Bad Accident

[Stefan]

MisterE. I know how you feel man. Remember, you never intentionally make a wrong decision.

 

One night in November 1999 a friend and I were camping in my pickup at Bridge Creek trailhead when we heard a terrible crash at 1:00 a.m. We got into the cab of the truck and drove about 1/4 mile away towards Rainy Pass. A truck had flipped on ice and rolled. The father was cut up, the wife was hysterical, and their son was still laying in their truck (which was upside down). The father was really concerned about the dogs who were in the back of the truck not getting their diabetes shots. Somehow the dogs were thrown from the accident and the dogs turned out to be fine.

 

Finally one car came and we told them to go for help in Mazama. About 1 hour later a paramedic car, several fire trucks, and a police car came. We let the pros take over. Went to bed at 3:00 a.m.

 

Were were planning to do Liberty Bell the next day. I slept but I had dreams up the wazzooo about blood, cuts, and all the images I saw. We mentally couldn't do the Beckey route on Liberty Bell becuase of what we saw that night so we did something more moderate. I haven't forgot about that night.

[Bill_Simpkins]

I'm sorry you two saw that. I think you did the right thing. But still I understand how you feel helpless. Life is fragile. Accidents like that help the rest of us see that, and help us realize how important the other people in our lives are. Take care. Eat a grilled cheese sandwich.

[snoboy]

JayB said:Hopefully there will be fewer accidents of this nature when the Sea-to-Sky is a split 4 lane highway.

 

Probably more...

 

I have been told that the accident rate tends to go down when highways are upgraded, but that the accidents are generally more serious, you know, speed kills and all that.

 

I hate shit like this.

[JayB]

snoboy said:

JayB said:Hopefully there will be fewer accidents of this nature when the Sea-to-Sky is a split 4 lane highway.

 

 

Probably more...

 

I have been told that the accident rate tends to go down when highways are upgraded, but that the accidents are generally more serious, you know, speed kills and all that.

 

I hate shit like this.

Sounds reasonable. It'd be interesting to see how many of the accidents on split highways with medians involve one vehicle killing the occupants of another vehicle, and how many involve a single vehicle. It's a terrible shame when anyone dies unnecessarily in an accident, even when they are at fault, but it's the collisions where one vehicle being driven poorly (recklessly, under the influence, innatentively) kills the occupants of a vehicle that's being driven well that seem especially tragic to me, though that may or may not be the case in this accident.

 

 

[EWolfe]

I been searchin the RCMP sites, Vancouver Sun, etc. with no luck - if anyone has any info on the results, please PM me. Thanks,

 

Namaste, Erik

[fern]

There was a short paragraph in the Province today (print version). The driver of the car crossed the centre and was killed. The occupants of the semi were uninjured.

[Necronomicon]

fern said:

The occupants of the semi were uninjured.

 

What a surprise. Every time I get near one of those things I think "Murder Weapon". Semis BAD!!!

[sk]

MisterE said:

I been searchin the RCMP sites, Vancouver Sun, etc. with no luck - if anyone has any info on the results, please PM me. Thanks,

 

Namaste, Erik

call the highway department. they may not beable to tell you anything as the investigation very possibly is still underway. But if you tell them your situation they may be able to ease your mind at anyrate.

 

Peace

[rbw1966]

In todays viral environment being a good samaritan can have its costs. For example, I was the first on scene of a beat up old Datsun that had rear-ended a Tri-met bus on highway 30. Judging from the starred windshield and bent seat he must have been going pretty fast. I managed to open the passenger side rear door and protect the guys cervical spine as the bus driver called for help. The guy whose neck I was holding was bleeding profusely from his head and as I talked to him I glanced down at the floor of the passenger side of the front and saw a few syringes laying there.

 

Turns out the guy was shooting up as he was driving and didn't see the stopped bus.

 

I was not wearing gloves.

 

I spent many a sleepless night worrying about the implications of my actions.

[iain]

Rob as a former EMT I'm shocked! But really, if you see that scene and you are trained to respond it would be exceedingly difficult to watch out for that. I try to keep some fresh gloves in the glove compartment (imagine that!) along with a cpr mask. You can also get those cool little keychain ones but they can be hard to find if you don't want 100+ of them with your corp. logo on them They're called the CPR microkey and I'm really surprised they don't have them at REI.

 

I remember that car vs. tri-met on the news!

[Greg_W]

MisterE said:

Remember, folks, we are all driving deadly weapons around,

so, be careful out there.

 

Cars don't cause accidents, people do.

