Oakton crash

[Anonymous]

There is absolutely no situation in which the teen driver is not wrong, but whether the 4runner is completely right or not is TBD. All information heard so far are about the teen driver, some facts provided by the media, some rumors. There is virtually no info about how the 4Runner behaved. I think it is totally fair to ask the question of whether the 4Runner had a bad judgement moment and put the BMW in an even more dangerous situation, leading to this tragic result. The BMW’s speeding and the 4Runner’s making an unsafe left are not exclusive of each other. I live in this neighborhood and drive on Blake ln every single day. I’ve witnessed people turning left recklessly, and was almost Tboned by a girl trying to make a hasty left turn out of one of the side ways. Yes speeding is wrong, but people also need to learn to make a safe left too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Y'all need to look at the news reports about this accident. That Toyota was barely turning, as evidenced by where it is stopped. Additionally, the Toyota was hit on the driver's side/mid point of the vehicle, which would mean it hadn't yet fully turned into the intersection (or it would have been hit on the passenger side).

The kids all know who the driver is. He's a senior, and his IG is full of fast cars. He needs to go to jail. And the additional unfortunate circumstance is that the girl in the hospital is a sibling of one of those who died.

This is incredibly tragic, shouldn't have happened, and the kid who is responsible needs to pay for it.

The article says the 4runner was turning left. How did the driver's side get hit?

Exactly. He was starting to make the turn after waiting for the girls to cross the road. Where the car was hit by oncoming BMW (drivers/mid) suggests he must have been barely into the turn.

[Anonymous]

it's honestly hard for me to believe all the people here trying to make excuses for the BMW driver or lamenting what their life will be. I can only imagine it's because some people can easily imagine their boneheaded children doing the same thing. In which case--DO NOT GIVE THEM A VEHICLE. This is not hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure the parents are scrambling to protect themselves - creating a trust, moving assests offshore accounts, maybe even filing for divorce.

It can be clawed back. The court system isn’t stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I still feel bad for the 18 year old, he was going to go to college in the fall, now he will have to spend time in the court house. Its sad for ALL

That will be incredibly boring and frustrating, right?

I mean, what a way to waste your time and a great season like FALL!

About the only thing that would be worse is if... you had to spend all of fall (and all of eternity) in a casket underground or in an urn. But, yes, it's tragic that the BMW driver will have to put his life on hold for awhile. All the plans he made -- poof!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still feel bad for the 18 year old, he was going to go to college in the fall, now he will have to spend time in the court house. Its sad for ALL

That will be incredibly boring and frustrating, right?

I mean, what a way to waste your time and a great season like FALL!

About the only thing that would be worse is if... you had to spend all of fall (and all of eternity) in a casket underground or in an urn. But, yes, it's tragic that the BMW driver will have to put his life on hold for awhile. All the plans he made -- poof!

+1 (million)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As of its 5:22 p.m. update, the Post is identifying the teen pedestrians as Oakton HS students. Here is part of that article:

Two Oakton High School students were killed and another was critically injured Tuesday when two vehicles collided and spun out of control at an intersection where the youths were walking, Fairfax County police said.

The victims, all teenage girls, were a block from their school, police said. This is the final week of the school year at Oakton and Tuesday was an early-release day, with classes ending at 11:30 a.m., shortly before the fatal accident.

The crash occurred about 11:46 a.m. at Blake Lane and Five Oaks Road in the Oakton area, on the opposite side of Route 66 from the school, according to Maj. Eli Cory, a police spokesman. He said the three girls, whom he did not identify, were taken to a hospital, where authorities later said two of them were pronounced dead. He said the third student’s injuries were “life-threatening."


The driver and a passenger from one of the vehicles, who also are juveniles, were injured but not seriously, he said. It was unclear if they also went to Oakton.

Cory said a BMW was traveling south on Blake “at a very high rate of speed” while the driver of a Toyota 4Runner, headed north on Blake, was attempting to turn left onto Five Oaks. The BMW stuck the 4Runner, then “ricocheted off the side of the road, hit the three pedestrians, hit a pole on the side of the road and finally came to rest down the street,” he said.



The three girls were walking along Blake and had just crossed Five Oaks before the 4Runner’s driver tried to make the turn, Cory said.

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The article does continue after that but that's the gist of it. So sad about the students killed--we have dear friends with an Oakton grad this year and this is sickening.

