Anonymous wrote:His parents enabled him with that car. He should have been driving a 100hp, 15 year-old Camry after two previous reckless driving auto incidents that his parents obviously got him out of with a traffic lawyer.

I wish it was possible to punish his enabling parents.

That said, there's LOTS of assholes racing sportcars on River Road and Massachuetts Ave in Bethesdat and Potomac.

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/bmw-driver-who-was-going-115-mph-to-plead-guilty-in-deadly-bethesda-crash/2016/07/13/b503b30a-4750-11e6-acbc-4d4870a079da_story.html?tid=sm_tw_pl&wprss=rss_crime

BMW driver to plead guilty, going 115 miles per hour.

Anonymous wrote:His parents enabled him with that car. He should have been driving a 100hp, 15 year-old Camry after two previous reckless driving auto incidents that his parents obviously got him out of with a traffic lawyer.

I wish it was possible to punish his enabling parents.

That said, there's LOTS of assholes racing sportcars on River Road and Massachuetts Ave in Bethesdat and Potomac.

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/bmw-driver-who-was-going-115-mph-to-plead-guilty-in-deadly-bethesda-crash/2016/07/13/b503b30a-4750-11e6-acbc-4d4870a079da_story.html?tid=sm_tw_pl&wprss=rss_crime

BMW driver to plead guilty, going 115 miles per hour.

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/bmw-driver-who-was-going-115-mph-to-plead-guilty-in-deadly-bethesda-crash/2016/07/13/b503b30a-4750-11e6-acbc-4d4870a079da_story.html?tid=sm_tw_pl&wprss=rss_crime

BMW driver to plead guilty, going 115 miles per hour.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having been in a similar accident (hit while turning left across traffic on a busy street), my own experience was that the other driver's conduct - speed, distraction, etc - was immaterial from the point of view of the law. The driver who is turning into traffic is the one responsible for making sure that conditions are safe to do so (as the PP said, an absolute duty to yield).

Our car was hit broadside by a driver as we crossed Conn Ave, and the police filed a citation against me within hours for a reckless turn (or some such language.) When I questioned whether they had looked to see if the other driver was speeding or using a cell phone, they said that the law made any other factors irrelevant. The citation was effectively automatic.

I don't know if this is how it will play out in the River Road crash, but I know that I never ever forget that it's MY responsibility to only pull into a lane of traffic when it is absolutely safe to do so. No one was hurt in my accident, but that was only good fortune on my part.

I'm so glad that you weren't hurt.

For the first few weeks, all I focused on was how lucky I was that my kids were OK - the impact occurred at the rear passenger side door, where my then-not-quite 2yo was strapped into his car seat. It slowly dawned on me how devastating it would have been to have been responsible for someone else's injury or god forbid worse. I try to remind myself now every time I get behind the wheel that I'm responsible for the safety of my family/passengers but also for that of others on the road -- even if they might be driving imperfectly themselves. And whenever I see a crash or read about a tragedy like River Road, I remember that it could happen to me or someone I care about. Drive safe everyone.

Most common accidents are rarely due one driver's mistake, the blame usually goes to who was most at fault. Driving defensively and anticipating what might be the worst case scenario that the other driver might do avoids accidents.


I have taken the online refreshers course that one takes to keep points off of your record (stopped for a California roll at a stop sign when nobody (except a hidden police car ) was around. Anyway....I am actually very grateful for that online course. I took driver's ed in a small town 35 years ago. And even though I am a skilled driver and don't speed, I learned a lot from that course -- mainly the importance of DEFENSIVE driving. This wasn't the focus so much 35 years ago in an area with little traffic. But all the information about potential accident avoidance really affected my speed, distance between cars, and anticipation of cars in blind spots and in alleys etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having been in a similar accident (hit while turning left across traffic on a busy street), my own experience was that the other driver's conduct - speed, distraction, etc - was immaterial from the point of view of the law. The driver who is turning into traffic is the one responsible for making sure that conditions are safe to do so (as the PP said, an absolute duty to yield).

Our car was hit broadside by a driver as we crossed Conn Ave, and the police filed a citation against me within hours for a reckless turn (or some such language.) When I questioned whether they had looked to see if the other driver was speeding or using a cell phone, they said that the law made any other factors irrelevant. The citation was effectively automatic.

I don't know if this is how it will play out in the River Road crash, but I know that I never ever forget that it's MY responsibility to only pull into a lane of traffic when it is absolutely safe to do so. No one was hurt in my accident, but that was only good fortune on my part.

I'm so glad that you weren't hurt.

For the first few weeks, all I focused on was how lucky I was that my kids were OK - the impact occurred at the rear passenger side door, where my then-not-quite 2yo was strapped into his car seat. It slowly dawned on me how devastating it would have been to have been responsible for someone else's injury or god forbid worse. I try to remind myself now every time I get behind the wheel that I'm responsible for the safety of my family/passengers but also for that of others on the road -- even if they might be driving imperfectly themselves. And whenever I see a crash or read about a tragedy like River Road, I remember that it could happen to me or someone I care about. Drive safe everyone.