car wrecks and senseless death.

[JJT]

Early this morning myself and some friends witnessed the preamble and the aftermath of a fatal car crash. Basically, we were heading down a 4 lane freeway in the slow lane and a car careened by, just missing us. It was going the wrong way in the fast lane. We pulled over and called it into 911, then went on our way. Upon returning to town, we were greeted by the flashing lights and mayhem of a wreck caused by that same car. Very eerie. Also extremely sad.

About a mile down the road, the car that just missed us initiated a head on collision with another vehicle and burst into flames, killing the driver. The car that was struck contained 4 female students returning to George Fox University (outside of Portland, OR for those who've never heard of it). One of them didn't make it. I am assuming the driver going the wrong way was under the influence.

The police asked us to give statements, and then we drove home in a daze. I don't really know how to process this, so blogging/posting this on the boards seemed to be the thing to do. I'll link to the news story in the morning.

I have rarely felt this powerless.

[Arek the Absolute]

Dude...that is intense. I am sorry to hear about that.

Seeing and hearing stuff like that is totally a mind boggling experience, and something that words obviously cannot describe.

I hope you are able to clear your mind soon...or at least put it at rest for a bit.

[Mustin]

balls, bro. Don't let it get you down. Nothing you can do there. One of those situations where Life plays out the way it wants to and we don't get a say. lame.

[ZeroBass.Exe]

Yeah. You all were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. You called 911 and tried to help, but sometimes that doesn't work. Point is you tried. Some things are simply out of our control. Don't let it drag you down.

[Fishy]

Unfortunately theres nothing you can do in some situations. You did all you could by calling 911. Things lie this can realy shake you up. The other day I was walking through cambridge and saw some guy who'd just drank himself to death and fallen on some stairs with two paramedics about to bag him up, and it was one of the most depressing things I've ever seen. You find it really hard to walk away from once you've seen it, but in reality theres nothing that could've been done.

The tragedy of this incident though is that the selfish tosser took someone else with him which is as you say: senseless. The more you think about it, the harder it is to move away from those thoughts, so I hope you can return to normal frame of mind soon.

[The Pezman]

You hear about accidents and drunk drivers very frequently, but it seems very rare that it seems to actually affect us. Maybe a month and a half ago there was a car accident in my college town. I didn't know anyone involved, but apparently a student at my school used to date the kid who died. Some of my professors and other people I know in this community knew the family, so I was affected by proxy. I know this doesn't quite compare to your story, but it's sobering nonetheless.

[djpretzel]

There are two environments on planet earth that seem to bring out the worst in people: driving, and the Internet.

Of the two, the Internet at least also results in as many if not more positive developments, and rarely causes fatalities.

Driving is friggin' scary, period. I'll drive considerably slower or faster just to get away from a crowd of cars, because quite simply, I don't trust people on the road. Whenever anyone talks about how risky ANYTHING is - skydiving, bungie-jumping, cholesterol, etc. - I almost always counter with the fact that, statistically, driving is more dangerous.

I'll share a story that happened just last week:

I'm driving along I66 at about 20mph in the far right lane - there's tons of traffic, it's rainy, things are moving very slowly, etc., plus my exit's coming up, so I've no desire to merge over to the "fast" lanes just to merge back in a couple miles. I've got my lights on, my wipers on, am following at a safe distance... doing everything one should. I look in my rear view mirror and notice that a gasoline tanker is following VERY close to my car. Say, two feet away. That's too close for ANY car, much less a large truck, so I'm wondering what this dude's deal is.

Let me stop and say something about truck drivers: most of them are far BETTER drivers than everyone else on the road. They do this for a living, they care about safety, and in general they don't drive overly aggressive OR overly tentative.

This guy was a major exception, however. He kept following 1-2 feet behind me. Literally, I look out my rear view mirror, all I see is a truck grille and "MACK"... and I can literally feel the truck's engine. He's either sleepy, or fucking with me, or playing some sort of game to amuse himself ("see how close I can come to hitting this car without actually touching it")... I'm trying to change lanes, but it's congested, and there's nowhere to go. Suddenly I feel a lurch and hear a bump - he finally got too close and hit me. Now, I can't safely accelerate or I'll hit the car in front of me. My first reaction was to break, and the dude KEPT moving forward, pushing my car along. I laid off the accelerator and laid ON the horn, trying to get him to STOP pushing my car.

