I've seen too many accidents. One I was getting fuel at an intersection of a 65 mph highway and the entrance from that highway to the station was 200 yards from where I was fueling. I had just turned my back to the intersection where a lincoln naviguesser was waiting to cross to enter the station. Apparently they were in a hurry and misjudged the intent of a northbound big rig I heard the thud but didn't turn around until I heard the ert-ert-ert-ert of the big truck trying to slow down on 17 tires. he made it straight thank god, but all you could see inside of the upright lincoln was airbags deployed everywhere. I *55'd the call to MO HP and got prepared to leave. I wasn't out of the parking lot before the initial first responder was on scene. I kept it together until I thought about how that poor family went from getting ready to use the bathroom and stretch their legs and get snacks to literal hell and I lost it. I probably shouldn't have driven like that but there were already plenty of witnesses on site that saw the whole thing and they had my phone number if they needed me.
Second incident happened right outside my back yard and I watched the whole thing happen. Drunk kid in a chevy malibu celebrating getting his life straight after finding out his GF was pregnant(his friends showed up on scene about the time the cops did) stops at the stop sign, takes a wide right into the opposing lane at full throttle, to his credit, swerves back right to avoid the oncoming car and overcorrects into the neighbors yard to the right, rips off the driver side front wheel by hitting a tree, car is still running so he continues to try to drive because he is out of his mind with fear and alcohol. After about 10 minutes the cops show up and take him into custody I stayed with him the whole time and was the only other one there besides him for 90 percent of that time. I have to admit I did jog in place next to the car for about 30 seconds while he was trying to drive off trying to convince him to stop driving off in case he was hurt. he appeared to be fine and was stuffed in the back of the squad car that way.
Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:
Few things can cause an accident faster than a police cruiser parked along a busy highway during rush-hour. It's seriously dangerous when they do that. Fortunately, PA seems to understand that and troopers are rarely seen during rush-hour.
I think I'd have to disagree with you there. The cruiser isn't the cause of the accident at all. The cause of the accident is people who have no clue how to drive and feel that 5' is a safe following distance at 70mph.
SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) said:
Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:
Few things can cause an accident faster than a police cruiser parked along a busy highway during rush-hour. It's seriously dangerous when they do that. Fortunately, PA seems to understand that and troopers are rarely seen during rush-hour.
I think I'd have to disagree with you there. The cruiser isn't the cause of the accident at all. The cause of the accident is people who have no clue how to drive and feel that 5' is a safe following distance at 70mph.
People turn into panicky idiots when they see a cop car. I can't count how many times I've seen someone doing the speed limit slam on the brakes and drop to 10 - 15 mph under the limit because they saw a cop.
I have heard a bunch of them. Growing up i lived near a relatively busy intersection. I'd hear a crunch and go ride my bike down to check it out. Usually nothing crazy.
While at work at a car lot a long time ago, i was outside and heard a NASTY wreck. It happened directly in front of a larger fire station so help was there within seconds. Unfortunately i think 2-3 people were killed in that wreck. Hearing the event that killed someone didnt sit to easy with me.
also i saw a big ass tour bus sized camper that had veered off the side of i-10 and went right into the trees and caught fire. When i got to it it was fully involved, no way to enter it. There was responders there. It bothered me so i looked it up later and yeah, a few people died in it. Cremation oven on the roadside. I still notice that spot every time i pass by. No bueno.
People turn into panicky idiots when they see a cop car. I can't count how many times I've seen someone doing the speed limit slam on the brakes and drop to 10 - 15 mph under the limit because they saw a cop.
This. Even when they arent speeding! Just seeing a cop car means a involuntary response of going for the brakes.
its more of a hazard than a helper. Its not worth the hazard just so the county/city/state can make a couple bucks off of a traffic stop, or use it as a way to check out your vehicle and arrest you for a victimless crime.
rslifkin said:
SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) said:
Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:
Few things can cause an accident faster than a police cruiser parked along a busy highway during rush-hour. It's seriously dangerous when they do that. Fortunately, PA seems to understand that and troopers are rarely seen during rush-hour.
