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.
Every man (and I assume person, but I’ll stay within the bounds of my experience) at some point experiences the shock of actually understanding (as opposed to just knowing) that they’re not invincible – it is a landmark step towards maturity. That’s fairly well known.
Similar but much less talked about, every family man eventually experiences the shock of actually understanding (as opposed to just knowing) that their life is no longer their own to lose – that they owe it to those that they’ve pledged their support to for the rest of their existence. Welcome to the club.
That being said, you also owe it to them to be the person you want to be and pursue your passions, as long as it is part of a balanced life. Don’t let fear overcome joy. Life is a constant exercise in risk management, and it is natural that some things don’t make the cut. I liked riding motorcycles when I was young, for instance, but it was never a huge passion. I gave it up once I had a family – I judged the reward not worth the risk. But never driving up the crest ever again? You clearly enjoyed spending time with your friends, doing an activity you all enjoy, en route to a car show where you could enjoy your shared passion for cars and car culture. That’s a lot to swear off forever.
Sleep on it, give it a while. You’ll find the right balance for you. Just don’t fall into the ‘the only acceptable risk level is zero’ absolutism trap.
This is why track days are likely no longer in the cards for me. I’m getting married, maybe this year, and after my own experience with a nasty car accident last year with my future wife sitting next to me, that risk became a lot less palatable to me. If I knew I was gonna be the only car on track it would be different, but I don’t expect that ever.
You can have fun driving / riding fun backroads without heading to touristy places like the Crest that are just mobbed with people and filled with people trying to show up and go beyond their skill level.
I had a similar experience with Deal’s Gap on the border of Tennessee / North Carolina. It is a fantastic road but on the weekend – an weekend – it is full of people riding / driving beyond their ability and doing just absolutely stupid things. After awhile I realized that the traffic and risk wasn’t worth it and I found other interesting roads without the crowds.
Yep usually more people = more risk. I ride a motorcycle and stay on the back roads. Safer and more peaceful while still giving me the open-air experience.
“I’ve decided I’m never going back up Angeles Crest. I never thought suchlike a beautiful road could be so ugly.”
The solution is NOT to just get off the road. The road is fine. It’s speeders who are making a beautiful road ugly. Don’t rewarding their bad behavior by yielding them the road.
Instead of denying yourself the Crest how about you use your voice to rally against the idiots who are making this road so dangerous? Raise a call for more enforcement, and less public acceptance of speeding. That is something you CAN do instead of throwing up your hands in surrender.
I don’t know man. It’s easy to have your cause and all and know that you are in the right. That won’t help your family if you’re severely injured because you wanted to reclaim the road.
I don’t live there and don’t know the reality first hand but it sounds like there are a lot of people that just want to push the limits out there. Sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself is just put yourself in a different situation to avoid it until it gets better.
If it’s truly important to you, push for it to get better, use all the tools you have. That doesn’t mean you put yourself in harm’s way just to prove a point. The reasonable and sane among us are sadly a true minority and I would not like those odds.
Nothing gets better until something is done. Letting bullies win only breeds more bullying. If David cares enough about the problem to write about it, if he’s shaken enough by it to literally give up something he enjoys to (figuratively) hide under a rock then he can take a stand.
Take back the Crest!
David and everyone else who write for the Autopian are in a much more influential positions to actually get action on this problem than 99.9999% of anyone else. The most effective thing David can do is continue doing what he did here but more forcefully. Its clear this was no act of God or oopsie, somebody made stupid choices that caused this to happen. Jerks like that who race on public streets don’t deserve thoughts and prayers, certainly not sympathy but intense, seething scorn, ridicule and shame, preferably from other enthusiasts.
Fine. Take up the cause on the blog to create change. But make sure your son still has a father by staying away from the danger until the change takes hold.
This all sounds like a bunch of goons who have nothing to lose but many of us have so much to lose and nothing is helped by being a martyr.
Unfortunately safety standards/laws/regulations, etc are all too often written in blood. Martyr blood, victim blood, bystander blood, it makes no difference.
For so many. Too many.
That doesn’t mean you put yourself out there to prove a point, putting yourself in danger and leaving your family to deal with loss just to “take it back from the jackasses.”
My call to action isn’t to nail David to a cross in the middle of a road. It’s for him to use his pen power to try to get these bastards off public roads.
Then pay more attention to the original post.
I did.
“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.”
