Fucking hell, Oppo, be careful out there.

"Honeybunchesofgoats" (honeybunche0fgoats)
08/01/2017 at 09:06 • Filed to: None

I just witnessed the worst (unbelievably) non-fatal accident in my life.

Basically what happened was someone got off of a bus, and started crossing against the light. On a six lane highway. During rush hour.

A woman in a Kia doing 50-60 MPH (it’s 50 here, but everyone does 55-60) swerved left to avoid hitting her, lost control, crossed into the oncoming lane, got t-boned on the passenger side by a Nissan a few cars ahead of me, FLIPPED OVER THE NISSAN, landed on its nose, went sideways and hit a sign on the driver’s side (narrowly missing a pole), and then spun backwards and jumped the curve.

I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.

The front of the Nissan was all fucked, but the Kia, holy shit. Driver’s side smashed, front smashed, ALL of the windows blown out, the passenger side looked like a bomb went off, and metal bars were sticking out through the roof. And the kicker is that the Kia driver WAS NOT WEARING A SEATBELT.

I’m amazed at how well that Kia held up against any intrusion into the cabin. From the looks of it, even if the impact was on the driver’s side, they would have survived. EXCEPT NOT BECAUSE SHE WASN’T WEARING A SEATBELT AND HE FUCKING HEAD WOULD BE IN THE GRILL OF THE NISSAN.

I think the cars were a Sentra and an Altima.

I have quite a lot of faith in humanity though after that, though. A good fifteen people, myself included, got out to check on the women. Once a few stopped and got out, it snowballed into a bunch of people doing it. A few people offered to be witnesses in court for the woman if she needed to prove it was a no-fault.

Also, do add to the surreality, while I was trying to figure out how to get my car into park so I could turn it off, this came on Spotify

Just as one of the women in the Nissan was shrieking and the woman in the Kia opened her door and spilled out onto the road on all fours.

Also, I nearly won a Darwin Award, because I was standing there on the phone to 911 next to the Kia and its pool of fluids before I realized I had a lit cigarette hanging out of my mouth.

DISCUSSION (37)

pip bip - choose Corrour > Honeybunchesofgoats
08/01/2017 at 09:16

more interesting than anything i’ve ever seen on my commute.

Honeybunchesofgoats > pip bip - choose Corrour
08/01/2017 at 09:21

For a hundredth of a second, the sight of that Kia flipping through the air was the coolest thing I had ever seen, before I realized there was a person in side it and that they were probably dead.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Honeybunchesofgoats
08/01/2017 at 09:23

Hmm, I wonder if just jamming the brakes and hoping the pedestrian decided to move would have been a better course of action. Doesnt seem like its ever a good idea to swerve around shit unless you know how to handle it. I would gladly slalom around the person but I’ve spun my car enough on closed courses to know exactly what to do if things get squirrely.

Some scary shit to witness though for sure! The scariest thing I have seen is about 4 cars up in moving traffic on the highway a car gets bumped and ends up putting two wheels up in the air and turning 90 degrees. It came back down on 4 wheels somehow and no other chaos ensued. Shit was intense though.

ttyymmnn > Honeybunchesofgoats
08/01/2017 at 09:28

Directed by Michael Mann.

BigBlock440 > Honeybunchesofgoats
08/01/2017 at 09:31

“and its pool of fluids before I realized I had a lit cigarette hanging out of my mouth.”

Eh, wouldn’t have lit anything.

I saw a motorcycle almost get nailed in a head-on yesterday. He’s lucky I was paying attention and slowed down enough he had room. The car in front of me made a left turn, very slowly, right in front of a bike that was coming up the hill. He had no time to stop and had to go into my lane, of which there wouldn’t have been room and he’d have been in my windshield had I not seen what was going to happen. We both exchanged WTF glances because we couldn’t believe the stupidity, or at least I like to think I can’t believe it even if I can.

Honeybunchesofgoats > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
08/01/2017 at 09:35

Yeah. If I had been in the Kia’s position, that jaywalker would probably have been dead. I would have slammed my breaks, but living in deer and escaped house pet country has taught me to never, ever swerve for anything with a pulse, because you’re probably more likely to hit it than if you kept your lane.

Also, even though this turned out to be the best scenario in terms of everyone surviving, I sure as fuck wouldn’t think twice about hitting a soft squishy person jaywalking before hitting a soft squishy person in an oncoming lane encased in a two-ton metal shell.

Honeybunchesofgoats > BigBlock440
08/01/2017 at 09:37

I wouldn’t know, but it definitely gave me pause when the fire truck pulled up and they started soaking it up with cat litter.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
08/01/2017 at 09:48

It sounds cold, I know, but in most situations I would have rather seen the Kia driver just brake as hard as possible and take the jaywalker. I know it worked out here and all the soft meaty bits seemed to stay intact, so that’s good... but let’s be honest, everyone here was lucky as fuck. Anyway, my reasoning:

- They were the cause of the whole situation.

