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stroker
stroker HalfDork
3/15/12 8:55 p.m.

www.rmirror.net:80/r/videos/comments/q5hu9/car_accident_nsfl/

Forwarded to me with this comment fwiw....

Retired Law Enforcement Officer Analysis

If you watch the dark SUV closely, you can see an unsignalled lane change, very close following, then it would appear that the driver's attention was diverted as the vehicle drifted towards the center island. It appears that the driver made an abrupt move to get back into the No 1 lane and that is where he or she lost control. Lack of a signal when changing lanes, following too closely and the eventual drift are all signs of distracted driving. Cell phone, drowsiness, applying makeup, heart attack (a stretch here) or a dropped french fry. A lot of people paid a high price for that. Send this to your kids.

vwcorvette
vwcorvette GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
3/15/12 8:58 p.m.

I've seen this a number of times and it makes me sick to watch. But I can't help thinking what the hell?

Toyman01
Toyman01 GRM+ Memberand UberDork
3/15/12 9:03 p.m.

Holy crap!! That thing just exploded.

N Sperlo
N Sperlo UltraDork
3/15/12 9:11 p.m.

You can see the driver and one passenger make contact with the tractor as they go sailing. Too many people look away from the road while driving.

novaderrik
novaderrik SuperDork
3/15/12 9:36 p.m.

looks like the driver overreacted when the left wheels got into the snow and it went really bad really fast after that.. that slushy snow can really throw a vehicle around when you aren't really ready for it- especially with wide tires- and it's easy to overcompensate.

Ian F
Ian F UltraDork
3/15/12 10:37 p.m.

That truck driver will have nightmares for years...

SnowMongoose
SnowMongoose New Reader
3/16/12 1:43 a.m.

Took all my concentration not to start yelling nononononononono at the screen as the SUV crossed to the left.

At least it was quick.

BoostedBrandon
BoostedBrandon HalfDork
3/16/12 1:50 a.m.

I yelled OH E36 M3! and scared the bejeesus out of my wife.

Did anyone survive that, besides the truck driver?

Cuda
Cuda New Reader
3/16/12 1:57 a.m.

Man, the driver of the smaller box truck did a good job of keeping his rig on the correct side of the road.

Appleseed
Appleseed PowerDork
3/16/12 2:44 a.m.

Lord Humungous, part deux?

dean1484
dean1484 GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
3/16/12 5:54 a.m.

Having seen some really bad stuff in real life I don't need a refresher course. I really try not to watch that stuff. I am going to pass on the link. However if it is what I think it is I agree that it should be required watching for getting your licence.

J308
J308 Reader
3/16/12 6:46 a.m.
BoostedBrandon wrote: I yelled OH E36 M3! and scared the bejeesus out of my wife. Did anyone survive that, besides the truck driver?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say no. But I'd love to be linked to an article stating they did.

44Dwarf
44Dwarf Dork
3/16/12 6:50 a.m.

WTF. The others will take year to recover if they ever do.

mad_machine
mad_machine GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
3/16/12 7:25 a.m.

I once talked to an ex-commercial truckdriver. He used to drive a fuel truck until a lady went headon into him in a successful attempt at committing suicide. It was on a divided lane highway and she came across the medium at him, he was on the brakes and swerving to avoid, but it was unsuccessful. Witnesses estimate she hit the truck at combined speed of about 150 (he was down to 50ish and she was doing about 100)

He never got behind the wheel of a vehicle again.

I am willing to bet that he survived, but that truckdriver was pretty beaten up. Big Commercial rigs are not very accident friendly inside

Toyman01
Toyman01 GRM+ Memberand UberDork
3/16/12 7:53 a.m.

I'm guessing the truck came to a spectacular stop, in the woods, on the side of the road. When it exited scene left it was still traveling a pretty high rate of speed and with no front axle, he had no control. That's assuming the initial impact didn't just knock him silly. His chances not being injured probably aren't very good. Tractor trailer rigs aren't as durable as they look and the 60K pound trailer stores a lot of energy.

The box truck got a little help with his recovery when the small car behind the tractor trailer rig hit the back of his truck in the middle of the slide. It was just enough to keep the back end from coming all the way around. Still a pretty good piece of driving. Of course the car then lost control and was sliding right into the back of the big rig. That's probably not going to be pretty.

