Poor Driving Conditions Raise Safety Questions

(CBS) -- The continued poor driving conditions around the area continue to raise questions about safety.

CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine has found one expert who says people need to be protected from themselves because most drivers are afraid of ice and snow, and most truckers are in a hurry. It's a dangerous mix. We saw that on I-94 in Indiana last week, but we could just as easily have seen it here in Illinois Sunday night.

By Monday morning it was better out on I-57, though everywhere you looked was evidence of Sunday night's virtual white-out.

In the ditches, evidence of Sunday night's virtual white-out,

"Cars in ditch on both sides." tweeted GOP Gubernatorial candidate Dan Rutherford.

"Are there morons out there who break the law and bend the rules? Of course," said truck driver defense attorney Fred Serpe.

On Youtube, you can find truckers with handheld cameras taping close calls, even putting them to music.

But Fred Serpe, the former trucking industry official, doesn't buy the charge that pile-ups like last Thursday's were caused by reckless truckers.

"Those lanes never should have been open to begin with. You gotta question the thought of the department of transportation and Indiana safety people. Why even allow anyone on the road?" said Serpe.

Drivers, like Mary, recalled their close calls on I-94 Thursday.

"...We commented on how the road should have been shutdown....We came way too close to being involved and are still upset for all those that were."

"We had had periodic whiteouts and a number of crashes," Ann Wojas of the Indiana state police told CBS 2. "But, nothing overwhelming." she said, explaining why the road was allowed to remain open.

"Well somebody should have had a brain to think about it. Think about it, those poor people died. That's a no-brainer," said Serpe.

Serpe adds that closing interstates keeps everyone off the road. Both motorists not accustomed to driving in those conditions and truckers under increasing pressure to cut down delivery time.

If the roads are closed, he says, everyone is protected.