- By swerving other people were put in danger, by hitting the jaywalker only one takes the fall.

- It’s actually amazing how much speed you can scrub off in a full-blown panic stop. The jaywalker would still have been hit at a fair speed but would the potential injuries to them in a 30MPH impact be more severe than to the drivers of several cars in a head-on 120MPH impact? I doubt it. Both drivers, imo, are damn lucky the Kia rolled. Had they taken the impact head on they’d be smears right now. And let’s not count out the fact that there could easily have been more than two cars involved.

To be clear, I’m not advocating the vehicular assassination of everyone who wants to cross the road. Even if they’re an absolute idiot, if you have any chance at all you should dodge them. But if there’s traffic in the way... well...

All that being said, it’s a split-second instinctive reaction to shy away from certain tragedy and I’d most likely (like 95%) do exactly the same thing, even though when you sit down and think about it you’re shying away from tragedy in favour of a potentially much bigger tragedy. Instincts don’t run on logic... it’s too slow.

fintail > Honeybunchesofgoats
08/01/2017 at 09:49

You need a dashcam!

Usually the most I ever see is typical Seattle area passive-aggressive ineptitude.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
08/01/2017 at 09:54

Well yeah, having better instincts is the important part. Its just part of proper driver training. If you react sooner, there is more that can be done to obtain a positive outcome. See a bus stopped? Assume its a remote possibility a person could dart out. Slow down to closer to the speed limit and be prepared for a panic stop and move away a little bit. Or if you plan on continuing full speed ahead, honk the horn or something. If all else fails, ABS generally works wonders and pedestrian crash safety has come a long way. So the pedestrian has decent odds if you at least attempt to stop.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Honeybunchesofgoats
08/01/2017 at 09:57

That’s it in a nutshell... this worked out, more or less. It could have been much worse. But everyone involved was lucky as fuck. By rights, several of them should be playing harps right now. If the Kia hadn’t rolled the Nissan would’ve probably impacted head on. Is a 120MPH impact really going to be less devastating to the passengers than a 35MPH (you can scrub a LOT of speed in a hurry in a panic situation, regardless of what they tell you—though you’re never going to stop in that distance I feel like this isn’t too far out) impact would be to the jaywalker?

Besides, they’re an idiot. Stepping out from in front of a bus, against 6 lanes of traffic... let them take the Darwin award they’ve got coming if you can’t avoid them without endangering others.

Jason Spears > Honeybunchesofgoats
08/01/2017 at 09:57

This is a scene out of a Tarantino movie.

Honeybunchesofgoats > fintail
08/01/2017 at 09:59

I really do. I see a lot of aftermaths of accidents on that road, but that was the first I’ve ever seen happen there, and man, was it nuts.

Honeybunchesofgoats > Jason Spears
08/01/2017 at 10:00

It’s legitimately the craziest, highest speed accident I’ve ever seen. I have no idea how no one died.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
08/01/2017 at 10:04

I hate bus stops before crosswalks for this exact reason. Especially the ones near colleges. For some reason college students seem to be the most braindead people in existence when it comes to dealing with roads.

Put the damn stop AFTER the crosswalk

fintail > Honeybunchesofgoats
08/01/2017 at 10:09

You’d be a dashcam compilation celebrity.

Urambo Tauro > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
08/01/2017 at 10:19

Well said. Swerving often has the potential to open up a huge can of worms.

I’m always a little disappointed to see a wreck involve someone that it didn’t have to. If anyone’s going to get hit, it should be the guilty party, not some random stranger who had nothing to do with it. I know that’s a cold thing to say in cases like this where you’re talking about a squishy, unprotected human body. But people really need to step up and take responsibility for their own actions. I can’t help but wonder where the jaywalker is now. Did she even bother stopping to assist and apologize?

Honeybunchesofgoats > Urambo Tauro
08/01/2017 at 10:24

So, she actually stood there at the scene of the accident for about five minutes talking about how the woman in the Kia was speeding and she did nothing wrong by entering the intersection.

This one lady who was on the same bus as her and saw it happened nearly kicked the shit out of her. Once you could hear the sirens, the jaywalker walked off. The other lady stayed with the Kia driver and kept telling the police she thought she knew where the jaywalker worked and would ID her.

She also turned to me and said “I couldn’t never be a cop, because I’d kick the shit out of that bitch.”

She was a pretty cool lady.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Urambo Tauro
08/01/2017 at 10:31

Is a human worth less because they have a metal cage around them? Apparently some people think so. They’re wrong. The opposite is also true. At the end of the day it’s life/life or life/2 lives.

