3 killed in crash on River Road

[Anonymous]

I'm not familiar with this road but if there was a larger vehicle in the left turn lane waiting to turn from the opposite direction, that could have blocked the driver's view of oncoming traffic. He/she pulled out in front of an oncoming car because he/she literally did not see it coming.

[Anonymous]

You Americans choose this level of car deaths, just as you chose your level of gun deaths.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/02/economist-explains-16

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope it wasn't teenagers..

Sadly, it was. I spoke with someone who spoke to a witness at the scene who saw it all happen. Car full of 4 young people on River Road inbound (to DC) in the lane to make a left turn. The car sat there even though there was room to make the left, then finally when teh car DID make the left, it was directly in front of an oncoming vehicle. Speculation is that the 4 young people were headed to the play at Whitman tonight.

I don't know if the 3 fatalities were in that car, but the information I have is the car ended up in the ditch, all airbags deployed, and people on the scene (before EMS arrived) were unable to get the passengers out. The jaws of life were used to finally extricate them.

Jesus. Why would the car make a left right in front of oncoming traffic? I could see a young driver distracted by passengers/texting/whatever. Or a young driver hesitant to make the left, and getting goaded either by passengers or an inpatient driver behind honking and then panicking and pulling out. Tragic.

Our teen does that to us all the time while we are driving - goads us to run red lights and turn inappropriately. No matter how many times you tell her she doesn't get it. Her ignorance is frightening . The teen brain is something.
But I thought teens couldn't legally be in the same car if there's a teen driver?

I don't know what the law is, but I'm sure people break the rules all the time.

I've seen people make left turns and have near misses all the time. Immaturity, impatience, who knows. It is frightening. In the case of your teen, I would go for a scared straight tactic, and fast.

We're too scared to let her drive yet - giving her some more time to mature.

[Anonymous]

Common sense car control NOW.

[Anonymous]

Someone wrote this in the comment section of WaPo.

"...I was able to talk to a woman who was stopped on Pyle at the stop sign waiting to cross River and turn left to go into DC and saw the whole thing.

A car with 4 Whitman students was coming south on River, wanting to turn left to cross the northbound side of River onto Pyle and go on to Whitman, which was having a play. A northbound car from DC was approaching that intersection. The car in the median was waiting and waiting and waiting for the northbound car to pass so it could turn onto Pyle when it suddenly decided to cross in front of the north bound car. The northbound car hit the crossing car full on at the passenger side with that car winding up in the ditch maybe 25 feet north of the Pyle/River intersection. The driver of the northbound car was hurt maybe just slightly.

There was another car waiting at the Pyle stop sign in front of the woman I talked to. The driver of that front car called 911. The woman I talked to got out her car and went to the wrecked car, could not get the doors open. All the airbags had deployed. Soon the police arrived, then the fire equipment. They had to use the Jaws of Life to cut the four students out of the car. They were all taken to Suburban Hospital.

Very sad, about as bad as the accident in September 1994 at River and Wilson that killed 2 out of 4 Whitman students in a BMW...."

[Anonymous]

Tweet from Whitman Principal:

Tragic update. Whitman family in car accident on River RD. Three fatalities. Names pending police report. One student in critical condition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You Americans choose this level of car deaths, just as you chose your level of gun deaths.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/02/economist-explains-16

Sounds like Sweeden does a great job with managing the roads. Now maybe they can work on empathy. A kind word would have been nice. Imagine if one of those children were yours!!! Jesus!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone wrote this in the comment section of WaPo.

"...I was able to talk to a woman who was stopped on Pyle at the stop sign waiting to cross River and turn left to go into DC and saw the whole thing.

A car with 4 Whitman students was coming south on River, wanting to turn left to cross the northbound side of River onto Pyle and go on to Whitman, which was having a play. A northbound car from DC was approaching that intersection. The car in the median was waiting and waiting and waiting for the northbound car to pass so it could turn onto Pyle when it suddenly decided to cross in front of the north bound car. The northbound car hit the crossing car full on at the passenger side with that car winding up in the ditch maybe 25 feet north of the Pyle/River intersection. The driver of the northbound car was hurt maybe just slightly.

There was another car waiting at the Pyle stop sign in front of the woman I talked to. The driver of that front car called 911. The woman I talked to got out her car and went to the wrecked car, could not get the doors open. All the airbags had deployed. Soon the police arrived, then the fire equipment. They had to use the Jaws of Life to cut the four students out of the car. They were all taken to Suburban Hospital.

Very sad, about as bad as the accident in September 1994 at River and Wilson that killed 2 out of 4 Whitman students in a BMW...."

Oh just horrible. Poor babies

[Anonymous]

I know this intersection well. The oncoming traffic is easily visible as it's a long slope down towards the driver. My guess is the driver was distracted, then when they finally got to making the turn, they looked just towards the top of the hill since that's where you'd normally look to see if the road is clear... but failed to look right in front of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tweet from Whitman Principal:

Tragic update. Whitman family in car accident on River RD. Three fatalities. Names pending police report. One student in critical condition

Oh god.

[Anonymous]

Just received this e-mail from school.

Tonight there was a tragic accident on River Road involving a Whitman family. There were three fatalities and one student is in critical condition. Release of names pending police notification to relatives. Sad, sad times.

[Anonymous]

I still remember this Mm who did that, made a left turn in front it failed to see a dump truck and her daughter and 2 teen girl friends going to cheerleading ?) were killed. Now that Im a Mom I wait forever to do a left turn, it is really hard to judge the speed if the other car. That incident happened years ago in Virginia and it lodged in my mind. I can't imagine the guilt, despair, regret, agony that Mom must have felt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You Americans choose this level of car deaths, just as you chose your level of gun deaths.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/02/economist-explains-16

Sounds like Sweeden does a great job with managing the roads. Now maybe they can work on empathy. A kind word would have been nice. Imagine if one of those children were yours!!! Jesus!

You should be angry. You should do something about it.

[Anonymous]

It appears none of the fatalities were students. Tweet from the Black & White.

Three people died in a car crash tonight near the Pyle Road back entrance to Whitman. No Whitman students were among them; River closed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It appears none of the fatalities were students. Tweet from the Black & White.

Three people died in a car crash tonight near the Pyle Road back entrance to Whitman. No Whitman students were among them; River closed.

Tweet has since been deleted.