I’m still a little shook by what I just saw. While leaving Newcomb’s Ranch on LA’s legendary Angeles Crest Highway, I spotted up on a steep embankment, leaning hard to its left side, a Chevy Camaro with all of its airbags popped off. The car looked mostly intact, but then as I kept driving, I saw against the canyon wall a Honda S2000, its front end severely crushed, and in the right lane a Honda Fit. On the shoulder of the road a man — who had apparently been in one of the vehicles — held his arm in pain as bystanders seemingly attended to the situation. I don’t recall seeing fire or smoke.
After driving past the crashed Fit, I pulled off the right side of the road, shocked at what I’d just seen. I wasn’t sure what to do, but seeing that there were many cars heading towards the crash, I walked across the road and began waving down oncoming vehicles, warning them of what was ahead.
The last thing we needed was some unsuspecting speed-racer coming in too hot and hitting either the crashed Fit or the others on the scene. The cars slowed down, and many turned around and left:
While slowing down traffic, it dawned on me that, though there were people at the scene, and plenty of folks had driven past since it was 4th of July and the road was super busy, it’s possible none had been able to reach the police due to lack of reception near Newcomb’s Ranch. So I used the iPhone satellite texting feature to text my wife, who called 911. I then sent some messages to emergency responders directly.
In time, a helicopter arrived, and after that, fire trucks and ambulances and police cars.
This was a horrible crash, and part of me wishes I had done more, especially learning later from a Twitter account that tracks police calls, the driver was trapped (presumably the driver in that S2000). Should I have stopped and helped those already on the scene get this person out? Or should I have tried doing…something other than redirect traffic and call police? I wish I had. It took me too long to process what was going on, and by the time I did I wasn’t sure whether to go back, and I figured those already on the scene had it under control, but why make that assumption? It had happened recently; maybe I could have lended a hand? Or maybe that would have just made things even more chaotic. I don’t know. I’m a little flustered at the moment and I have a lot of feelings flowing through me, a big one being regret, a bigger one being sadness.
Those poor people in those cars — the S2000, the Fit, and the Camaro — they will be in my prayers. I feel so bad for them.
Before this, the day had started off well; I’d met some friends at the local cafe — them in their lightweight sports cars and me in my i3. I got some tea and a croissant, and we headed up the hill. I kept up with the Miatas/Lotus/BRZ for a while, but after the forklift in front of them pulled over it became apparent that my i3’s 175-section front tires weren’t giving me nearly enough grip at the nose, my lack of a rear sway bar meant I was leaning like a Pisano tower, and the powertrain kept derating (presumably for thermal reasons).
That’s all to say: I got dusted.
But it was still fun, and when we arrived (well them, then I) at Newcomb’s Ranch, I couldn’t help but be amazed at just what an incredible movement two people had built here on this sacred spot. Watch this beautiful piece our partner Galpin’s video team put together a few months back– it’s truly moving:
Just look at all these cars!:
It was such a beautiful start to Independence Day, but on the way back home to my wife and baby boy, I saw the aftermath of that tragic crash, and upon arriving at my abode I picked up my boy and hugged him for 10 minutes straight.
He, surprisingly, didn’t cry. He just stayed there in my arms, quietly, and when I took a good look at his big baby eyes, he smiled. And it was at that moment that I was reminded that, as great as cars are, and as fun as it is to drive them quickly around canyon roads, they are machines that mean nothing in comparison to people. I’ve said it many times before: The best thing about cars, and the reason I’m in this field in the first place, is that they connect us with others in a way that only a handful of other things can (food, music, sports). Cars are a glue that bonds so many of us together, and especially in the current polarized political climate, that is immensely important. Part of being part of the amazing car community is taking care of one another, and putting both your safety and the safety of your fellow car-enthusiast first. There is no apex you can hit or beautiful exhaust sound you can hear or excellent shift you can make that is more important. People come first.
As a car journalist, I cover car crash news all the time, I dig into IIHS/NHTSA statistics, I look into crash test results and modern safety tech, and what has become increasingly obvious to me is that cars can be as big a source pain as they can be a source of joy. Far too many people — famous ones like George Patton, Princess Diana, James Dean, Paul Walker, and so many who don’t make the front page but who mean so much to our families and communities (40,000 people annually just in the United States) — pass away from motor vehicle crashes. It’s too damn many.
