Saw a car accident today (long)

wgeo

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 2, 2011
We were driving north coming up to an intersection. We had the green light and the car ahead of us entered the intersection and was hit from the right by a car that ran the red. Our light had been green for awhile, other cars had already gone through.

It was pretty bad, the car ahead of us spun around and the front end was pretty smashed. A young mom was driving with a 4? year old girl. They were able to get out okay but were pretty upset, and the mom really seemed like she was in shock.

The other driver's car was completely crumpled in front, and it flew backwards after impact and hit a truck that was stopped at the light, and tore both of her back tires off. She was talking/crying and stayed in her car until the EMT's showed up. My husband stayed with her but said she wasn't communicating well.

I talked to the police at the scene and then again another one called to take my full statement. After he took it and verified that he could list me as a witness in the police report, he said "good well that corroborates what we know so you probably won't be called anymore, but it's always a possibility" I said that was fine and asked if other accounts matched mine. He said that the driver that ran the red admitted that she saw the light was red, got scared and decided that it would be better to try to gun it and beat the other car because she didn't think she could brake in time.

Wow - it got me thinking. How do you know what split section reaction you would make? I think I would just slam on the brakes as hard as possible and maybe jerk my steering wheel to the side - but in a split second would I think that clearly? (of course not discussing the fact that she was distracted and didn't slow down when approaching the red - which is a slightly different topic)
 
Sorry that you had to witness that. If she didn't see the red light until she was about to enter the intersection she must have been distracted. I would never put myself in that situation. In 30+ years of driving I have never been in that situation.

A few times on a really bad snow storm I have slid through a yellow light where I would normally brake but I was concerned I would slide into the intersection if I did stop. Closest scenario I can come up with.
 
You just have to know this by feel.

And the other thing is that if someone truly knows that they're the guilty party, nobody is required to answer any questions asked by police. Just produce license/registration/proof of insurance and take the Fifth. There may be a requirement to submit to a field sobriety test or even an alcohol/drug screening if suspected of being intoxicated.
 


Thank goodness nobody was killed. I hope that you are ok, from what I can tell you and your husband are probably in shock also. I guess the main thing would be, to keep reassuring yourself, no one died.
 
Sorry that you had to witness that. If she didn't see the red light until she was about to enter the intersection she must have been distracted. I would never put myself in that situation. In 30+ years of driving I have never been in that situation.

A few times on a really bad snow storm I have slid through a yellow light where I would normally brake but I was concerned I would slide into the intersection if I did stop. Closest scenario I can come up with.

Yeah, being in FL for awhile now I've kind of blocked out my memories of icy and snowy roads. But yes, I can remember choosing to slide through an intersection instead of braking once - but at that time the roads were pretty empty so it "felt" like I had time to make the decision.
 
Thank goodness nobody was killed. I hope that you are ok, from what I can tell you and your husband are probably in shock also. I guess the main thing would be, to keep reassuring yourself, no one died.

We're fine, but we did get to go for a nice walk afterwards and we kept rehashing it and realized that we were trying to proces it in our own way. I think if someone had died I would be having a much harder time. In the moment I just focused on doing. After I hung up with 911 I just hung out with the little girl and we talked about McDonalds -because she was holding on to her happy meal still.
 


Yeah, being in FL for awhile now I've kind of blocked out my memories of icy and snowy roads. But yes, I can remember choosing to slide through an intersection instead of braking once - but at that time the roads were pretty empty so it "felt" like I had time to make the decision.

I've kind of done that in California. But California is a large state and we've got mountains. Ever had an understeer slide out making a turn? I wasn't too experienced driving with poor traction and I steered and braked simultaneously which resulted in a slide out while turning at an intersection. I got lucky in that there was nothing more than a pile of snow. This was an unusual intersection with a huge shoulder. I knew the whole thing about "brake first, then steer" but it's kind of hard to put that into practice without a little experience of the limits.
 
I've kind of done that in California. But California is a large state and we've got mountains. Ever had an understeer slide out making a turn? I wasn't too experienced driving with poor traction and I steered and braked simultaneously which resulted in a slide out while turning at an intersection. I got lucky in that there was nothing more than a pile of snow. This was an unusual intersection with a huge shoulder. I knew the whole thing about "brake first, then steer" but it's kind of hard to put that into practice without a little experience of the limits.

