…to move AWAY from their vehicle after a collision?
This young woman crashed her car into the center divider, and her car flipped, coming to rest in the left lane of the highway.
She managed to extricate herself, and ran to safety on the right-hand shoulder of the road.
However, before police arrived, she decided to run back across the road in order to retrieve something from her car, at which point she was hit and killed by another car.
All-in-all, very sad.
You shouldn’t go over there even after the cops arrive. The responding officer got rear ended by another dimwit driver. Too many people are surfing the internet while driving which means not enough people are actually looking at the road. Never be on foot near an accident scene unless you absolutely have to.
And it’s always been this bad. People get distracted incredibly easily. Many years ago when I was a cub reporter/photog at a little TV station I got sent out to cover a bad wreck. I was standing about 10 feet off the road shooting the carnage and happened to look left to see a scrap truck barreling straight for me. He was busy staring at the wreck and not looking in front of him, so he ran off the road. I dived out of the way just as he swerved and ran into another car that was stopped so its driver could get a good look.
Learned that day to never trust anyone who’s controlling anything that has the ability to kill me.
never rubberneck and always assume the vehicles running amok can kill you.
While I don’t want to dishonor the young woman, I have a theory regarding this situation.
I think that her act of hitting the center divider may well have been as a result of using a cellphone while driving. And, her mad dash back across the road in order to retrieve something may have been an attempt to retrieve her cellphone.
This is just a theory, but I think that she may have been done-in by her use of a cellphone while driving.
VDCdriver: Your theory is closer to proven fact. The cellular phone has become the center of many people’s lives. Not having it on their person or at least within reach is somehow traumatic. I don’t even try to understand. The young woman may very well have lost her life trying to retrieve her precious phone.
I also think the cell phone theory is correct. Far too many people have too much invested in their cell phones - land lines disconnected, all contact info in the phone, banking info, credit cards etc. Without it they are lost. Many people spend way too much time texting and talking too, they just cannot get away from it.
On any accident scene, get as far away from the road as you can. Get behind the guide rail or off the road in the grass. Forgive me for saying, but people get stupider (if that is a word) when they get to an accident. They look at the carnage instead of the road, they try to drive and take pictures with their cell phones. They ignore flares, cones and 1st responders directing traffic. We are taught never to turn your back to traffic and to put the biggest truck we can in the accident lane as a blocker. But that does not always work, see the following link. The fire truck did it’s job, paid the price though.
I strongly suspect that VDCdriver is correct with his theory about the cell phone.
My memory is hazy on this but I vaguely remember someone here in OK a few years ago dying when they decided to run back into a burning home to retrieve their cell phone and were overcome due to smoke inhalation.
As to people looking right at something and running into it anyway, I would imagine that is something similar to what WWII fighter pilots succumbed to at times; target fixation.
They were so intent on strafing a building or train that they would fly right into it.
The difference in their case was that it involved a bit of valor; not stupidity.
“As to people looking right at something and running into it anyway, I would imagine that is something similar to what WWII fighter pilots succumbed to at times; target fixation.”
We had a classic–and tragic–example of that a few days ago in my county. A man from Maine was driving a pickup truck and towing a trailer full of cattle that he had just bought in my area. He detected a problem with the trailer, and pulled onto the shoulder of the interstate in order to fix the problem.
Shortly after he had pulled onto the shoulder, a young man in a Hyundai hit the trailer. That young man exited his car in order to, apparently, exchange information with the truck driver. While they were standing on the shoulder, an Econoline-type van did a direct hit on the back of the trailer, killing the young man. Additionally, two passengers in the van died, along with several of the cattle.
The “move over” law is essentially designed to protect police and first responders who are parked on the shoulder, but–if possible–I try to move out of the right lane if there is a disabled vehicle of any kind on the shoulder. Unfortunately, some people have a different concept of “move over”, and they move over to the shoulder of the road where they hit vehicles and people.
Here is an account of that accident:
Very tragic and all because of what could be called an extreme case of rubbernecking and losing focus on the job at hand; driving the vehicle.
I think that if I were a law enforcement officer, getting struck by an inattentive driver would make me more nervous than anything else.
Whenever I’ve been pulled over I generally look for a side street in town or a county road, pasture entrance, or oil lease entrance to keep from putting the officer in danger on a well traveled road.