And it’s a reminder that, as comfortable and quiet as modern cars are, even 40 mph isn’t as slow as it may seem behind the wheel. As shown below in the IIHS Small Overlap Crash video, at that moderate speed, a heavy car carries enough kinetic energy to cause serious damage to a vehicle’s safety cage:
Please be careful out there. Never underestimate how dangerous cars are, and remember that driving fast on public roads is incredibly risky and, often times, just not worth it.
I’ve decided I’m never going back to Angeles Crest. The number of cars on Angeles Crest was a recipe for disaster today, and though I’m not going to say it could have been worse given the severity of the crash scene I saw, I will note that, upon my descent a motorcyclist came into my lane while passing a car, and then a bicyclist crossed the road on the back side of a tight turn I was driving through. Both were close calls. On top of that, while looking around to see if there was any news on this crash, I found so many stories about horrible crashes on that road (here are just three of many)…
And the last time I drove Angeles Crest, it was with Griffin and Mercedes, and I remember driving back down the hill and seeing emergency responders driving by, and I was worried sick. I called the police station and asked, and they told me there was a crash on the road. I drove home worried that something had happened to Mercedes or Griffin. Luckily, they were OK, but someone else was apparently involved in a crash that day.
Between my experiences and the road’s seemingly permanent place in the grimmest sections of the newspaper, I’ve decided I’m never going back up Angeles Crest. I never thought such a beautiful road could be so ugly.
I’m not saying these people are speeding, just that speed is a factor, and that it’s why I’m happy being putt-putt-McGee.
Really all the for fun driving/riding/sailing/flying I want to do is at slow speeds nowadays. When I was a kid I was a bit of a speed demon (spurred on by having a 1991 Audi 90 Quatto 20V as my first car), but really I see no advantage to it except for emergencies, which with lower speeds are much less likely.
I drove all over California for work for over a decade. I have seen some pretty crazy crashes over the years. One that looked like it was Michael Bay directed to being stuck in traffic watching Life Flight land to carry people off. I watched as on our way to Big Sur a woman drive up towards the mountains and then swerve back towards the ocean side cliffs where her car was luckily bounced by the metal barrier that just started at that curve, she had fallen asleep on PCH. It can pretty sobering and it’s not just your skills you need to worry about but those around you. We get pretty complacent driving, I know I do, but its a dangerous thing to do and over confident people make it that much worse.
Yet more proof that the most dangerous thing about public roads are the drivers.
Roads like these are much better done on a weekday – Not a holiday weekend when every Camaro/Mustang/M3 driver thinks they’re the hero of their own movie.
I absolutely will not take part in any of those group-drive things anymore, and I avoid “popular” driving roads like the plague. I drove Angeles Crest once, when I lived out there, and got tailgated by a BMW M3 for miles until I found a place to let him by. And I was pushing as hard as I felt comfortable.
It was just one of many incidents that convinced me that I’m not a fast driver, nor should I try to be. Better to know you can’t and “wuss out” than to think you can and have it end in disaster. I’ve got nothing to prove to anyone.
We were going on a drive in the rain at Saw Mill Parkway out of NYC and a female driving a CRV was next to my mini texting and driving and locked eyes with me. I made the “eyes forward” gesture to her and she in turn flipped me off. Ok, whatever no big deal.
About 20 yards down the road on the opposite side (divided by a grassy divider) I saw a Honda Fit start hydroplaning and cross the median and flip in the air and land upside down in the middle lane and the CRV driver smashed right into it and rolled over. I pulled over (as I’m a physician) and checked on everyone and the CRV driver looked at me and shouted “DID YOU CRASH INTO ME?!”
Good lord, I wanted to show some compassion but all I could muster after seeing she was clearly ok was, “if you weren’t texting you’d have seen the flying car and stopped in time…I did.” She just scowled.
