The Journal Times Online - Racine, Wisconsin

Many of our family vacations are road trips--and we do as much as we can to stay safe including the wearing of safety belts and driving defensively. But there are no guarantees.

Having just driven on Interstate 94 in this section of northwestern Indiana on Monday, I know how easily pileups can happen, with speeds over 80 mph and vehicles so close together:

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (AP) — Cars and trucks piled up in a chain-reaction wreck Wednesday on a slippery section of Interstate 94 in northern Indiana, closing a six-mile stretch of the highway’s westbound lanes, police said.
No serious injuries were reported, state police Sgt. Ann Wojas said.
Up to 3 inches of snow fell in the area during the night.
Wojas said the midmorning crash involved 10 cars and 12 tractor-trailers about three miles east of the Michigan City exit on I-94.
“I was coming down that hill there and all of a sudden I saw all these cars and trucks flaring left and right,” Todd Skiles of Westland, Mich., told The (Michigan City) News-Dispatch.
“Everybody started smashing up. Then I saw this semi coming from behind. If (the semi driver) wasn’t such a great driver, this could’ve been a lot worse.”
Wojas said at least 70 wrecks were reported Wednesday morning in her district, which includes interstates 80 and 94, and troopers in the Muncie-Marion area reported several crashes and slide-offs on Interstate 69.
“It’s due to motorists driving too fast for the road conditions,” state police Sgt. Rod Russell said.

The following accident happened Tuesday afternoon in Minnesota, about 130 miles northeast of Sioux Falls, S.D., to a school bus with 28 children on board. Four students were killed. Here's this morning's story:

BY ELIZABETH DUNBAR
The Associated Press
COTTONWOOD, Minn. — Motorists who came across a fatal school bus crash here quickly turned into rescuers, helping the driver pull screaming children out of the tipped-over bus and ferrying some to a hospital in their own cars.
Four children aboard the bus were killed Tuesday afternoon, and at least 14 people were injured.
“I parked my car and called 911, and ran to the school bus and the driver was handing kids out the door as fast as I could take them,” Karen Mahlum told the Marshall Independent. “They were screaming and screaming on the bus. There was so many kids.”
Wednesday’s classes were canceled at Cottonwood’s Lakeview School, which has 580 children from Kindergarten to 12th graf, and grief counselors met with students and staff.
There was a steady flow of people seeking support, Superintendent Sheldon Johnson said. “You can see it in their eyes, ’Please help,”’ he said.
Police said the bus was struck by a van and landed on its side atop a pickup truck. An investigation was under way to see if anyone was at fault.
Rescue crews came from Cottonwood and surrounding communities and some of the emergency workers knew many of the 28 children on the bus.
“It’s a very rural community, a very close community,” Minnesota State Patrol Sgt. Kathy Pederson said of the town of 1,150 people, about 140 miles southwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Names and ages of the four victims were not released.
“These kids are known in the community and they are going to be missed,” said Ray Glenn, pastor of Swan Lake Evangelical Free Church.
Fourteen people, all but two of them children, were taken to hospitals in Marshall and Granite Falls; four were transferred to hospitals in Sioux Falls, S.D. Eight people remained hospitalized Wednesday, hospital officials said.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty issued a statement calling it “a sad night for Minnesota.”
“It is especially heartbreaking when young lives are lost,” he said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who were killed or injured in this tragic accident.”

Please drive safely out there. 

There is no report issued yet on what caused the bus accident. But tell me: What is the point of speeding and following so close?