Everyone harping on the BMW driver, sounds like 4Runner misjudged the timing needed for the left hand turn directly in front of the BMW. BMW had no time to stop - even if they weren't speeding.

I was wondering the same thing. I am unfamiliar with the intersection, so I did not know if the 4Runner misjudged the turn, or was waiting for the turn as the girls crossed the road, all looked clear and then the BMW came up really fast. Regardless, tragic for all involved.

I live near the area and I've used that intersection a lot (from the direction of the BMW) b/c my kid went to Mosby Woods (which is on Five Oaks). I drove on Blake today to get back home. I was in the traffic direction that the Toyota 4 Runner would have travelled (going north on Blake). I made a mental note of what the sight line is like for the Toyota as it prepared to turn left.

Basically, there is one block of visual sight line in the lane that the Toyota had to cross. So, the Toyota driver would have been able to see a block worth of traffic coming at him. And anyone coming south (such as the BMW) would have a full block view ahead toward the intersection of Black and Five Oaks. (prior to that, there is a bit of a dip/hill). Anyone driving south (such as the BMW) would have had one full block of driving time to slow down if a car was in the process of turning across its lane. If the BMW/south bound car was going 55 mph, there would be plenty of time to slow down significantly -- even if it made some impact.

The fact that the crash was SOOO forceful that the BMW ricocheted off, hit the girls and still had enough force to take out a wooden pole, suggests that the BMW had quite a bit of velocity heading into the crash. We know that the Toyota could not have been going very fast because it just started moving after a full stop. I would think the Toyota couldn't have been going more than 15 mph.

Accident reconstruction experts will determine how much speed the BMW had. But, if they had been speeding only 20 mph over the limit, there was enough time (based on the sightline) to slow down or stop.

I know a member of the VA State Trooper's accident reconstruction team. They are always clear that what you think you know from a glance at the scene of the accident is often not an accurate accounting of what took place.

They are trained to slowly and painstakingly reconstruct the scene of the accident. It's a difficult job and I thank all of those who take it on. Imagine the images they see and live with, all so that justice can be served.

We can guess all we want. It amounts to just that, a guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Y'all need to look at the news reports about this accident. That Toyota was barely turning, as evidenced by where it is stopped. Additionally, the Toyota was hit on the driver's side/mid point of the vehicle, which would mean it hadn't yet fully turned into the intersection (or it would have been hit on the passenger side).

The kids all know who the driver is. He's a senior, and his IG is full of fast cars. He needs to go to jail. And the additional unfortunate circumstance is that the girl in the hospital is a sibling of one of those who died.

This is incredibly tragic, shouldn't have happened, and the kid who is responsible needs to pay for it.

Agree. It’s baffling how eager parents are to get their teen behind the wheel.

[Anonymous]

I can't stop thinking about this horrible tragedy. Does anyone know if the 3rd girl is stable and/or improving?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't stop thinking about this horrible tragedy. Does anyone know if the 3rd girl is stable and/or improving?

In the gofundme, her brother said she is recovering with serious injuries. Haven't heard anything beyond that.

Hi everyone, my name is Marlon Marquez as some of you might know there was a crash yesterday 6-7-22, which included 3 Oakton high school students. 3 best friends who went to school that morning excited for an early dismissal but were met with a terrible tragedy on their way back home as they were struck in the side walk, by an irresponsible driver whom was speeding right outside a school zone. Two of the girls which included my sister and cousin, my sister is recovering with bad injuries, however my cousin Ada Gabriela has sadly passed away. I’m creating this fundraiser to help my aunt cover funeral expenses and other expenses she might need during this hard time. I thank all of you and ask you to keep my family in prayers, god bless.

[Anonymous]

FOX did an update this morning saying the 3rd girl is expected to survive. Thank goodness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blake lane has a 35 MPH speed limit but people regularly go 50 to 55 MPH. I was ticketed going 50 on Blake without even trying. I betting it was the rain and the BMW hydroplaned after the afternoon storm. Sad news for the kids. Oakton HS is my base school.

Congrats on regularly speeding near a school.

+1000

I hope the PP thinks twice before doing it again. Just because others do it doesn’t make it right. Goodness gracious.

NP here - are you familiar with Blake Lane? It's a 4-lane divided road - it's one of those places where it "feels" like the speed limit should be 45. And the school is nearby, not directly on Blake Lane. Please note - NONE of this excuses the reckless driving, but just pointing out - if you didn't know the school, you probably wouldn't know it was nearby.

