive.

Image via FOX8NOLA/X