Luckily everyone was ok, shook, but ok. So I got back in my car and drove on off but man what a scary reminder of how fleeting life can be. The rest of that drive was a cruise to the meeting point to show everyone the dashcam footage and then home.
Good for you and shame on her. Sadly, that’s the standard reaction people have these days when called out on texting while driving. I didn’t sign up to be an extra in this idiotic dystopia we now live in, so I guess I’ll have to work hard to make it a better place. Thanks for doing your part to help.
I dislike the arms race in automotive that has led the severe mismatch in size/weight of vehicles out there.
And, yes, they’re all bit from perspective of a motorcycle – at least I can hope that I’ll get tossed over a Camry rather than crushed by the massive grille of pickuptruck.
I passed a Jetta heading south on 101 through Morgan Hill years ago. As I passed I looked over and saw two younger guys sitting in the front seats. When I was a ways in front of them my passenger yells “Holy Shit there’s a car flipping behind us!” I looked at my side mirror and the Jetta was cartwheeling end over end in the center divide.
I have no idea what happened. Hours later on the trip back there were still emergency crews at the scene. Traffic was crawling in both directions and the Jetta looked terrible, it had clearly been cut into to get those guys out.
I didn’t pull over because of the amount of cars on the road made it unsafe.
Driving can go south in an instant.
So you know the area, I commuted from Watsonville over Hecker Pass to Morgan Hill, San Jose And even Fremont over about 30 years.
Hecker Pass over Mt Madonna is a wonderful road, double striped and off limits to semi trucks. But it is unforgiving. After awhile you get used to who is driving the road in your time slot. For the most part people behave themselves.
But one day some hotshot driving a Porsche 914 with a big whale tail started driving the commute, acting like he was some sort of race car driver. 3 days in a row he passed me and others over the double yellow. Friday morning I passed him, he had gone off the road, center punched a tree and both headlights were looking at each other.
I don’t know how the driver would have survived. All for saving about 10 minutes going over the hill.
I rode a sport bike on those roads for years when I was younger and very very stupid. It’s a miracle I’m alive today. Several people I used to ride with who were much more skilled than myself are not.
I saw this somewhere else that said the S2000 driver died, hit by a car that crossed the line after first hitting the Camaro. Unless you’re medically trained or you could have helped with an emergency extraction, like the car was on fire, IMO, you did what you could and it’s best to leave someone for medical professionals if they’re not in immediate danger as moving the wrong way can cause greater injury. Calling for pros is obviously very important and directing and alerting traffic might seem minimal, but you could have very well prevented it being worse. That said, I’d probably be questioning if I could have done more, too. Even though I’m not normal, I think that’s a normal response. Also, I need to start carrying road flares again.
If someone crossed the line, they’re driving way too fast for the street (I don’t care what they do on a track). That irresponsible crap always bothered me when I’d see it in magazines and their accompanying shows back when magazines were still a thing as that appeared to set a tone of acceptance. Here’s a speed respect visualizer I learned: with someone else driving even just 30 mph, look out the side window and without moving your head or eyes, picture colliding with any stationary object you see out there as you pass it and imagine the damage it would do.
I had a moron ripping through morning highway traffic at about 90 in a Civic Si spin out on the cold pavement (not icy, but reduced traction) in front of me and, after spinning back and forth and looking like he was going to end up in the ditch/guardrail (forget where the guardrail started), he shot across the highway directly into my path, two lanes over (must have pinned the throttle). With no way to swerve, I hammered the brake and impacted his rear wheel at probably about 15 mph, giving it that negative camber the children like so much and pretty much destroying the front of my car. Airbags didn’t go off, I don’t have the nanny sensor package or the fancier headlights, and it was still $12k in repairs (bumper cover, grille, underbody panels, fender, fender liner, headlight unit, hood, radiator). My neck hurt, too, but I have had so many repeated neck injuries in my life that that might not mean anything. Anyway, that was a mere 15 mph—hell, it could have been a little less. I’ll stop here before I go on a rant for 20 pages. OK, one last thing: graduated licensing.