Hmm.. to anyone who actually LIVES along Blake Lane, it sure doesn't "feel" like a 45 mph. It "feels" to me like my residential neighborhood where people need to effing slow down. Nothing bad will happen if it takes you a few more minutes to get to Chik-Fila. We are all responsible for creating a safe environment.

I live near this road too and I am amazed at the number of accidents that occur along it. It definitely needs traffic calming measures weather that means more lights and timing them so that you have to to stop every block or so in a way that forces drivers to think about another route if they are in a hurry (Vienna clearly does this and the effect I don’t drive through unless I absolutely have too.) or planting trees in the median which has been shown to gsr people to slow down. Look less like a highway and more like a neighborhood road.

Personally, I’m hoping that 66 construction completion will encourage more people to not cut through on Blake to Jermantown on the way to somewhere else.

The traffic is so bad on that road and with new development at the AT&T site it’s only going to get worse.

The community can petition for speed bumps.

We can't. VDOT only allows speed bumps on a road 25 mph or less, Blake is 35 mph in this area. We'd first have to petition VDOT to lower the speed limit, which I believe they will be extremely reluctant to do. If they did, they could install speed bumps or roundabouts (or more signals, as proposed above). But they'd first have to lower the speed limit. I think that's a great idea, but it's going to be a tough sell and require a TON of community support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As of its 5:22 p.m. update, the Post is identifying the teen pedestrians as Oakton HS students. Here is part of that article:

Two Oakton High School students were killed and another was critically injured Tuesday when two vehicles collided and spun out of control at an intersection where the youths were walking, Fairfax County police said.

The victims, all teenage girls, were a block from their school, police said. This is the final week of the school year at Oakton and Tuesday was an early-release day, with classes ending at 11:30 a.m., shortly before the fatal accident.

The crash occurred about 11:46 a.m. at Blake Lane and Five Oaks Road in the Oakton area, on the opposite side of Route 66 from the school, according to Maj. Eli Cory, a police spokesman. He said the three girls, whom he did not identify, were taken to a hospital, where authorities later said two of them were pronounced dead. He said the third student’s injuries were “life-threatening."


The driver and a passenger from one of the vehicles, who also are juveniles, were injured but not seriously, he said. It was unclear if they also went to Oakton.

Cory said a BMW was traveling south on Blake “at a very high rate of speed” while the driver of a Toyota 4Runner, headed north on Blake, was attempting to turn left onto Five Oaks. The BMW stuck the 4Runner, then “ricocheted off the side of the road, hit the three pedestrians, hit a pole on the side of the road and finally came to rest down the street,” he said.



The three girls were walking along Blake and had just crossed Five Oaks before the 4Runner’s driver tried to make the turn, Cory said.

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The article does continue after that but that's the gist of it. So sad about the students killed--we have dear friends with an Oakton grad this year and this is sickening.

Everyone harping on the BMW driver, sounds like 4Runner misjudged the timing needed for the left hand turn directly in front of the BMW. BMW had no time to stop - even if they weren't speeding.

I was wondering the same thing. I am unfamiliar with the intersection, so I did not know if the 4Runner misjudged the turn, or was waiting for the turn as the girls crossed the road, all looked clear and then the BMW came up really fast. Regardless, tragic for all involved.

I live near the area and I've used that intersection a lot (from the direction of the BMW) b/c my kid went to Mosby Woods (which is on Five Oaks). I drove on Blake today to get back home. I was in the traffic direction that the Toyota 4 Runner would have travelled (going north on Blake). I made a mental note of what the sight line is like for the Toyota as it prepared to turn left.

Basically, there is one block of visual sight line in the lane that the Toyota had to cross. So, the Toyota driver would have been able to see a block worth of traffic coming at him. And anyone coming south (such as the BMW) would have a full block view ahead toward the intersection of Black and Five Oaks. (prior to that, there is a bit of a dip/hill). Anyone driving south (such as the BMW) would have had one full block of driving time to slow down if a car was in the process of turning across its lane. If the BMW/south bound car was going 55 mph, there would be plenty of time to slow down significantly -- even if it made some impact.

The fact that the crash was SOOO forceful that the BMW ricocheted off, hit the girls and still had enough force to take out a wooden pole, suggests that the BMW had quite a bit of velocity heading into the crash. We know that the Toyota could not have been going very fast because it just started moving after a full stop. I would think the Toyota couldn't have been going more than 15 mph.

