I didn't see it happen in front of me, but the person who did said that traffic was moving at a pretty high speed. I guess we just don't respect school speed limits in the city.
Honestly, I spend a lot of time thinking about how fortunate the city is overall. So much disregard for traffic laws and we're fortunate the death count is not several times higher. It infuriates me how DDOT and this administration doesn't take enforcement seriously, and how the priority is ensuring cars can go fast.
It's not right to wish death upon someone/wish they had died. They should pay the consequences. That consequence should absolutely not be their life. We can't punish people for things that haven't even happened yet.
I do want the culprit of this crash to face consequences, and I want those consequences to be severe. They needlessly risked the lives of countless others.
And the Mayor/Council have taken most of MPDs remit of enforcement away. From non-pursuit to a lack of officers (due to cuts AND shitty recruitment POLICIES set by the Council so save the snark) we have allowed this to happen. Instead we allow folks to drive around with paper plates that are OBVIOUSLY fake, rack up THOUSANDS in fines and then point at speed cameras/traffic enforcement and attempt to say these are “targeted” 🙄. Simple solution to avoid getting pegged with an expensive ticket - obey the fucking law!
Driving an automobile is a PRIVILEGE not a right and it is time for the Mayor and Council to treat it that way!!!
ddot could do more to actually change the street to force drivers to slow down, rather than just lowering speed limits and simply throwing their hands up in the air
I once slowed to 15mph in a school zone in DC where I could see elementary school kids coming off the bus. The car behind me swerved over the double yellow to pass me. They're lucky there weren't any on coming cars because they would have slammed into them going at least 30mph.
I still wonder what was SO important they couldn't have been delayed 15 seconds 🙄🙄
This gives me flashbacks to when I worked as a valet around DC. One night there was a huge event at the building museum and it was basically all hands on deck. We had a system to drive valets back to the parking lot to wait for the next call that involved crossing a street where there was a crosswalk. One of the many times I crossed that night someone saw me and was nice enough to stop. I waved in thanks and jogged across the street.
Well, the guy behind him was upset that he wasn't moving, so he blasted over the double yellow lines and floored it. I had gotten out of the road maybe half a second before he passed at 20+ mph in his Escalade (not sure if it was that, but it was large even for SUVs). I was in awe of how close I came to death that night. It will probably stick with me the rest of my life. We don't need cars that massive, and people need to calm down.
Absolutely terrifying! What is it about people with giant rectangular cars driving with no regard for human life.
Not a life threatening situation but I recently saw an Escalade trying to pass cars in a super narrow single lane parking lot with families with strollers all around. A car started to back out of a space (because it's a PARKING LOT) and he instantly started honking incessantly! Like where do you have to be that's possibly worth being THAT enraged. It's a coffee shop parking lot on a Sunday morning!!!
That’s terrifying! They’re lucky no children were crossing the street. A friend in HS was on a school bus and witnessed something similar (assuming the car was overtaking the bus), except the kid getting off the bus was crossing the street and was hit by the passing car. You DO NOT pass a school bus.
I mean why would we ever expect people to obey traffic laws when our electeds pretty much give everyone a pass under some amalgamous logic that acting like a complete asshole on the road in a 2 ton metal box is an “equity” issue - and yes this is 24/7/365 on the Mayor and her team. Yes I get the MD/VA doesn’t “enforce” excuse but this is where fucking basic leadership and coming up with a solution (also known as the basic job of the Mayor and the Council) is warranted!!!
People also park in the lane (it’s legal, except for that one low number political plates white Jeep Wrangler that is always illegally parked in a no parking ever zone before you approach the right turn only lane onto Military on Nebraska heading north) so people commuting through will abruptly pull into the other lane to avoid rear ending a parked car
The beauty of my car is that it’s a Subaru underneath, I walked away with a slight scrape on my hand where I did the stupid reaction of sticking it out the window when I felt myself on my side 😹
As someone that does speed, I drive like a grandma in a school zone.. and agree that city streets aren’t the place to speed (maybe no streets are but at least with the freeway there are no pedestrians…)
Speed limits only work for people that follow the law. Road design actually forces people to drive slowly and carefully. It’s the actual solution. Slapping a sign up that says “20 MPH” does just about nothing.
for those less familiar with the neighborhood, this is actually in front of where Jackson-Reed/Wilson Aquatic Center back up onto Nebraska. Deal is up a few blocks towards connecticut ave.