[rbw1966]

Yeah--I felt like a real moron not having any gloves on me. I still don't as the heat inside the car in the summer tends to melt them together. I am extra wary these days.

 

 

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

Greg_W said:

MisterE said:

Remember, folks, we are all driving deadly weapons around,

so, be careful out there.

 

Cars don't cause accidents, people do.

 

Hence the advice to "be careful out there", dorkjob.

[whirlwind]

Necronomicon said:

fern said:

The occupants of the semi were uninjured.

 

What a surprise. Every time I get near one of those things I think "Murder Weapon". Semis BAD!!!

 

it was the dude in the cars fault if he would a hit another car there would have been no dout more casualties cause he was haulin ass, u could tell by where the truck was hit and how far past the tuck the car stoped.

[Greg_W]

Dr_Flash_Amazing said:

Greg_W said:

MisterE said:

Remember, folks, we are all driving deadly weapons around,

so, be careful out there.

 

Cars don't cause accidents, people do.

 

Hence the advice to "be careful out there", dorkjob.

 

Nice to see that you're extra slow on the uptake today, crotch-sniffer.

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

Greg_W said:

 

Nice to see that you're extra slow on the uptake today, [stunning object of my unquenchable fire of desire].

 

Nice one, freak.

[erik]

Muffy_The_Wanker_Sprayer said:

Distel32 said:

I doubt he made it because when we hit the accident scene at about 9:40pm they still had the entire area blocked off and we had to drive around about a 2km long section. My guess is they usually only do thta if they have to investigate which means someone died. I hat to be cynical, but thats my guess.

Nope, they would have to investigate even if no one was hurt. At least according to Oregon law.

 

state law requires only a written report signed by the on scene trooper and all drivers of the accident. statements by witnesses or passengers are not required.

 

death/ or extreme hazard is the only reason a roadway would be shut down.

 

mr e. really cant pass judgement on you and whirlwind. each situation is different and how one handles it is according to whom they are at that moment. hope you dont have nightmares!

 

 

[dberdinka]

And in a parallel universe.............

 

http://www.rockclimbing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=38285&forum=43

[murraysovereign]

state law requires only a written report signed by the on scene trooper and all drivers of the accident. statements by witnesses or passengers are not required.

 

A small point, but in the interests of accuracy, the first post stated this occurred "about 10 miles north of the truck customs." So the investigation would be handled by the RCMP, according to Canadian law, not State law. Not sure how much difference that would make, but from what I've seen they tend to do a pretty thorough investigation of any serious accident, not just those resulting in on-the-scene fatalities.

[billcoe]

Mr E said: "I feel bad about not doing anything"

 

Don't feel bad: Bad shit happens, even when you do everything in your power, and it's a lot, sometimes it isn't enough, or it might be. You often have no control, you don't know....

 

Sorry if my post was rude, didn't mean to be a fuckhead though. Apparently Ursla thinks so.

 

Regards:

 

Bill

[chelle]

dberdinka said:

And in a parallel universe.............

 

http://www.rockclimbing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=38285&forum=43

 

Wow! What a story. Thanks for the link Darrin.

 

MisterE and Whirlwind - you guys did the right thing not to put yourselves in danger by helping out without the right training. Keep talking about it if you need to and take care, traumas like this can be distracting and the souce of accidents themselves.

 

I'm always a little dumbstruck that it takes something like these two stories to wake us up to how fragile life is and to remember not to take it for granted. I was just talking to a good friend the other day about whether it seemed like people still felt that way after 9/11 when the whole nation seemed to be focused on the importance of living everyday. Sadly we think no. Self absorption, the need to compete and run the rat race seems to be back in full force.

 

I don't have any answers and I sometimes take people and my life for granted, and I sometimes feel foolish when I make sure to let the people I care about know how I feel. But that's dumb because I don't know what the future will bring and there are NO guarantees.

 

Be careful out there folks and don't be afraid to let the people you care about know they are appreciated. Just my $0.02.

[mr.radon]

I've seen my share of bad car accidents. I've been a first responder on a couple of occasions but the worst scene I have ever come across was a car/bike accident. Taking a shortcut from Boulder to I-70, going skiing, my date and I came across the scene right after it happened. The biker died right there in the field in front of us. One leg was separated from the body, most bones in the lower half were just crushed. The poor truck driver had reached down to change radio stations and swerved just a little to clip the guy. The driver was besides himself. After the paramedics arrived we ended up turning around and going back home. Didn’t feel like skiing that day.