And I Thought I-35 Sucked

I cannot quite grasp how a 259 car pile-up could happen, even in Germany where the autobahn is essentially a race track.

Don't they have guidelines, like we do, regarding tailgating and slowing down when the roads are wet? Or do some people ignore those rules just like in the US?

Seriously, try to imagine 259 cars piling up one after another. I try visualizing this in my head and I get rather nauseated after about ten of them.