I still can't get over how the SUV just came apart. It just vanished in a cloud of debris. That just blows my mind.

Gearheadotaku
Gearheadotaku GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
3/16/12 7:55 a.m.

Holy E36M3!!

914Driver
914Driver MegaDork
3/16/12 7:58 a.m.

Whewre you guys from, Florida? That centerline section is slushy, hit it and the drag pulls you into it. The black SUV driver overcorrected to get out of the pull and once freed, it shot into the vehicle to his right.

tuna55
tuna55 UltraDork
3/16/12 8:30 a.m.
914Driver wrote: Whewre you guys from, Florida? That centerline section is slushy, hit it and the drag pulls you into it. The black SUV driver overcorrected to get out of the pull and once freed, it shot into the vehicle to his right.

The SUV driver appeared, from what I saw, to be texting or on the phone or sleeping and probably had one loose hand on the wheel. That wasn't a lane change, it was drifting out of lane. The drift continued, abated only for a few moments, onto the centerline. The overcorrection is the first real driver input. Dropped the phone or woke up... I hate to think about it, but the driver could have prevented that mess so easily...

N Sperlo
N Sperlo UltraDork
3/16/12 8:31 a.m.
914Driver wrote: Whewre you guys from, Florida? That centerline section is slushy, hit it and the drag pulls you into it. The black SUV driver overcorrected to get out of the pull and once freed, it shot into the vehicle to his right.

Simply letting up on that throttle can correct that properly.

dculberson
dculberson HalfDork
3/16/12 10:17 a.m.
Toyman01 wrote: I'm guessing the truck came to a spectacular stop, in the woods, on the side of the road. When it exited scene left it was still traveling a pretty high rate of speed and with no front axle, he had no control.

My dad had that happen once; driving a big rig at night, an oncoming car came over a hill with the driver asleep and the car wandering, my dad pulled as far to the right as he could but the oncoming car nailed his front left tire and sent bits up through the floor of the cab. He said he was showered in sparks through the new hole in the floor from metal stuff hitting the road. Dad lost all steering and the brakes locked on, being air brakes on an old truck. Amazingly it stayed upright and came to a stop off the road. The other driver was not so lucky.

Javelin
Javelin GRM+ Memberand UltimaDork
3/16/12 10:26 a.m.

Knurled
Knurled GRM+ Memberand Dork
3/16/12 12:14 p.m.
stroker wrote: Lack of a signal when changing lanes, following too closely and the eventual drift are all signs of distracted driving.

They are signs of being a zombie.

The zombie apocalypse has happened. They don't want brains, they want iPhones and Odysseys.

Knurled
Knurled GRM+ Memberand Dork
3/16/12 12:18 p.m.
N Sperlo wrote: Simply letting up on that throttle can correct that properly.

Big solid "it depends".

When you start getting pulled into deep slush, the only thing you can really do is try not to "fall off the bubble" and first keep the car from getting pulled further, then work back to the lane. This often requires more throttle. And a lot of space.

Driving in winter is not the time to be giving short following distances. Yet, all the time, I see people driving 30mph on the highway, and following literally half a car length behind the person in front of them, I guess because they're only going 30mph. Whole trains of them 8-10 cars long sometimes. Stupid.

Stealthtercel
Stealthtercel HalfDork
3/16/12 3:17 p.m.

If that SUV had had stability control, wouldn't its fatal swerve have been corrected or prevented by the system, thus saving multiple lives? I'm not an engineer, but that looked to me like a textbook case of what stability control is supposed to help you with. (Of course, you're also supposed to do your part, by not texting, not applying eyeshadow, not rummaging on the floor for a French fry, etc.)

tuna55
tuna55 UltraDork
3/16/12 3:20 p.m.
Stealthtercel wrote: If that SUV had had stability control, wouldn't its fatal swerve have been corrected or prevented by the system, thus saving multiple lives? I'm not an engineer, but that looked to me like a textbook case of what stability control is supposed to help you with. (Of course, you're also supposed to do your part, by not texting, not applying eyeshadow, not rummaging on the floor for a French fry, etc.)

No. Stability control stops it from spinning. That was totally just the driver steering the vehicle into the wrong place. My opinion, though.

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