That's what got me thinking today. I know what I SHOULD do in an emergency, but since I've never had to practice it, how can I be sure that I'll actually make the correct call in that split second moment?
 
Yeah, being in FL for awhile now I've kind of blocked out my memories of icy and snowy roads. But yes, I can remember choosing to slide through an intersection instead of braking once - but at that time the roads were pretty empty so it "felt" like I had time to make the decision.

Exactly this. 30+ years of winter driving on the prairies (think North Dakota for Americans...) you do learn how to defensive drive on those few really bad days of bad roads.

Wgeo - I'm sure they appreciated you being there for them.
 
I nearly got into an accident from the situation the OP described. My light turned green, I started going through the intersection when all of a sudden this car comes speeding from my left blowing thru the red light while all the other cars from that direction were already stopped. Luckily I saw the car out of the corner of my eye and hit the brakes so I didn’t get hit. But it was scary and my heart was pounding the rest of the way home. If he hit me, I could have been seriously injured or killed.
 
We were driving north coming up to an intersection. We had the green light and the car ahead of us entered the intersection and was hit from the right by a car that ran the red. Our light had been green for awhile, other cars had already gone through.

It was pretty bad, the car ahead of us spun around and the front end was pretty smashed. A young mom was driving with a 4? year old girl. They were able to get out okay but were pretty upset, and the mom really seemed like she was in shock.

The other driver's car was completely crumpled in front, and it flew backwards after impact and hit a truck that was stopped at the light, and tore both of her back tires off. She was talking/crying and stayed in her car until the EMT's showed up. My husband stayed with her but said she wasn't communicating well.

I talked to the police at the scene and then again another one called to take my full statement. After he took it and verified that he could list me as a witness in the police report, he said "good well that corroborates what we know so you probably won't be called anymore, but it's always a possibility" I said that was fine and asked if other accounts matched mine. He said that the driver that ran the red admitted that she saw the light was red, got scared and decided that it would be better to try to gun it and beat the other car because she didn't think she could brake in time.

Wow - it got me thinking. How do you know what split section reaction you would make? I think I would just slam on the brakes as hard as possible and maybe jerk my steering wheel to the side - but in a split second would I think that clearly? (of course not discussing the fact that she was distracted and didn't slow down when approaching the red - which is a slightly different topic)

Glad everyone was ok, at least physically.

Have had alot of near misses just like this. We have a trip in the driveway of where I work, it automatically turns the stop light to green on our side. I always wait, sometimes people just don't notice since the light won't change unless tripped. Had lots of close calls.
 
If there is a lawsuit, you could be called in for your deposition for the plaintiff. And it is l8kely that the plaintiff attorney could call you to take your statement. My husband is an attorney and does this all the time.
 
Weren't we talking in one of the Las Vegas shooting threads about being hyperaware at all times? That's how I feel when I'm driving. I was T-boned over a decade ago, and would have been dead if I had been in my compact car, but by some miracle happened to take my DH's large truck that day (other driver's small car hit my door but then basically "slid" under my higher up truck)so I was "lucky" to only get whiplash, a broken elbow, bruises down the entire left side of my body, etc. Since then, I'm constantly watching and thinking. This is especially true at stoplights/signs. I *never* assume that a vehicle with a red is going to stop. Last night a vehicle came up super fast behind me, and I immediately looked to my right, deciding if I had to take the ditch if it was possible, how steep was it, were there any trees in the way, etc. Yes, driving is not a restful experience for me :(. I just see WAY too many distracted drivers out there to ever let my guard down.

It might ease your mind to write down every small detail of what happened, both as a way of cleansing your mind, and in case you do get called to testify in the future (same with your DH). I'm very glad that everyone was ok.

Terri
 
That's what got me thinking today. I know what I SHOULD do in an emergency, but since I've never had to practice it, how can I be sure that I'll actually make the correct call in that split second moment?

Well - it gets interesting on the way to places like Lake Tahoe where the majority of visitors are from areas that almost never see snow or ice. They're mostly driving on ordinary all-season tires, although a few days ago I saw a car with real winter tires in Berkeley of all places. I always thought that they would wear down quickly if driven in warmer conditions on dry roads.

