Another distracted driver

As others have said, definitely must "clear the intersection" before proceeding. I always count 1-2-3 after the vehicle ahead of me starts to move before proceeding and look left-right-left to verify the intersection is clear and safe to proceed. If a vehicle is blocking my view of an intersection, I wait until I reestablish a clear view instead of blindly proceeding. Never want to be on the wrong side of a T-bone type accident like the white car in this video.

 

How can you tell based on the limited information available?

How do you know no one bothered to check on injuries? For all we know there was already a first responder convention on the side of the road right there. Or who knows how many people coming the other way DID stop?

I'm no paramedic, If I didn't witness the accident (which can happen even if you are right there), and others are stopping to call it in or assist in someway, I keep on moving. No use adding to the problem by stopping just so I can call myself a Samaritan.

 

I was able to count to six after the light turned green before the truck hit the second car. Now if the car had floored it just as the light turned green it would have got through the intersection before the accident! I have taught quite a number of people to drive and I have always told them to check the cross traffic no matter how long the light had been green. With the advent of cell phones things have gotten worse now. One of the harder parts of driving a truck is you have to pay attention 100% of the time, I am not sure how that can be taught.

 

Dodge Street accident?

I'm thinking it was more Ram Street accident... not much Dodging going on there.

 

Welcome to the me,me,me I shall NOT be inconvenienced, world we live in. Nice, isn't it?

 

Wow, I wonder what he was doing that was more important than driving?

That white car took quite a hit, I hope he was ok. When the car left the frame, it was going at quite a clip - hopefully there wasn't more carnage off camera.

 

That driver didn't look like intended on stopping. Didn't even slow down after hitting first one didn't even look to be in the process of slowing down. I hope he did and the 4 wheelers are ok.
I am surprised no one stopped to get pics for FB.

 

After watching the first few seconds of the video I have a theory what happened here, and I think it may be tied to one of those "fast yellow" lights many municipalities are installing.

At the start of the video the light goes from red to green for the cars that enter the intersection. By that moment the truck (likely loaded heavy) has reached the point of needing to either commit to running through the intersection or be ready to put on the brakes hard. When you get a yellow light that is short lived and immediately goes to red (and then immediately to green for traffic that will cross your path) this is a deadly situation for a truck driver.

Stale green lights are always to be considered a hazard. When I approach a stale green light I downshift to get into higher rpm's and turn on the jakes to maximum setting. This way if I reach that "point of commitment" and the light goes yellow on me I have a better chance of slowing to a stop before entering the intersection, with the full jakes helping slow me down.

I'll be the first to admit that I've been caught by "quick lights" on many an occasion, getting just past that point of commitment only to have the light go to yellow as I enter the intersection then immediately turn to red before I've gone even halfway across the intersection.

IMHO there should be a federal standard that prevents municipalities from having "fast lights". This was possibly a contributing factor in this accident.

 

Oh, I don't know, Lepton. I've been caught like what you describe, only a lot closer to the light. I tried to measure the distance, and it's over 10 car lengths and his light was red before he was barely even in view of the camera, so he had to be going at least 50 and he didn't even attempt to slow down, as even after the impact, and if he was loaded, you'd still see smoke from the trailer brakes. Also, looks like early morning, so he could have been sleeping. Like others have said, I'm sure there's several people that were there, that will never trust a green light again

 

I was going by watching the entire video to the end, especially the several cars going the opposite direction of the semi that slowly weaved around
the debris, then kept right on going. I dunno, my faith in humanity these days isn't full of optimism just from daily experiences.

I also am not an EMT, but HAVE taken several CPR and first responder classes over the years, just SO if I happened to encounter a situation such as this, I might, possibly be able to render some assistance if no one of more skills were available. Your mileage may vary......


ETA: I also keep a pretty well stocked FAK (first aid kit) in both my semi AND my personal vehicle that (along with my training) allow me to deal with anything from a "booboo" or bug sting up to and including a GSW. NOT to "fix" them per se, but to stabilize them until someone who can "fix" them arrives....