Crazy 4-car pileup close call just now

[Vaughanabe13]

Well I managed to accidentally avoid a major accident just now. I was crossing over a 4 lane highway so I could get on it going East. I was at the intersection right before the bridge and I was waiting in the left turn lane. There was a steady line of cars backed up all the way across the bridge so I knew I wouldn't make it across the intersection on this light, so I just sat and waited.

In the mean time, before I got to the intersection I noticed a riced out Eclipse (probably early 90's, and the guy had a loud exhaust and thought he was the sh*t). The guy in the Eclipse was wearing ipod headphones and swerving all over the road, and this is a really busy intersection at this time. So I'm waiting and he goes through the intersection, followed by another car directly to my right.

I was sitting behind a giant SUV so I couldn't get a clear view of the intersection. Next thing I know, I saw something I couldn't understand, and it took a second to realize there was car debris spraying all over the road in all directions, right in the middle. The SUV in front of me eventually pulls away and now I can see what happened. The guy directly to my right was going straight through the intersection on a solid green light when he got completely T-boned by a crappy truck going the opposite way (presumably on red or yellow? I couldn't see). The guy that was previously in the lane next to me is screaming his head off at the truck driver and their cars are stopped completely parallel and smashed together. Everyone was ok but the cars looked like they easily had 10K of damages. As I pull further ahead I see the riced out mitsubishi and another car also got caught in the accident. My theory is the ricer was swerving wildly in the middle of the intersection which contributed to the crash, but I couldn't see that.

So basically, crazy 4 car pileup right in the middle of a busy intersection at lunch rush hour and this happened literally 25 feet away from me. If I had been going straight through the intersection it probably would have been me that got T-boned by the truck. Insane!

[Nick911sc]

Glad you're ok

[gurneyeagle]

Remind me never to ride with you.

Glad to hear you are okay. Just goes to prove that there are way too many psychos on the road these days and you have to stay uber-vigilant.

[Vaughanabe13]

Yeah and to be clear, nothing actually happened to me or my car, and none of the debris made it over my way. But it kinda shook me real bad because it just as easily could have been me since I would have been the guy going straight and getting T-boned.

[kenchan]

dang...

[didymus]

Scary!

[DJ-of-E]

Originally Posted by Vaughanabe13

Yeah and to be clear, nothing actually happened to me or my car, and none of the debris made it over my way. But it kinda shook me real bad because it just as easily could have been me since I would have been the guy going straight and getting T-boned.

Yeah, but this is where being sensible and defensive as a driver really pays off. We may have hot & fast cars, but it is still the public road with everyone else who treats cars like an appliance (do you ever wax & polish your laundry machine?). There are the few things I follow that helped me avoid these situations (especially living in carmeggaden Los Angeles).

1) Never drive angry.
2) Pay attention to the cars, not the people in the cars (even boobs can cost you a bumper).
3) Looking at something 500ft away is just as important as looking at the car in front of you.

[PapoZalsa]

I saw a 6 cars pilled up accident today. I believe Labor Day weekend is one of the most dangerous concerning car accidents and others.

[smokejr]

Few years ago going home from work in my truck was second in line at the intersection
and light turned green and lady with her son in a convertible mustang pulled out and got
t-boned by a pickup and she died right there in front of me, I saw her head bounce off
the grill of the truck, I never go thru intersections now without looking both ways, there
are just to many idiots with cell phones, the guy is in prison now, I can still see it in my
mind.

[CraigP]

ALWAYS assume that the guy with the red light is going to blow through it. If you can't see - because of a vehicle on your left - wait for them to move until you can. Defensive driving as I'm sure all of you guys know, is to always assume the other guy is going to f*** up.

[FromG2Z]

Brennan, glad to hear you're ok, bro.

Yeah be careful of idiot drivers here in Iowa. They are all over.

BTW, with your Chicane color, I think folks would swerve to avoid you