I don't know if any of you have ever been forcibly pushed along by a gasoline tanker, but it's not fun.

Anyways, he DID pull over afterwards, and - miracle - a cop when you need one! A state police officer was right behind the whole thing and gave the dude a ticket. The truck driver apparently tried to argue that I cut him off... I tried to indicate to the officer that this guy wasn't safe on the road, that he was either high, sleepy, or had massive psychological issues, but no dice. The dude DID get a ticket for "following too close" which is apparently a big enough deal that he'll have to show up in court, but still... tailgating someone for a minute, hitting them, then pushing them along for 15-20 feet seems like it should be reckless, to me...

I didn't get hurt, and my car's surprisingly in decent shape as well, but it was definitely HIGHLY disturbing. I mean... a GASOLINE tanker... seems to me that, even among truck drivers, these guys should be EXTRA careful.

Bottom line... people do absolutely crazy things on the road. Drive defensive.

[JJT]

http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/11/two_dead_three_injured_in_car.html

[The Dennis]

Least the driver got his. It's sad to hear he got someone else, too.

Yeah, the road is such a horrible place nowadays. People suck so bad at it that it's unbelievable. They need to RTFM.

[The Tiger]

I am not going to go into detail, but I know how you feel. However, kudos to you...you did the right thing by calling the police, even if the crash still would have happened. You would be feeling much more depressed right now had you not made that call.

[Flare4War]

I've driven past many car wrecks and seen the awful results of carelessness on the road. Like DJp said, statistically; driving is more dangerous than many extreme sports, etc. I know what it's like to drive past a wreck scene and see people still in the car bleeding everywhere. Knocked lifeless with the paramedics and police officers trying however they can to get them from the vehicle. Unsure if they're even alive. It does leave you with a very erie feeling. Just makes you want to go sit down and think about life.

I've never seen or been involved in a car accident/wreck as intense as this though. Like before mentioned, nothing you could do about it bro.

[Dyne]

Seeing an accident can be one of the most harrowing incidents of your life. Especially when people die in it. It's very tragic when life ends, especially over the negligence of another person who can't control their habit.

JJT, I'm honestly just glad that you're here to tell us all about it, rather than being a victim of that driver.

[BeleagueredandBeset]

I've been thinking about registering on this forum for quite some time; after being a fan of the site for probably three years now, I just signed up today so that I could share a story.

A little over two weeks ago, a friend of mine was killed in a car collision. She was eighteen years old, Valedictorian of her class, president of SADD club as a high schooler, a freshman in college, and a remarkably intelligent, unthinkably kind person. She was Christian, a devoutly religious person, but she was never militant or in-your-face about it.

She was hit head-on by a drunk driver who was going a hundred miles per hour on the wrong side of the road. The drunk driver lived, and my friend did not.

This has affected me in ways that I cannot adequately describe. Soon after I heard about it, I realized that my life would never be the same. I would call it an accident, but it seems more like murder.

Everyone that ever met this girl fell in love with her, and I can safely say that every single one of her friends would have gladly given their life for her. Not excluding myself.

It's so horrendously hard to grasp any of it. I didn't really know what to think. I still don't.

Anyway, thanks for making this thread. I look forward to being an active member of this forum.

[Citris]

Killing someone while drunk driving is murder. Everyone knows that your judgment and reflexes are impaired when you drink. Nobody gets drunk by accident. Anything that happens while drunk, that could have been avoided if in your right mind, is not an accident.

[RealFolkBlues]

I'm impressed with the maturity that's being demonstrated in this thread. Like djp said, the internet and driving make for some ugly situations, and fortunately, this thread is an example of the positive side of the web.

Speaking of positive things, my suggestion would be to think of the better aspects of this accident, which admittedly are few and feel small when compared to such senseless death. That having been said, this could have been worse. Two fatalities, and only one innocent dead. I know that kind of moral arithmetic can feel a little hollow when you consider how much pain even one death can engender (as exemplified by BeleaguredandBeset's eloquent and powerful first post,) but this accident could have easily been more than two cars and two dead. Like others have said, you did the best you could with what little there was to be done, and there's no possibility that the criminal driver will go unpunished. Still, everyone involved has my sympathy. Life feels so sturdy until it's proven to be so fragile.

