Loud thud, pause, sirens

dculberson said:

 Well, the car behind the van wasn't paying attention and - blam. I saw the deputy's shoulders droop as he looked back down at his notepad, reached out for his hat, and stepped back out of the cruiser. I wonder if he was past the end of his shift and just plain ready to go home.

I was in slow traffic and in the next lane was a state trooper.  I heard screeching and looked over just in time to see his cruiser get rear ended.  The look of exhausted despair hit his face before his car even stopped rocking.  The paperwork was probably epic.

Screech, Thud is a weekly occurrence around my house.  I live on Market St, the main street running north/south thru the city so it gets a lot of traffic usually going 35-40 mph.  I live one house from the intersection with 14th Street, a major east/west street.  Market St. is a thru street while 14th has stop signs at the intersection.

The problem is that 14th is not straight thru.  East and West 14th are offset by one street width (If you were walking down W 14th on the right side of the street, when you went straight across Market you would be on the left side of the street).  So if you want to go straight thru on 14th it requires a right-left jog to do so.  Many drivers will pull out from 14th and make the right turn onto Market and then stop because there is traffic coming the other way on Market.  Perfect position to get rear ended by someone on Market who thought they were going to continue on.

The best one is when someone is coming North on Market and wants to turn left onto W 14th at the same time someone is coming South on Market and wants to turn left onto E 14th.   They end up stopped and blocking each others path.  Then the other traffic on Market will start using the parking lane to go around the turning cars further making a mess and keeping the cars from completing their turn.   All you need now is one inattentive driver on Market and you have a 5-6 car pileup.

Duke said:

Woody said:

I've seen three rollovers as they happened. I'm always surprised by how slow and quiet they are.

I've been in three rollovers, and I was surprised at how slow and quiet they were.

The one I've been in, I didn't realize I'd rolled until I got out of the car. I thought I'd just spun out. It happened so fast, but at the same time in slow motion. Very bizarre experience.