3 killed in crash on River Road

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you guys make of the eye witness account listed under Washington Post Comments about this incidence. It's not really eye witness but more hearsay because it is repeated from the person behind the car stopped at intersection. It was one of the first comments made and it goes into great detail over the supposed order of events. Do you think it's real? It puts all blame on the victims.

I couldn't find this, PP. Is it gone now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you guys make of the eye witness account listed under Washington Post Comments about this incidence. It's not really eye witness but more hearsay because it is repeated from the person behind the car stopped at intersection. It was one of the first comments made and it goes into great detail over the supposed order of events. Do you think it's real? It puts all blame on the victims.

I couldn't find this, PP. Is it gone now?

The comment is reported on page 2 of this thread.

Considering it starts by stating there were 4 students in the car, I'd say it isn't very reliable.

[Anonymous]

Latest from Principal.

Tonight we are having a candlelight vigil at 7:00 in the front of the school to share sorrow and offer hope for Helena. Please bring a candle. Tomorrow there will be counselors at the school to assist students and staff. I implore you to counsel your children to be very careful if they visit the site of the crash because it is a dangerous intersection for cars and pedestrians.
A phone message from me that just went out apparently had a robotic voice conveying my message, followed by my delivery of the message. I do not know why that happened, and I apologize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The BMW M235 is advertised as being able to go from 0-60 in 4.4 seconds.

And I'm sure he has a good job to pay for this car, plus his earlier fines, court fees etc. (sarcasm) Entitlement and a love of speed are a bad combo. Whatever happened, I hope there were witnesses to clarify the sequence of events. Since it happened at 7pm, this seems probable. It's easy to make assumptions based on some of the info here--clearly I'm inclined to--but more verifiable info will likely come to light in the near future.

[Anonymous]

I think a lot of posters here find the idea of a teenager making a mistake like this easier to deal with mentally than a parent making a mistake like this. But that urge shouldn't let us ruin someone's name before the facts are out.

It's a tragedy either way

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Latest from Principal.

Tonight we are having a candlelight vigil at 7:00 in the front of the school to share sorrow and offer hope for Helena. Please bring a candle. Tomorrow there will be counselors at the school to assist students and staff. I implore you to counsel your children to be very careful if they visit the site of the crash because it is a dangerous intersection for cars and pedestrians.
A phone message from me that just went out apparently had a robotic voice conveying my message, followed by my delivery of the message. I do not know why that happened, and I apologize.

Thank you for sharing this. It speaks well of the principal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think a lot of posters here find the idea of a teenager making a mistake like this easier to deal with mentally than a parent making a mistake like this. But that urge shouldn't let us ruin someone's name before the facts are out.

It's a tragedy either way

Who's name is ruined?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I make that left turn five days a week and if a car is in front of you turning left on to Braeburn Parkway as was the case in this accident, YOU CANNOT SEE oncoming traffic. It is so dangerous for both experienced and inexperienced drivers. It unfortunately was a tragic you waiting to happen.

If you can't see, you don't go. Period. You don't guess, or hope, or make a run for it. You sit there until you can see. I make a daily left turn off Route 28 that is similarly hopeless in terms of line of sight if a car is waiting to turn left from the other side, and I have sat there for upwards of 5 minutes before, waiting to be able to see a gap. It's annoying as all get-out, but when traffic is coming toward you at 50+ mph (speed limit is 40 but is routinely ignored), you can't afford to guess.

Yup. Same here. And I have sat there even when some asshole behind me has crawled up my bumper and laid on the horn. I will put the car in park and put on my flashers before I'll let someone bully me into making a turn.

What are you trying to accomplish by doing that? Have the car go around you and crash? Just ignore and wait until safe

While I've never taken the approach of putting my flashers on and putting it in park, I think it's a perfectly acceptable way to keep yourself safe if being bullied into a turn with high speed oncoming traffic. And if the bully wants to take matters into his own hands and risk going around you to turn, that's up to him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think a lot of posters here find the idea of a teenager making a mistake like this easier to deal with mentally than a parent making a mistake like this. But that urge shouldn't let us ruin someone's name before the facts are out.

It's a tragedy either way

Who's name is ruined?