Hence my response:
“David can do is continue doing what he did here but more forcefully. Its clear this was no act of God or oopsie, somebody made stupid choices that caused this to happen. Jerks like that who race on public streets don’t deserve thoughts and prayers, certainly not sympathy but intense, seething scorn, ridicule and shame, preferably from other enthusiasts.”
At least one of those cars was driving too fast and crashed, perhaps taking the others out on the way. That jerk deserves scorn, not prayers.
David is not calling out speeding on public streets as dangerous, he is says driving is dangerous so he will no longer drive on this road. There’s a difference. The first is a prelude to action, the latter is surrender.
Your initial response is stating that David should not give up going to the road that puts him and others in danger.
My initial response to you agreed with using any tools to call for change but I am disagreeing with the notion that you have to keep putting yourself in danger just to keep from surrendering.
You keep responding as though I am disagreeing with both sides of your argument.
Stop calling for others to put themselves in danger for your cause or just to satisfy your belief that we, collectively, have to “take back” something. You want to do it yourself? Fill your boots, son! But don’t drag others into danger.
“You keep responding as though I am disagreeing with both sides of your argument”
Because you seem to think driving this road is an automatic death sentence. It’s not. Saying David shouldn’t give up the road if he likes the road is not the same as sticking him on a cross in the middle of a street race. There is a middle ground.
Hundreds, maybe thousands of people drive it every day with no problem. As David pointed out even cyclists ride it.
However if people like David people stop driving that road because of an overblown sense of danger the only people left will be the speeders. If David thinks driving the road is too dangerous as an individual then find ways to make it safer. Like drive it as a group, like he did in the first part of the story with his friends but with more friends. Call the CHP and see what they can do. Organize a rolling protest with speeding/racing shaming slogans.
Refusing to drive the road at all IS surrender.
“You want to do it yourself? Fill your boots, son! But don’t drag others into danger.”
I do. Most days. And I ain’t dead yet.
Ok, whatever. You do you man. I’m sure nothing bad will ever happen.
This isn’t Russian roulette so yeah, It’ll most likely be just fine.
I’m struggling to agree. Agreed, the ultimate solution is people need to stop being stupid on public roads and being a journalist David has a unique opportunity to influence in this area. But putting yourself in a known dangerous situation doesn’t do anything other than put yourself in a dangerous situation. Holding the moral right won’t stop cars from hitting you. (I’m not trying to convince anyone ACH is dangerous or that they should or should not drive it. I’m using the author’s position as a basis for the conversation.)
Great work, David. Having helped on a roadside accident before and also gone through worse on a road in Afghanistan, I can assure you the emotions and second guessing yourself are normal. Definitely take time to process those emotions, and know you’ve got nothing to feel regret over. Slowing down traffic and getting word to 911 without cell signal is fantastic work and on-the-fly thinking.
If there’s one thing I learned from my driving classes as a teen, it is to look as far down the road as possible, and if you can’t see far enough ahead (because curvy road), slow the F down.
Plenty of drivers understand the limits of their vehicles, but some fail to understand the limits of the environment in which they drive.
I’ll be another voice saying you absolutely did the right thing, David. Kudos to your conscience!
During the height of Covid, while exploring my and my new-to-me car’s limits, I realized I’d been running it way hard even for deserted roads. ‘Keep pushin and one day there’ll be gravel on that corner, boy’ is what I told myself. A few miles later, at the top of an uphill corkscrew I’d usually pop out of up against the limiter in 2nd, there was a rollback partly in the road on one side, a pickup on the other a bit further—and a couple guys picking up split wood scattered across the road.
No issue at the sane 30ish I was doing, but it made me shudder to think how it could have gone had I been rolling hard. I’m much, much more prone to leaving it in a higher gear & just cruising these days.
Frankly, I prefer to reserve playing hard for the snow. If I get an unquenchable itch for serious speed, well, VIR is only 2&1/2 hours away. It’s kinda ironic that finally owning cars that are actually capable has prompted me to slow down finally.
I feel for everyone involved. You definitely did the right things in the moment. You did the write thing writing about it. You made the right editorial decision not showing photos of it. And you definitely did the right thing harnessing that emotion and hugging your kid. I enjoyed a lot of car culture this weekend, but at my age I have to admit to getting some sudden bouts of anxiety driving a classic in today’s traffic. Might have to hug one of my kids when I get home too.
Driving a classic in todays traffic and courtesy is indeed nerve wracking. I drive as if everyone is on their phones and trying to kill me. I am the crumple zone in my car, so I drive as defensively as I possibly can.