[Fusion2004]

My best friend is a crazy-ass Cuban driver, and can drive amazing well at high speeds. There are two problems, though: 1. None of the other drivers on the streets of Miami can drive as well as he can, apparently, and 2. He drives an old '99 Saturn that has no anti-lock brakes.

I have been in the car for at least 5 of his 'damageless' accidents.

Example A: We're driving down Kendall Drive (88th ST), a major road in an area called Dadeland. It has just stopped raining, so the road is soaked, and I have 40 seconds to get to work before I'm late. He guns it up to 80 when suddenly another driver coming out of an exit accelerates to PASS us. The problem is the light just up ahead has just turned red. Now, this guy's newish vehicle with its wonderful anti-lock brakes has no problem slowing down in time; my friend's car on the other hand, does. So now we're sliding down 88th at 70 miles an hour, right? My friend starts slamming his car into the right-hand curb to slow down, and we just slightly bump the guy in front of us. He didn't stop, so we didn't either. 50 seconds later, we pull up into my workplace, CompUSA, and we go to inspect the damage. NOT A SCRATCH!

Not on the bumper where we hit him, and not the right-side of the car or tires that had just been slamming into the curb. NOTHING.

I'll never understand how he does it. (Must be a class-specific ability, like swimming.)

[about:blank]

I think it's horrifying that at any point while driving, someone could potentially run straight into your vehicle, and either kill you or leave you badly injured.

I've encountered so many frightening situations on the road. One situation involved me driving my girlfriend to Junior Prom. We accidentally went the wrong way. So, we went to find a place to turn around, and it ended up being a store that specialized in selling pornography. I didn't think this was too big of a deal considering we were just turning around, but... her parents were right behind us, and she started flipping out and yelling at me to get out of there as fast as possible. So, being the naive young driver that I was, I backed out without looking, and someone smashed her side of the vehicle. Thankfully he'd slowed down enough to prevent any injuries, but the damages were a little over 1000 dollars for both vehicles [according to the cop].

A year later, I witnessed another accident during Senior Prom. While I was driving home, I saw what looked like a huge lightning bolt in the sky. About a mile later, some guy stopped me and said that I couldn't go any further because there were power lines all over the ground. Apparently one of my friends fell asleep at the wheel and hit a telephone pole head on. Thankfully, he was okay, but he did total his Grandma's brand new Escalade.

More recently, I was driving on the interstate, and there was an 18-Wheeler coming up behind me fast. However, he didn't pass me. A few miles later, everything merged into one lane because of road construction. At this point, he tries to pass me while we're both on the one lane road. Somehow, he made it, but he was practically forcing my car off the road.

All I can say is that I think that licenses are being handed out too early. I can say, from personal experience, that I was certainly not ready to drive when I received my license, even if I thought I was.

[Flare4War]

All I can say is that I think that licenses are being handed out too early. I can say, from personal experience, that I was certainly not ready to drive when I received my license, even if I thought I was.

It's surprising how many people I've heard say this.

Also people are allowed to keep them too long. Some of the scariest moments I've experienced while I was driving myself involved senior citizens. They aren't all bad, but the more part of them are very un-aware of the vehicles around them.

[Kusabi]

All I can say is that I think that licenses are being handed out too early.

Amen. Seeing all the idiocy on the freeways in Atlanta, Charlotte, or Chicago (when traffic is actually moving) makes me wonder how people actually pass the test to get a license. I think the issue is simple: The tests do not test driving ability adequately. It tests the ability to drive around a residential block without hitting anything.

My parents made me to learn to drive at 15 (well, I wanted to, but they insisted that I take private lessons instead of the high school's class). Along with that, I was told that if I was going to drive, I'd be learning on a 5 speed manual Volkswagen. I didn't get a choice. Driving a stick shift taught me more about paying attention to the car and actually piloting it instead of merely driving it. I also had to be able to handle the car to my father's satisfaction in the high school parking lot before he'd even let me on the neighborhood streets.

I seriously think that the driving age needs to be raised to 18. (I know I'm going to catch hell for that, but I thought that when I was 17, after seeing a friend in front of me total his car. He wasn't seriously hurt, thank God). The test seriously needs to be harder, or at least include a few closed-course elements, like, say, wet road emergency lane change, or a slalom course.