Accident reconstruction experts will determine how much speed the BMW had. But, if they had been speeding only 20 mph over the limit, there was enough time (based on the sightline) to slow down or stop.

I know a member of the VA State Trooper's accident reconstruction team. They are always clear that what you think you know from a glance at the scene of the accident is often not an accurate accounting of what took place.

They are trained to slowly and painstakingly reconstruct the scene of the accident. It's a difficult job and I thank all of those who take it on. Imagine the images they see and live with, all so that justice can be served.

We can guess all we want. It amounts to just that, a guess.

Yes, we here on DCUM are not experts in accident reconstruction. We do have eyes.

The police seem to be focussing pretty squarely on the 18 yr old BMW driver. See the release below. They say:

"Details of the investigation will be presented to the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney to determine the appropriate charges on all parties involved. Once charged and arrested, the identity of the BMW driver will be released. "

https://fcpdnews.wordpress.com/2022/06/08/two-pedestrians-succumb-to-injuries-in-crash/

I mean -- the Fairfax County Police Dept. isn't saying "hold your judgment until we figure this out." They are clearly thinking about what charges can be made AGAINST THE BMW DRIVER, and not what charges can be made against the Toyota driver.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't stop thinking about this horrible tragedy. Does anyone know if the 3rd girl is stable and/or improving?

In the gofundme, her brother said she is recovering with serious injuries. Haven't heard anything beyond that.

Hi everyone, my name is Marlon Marquez as some of you might know there was a crash yesterday 6-7-22, which included 3 Oakton high school students. 3 best friends who went to school that morning excited for an early dismissal but were met with a terrible tragedy on their way back home as they were struck in the side walk, by an irresponsible driver whom was speeding right outside a school zone. Two of the girls which included my sister and cousin, my sister is recovering with bad injuries, however my cousin Ada Gabriela has sadly passed away. I’m creating this fundraiser to help my aunt cover funeral expenses and other expenses she might need during this hard time. I thank all of you and ask you to keep my family in prayers, god bless.

This is so sad that 2 girls are from the same family. I can’t imagine what they are going through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blake lane has a 35 MPH speed limit but people regularly go 50 to 55 MPH. I was ticketed going 50 on Blake without even trying. I betting it was the rain and the BMW hydroplaned after the afternoon storm. Sad news for the kids. Oakton HS is my base school.

Congrats on regularly speeding near a school.

+1000

I hope the PP thinks twice before doing it again. Just because others do it doesn’t make it right. Goodness gracious.

NP here - are you familiar with Blake Lane? It's a 4-lane divided road - it's one of those places where it "feels" like the speed limit should be 45. And the school is nearby, not directly on Blake Lane. Please note - NONE of this excuses the reckless driving, but just pointing out - if you didn't know the school, you probably wouldn't know it was nearby.

Hmm.. to anyone who actually LIVES along Blake Lane, it sure doesn't "feel" like a 45 mph. It "feels" to me like my residential neighborhood where people need to effing slow down. Nothing bad will happen if it takes you a few more minutes to get to Chik-Fila. We are all responsible for creating a safe environment.

I live near this road too and I am amazed at the number of accidents that occur along it. It definitely needs traffic calming measures weather that means more lights and timing them so that you have to to stop every block or so in a way that forces drivers to think about another route if they are in a hurry (Vienna clearly does this and the effect I don’t drive through unless I absolutely have too.) or planting trees in the median which has been shown to gsr people to slow down. Look less like a highway and more like a neighborhood road.

Personally, I’m hoping that 66 construction completion will encourage more people to not cut through on Blake to Jermantown on the way to somewhere else.

The traffic is so bad on that road and with new development at the AT&T site it’s only going to get worse.

The community can petition for speed bumps.

We can't. VDOT only allows speed bumps on a road 25 mph or less, Blake is 35 mph in this area. We'd first have to petition VDOT to lower the speed limit, which I believe they will be extremely reluctant to do. If they did, they could install speed bumps or roundabouts (or more signals, as proposed above). But they'd first have to lower the speed limit. I think that's a great idea, but it's going to be a tough sell and require a TON of community support.

People may routinely speed on Blake Lane going 10-20 miles over the speed limit. Obviously not good for those living around Blake Ln. But, those kinds of speeding ranges are NOT what caused the accident here. So, I feel like those wanting traffic calming on Blake shouldn't be using this situation to support their case. The level of speeding here was apparently FAR BEYOND whatever is normally happening on Blake.