I’m with you wondering where the jaywalker is. Doubt if he’d stick around. I can only hope he slunk off feeling like a worm rather than feeling indifferent.

Honeybunchesofgoats > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
08/01/2017 at 10:33

She actually stood around and tried to blame the Kia driver (while the Kia driver was slumped against a pole in tears). See my Urambo above.

Urambo Tauro > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
08/01/2017 at 10:35

I’m with you wondering where the jaywalker is. Doubt if he’d stick around. I can only hope he slunk off feeling like a worm rather than feeling indifferent.

Check out Honeybunchesofgoats’s reply above.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Honeybunchesofgoats
08/01/2017 at 10:37

Self-righteous, too... what a dipshit. Obviously her own BS was too much for even her to believe though or she’d have stuck around.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > fintail
08/01/2017 at 10:40

Seems to me the surest way to see spectacular stuff is not to have a dashcam. The most bizarre stuff seems to happen when I don’t have mine running, or if I’m with somebody else who doesn’t have one, or happens behind me (no rear camera).

In the long run that’s a bonus, though, if more boring...

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Urambo Tauro
08/01/2017 at 10:42

I actually saw that after I replied. What a self-righteous dipshit.

I’m thinking the other lady off the bus would have stopped her leaving if she could trust herself not to remove some teeth in the process :)

Honeybunchesofgoats > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
08/01/2017 at 10:42

You have to sort of just take solace in that fact that the sort of person who nearly gets three people killed and then stands around next to one of them and lays blame probably isn’t going places in life.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Honeybunchesofgoats
08/01/2017 at 10:43

Yeah, I caught that after posting. My head is still shaking all on it’s own.

Out, but with a W - has found the answer > Honeybunchesofgoats
08/01/2017 at 10:45

Who ever thought it was a good idea to put a bus stop right at an intersection in the middle of a 50+ mph road?

As far as the not wearing a seatbelt goes: airbags in the US are designed for people not wearing one, as opposed to those in Europe, so that might have helped.

victor > Honeybunchesofgoats
08/01/2017 at 10:52

That’s just to prevent pollution from flowing into the drainage and slick stuff from spreading all over the roadway

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Honeybunchesofgoats
08/01/2017 at 10:53

I have to say, one thing that always runs through my head when I see people like this... Do they HAVE a drivers license? Do they have the barest idea of how a car works, and the principles of physics that apply to it?

I know the current politics say “you don’t need to drive we’ve got too many cars ride a bike or walk etc etc etc” but I really think everyone should have to drive at least once. ONCE. You don’t need to buy a car, or even drive ever again in your life... but just a little experience in an instructor car would give MOST of them a little more respect for the roads.

Rico > Honeybunchesofgoats
08/01/2017 at 10:57

What about the jaywalker? Anyone grab them up or what?

Honeybunchesofgoats > Rico
08/01/2017 at 11:20

Sadly, no. I think we were all a bit confused about what her legal culpability was there. Except for the lady who wanted to murder her face, she seemed pretty confident.

functionoverfashion > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
08/01/2017 at 11:21

It sounds cold, I know, but in most situations I would have rather seen the Kia driver just brake as hard as possible and take the jaywalker.

This is one of the biggest problems facing autonomous vehicles - at least one of the trickiest things to navigate, anyway. I’ve read a fair amount about how they’re teaching cars to make such decisions... it’s fascinating.

fintail > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
08/01/2017 at 13:10

Good point, boring cam clips or crashes not on cam. The former is probably better.

I run front and rear cams - rear enders worry me a little, especially in this oblivious/distracted area.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > fintail
08/01/2017 at 13:19

I’ve seen a few things recently that make me want a rear cam... such as a guy driving down the sidewalk looking for a place to jump into traffic. And then, because he was going the wrong way, having to pull a three-point turn to go where he wanted.

But I can barely keep up with checking my front footage. So I’m not going to get one. Besides, $$$.

fintail > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
08/01/2017 at 14:06

I’m more leery of legal issues from a rear end crash.

I have a Blackvue setup, which wasn’t the cheapest, but 2.5 years later, it works with no real issues. I bought a cheapo unit to run in the old car, it failed the first day.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > fintail
08/01/2017 at 14:12

Around here, if you rear-end someone, you’re pretty much screwed before you start, so it’s not really an issue. Basically if you can’t prove the other guy did something stupid in front of you, you’re at fault.

I get what you’re saying though.

fintail > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
08/01/2017 at 15:53

I’d be leery of the “he reversed into me” lie, or something like that, and with all due respect to LEOs, I don’t have 100% faith in accident investigations.