Our driver handbooks have all the recommendations for driving in slippery conditions, but who really gets to practice it? I've learned the "one input at a time" rule by sliding out once. However, there's also the rule that if you start spinning uncontrollably, (against what makes sense) turn the steering wheel to the direction of the spin to reverse the spin. I understand the physics behind why it's supposed to work, but I don't know how I'd react if it actually happened to me. My kid knows that from Cars, which is "You gotta turn right to go left" when he was sliding on a dirt track. This is essentially what drifting is, but without practice it's kind of hard to know exactly what to do.

I guess the way to really learn is to take a defensive driving class done on a large, empty track. There are winter driving schools that teach all sorts of things like the limits of winter tires, how to drift/correct in the snow.

 
Weren't we talking in one of the Las Vegas shooting threads about being hyperaware at all times? That's how I feel when I'm driving. I was T-boned over a decade ago, and would have been dead if I had been in my compact car, but by some miracle happened to take my DH's large truck that day (other driver's small car hit my door but then basically "slid" under my higher up truck)so I was "lucky" to only get whiplash, a broken elbow, bruises down the entire left side of my body, etc. Since then, I'm constantly watching and thinking. This is especially true at stoplights/signs. I *never* assume that a vehicle with a red is going to stop. Last night a vehicle came up super fast behind me, and I immediately looked to my right, deciding if I had to take the ditch if it was possible, how steep was it, were there any trees in the way, etc. Yes, driving is not a restful experience for me :(. I just see WAY too many distracted drivers out there to ever let my guard down.

It might ease your mind to write down every small detail of what happened, both as a way of cleansing your mind, and in case you do get called to testify in the future (same with your DH). I'm very glad that everyone was ok.

Terri

You make some good points here. From what the trooper said the other driver admitted to running the red while she was at the scene so he didn't think I would get called - but you never know what happens once insurance companies and perhaps lawyers get involved.


As for being hyper vigilant - I imagine that I will be for awhile, but also guess that it will fade over time. And I would be more vigilant if I was the first car through on green, but if I was in a line of cars going through a green I probably wouldn't think to check the cross street - now I suppose I will.
 
I'm glad nobody was physically hurt. I once was hit in the same way - I was the third car in line at a green light, and as I went through the intersection I saw something come at me from the left. I managed to get far enough ahead so I only got hit in the rear quarter panel, not a full-on t-bone. It was a young kid, only had his license for 2 months, and was driving a car full of friends. He admitted that he saw his light turn red, but he didn't think he could stop, so he floored it. He was very apologetic and he took full responsibility right away, accepting his ticket, but his stepfather was another story. The jerk not only called our house, demanding to see the damage that he "completely believed was already there," but he showed up in the middle of the night (parked down the street) and attempted to break into our garage. Seriously.
 
I'm glad nobody was physically hurt. I once was hit in the same way - I was the third car in line at a green light, and as I went through the intersection I saw something come at me from the left. I managed to get far enough ahead so I only got hit in the rear quarter panel, not a full-on t-bone. It was a young kid, only had his license for 2 months, and was driving a car full of friends. He admitted that he saw his light turn red, but he didn't think he could stop, so he floored it. He was very apologetic and he took full responsibility right away, accepting his ticket, but his stepfather was another story. The jerk not only called our house, demanding to see the damage that he "completely believed was already there," but he showed up in the middle of the night (parked down the street) and attempted to break into our garage. Seriously.

I know the people from the one car were okayish, and I'm sure the other lady will be ok - she did go to the hospital but it is amazing what airbags can do these days.

That would be very scary to have someone calling your house and being crazy like that. Hope it got resolved okay. Doesn't seem fair that you had to deal with being in the accident and then have to go through that too.
 
I'm glad nobody was physically hurt.

I've seen someone come out of a crash. Hard to explain exactly what were the extent of their injuries, but suffice to say the airbags deployed and both in the car were wearing seatbelts. There were some pretty nasty facial and body bruises, but overall I think they would rather had those bruises than be thrown headfirst into the windshield.
 
People run red lights here all the time. They don't even try to stop. I've often see two to three cars go through a light after the light has turned red. Because of that, I always pause a second or two before moving on a green light. I also am very aware of who is behind me. If I am approaching a light, I watch it to determine how long it has been green and whether or not I should begin to slow for a stop. That doesn't mean that cars behind me are paying attention. Just yesterday, my daughter and I saw an accident. A woman stopped for a light. She had plenty of time and made a slow smooth stop. A van came up from behind and hit her. The van driver obviously wasn't paying attention. Distracted driving is also a huge problem in the Orlando area!
 

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