The driver of the BMW has been named and his driving record posted appoint with a lot of commentary about how he shouldn't have had a license and this was his fault

[Anonymous]

The problem is that putting on your flashers indicates a disabled car, thus suggesting the car behind doesn't have a choice but to make a dangerous maneuver. Bad idea and an inappropriate one even with an annoying driver pressuring you to make the turn. Just ignore them.

[Anonymous]

I usually don't think about these awful stories too much -- but how will this poor girl ever recover mentally? She lost both parents and brother in an instant. Where does she go when she's out of the hospital? How does she go back to school? Does she even get to go back if it turns out that there are relatives who'll take her but they live elsewhere -- the dad appears to be a NY atty so maybe their extended family is in NY. And then going to a new community and explaining over and over about her parents and brother??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I make that left turn five days a week and if a car is in front of you turning left on to Braeburn Parkway as was the case in this accident, YOU CANNOT SEE oncoming traffic. It is so dangerous for both experienced and inexperienced drivers. It unfortunately was a tragic you waiting to happen.

If you can't see, you don't go. Period. You don't guess, or hope, or make a run for it. You sit there until you can see. I make a daily left turn off Route 28 that is similarly hopeless in terms of line of sight if a car is waiting to turn left from the other side, and I have sat there for upwards of 5 minutes before, waiting to be able to see a gap. It's annoying as all get-out, but when traffic is coming toward you at 50+ mph (speed limit is 40 but is routinely ignored), you can't afford to guess.

Yup. Same here. And I have sat there even when some asshole behind me has crawled up my bumper and laid on the horn. I will put the car in park and put on my flashers before I'll let someone bully me into making a turn.

What are you trying to accomplish by doing that? Have the car go around you and crash? Just ignore and wait until safe

While I've never taken the approach of putting my flashers on and putting it in park, I think it's a perfectly acceptable way to keep yourself safe if being bullied into a turn with high speed oncoming traffic. And if the bully wants to take matters into his own hands and risk going around you to turn, that's up to him.

Both people in a situation like this ate acting dangerously (the bully and the person creating a long line of traffic because they don't know how to merge properly). But it certainly seems in bad taste to turn this tragedy into a driving style argument.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you guys make of the eye witness account listed under Washington Post Comments about this incidence. It's not really eye witness but more hearsay because it is repeated from the person behind the car stopped at intersection. It was one of the first comments made and it goes into great detail over the supposed order of events. Do you think it's real? It puts all blame on the victims.

Unless the family had a left turn arrow, and the BMW driver ran a red light, how would the family not be at fault? Without a green arrow to turn, the person crossing the intersection must always yield to oncoming traffic. No matter the speed of oncoming traffic.

[Anonymous]

Flashers yes but putting a car in park makes no sense as a driver could lose precious time if he/she had to move -- a car losing control and coming at you for instance. The driver behind you wouldn't know the car is in park. The flashers are enough/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I make that left turn five days a week and if a car is in front of you turning left on to Braeburn Parkway as was the case in this accident, YOU CANNOT SEE oncoming traffic. It is so dangerous for both experienced and inexperienced drivers. It unfortunately was a tragic you waiting to happen.

If you can't see, you don't go. Period. You don't guess, or hope, or make a run for it. You sit there until you can see. I make a daily left turn off Route 28 that is similarly hopeless in terms of line of sight if a car is waiting to turn left from the other side, and I have sat there for upwards of 5 minutes before, waiting to be able to see a gap. It's annoying as all get-out, but when traffic is coming toward you at 50+ mph (speed limit is 40 but is routinely ignored), you can't afford to guess.

Yup. Same here. And I have sat there even when some asshole behind me has crawled up my bumper and laid on the horn. I will put the car in park and put on my flashers before I'll let someone bully me into making a turn.

What are you trying to accomplish by doing that? Have the car go around you and crash? Just ignore and wait until safe

While I've never taken the approach of putting my flashers on and putting it in park, I think it's a perfectly acceptable way to keep yourself safe if being bullied into a turn with high speed oncoming traffic. And if the bully wants to take matters into his own hands and risk going around you to turn, that's up to him.

If you are not capable of ignoring distractions when driving then you should not be driving. Creating an unnecessary hazard is ridiculous.