OK enacted and passed a law making cell phone use an ticketable offense after 2 state troopers were struck by a texter. One of the troopers died and the other was banged up badly.
The law took effect November the 1st of this year and from what I’ve seen it has made zero difference.
During the first few days I was almost broadsided by female drivers on the phone who gave a left turn signal, went into the left turn lane, and then decided to go straight through the intersection.
From the look I got of one of them I don’t think that she was aware she came within 6 feet of taking me out.
I have had words with officers when I was trying to pull over safely,for their sakes and mine,good grief,I dont want them to get killed trying to do their job,thats why,I dont always pull over when they are pointing or have the Lights on,I try to get into a safe enviroment(do they think I’m trying to outrun them?)I got a testy motorcycle cop give me some bull one time(I had pulled out from a sideroad,headed for an appointment,unbeknowest to me.there was a bicycle race going on(I’m serious)I finally told the cop(after His attitude started getting real crappy),I will pull over just as soon as I can get off the road.
I have seen too many officers standing to close to the road during traffic stops,you better believe I hit the other lane and slow down if I can
kmccune, I agree. I once got pulled over: I was in the middle lane of a 3 lane highway, and pulled into the right lane, just in time to see an officer setting up a warning flare on the margin. By the time I saw him, all I could do is continue, no time to pull back into the other lane. The reason I didn’t see him until the last minute is that my vision was blocked by the truck ahead of me in the middle lane.
He took off after me (as I learned when he flagged me down a few minutes later) and reamed me out All I could say is that I didn’t see him until too late. He gave up and headed back to the original emergency.
Got pulled over for speeding while a car was passing me. Now I took a deal to go from 3 points to 1 point for ignoring an official sign, or somesuch. Stuff happens, ps update if you were following it, about person ignoring police requests, Can’t go 45 cause her foot cant push the gas pedal that far, and can’t get back in the van to drive because of arthritis while transporting people as a public service.
Pleasant Prairie Municipal Judge Richard Ginkowski was critical of King for her behavior in court, including interrupting her own attorney, and for statements she made that he described as “incredible.”
“Some of the testimony was not reasonable and it didn’t make sense,” Ginkowski said.
http://www.kenoshanews.com/opinion/our_view_how_not_to_react_to_a_traffic_ticket_485561904.html
I see soooo many more people day after day texting while driving, it’s terrible. Talking on the cellphone seems to be the norm, most folks seems to be gabbing away while driving, and texting is closing in fast. I’m on the road 5 days a week, about 90% interstate, and I see it ALL THE TIME. Scares me, I’m watchful but still it scares me. I NEVER talk or text while driving, no kidding. Rocketman
We now have “Distracted Shopping” as well! Several times in the supermarket I have been bumped into by shoppers pushing their carts while texting or talking.
Ever wait at the cashier line in a supermarket while the person in front of you tries to put the groceries on the belt, pay and pack up the bags with one hand, all the while juggling a purse and carrying on a domestic argument on a cell phone? Ever say anything about it? Those people drive, too.
Grocery store pet peeve, waiting for the person ahead to wait till all items are rung up until starting to write a check, then writing very slowly, I mean the store name is not going to change, the date is not going to change, your signature is not going to change, If you write slow, do it ahead of time, don’t make me wait 3 minutes while you figure out how to write a check, my ice cream is melting, I want to get to my car with my groceries.
Ditto with waiting until the clerk presents the total to start searching in a purse for the credit card. You can run the card through the reader while the clerk is still going through your groceries, yet few people do.
How about the people who whip out their cell phones on airplanes the moment the wheels touch down so they can have loud conversations with people about how they just landed?
I am amazed when I walk into a public restroom and hear someone in a stall carrying on a conversation on their cell phone while relieving themself. Of course the greatest danger there is the possibility of dropping the phone. I wonder how many cell phones find their way into man holes or even waste treatment plants.
Ever notice that many of the automotive commercials now dwell on things that take your mind off of the job at hand; driving?
There’s a Chevy truck commercial that’s being beaten into the ground here. It shows 4 outdoorsy type guys out in the mountains with the gist of it being how the Chevy has a better Wi-Fi connection than the competitor. That’s the entire commercial; connectivity.