Hey man, you made the right choices given the circumstances. Play some Tetris and take it easy today.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-mentally-strong-people-dont-do/202502/how-tetris-might-help-prevent-ptsd
You are a good citizen, David Tracy. I once stopped to help out at an accident site (One of the north-bound 280 exits just entering San Francisco). An SUV was on it’s side and a woman was standing in the space where the passenger window was and her head popped up over the where the driver side window was. I grabbed the carpet remnant in my cargo to put over the door so she could climb out without getting all cut up. After she was out, I set out a few flares BEFORE the accident site. After getting back in my car, I found (to my surprise) that I was shaking. It was an extremely intense experience and I was on autopilot – emotionally removed during it, but once I stepped away it hit me like a pile of bricks.
You didn’t panic and you ultimately helped with the situation.
You done good.
I can’t 100% confirm this but saw in FB groups I’m part of that the driver of the S2000 unfortunately died. Your article doesn’t expicitly state this.
And yeah I’ve only gone up ACH twice and saw some dicey stuff both times. I actually strongly considered getting up early on the 4th and driving up to the GVBC at Newcomb’s but decided I wanted to sleep in instead.
There is a go fund me for the driver of the S2000, a very unfortunate accident.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/honoring-conor-prado
I’d rather the driver of who cased the death (or their insurance policy) be forced to pay for the funeral expenses instead.
He was 26. So what age is not too young?
Fair
Yes, the Angeles Crest Highway group on Facebook has a lot of info and commentary on this incident. There are claims that witnesses saw the Fit cross the center line and cause the crash. Reporting indicates that the S2000 driver did not survive. https://www.hollywoodlanews.com/conor-prado-dead/
Crashing on the road was a one of the major concerns to trade in the Miata RF I was dailying (also the transmission needing to be replaced at a whole 8k miles) and after a really bad semi truck roll over that happened at my work (kid that was driving the truck was lucky to be alive wish I could share pictures of the truck here). One of the major things I could really get into an accident on my commute would be a deer but there was a day I almost t-boned someone that pulled out in front of my on a busy highway and I was in the Miata at that time would have hate to see if I did hit them going the 65-70mph I was going. But yes everyone be safe out there (almost lost my dad to a motorcycle accident)
As a volunteer first-responder (firefighter and search and rescue), I’ve seen quite a few TCs in my day. From a negative perspective, yeah, people often drive very badly:
Those were just in the past few months.
From the positive perspective: Amazingly, all of those where no- to minor-injury! It’s really a testament to the safety of modern vehicles that we can drive so badly and our vehicles do their best to keep us safe.
“upon arriving at my abode I picked up my boy and hugged him for 10 minutes straight.”
I know these feels well.
Don’t beat yourself up David. You did stop and do something. You helped make sure no other vehicles became involved, and got help on the way. You may have saved lives by doing either or both of those things.
Be careful out there everybody.
https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/fatal-truck-crash-75-275-monroe-county-june-24/
Drove past this on a work trip. I’m sure hundreds more here did as well.
A sobering reminder of the tragedy that lurks after just a few moments of distraction.
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/tarrant-county/keep-evan-in-prayer-lone-survivor-i-20-crash-recovers-horrific-details-released-affidavit/287-687dce18-dde3-4baf-b46f-bd130adedb03
We had a similar crash in Dallas involving a semi truck who’s driver fell asleep at the wheel and ended up killing 4 out of 5 people in a family. The semi truck driver appeared to be employed by a sketchy company that had many safety violations, with a former employee stating that he was often pressured to work beyond the legal maximum of hours truckers can drive.
The sad thing is that we have technology to prevent or severely reduce the severity of these kinds of crashes. The EU required automatic emergency braking on heavy trucks and coaches way back in 2013. In the USA we are still talking about it even though AEB is now mandatory on light duty vehicles.
(AEB greatly reduced the death toll in the Christmas Market attack in Germany back in 2016. The attacker had his foot all the way down on the accelerator but the Scania truck auto braked as it went of the road and into the market)
I just watched an episode of CHiPs yesterday (S2E1) that featured a storyline about bystanders pulling a driver out of a wrecked camper pickup. He had a spinal injury and everyone was blaming Ponch and John (It was some linemen with gold and blue helmets and brown coveralls). The EMT yelled at them and said “the first thing they should have done was nothing.” In true CHiPs fashion, later in the episode they yanked a guy out of an overturned pickup right before it exploded.
