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I've had this blowing up on social media and posted it on other forums, but in case you missed this, I had a massive accident on the way to the track on Friday and came very close to dying or at least heavily injured.
Reposting the recount, hopefully someone finds it useful as another reminder that towing is the most dangerous part of racing.
Pulled off to the shoulder on a freeway on-ramp to make sure the straps on the car didn't loosen up from all the stop and go traffic on the way to Chuckwalla.
Traffic on the freeway was crawling at 2-3 MPH and on ramp was empty when I stopped.
Turned the hazards on and quickly ran around the trailer to check the straps, gave the two rear straps one more click and was going back around the nose of the truck to get to my door.
As I get my hand on the door handle I look at the car coming down the on-ramp towards the freeway (it's a very long on-ramp) and saw that it's aimed at me and moving way too fast for someone that is about to merge onto a freeway that's almost standing still... I froze and thought "why isn't it moving towards traffic?!" ... the driver managed to miss a truck / trailer / racecar combo the size of a city block in broad daylight.
As the car came speeding towards me all I could think of was that I'll have to try and jump over the hood and maybe I'll manage to not get completely mowed down by the vehicle.. Scariest split second of my life.
I got lucky by mere inches, she clipped the rear corner of the trailer first, ripped the RF corner of the suspension, ground down the side of the trailer and then hit the truck hard right on the rear axle.
The car stopped maybe 4' from me, had she not hit the trailer first I might have hit my expiration date or at least injured really bad, she was probably going 45-50 MPH as she hit the trailer, but being a ~12K Lbs combo it slowed her down enough.
I was shaking too bad to even think straight let alone do anything useful, but thankfully the two cars that were behind her stopped to render assistance. The guy that was trying to help check on me and saw that I was okay other than the shaking, he tried to open the door of the other car but couldn't, eventually she unlocked the door and as he opened him she was crying hysterically and the first thing she did was to hand him.. HER LAPTOP.
I nearly died because the other driver was merging at 45-50 MPH into bumper to bumper crawling traffic while doing stuff on her f**king laptop.
Let that sink in for a sec, I know I'm still trying to digest that fact.
I'd like to thank everyone that rendered assistance, especially officer Jarvis from CHP who was there until it was all over and we got all the towing sorted out (not an easy task, given the setup and damage) and my buddy Kurt who came to help me with unloading the truck at the shop and take me home.
Let this be a good reminder about the dangers of distracted driving, feel free to share it to remind others.
I came out of this unscathed, but the aftermath could've been a lot worse if she was 6" off to left.
Stay safe out there, it's a crazy world we're living in.
Glad you are ok. All that machinery can be replaced, but you and your experience, knowledge, and what you will bring to the miata community in the future, cant be.
Glad you're okay. I'm not sure I would have been able to control my rage if that had happened to me and I saw my attempted killer step out of her car with a laptop in hand.
Glad you're okay. I'm not sure I would have been able to control my rage if that had happened to me and I saw my attempted killer step out of her car with a laptop in hand.
She didn't really step much, had to get a hospital trip in an Ambulance.
TBH I was in such shock I was unable to think straight, let alone do anything useful.. only a full day after did I realize I have none of her details.
My first thought after she came to a stop was that I need to call 911 and take pictures, so I opened the door and grabbed my phone from the center console but I was shaking so bad and my brain was so fried that I couldn't figure out how to get my phone out of the home screen and actually dial.
I'm normally somewhat calm but I would have felt terribly compelled to slam that computer on the ground several times and then stomp on it a few more. It wouldn't be the right thing to do but it would have been very tempting
Are we all just assuming that she was on it while driving? I mean sure it sounds TERRIBLY likely, but without proof isn't that kinda jumping the gun?
No, not really jumping the gun.
This is a very long on-ramp with a light in the entrance, releasing the cars one at a time during rush hour, so there was no one to even "compete" with on a spot.
The freeway was basically stopped, so there was no need to even accelerate, she could've just rolled down the ramp at 10 MPH and just joined the many lanes of parked traffic, yet instead she accelerated hard and proceeded to make no attempts at correcting her course or slow down, with plenty of time and distance to do both... I know because I was watching her barreling down the ramp towards me.
The guys in the car behind the her were the first ones to respond and after he checked on me he went to open her door and kept on knocking on the window until she unlocked it, probably close to a minute later... With all the air bags popping it was hard to see into the car (windows were rolled up, the car was full smoke).
I was right there with the guy, first to view what was going on. She was completely hysterical, crying and clearly in a lot of pain from the laptop that just hit her as the airbag exploded, because it was still in her lap... All she could think of is the remove the thing that just hit her and first reaction to hi asking her if she was okay was to pick up the laptop from her lap and hand it to him.
Jeezus. I always stop to check straps and tie down points before getting on the highway. Now i'm going to make sure it's being done well away from the path of moving traffic. I can't imagine what would happen to a 3000lb boat way up in the air in tilt if someone were to hit me.
Glad to hear you avoided true disaster! It’s scary to think how common such a thing is. On the road it’s quite obvious who those people are. There has never been a worse time to be on the side of the road. I feel bad for cops and tow truck guys who do that sort of thing everyday.
Sheesh! I'd buy a lottery ticket while your luck holds! Glad that only the mechanical stuff got hurt, couple of lessons in there apart from the obvious don't drive while distracted!
We lost a young woman and the towtruck driver who was retrieving her car not far from here, in very similar circumstances. Stay safe everyone.
03-20-2018 | 12:58 PM
How not to start your race weekend...
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