Why didn't the highway department close the highway. In South Dakota, there are gates that can be swung across highways to close them in such emergencies.

Drivers in California are some of the stupidest, clueless self absorbed assholes when it comes to things like this. They are in their own little worlds inside their cars and feel they are invincible as long a they have that shell around them. I spent a couple decades tying to avoid being crashed into by them. Donner is no joke, it's 89 miles of extreme road conditions, even on a good day.

Idiots who think they can beat nature are idiots beyond measure... including the semi drivers.

Fucking idiots.

PS... We have those closure gates in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho.

California drivers are generally very good. Owning a car, gas, having a garage is not cheap. Pray you don’t have auto body work to be done. They drive safer because it is so expensive and you still have cops that will pull you over

I have probably have a million miles under my belt in California alone, in semis. I was even a CDL licensed driving instructor in the state. They drivers out there are pretty clueless, the cost of repairs and upkeep doesn't seem to make a dent in that facet of their character. Whenever I have to go there, in the past couple decades, I refuse to drive and most of my time in transit, watching traffic fly by me, all I can think or say is, "fucking idiots." There seems to be a tacit understanding among them that there are a few levels of competition going on and all of them are stupid and based on appearances and self aggrandizement.

Did I mention that I'm also a cultural anthropologist?

You can never convince me that the stranded people on that mountain pass in a blizzard are people with common sense or a proper sense of self preservation. They had every opportunity to not go there and were warned for days in advance.

They'll be lucky if no one was killed or injured, frostbite beeing a thing.

Around here, an abundance of caution is exercised sooner rather than later, it's better to prevent two interstates littered with overturned, jackknifed trucks or even worse than it is to clean them up. Total snowfall in the high passes usually doesn't exceed a foot or maybe two if it's a bad storm, but that dry desert snow gets pounded into a sheet of ice very quickly.

Someone should have stuck his neck out and closed the interstate west of Reno and east probably from Sacramento.

The DOT had a warning on its website, but we know people aren't going to read that.