I have had a guy at work who lost his 19 years old younger son. hi son was out hanging out with friends. they ended up hitting RV head on and he did not make it. I still remember how he was crying on the phone telling/yelling me: I had to put my Jeremy off….
then about a month later I saw him back in the office, he looked like he aged 30 years in 1 month. he lost about 40 pounds, was unrecognizable, like he shrunk. the pain literally made him smaller.
then he quit as he could not function anymore… he was such as funny guy at work, he would always crack inappropriate jokes in the middle of the important meeting and I could not keep my face straight. he was the only guy who would park in old boss’s parking lot on purpose. he was the only guy who can tell the owner to go f..k himself.
as a father of 2, this is my biggest fear in life to experience what he has had.
God save and bless all of you, please stay safe. dying in the car or after accident is just not right.
I’ve been driving in the canyons around LA for about 25 years now. I drive enthusiastically but not necessarily fast. 6/10ths I’d say, because you always need to have enough extra grip, braking, or performance to react to the other boneheads and to the randomness of life (gravel, coyotes, disabled cars, rapid tire deflation, mechanical failures, etc). If you regularly drive to the edge of the performance of your car, you will eventually be bitten. Sometimes you will be bitten HARD!
Angeles Crest has always been a bit of a ‘take your life into your own hands’ experience but it has gotten significantly more dangerous in the last 5 years or so. I’m not sure if it is caused by drivers who are getting more daring, if it has to do with the car manufacturers arms race for more HP and performance, or lax police enforcement. It’s probably a combo of all 3. But when you have cars traveling at over 100mph in some sections followed by sheer drops and blind corners, it’s a recipe for disaster.
Angeles Crest Highway sees several fatalities each year (more than 1 per month some years). It is one of, if not the most, dangerous sections of road in CA and possibly in the US. If you are going to go up there and drive you need to really have your wits about you because many of the other drivers do not.
I was up at GVBC in June. On my way home, there was a car flipped onto its roof up near the Ranch. About halfway down, another driver sideswiped a maintenance vehicle. I also had 3 cars come up behind me so quickly, that they crossed the center line and just flew by…on a blind hump in the road. I would have pulled into a shoulder if they gave me even 5 secs to do so. It’s nuts.
I fear someone will eventually try to hold the organizers of GVBC liable for someone’s death, or at the very least, shut the road down to enthusiasts, if we can’t figure out how to calm drivers down a little bit.
That last part isn’t at all unlikely. A few dickheads will ruin it for everyone. As usual.
I remember I when i just picked up the C124 coupe (beautiful 300CE, Spruce Green on Mushroom leather) from in the middle of nowhere, I slapped my plates from other Benz just to take it home…i was driving westbound on 401 (Ontario, Canada) and the girl in the Smart in front of me rolled over, I think she was either under influence or fell asleep at the wheel. she rolled 2 times and ended up on the wheels. I and other few cars immediately pulled over to give her a hand. I put the smart in park and shut the ignition off as the other guy was helping the girl to get out. luckily the poor girl was ok but obviously in a big distress. she got lucky by walking away from this.
The fact that you stopped at all puts you in the top tier. Unless you’re an EMT or have some serious medical training, you did the right thing – contact the authorities and try to help where you’re qualified and capable to do so. You did the right things, and your feelings here are totally normal. You were a net good today, don’t ever think otherwise.
(As a friend of mine once put it: “goal number one is not to turn one patient into two.”)
Also, thank you for the reminder of our responsibilities when engaging with our hobbies. Cars are a lot of fun, but they’re dangerous, even if we’ve been convinced they’re not. We need to understand when we’re out there in public, it’s not just our lives we’re putting on the line – it’s our moral responsibility not to make other people pay for our stupid mistakes.
I’ve told the story here and in Discord, but left out some details about the car accident I was in last June. I wish someone else would have done what you did and contacted the police. Nobody did until I regained consciousness five minutes later and did so myself. The older guy who hit me didn’t have a cell phone and had a speech impediment. Even in my concussed state, I could understand him fine with what he could say and his gestures, but over the phone it would have been extremely difficult.
My car was blocking one lane of traffic on a busy four lane road, so I can understand nobody getting out to check. But five minutes would have been two cycles at that light and SOMEONE could have, especially with the driver completely unresponsive and the passenger mostly so.