I think I'd have to disagree with you there. The cruiser isn't the cause of the accident at all. The cause of the accident is people who have no clue how to drive and feel that 5' is a safe following distance at 70mph.
People turn into panicky idiots when they see a cop car. I can't count how many times I've seen someone doing the speed limit slam on the brakes and drop to 10 - 15 mph under the limit because they saw a cop.
Exactly. Right or wrong, the cruiser becomes a distraction. And during rush hour when travel speeds on highways tend to be self-regulating - an unnecessary distraction.
I'm not saying it's always a bad idea - a township I used to commute through would randomly move around an un-occupied cruiser to make drivers slow down (and given how often I'd be going 10-over and get passed on a double-line, this was necessary). But these were on semi-rural roads that don't see the same traffic density as the limited access highways in my area.
TJL (Forum Supporter) said:
People turn into panicky idiots when they see a cop car. I can't count how many times I've seen someone doing the speed limit slam on the brakes and drop to 10 - 15 mph under the limit because they saw a cop.
This. Even when they arent speeding! Just seeing a cop car means a involuntary response of going for the brakes.
its more of a hazard than a helper. Its not worth the hazard just so the county/city/state can make a couple bucks off of a traffic stop, or use it as a way to check out your vehicle and arrest you for a victimless crime.
I guess this is why I'm confused. Why would it be the police fault if people turn into asshats when they see a cop car? As I said, the solution is simple...leave more than 6" from the car in front of you.
In reply to SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) :
The solution is simple but not easy. Fixing idiocy is unlikely to happen in our lifetimes. So work around it as much as possible. If that means not putting a cruiser on the side of the road during rush hour then do it. Beats causing accidents. But I have no idea how many accidents are actually caused by that - just rolling with it.
My daily commute is 80 miles round trip of highway driving. I've seen the aftermath of a lot of accidents, some very recent, and others that were so big they took hours to clean up. I've seen a lot of overturned semis and other semi accidents, but they all have appeared to be one vehicle incidents fortunately. Still, some of those were definitely fatal, and I've driven past fatal car accidents too. It's not a great day when you can see part of the occupant in a wrecked car and none of the emergency crews are in a particular hurry. All you can do is say a prayer and move on. I feel for all the first responders who have to deal with this stuff constantly.
On a lighter note, the most recent crash I've actually witnessed was some numbskull in a mustang trying to weave through morning traffic ( we were all doing 70), losing control on the damp road, spinning right in front of me, locking eyes with me in desperation as his car slid backwards across my lane, and then promptly spinning onto the grassy median and into the guardrail. I stopped to check on the guy of course, and he was fine, though his car was not. That didn't stop him from walking 200' back to grab his bumper, shoving it in the back seat, and driving off though.
In reply to SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) :
You're not wrong, but it's also unrealistic. People are creatures of habit. When I was commuting on the PA Turn Pike, I would literally be in a line of left lane traffic doing 90+ MPH. Nobody thought anything of it. Granted, the base limit is 70, so the actual speed differential wasn't that great. Then we would get close to an exit and traffic would build up and slow everyone down. It honestly amazes me there aren't more crashes, but when you drive like that every day, you get used to it.
The extreme example of that I've experienced was traveling across the George Washington Bridge in NYC early in the morning (before 6AM). These are the SERIOUS commuters. They slow down for nothing and woe be the poor SOB who isn't familiar with the road and doesn't know what lane they should be in. Speed limit is 45 and everyone is doing 70+ through narrow, cattle-chute lanes. I could do it since I knew where I needed to be, but holy berk it wore me out - which was rough when I still had another 3-4 hrs of driving ahead of me.
I've been in a number of serious accidents, seen a handful, and had some in race cars.
One thing that I noticed/thought about more than anything else was the sound.
SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) said:
I guess this is why I'm confused. Why would it be the police fault if people turn into asshats when they see a cop car? As I said, the solution is simple...leave more than 6" from the car in front of you.
It's not the cop's fault, but at the same time, they're (theoretically) there to improve traffic safety. So if it's well known that people are panicky and stupid, there are likely to be situations where having a cop car visible makes traffic less safe, not more safe. In those cases, they'd be better off doing something in a different location.
I've seen a bunch. The sound is "whack/thud" is memorable. They finally added a lane for left turns on the 2-lane road by my house. I can't remember hearing a crash from inside, but it was pretty common for the last car in line (waiting for someone to make a left turn) to get smacked by an inattentive driver.
I was go-cart racing last week and got rear-ended at the end of the race (WTF). The sound was all too familiar (along with the violent smash).
I prefer the terms "wreck" or "crash." Saying it was an accident implies it's unavoidable. Most crashes are easily avoided if both drivers are paying attention and driving reasonably.
In reply to Hoondavan :
I mean, "accident" in just about any context just means that an action was unintentional, not that it was unavoidable. Since almost nobody intends to wreck their car, I think both can work.
When I lived in NY my house was on a straight section of a quiet country road with a 40 MPH speed limit. I was working in my office one day when I heard a double whump. I looked out the window and there's a car laying upside down in the road. As I was headed out the door I saw a decrepit tow truck backing quickly up the road towards the wreck. Apparently the idiot hadn't properly secured the car to the wheel lift and it had come off while he was going down the road. Apparently roll overs make a double whump sound. He rolled the car back over, hooked up (again without any straps or safety chain) and took off without cleaning up the debris scattered all over. I called the State Police and when I told the responding officer who's wrecker it was he said something along the lines of "I know who that moron is. I'll go talk to him." 30 minutes later the tow truck was back and the driver cleaned up the mess while the officer watched.
I heard my first one in the Spring of '81. 4th grade. Sitting alone upstairs in my room as school had let out early for a teacher workshop. Heard the skid and then a 'bam-bang'. I ran up to the infamous curve above our house which was actually named for my great grandfather. It'd claimed a bunch of cars and would go on to claim a bunch more. There was a nearly new Z/28 driven by a pair of attractive young ladies which had spun out and made contact with a mid '60s Chevy van. One of those vans that Ralph Nader should have gone after instead of the Corvair. I say that because this minor accident (I think the Z was probably still drivable) had collapsed the footwell of the van pinning the old man inside. And he was bleeding. The scene turned awful when the man's family showed up. They could see him and talk to him but nobody could do a thing as he sat there and slowly faded out. As I watched, a volunteer fireman looked at me and said "hey boy, run down there and tell your momma to call the FD in the next town over and ask them to bring the jaws of life...". I ran as fast as I could and of course mom was nearly in a panic when I told her the news. But she did as asked and not too much after a fire engine arrived from the next town over and I ran back up to see what I envisioned to be a spectacularly large and powerful machine. Imagine my surprise to learn that its name belied the fact that it had a 3.5 hp Briggs just like parent's garden tiller. They got the man out alive. Soon after my dad arrived home and I was anxious to tell the story but he preempted me telling me to never ever watch an accident scene if I didn't have something useful to offer. I didn't have the courage to point out that I had been key in delivering the message to save a man's life.
I used to live on a hilly, rarely patrolled stretch of rural road. People knew it was free of police and drove accordingly. I had 4 people die on my lawn. That oak tree was absolutely unforgiving of carelessness.
Sad trombone, I just had my first crash on the street on New Year's Eve. Bent up my racecar making bad decisions (or being on the receiving end of them) a few times but always had a clean street record. Was driving a Ram 1500 press car with 4,400 miles on it, 18 year old in his dad's C7 Corvette made an illegal left turn in front of me as I was about to cross through an intersection where I had a green light. Was raining, I turned to avoid t-boning him and stood full-ABS on the brakes but it wasn't quite enough.
