Foo - Crazy car crash

I think this is the first crash I've witnessed that wasn't some minor bumper to bumper action. Two cars ahead a van swerved off to the side of the road hit some road sign which sent the van's front in the air and then some barrel roll action. Car landed on the roof. I didn't stop since a handful of people did, which could have cause another accident in itself. Hopefully they wore their seat belts.


/endofstorytelling

I think this is the first crash I've witnessed that wasn't some minor bumper to bumper action. Two cars ahead a van swerved off to the side of the road hit some road sign which sent the van's front in the air and then some barrel roll action. Car landed on the roof. I didn't stop since a handful of people did, which could have cause another accident in itself. Hopefully they wore their seat belts.

/endofstorytelling

Once I was on a date and the lady I was with was driving on a major boulevard in San Diego. Two people in a tuner car passed her truck and zipped over the hill ahead at perhaps 90 mph.

As we crested the hill, I could see the car stopped in the center island. The lady I was with drove on.

That evening on the news I discovered that both of the people in the car, teenagers, had died.

A couple of days later the news said that they were still trying to identify the teens and asking for help.


Another time, I was on a rural road and came upon a collision between a BMW and a minivan. The minivan was stopped dead in the street, front end smashed in, airbags blown. The BMW was completely off of the road, perpendicular to traffic, pointing towards the street. I got out to assist with the scene. I helped get the minivan off to the side of the road and then got to hear the driver of the BMW who was sitting in the sand by the side of the road.

"I was dialing the phone." she said, "And the car JUST WENT OUT OF CONTROL!"

Then I went across the road to see what had happened. Apparently she was dialing and the car drifted so that one wheel went off the shoulder. She then tried to get the car back on the road, not realizing that the front wheel was 3" below the surface of the road on the dirt. So instead of trying to get back on the road gradually, she turned sharply and understandably, when the wheel returned to the road, it was angled steeply and as it bit, the car veered across the centerline and into the path of the minivan. I think she was trying to get the BMW back onto her side of the road when they collided. That spun the BMW 180 degrees tail first and it went off on the other side of the road, throwing the BMW driver out of the car and into the sand.

Seeing that everything was taken care of, I got back in my car and went on as I heard the sirens approaching.

I've seen a bunch.
At least a half a dozen with serious injuries and fatalities.

In France I saw a scooter t-boned by a speeding car.
Two in front of my house; both times the driver survived but neither was pretty.
Once on the way home from Florida I saw a car go over the center divider.
And the worst was a wreck I came upon on a foggy road one morning. Both cars were little more than bits and pieces. It was grim to say the least.

I've seen quite a few in my days. Cars wadded into balls with limbs and body-parts poking out... blood and oil oozing out the cracks and pooling under the crumpled mess like chocolate sauce drizzled over a dessert dish.

My wife and I get so annoyed with the rubberneckers that clog up traffic needlessly when they try to oogle a wreck. We'd love to see traffic cameras everywhere and anyone and everyone who puts on their brakes needlessly to get a better look should get a ticket!!! Seeing as that's as likely as people getting tickets for left-lane hogging, we came up with an even better idea.

We'll make up dummy paper-mache or latex heads and paint them to look like fresh accident victims with popped-out eyeballs and bloody veins and nerves dangling out of the neck. Then when we go by one of these boring wrecks that everyone's so eager to check out, we'll just toss a couple of heads out in the general vicinity to entertain the rubberneckers !! Buwaahhaha..AAhahhaha. hahahhaa....

I have only seen one accident actually happen: Two teenage girls were walking down the sidewalk in tiny bikinis--one was white and the top was completely see through. I said to my wife, "she is literally going to cause an accident," and within two seconds, BAM, a woman driving a car was watching the girl and rammed into the car in front of her. Despite being rush hour on a side street, it was quite an accident.

Otherwise, I have seen tons of accidents just after they happened, but never actually saw them happening.

I was under a bridge once when an SUV on the freeway above rolled over--that was a very distinct sound.

One 4th of July in San Diego, my ex and I were standing on a bluff over the freeway waiting for the fireworks. Then the first collision happened.

Over the course of the evening, there were 4 or 5 separate accidents right in the same place. It got so I could even predict when one would occur as several lanes would slow but one would remain going faster. The combination of heat, beer and fireworks made for consistent results.

I was in my home office a few years ago and I heard a CRASH! and a woman screaming. Then my house was shaken.

I lived on an corner of a stop-lighted intersection. We had wrecks all the time from fatal to fender bender. But this was the only one where my house took a hit:

http://i871.photobucket.com/albums/ab280/ahsposo/SalisburyWreck.jpg

I think this is the first crash I've witnessed that wasn't some minor bumper to bumper action. Two cars ahead a van swerved off to the side of the road hit some road sign which sent the van's front in the air and then some barrel roll action. Car landed on the roof. I didn't stop since a handful of people did, which could have cause another accident in itself. Hopefully they wore their seat belts.