Coming down Highway 20 from Highway 80 towards Nevada City, I watched in my rear view window as an SUV was rolling over in midair. They had drifted off the road, overcorrected and rolled it, landing on the other side of the road in a ditch. By the time I had turned around and got back, the driver was out and walking around, others had called 911. I drove further up the road to warm drivers about the accident. I put on a reflective vest I keep in my stash and began flagging drivers to slow down. It was amazing how many saw me yet sped up. Idiots.
You did everything you could and should have done, David. My youngest son and daughter were EMT’s for many years (and now are a nurse and a police detective, respectively), and according to them, the WORST thing you can do at the scene of an accident is get someone out of a wrecked car unless the car is on fire or about to topple over a cliff, etc. As I’ve said many times on this site, you’re one of the nicest human beings on the planet and what you did today just adds more evidence to support that statement. Bravo!
HUGE plus one. Former volunteer fire fighter here and came into the same thing. You don’t know of the severity of the injuries if you try to get them out. You can check on folks, and let them know help is on the way, but do not get the out of the car (an old episode of CHiPs also covered this when two PG&E employees pulled someone out of a truck with head / neck trauma).
Best action is to call 911, slow oncoming motorists down while being safe!
All in all, you did EXACTLY the right things.
Agreed on all counts. Everyone is doing the absolute minimum they can within their protocols to get the patient to definitive medical care. Medics can do a lot… but doctors in hospitals can do a million times more. Do nothing more than you absolutely must as a first responder… and above all else don’t make more patients.
You did the right thing. Thank you for calling 911 and for stopping and warning traffic. You may have prevented a worse pile-up if the vehicle blocking the road was near a blind corner.
[This is not official medical advice!] From the victim’s safety perspective, others are giving good advice. Don’t try to move a patient UNLESS they are in imminent danger of worse injury and even then it is iffy and very case-dependent. For example, if they are in the middle of a busy road where you cannot safely block traffic and they might get hit. Moving them off the road might be the best option. Or if their vehicle is on fire, it’s probably better to get them out. Be VERY cautious about not making spinal injuries worse. That’s one of the main reasons not to move someone unless you really know what you are doing and have the right support and equipment. That being said, reassuring someone and helping keep them calm is great. Also, if there is massive hemorrhage, compression to stop/reduce the bleeding can be lifesaving. (But wear PPE even if it’s improvised.)
Getting emergency services on the way and taking measures to prevent others from becoming involved in the accident are the two things you can and did do.
There are to many risks in trying to move an accident victim without proper training.
Something similar happened to me where I came upon an accident immediately after the impact. One of the cars involved was still slowly rolling down a slight embankment when I got on the scene. I pulled over and tried to help. In that moment you realize how little there is to be done if you are not a medical professional (other than calling 911, obviously). One of the drivers seemed to be in shock but she was conscious and not in any obvious pain. The other driver was hunched over in the driver’s seat moaning in pain. I tried talking to him to see if there was anything I could do to help or if I needed to try to get him out of the car, but he could not really verbalize what was wrong. I decided I might make things worse if I tried to move him so I just kept telling him help was on the way and praying for both of them. It was such a relief to see the police arrive. It was probably less than 5 minutes but it felt like forever.
I watch a YouTuber whose channel goes by the name of “Hello Road” and he often uses Angeles Crest to test his cars and go to that car show. It seems like people are pretty often driving beyond their and their car’s limits seeing how in one of his recent videos both an Audi and a G35 crashed the same day on that road.
If people keep crashing then there’s going to be a point where there’s a higher police presence on the road or maybe the road gets closed all together, ruining it for everyone.
The standard of driving in this country is absolutely appalling. I had a yutz in a truck come millimeters from wiping out the side of my BMW wagon today because he pulled out past another car without looking. If I hadn’t jinked left he would have hit me.
But for sure seeing a really bad crash can really give you the shakes. I have told the story here about the out of control semi that annihilated a pickup RIGHT in front of me on the interstate years ago. I had to stop and collect myself for a good half hour after that one – I totally had the shakes. I am in no way religious, but “there but for the grace of God go I”. That was waaaay scarier and more intense for me than the two airplane accidents I have been in (and I got to go down the emergency slide for one of them). Another memorable one that I thankfully ONLY saw the aftermath of was a motorcycle crash where there were two white sheets, one for the body, and the other clearly for the head farther up the road…
Unless you have medical training or the person is in absolutely imminent danger due to the car being on fire or something, do not try to get someone out of a crashed vehicle. You can do a ton of damage if you don’t know what you are doing. You did the right thing by warning traffic. And hugging your kid when you got home.