No airbags, C7 had the nose all mangled and the Ram had a single, small dent in the bumper and some scuffs and dings all down the driver side. All the people involved (me, my passenger, C7 driver) were fine so I'm just glad about that.
If nothing else, I'm glad my years of HPDE and racing have cemented 1) know your outs 2) look where you want to go 3) get in the ABS as I think this could have gone more poorly than it did, even at slowish 20-25 mph city speeds. Probably got down to 10 mph at time of impact.
As David said, the sound is what stood out the most. I thought I was going to avoid the other car and then got a very distinct plastic/fiberglass-y thwack-crunch-crunch as we very much did not avoid each other entirely.
Slippery said:
David S. Wallens said:
Thud.
Skid.
In that order?
Yeah, that sounds like the artist formerly known as "pedestrian"
You know what is super loud? Tree hit by lighting. Was looking right at it. Could not see for a while, then blue sparkles. Ears were still ringing when the vision came back, knocked me right on my ass, smoking pieces of cottonwood all over the place.
A total guess, but I'm thinking someone making a left at the intersection leading into our neighborhood. It had that car-on-car thud.
A teenager tried their hand at drifting in a nearby neighborhood and quickly ran out of skill. One of the adjacent teens was leaving their house to go to school and saw the whole thing. Apparently the driver took off on foot, got a ways away, then came to their senses and came back. Adjacent teen was the primary witness.
A guy I know is looking for a RENESIS core, so we're keeping an eye out on the insurance auction sites.
Nobody was hurt.
Good thing the wall was there or they would've been in that house.
In reply to Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) :
I know of a few houses near me with "strategically" placed walls or barriers due to similar incidents in the past. I doubt that wall was there solely for decorative purposes.
I grew up on a really busy street. Even though it was residential and marked as a 30MPH road, people would absolutely FLY because the road was straight in front of my house. We used to get high speed chases pass through from the neighboring town every few years; it was WILD. There was one side street a few houses down where people would blow the stop sign and wreck all the time, so when they added a new McMansion neighborhood right across from there and added the main outlet just offset from the existing side street, all hell broke loose. For months, it was like having a weekly demolition derby in front of our house! It's still pretty bad today.
But the craziest accident I saw there was actually a one-car accident. I think I mentioned this before in a different thread. Back around 1990, a college kid in a fairy new MR2 fell asleep at the wheel around midnight and smacked the telephone pole and tree in front of my house. The impact was massive, and what was left of the car caught fire in our front yard. Right after the impact, we got a knock at our door, and it was the bloodied driver asking to use the phone. We got him inside, got him cleaned up, and aside from a bad cut on his head, he was OK. He wasn't drunk or anything, and he was really embarrassed. He waited with us until the first responders came. I remember writing a story about it as a kid for school, complete with illustrations.
And yes, this is part of that car, still lodged in the tree!
AMiataCalledSteve said:
In reply to Hoondavan :
I mean, "accident" in just about any context just means that an action was unintentional, not that it was unavoidable. Since almost nobody intends to wreck their car, I think both can work.
A lot of people who buy large SUVs do so because they assume a major collision is inevitable. In that case, I would posit that they are intentionally colliding with other traffic because they assume that it isn't possible to not have a collision.
Toebra said:
Slippery said:
David S. Wallens said:
Thud.
Skid.
In that order?
Yeah, that sounds like the artist formerly known as "pedestrian"
You know what is super loud? Tree hit by lighting. Was looking right at it. Could not see for a while, then blue sparkles. Ears were still ringing when the vision came back, knocked me right on my ass, smoking pieces of cottonwood all over the place.
Sitting in a car during a storm, waiting for it to abate enough to run into the building, the car next to me got hit by lightning.
You know that scene from T2 when the tow truck smashes into a bridge abutment, then an arc from a 12v battery cable somehow makes flowing Diesel explode? The lightning sounded exactly like the arc from the movie, except very, very loud. It was weird in that it sounded "big", is the only word I can use to describe. There was no direction, it was from everywhere all at once.