/endofstorytelling

Even if you can't stop safely at the time, you can always call in your witness statement to the police later. You shouldn't assume the people who stopped are good witnesses to the incident. These accidents can cost people a lot of money if they are incorrectly determined to be at fault. Just a thought.

I've seen several. Once a few years back a kid doing his brakes by my condo forgot to bleed them. When he stopped, put the e break on at the top of the sloped lot and got out to get his mail, the car came straight back at me, outside for a smoke. It hit the front door of the building about 6 feet from where I sat in a lawn chair, probably rolling about 15 mph, but there was a brick wall between where he hit and I sat, so I was protected from the glass and wood. The kid got in the car and took off, I called the cops and he showed up about 30 minutes later and got away lucky with a "leaving a running car unattended" ticket.

Even if you can't stop safely at the time, you can always call in your witness statement to the police later. You shouldn't assume the people who stopped are good witnesses to the incident. These accidents can cost people a lot of money if they are incorrectly determined to be at fault. Just a thought.
Agreed - if you are driving alone and involved in an incident with a driver and a passenger, there is a good chance the cops will blame you because they know its 2 on 1.

I used to have a shop 5 feet from a US hwy. I've heard so many accidents I've lost count. sometimes you get the squeal of brakes and bam, sometimes just bam. I would always go look and see if medical help was needed or not. one time I heard the usual squeal and bam, go see if I need to call the police. . . nope it was a cop car someone rear ended.
I learned something useful, it's not full moons that "make" people crazy it's the growing gibbous moon that has people act up. if the air pressure drops very rapidity it turns people into idiots. and of course FRIDAYS! one day, a Friday, a growing gibbous moon Friday the air pressure dropped from fairly high to fairly low incredibly fast, and I heard sirens and squealing brakes and bam all day long. what I really learned was I was part of the everybody, everyone is, the pedestrians, the cyclists and the motorist all are effected by these three things.
and now for your listening enjoyment . . .pressure drop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YdaHHtg6aE&feature=player_detailpage

I have seen quite a few but the craziest one I saw happening in front of my eyes occurred on a day I was commuting to work.

On an urban highway with 55 mph speed limit but during the time of accident the traffic was slow with light drizzle and the road a little damp (around 30 mph with intermittent stop and go.) The highway has 3 lanes, with two side exit ramps on the right, a shoulder, and huge concrete wall. On the left is a shoulder then a grass median with metal barrier.

About 3 cars ahead a of me in the middle lane, an older Pontiac Bonneville (a boat with soft suspension - maybe worn out) switched to the left lane. Perhaps the driver make the turn to sharp so she was trying to correct it by steering right. That action put the car into a resonance (big car, soft suspension) and it started to oscillate wildly. Finally the car went left and hit the metal barrier. I think the driver was panicking and instead of pressing the brake she had her food on the throttle. So the car keep moving forwarding and banging the barrier. Finally the car bounced off the barrier, then flew across 7 lanes (2 shoulders, 3 lanes, 2 exit lanes) and hit the huge concrete wall head on. The front was shattered and an asian woman came out of the car screaming hysterically. Several cars in front of me stopped and tried to help her and calm her down.


Miraculously, no other cars were hit during this incident, despite that it happened at the peak of rush hour. I think everyone just stopped and hope that the car wouldn't collide with his or her car...

Even if you can't stop safely at the time, you can always call in your witness statement to the police later. You shouldn't assume the people who stopped are good witnesses to the incident. These accidents can cost people a lot of money if they are incorrectly determined to be at fault. Just a thought. True. But with a single car accident it is kind of hard not to be at fault since no one was in front of the van either. It just randomly sharp turned right into a sign and started rolling.

True. But with a single car accident it is kind of hard not to be at fault since no one was in front of the van either. It just randomly sharp turned right into a sign and started rolling.

Depending on the actual cause of the accident, what you saw may be of assistance to investigators. Accidents can be caused by parts breaking before the accident, and a witness could shed light on that being a cause, if indeed it is.

I remembered another minor crash I saw. I was playing basketball in my driveway and saw this elderly lady apparently preparing to turn onto the street almost perpendicular to my driveway. I thought, "She's going unnecessarily slow." Took another shot and heard a thunk, looked over to see she had just stopped turning and slowly rolled into a lamp post, one of the huge 30ft or so ones, not the little cast iron looking kind. A second later the lamp post came down with a huge thunderous crash. I told the cops that arrived there she hit it extremely slowly and I have no idea how it could've caused the lamp to come down and they told me they're meant to do so. I can't remember the number the officer told me, but he said she or her insurance would be getting a bill well into the 5 figure range for that post.