One of the best things my mom did for 17 year old me was to drill into me the importance of defensive driving. If you count that as a driving skill, it’s easily the most important one in my tool box.
My old man, who was a professional driver for decades, did the same. And I thank him for it, even if I drove like a complete moron my first half decade or so behind the wheel.
And as a motorcyclist I will add please don’t try to yank anyone’s helmet off.
Well, unless it was that crash I was talking about. Though the coroner probably would have been annoyed.
For as much as we wring our hands about gun control (on both sides), I always felt like the low-hanging fruit was right in front of us the whole time.
I know societally we’ve accepted traffic deaths as a normal part of life, but tell that to the people who just went out to run a quick errand and never came home.
I know anecdotes aren’t data, but as I sit here at nearly age 46, I know two people who have died in traffic on their way to work at my office, one who died at a rail crossing in high school, and one on a motorcycle in college. I don’t know anyone who has ever been shot.
This is apolitical, I just find it interesting.
Traffic deaths are more evenly distributed in the population vs gun deaths but the USA’s rates for both are appalling.
For example the rate of traffic deaths in the USA is 3x higher than Canada and Australia and almost 6x higher than the UK
Given we collectively travel three trillion miles a year in cars in the US, gun deaths are a LOT more appalling. And basically not a thing in other, less stupid, countries.
For what it’s worth, my life experience is the other way around. I personally know three people how have died due to guns (two suicides, one hunting accident), but nobody who died in a car crash. But given that the US collectively drives something like 3 *trillion* miles a year, it is kind of amazing we kill as few people with cars as we do.
But there is a lot of low hanging fruit. Drunk driving is still a major issue, with something like half of all car-related deaths involving alcohol or drugs. Another quarter is pedestrians and bicycle/motorcyclists. And another big one is seatbelts – that is another big cause of death in crashes. As my cop cousins are fond of saying, none of them have ever had to unbelt a corpse. Even before getting into the driver training issues, the low-hanging fruit are intoxicated driving and seatbelt usage. Those two things would probably eliminate something like half of all deaths related to cars.
There are always going to be deaths that are just unavoidable unless we want to go back to having a man on foot with a red flag leading every car (and then they would get runover) – car vs. semi, car into tree at speed, car vs. train, etc. Avoid things that result in very sudden stops.
I came upon a scene like that (grim, but not as horrific) when walking to pick up my kid from school. The road was closed, police and EMTs were standing on either side of the scene, and on the ground in the middle of the road was a sheet near a downed motorcycle.
Nobody was speaking, including the small crowd of bystanders on the sidewalk. I assume the first responders were waiting for the coroner, and they all stood there silently with nothing more to say to each other. This was a bustling neighborhood in the middle of Los Angeles, yet you could hear a pin drop. It was so somber. That mood stuck with me for a long time. When I picked up my daughter and her friend, I made sure to take a different way home.
You did something by warning drivers to slow down. Most people do nothing. I’ve been the first on scene of an accident, the young lady was fortunate to just have a couple scapes and small cuts in one instance. In another, the driver of a 3-series BMW didn’t get all the way around a box truck, her rear bumper clipped the front bumper of the truck and she wound up upside down on the side of the interstate. She was wearing her seat belt and fairly unscathed, but I waited till first responders came to extricate her from the car, and also made sure the responding police officer and truck driver had my card since I was a witness. The truck driver was not at fault and I wanted to be available to give a statement (and did) to keep the truck driver from getting in trouble over an incident that wasn’t his fault. What you did was what was best given the situation.
Unless you have specific training that would have been helpful in this situation, it sounds like you did exactly the right thing. If the driver was not in immediate danger you’re not supposed to move them anyway. Wait for the professionals if at all possible.
you can almost imagine the S2000 and the Camaro were playing around and found out….and the fit driver got the shaft in this case.
That doesn’t appear to be the case based on rumors.
I try real hard not to make assumptions in situations like this – there are several roads local to me that are known for the kind of reckless driving that inevitably results in messy crashes from time-to-time, but without any knowledge/evidence to prove otherwise, I’ll treat everyone involved in an accident as a victim, not the cause.
The report I said saw the Camaro clipped the Fit and then hit the S2K head on. Seems like both of the Hondas were just victims.
The report I saw suggests the Fit caused the whole thing…according to witnesses.