Of course, those additions are nice in theory, but realistically, the requirements for driving practice with an adult prior to getting a license need to be raised. I had to do 40 hours for the State of Illinois, all of which was done on one trip from our home in Chicago to relatives in Mississippi. Then I went to the DMV to take the test, which consisted of driving around the parking lot without hitting anything. I only got 4 points taken off, because I didn't look over both shoulders before reversing, regardless of the fact that I'm flexible enough to turn 180 degrees in my seat, and have a complete field of view.

But I still drive better than most people in Atlanta. Don't be a left lane hog, use your #@$%!@& turn signals, and pick a lane and stay in it!

More driver training FTW!

[DuskyFerret]

Yea JT, that really sucks man.

If this is getting you down, it's alright, that's natural, shows you got heart bro. Best thing I can say is try to find something that'll get you through this time, maybe some calm or mellow music from OCR, I know it always helps me.

Sooner or later the feeling will pass, but the memory won't and that's ok, it's good. The senselessness of it all can make us feel as powerless as shit, but the best thing you can do for those who passed is hold on to the memory, so that if there's a next time, and there comes the time when you are able to do something in another situation, you can use this to get you through. Nothing happens for no reason, even the worst of things, somehow in some way this incident is going to help you or someone else in the future. Until then, just do what you gotta do. You couldn't do anything this time, we're not superheroes. But hold onto it, and that's about all that these words can tell you.

What really sucks though is that nothing can be achieved by anger. Sure the driver was an idiot for what he did, and it was his fault, but in the end blaming him is not going to do any good, just make things worse. This was no accident, there is rarely ever car "accidents", but unintentional mistakes. Unfortunately this mistake had a mighty cost and that's all there is to it. It's hard to call these people murderers, cos in most cases if they survive, it kills them to know what they did and they would rather have died with whom they killed. It's all just stupid stupid human mistakes, and I don't know if any law is ever going to bring a solution.

[Strike911]

We had a similar eery situation where a some teenage kid tried to cross a highway here and was killed after people saw the kid wandering by the highway. It's always weird because these roads you're driving on day after day are places where people have died... which is kind of weird if you think about it. People are scared of houses where people have died in them, I guess roads are just traveled so much we don't really think about it.

I guess the moral of the story is that nothing is guaranteed and we have to cherish what we have. Nothing makes you forget trivial things in life like realizing that human life is so fragile.

[Effef]

Driving in Atlanta is horrible. If you don't drive at least 80-85 on the freeway you will get your ass handed to you by the grill of a semi. Peope will still fly by you even at those speeds. Its crazy.

They need to make the tests harder, bar none.

Also, if you are over 70 you shouldn't drive. End of story.

[Gollgagh]

Don't be a left lane hog, ... and pick a lane and stay in it!

...

wut

[atmuh]

i was nearly killed in an accident about a year ago

i was making a left turn (the light had just turned green) and i inched up slowly (it was 10:30 at night) to make sure no one was coming still

i then started to make the turn as a car coming around the slight bend was going REALLY fast

as soon as i saw it i hit the breaks and hoped the idiot would run the light but swerve around me

it was some girl, probably on her cell phone, and she went right through the light and smashed into the front driver side of the car

if i didnt stop she would have smashed into the door on my side, and would have seriously injured, if not killed, me

totaled the car

and ever since ive been freaking scared driving

[Raziellink]

I seriously think that the driving age needs to be raised to 18. (I know I'm going to catch hell for that, but I thought that when I was 17, after seeing a friend in front of me total his car. He wasn't seriously hurt, thank God). The test seriously needs to be harder, or at least include a few closed-course elements, like, say, wet road emergency lane change, or a slalom course.

The minimal driving age in the Netherlands is 18. Still, numerous people from the age of 18-23 get killed in traffic, mostly due to alcohol.

I'm not saying i'm the best driver ever, oh no. Trust me, in the time that i've obtained my driver's license, i did some pretty bad things. It's just that you can't give a person a license simply because he can drive correctly. They should also be capable of riding responsibly. And that is not something you can tell by sitting next to a person for an hour.

I try to drive as responsible as i can, even more so when there are other people in the car i am driving. But no matter how hard you try, you can never be certain that you'll come home safely. Not with all of the crazy things happening on the road.