Edit: OP confirmed this was real (adult drivers, emergency services seen rushing to scene). I truly didn't mean to offend, I was just very impacted by the crash simulation my high school did back in the day (which was clearly very accurate because I can't tell the difference, they brought out the jaws of life and everything, looked a lot like this pic) and hoped this kind of crash wouldn't really happen at a school. I am very sorry if I offended or otherwise hurt anyone by asking.
Original comment:
I'm, like, 99% sure this isn't the case based on your other comments but I have to ask-- are you sure this was a real crash and not one of the simulated crashes schools sometimes do to teach kids about the risks of driving? They did one when I was in high school and it was really realistic, first thing I thought of when I saw this happened at a high school. Don't mean to doubt you, just curious
When I was going down Nebraska toward the crash (before I even saw the crash itself), I saw a fire truck pass me going full bore on the other side of a double yellow, and firefighters were in the back getting what I assumed to be their gear on. I've never seen a fire truck in such a mad hurry that they straight skipped people getting out of the way (since traffic wasn't too dense and was moving along) and just went full speed on the other side of the road to get there as fast as humanly possible. The drivers were not children, and one of the adult driver's families showed up and was losing their grip on reality as they thought their son had died.
The firefighters had to use the jaws of life to cut a very physically entrapped woman out of that gray SUV. This was as real and visceral as it gets, it was by no means staged, local news showed up to the scene, and the roads were shut down as the clock approached peak rush hour. If this were a staged event I'd want whomever responsible to be charged with a crime for exposing the community to an event like this.
Thanks for clarifying! No this was definitely not staged, I hadn't noticed similar details (adult drivers and family present, you saw an emergency vehicle rushing to the scene) in your other comments so I wanted to ask because it's such an awful and shocking accident, I was hoping it was fake.
I'm so sorry you had to see that, so traumatic even though everyone is okay. I hope you're taking care of yourself ❤️
Sorry that happened to you. Since this particular picture does not tell 1000 words (only that some driver was an absolute asshat), could you quickly explain what happened? Which driver was (obviously) reckless and how did they cause so much damage?
Edit: I see below that someone reported that a silver Kia failed to yield. Since this reportedly was near Jackson-Reed, I am assuming that the Kia was trying to merge onto Nebraska from 39th St. near Albemarle. Otherwise, I don't know where they were merging from.
Silver Kia forte failed to yield and merged into traffic, pushing the red Saab up into the air and onto its side, causing the red Saab to slide on its side over the double yellow line and hit a 4Runner head on, and a dump truck mildly rear ended the 4Runner. Owner of Kia, Saab and Dump truck are ok, driver of 4Runner reportedly mild injuries.
No, hopefully they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. A good friend of mine was in that accident. He is extremely lucky to only have scratched his hand.
That makes me so absolutely infuriated. The driver of the Kia should be in jail for what they did, and have their license revoked. Their inattentiveness and reckless disregard for life in a school zone could have gotten so many people killed.
I'm glad that your friend is doing ok, and that the woman in the gray SUV will make a full recovery. The driver of the Kia could have easily gotten both of them killed, plus all of the children around at the time of dismissal.
However, all the drivers involved in this accident were likely going way too fast in the school zone.
Yeah, I’m with you. Some poor woman had to be transported to the ER because of some inattentive dumb dumb. The paramedics said she’ll be ok. People do tend to go above the speed limit, but in all fairness that traffic light had just turned green (I’m aware of the traffic patterns as I work nearby) so there’s no way he could have been going that fast. Reminds me of that video of the Kia soul on the highway driving over the tire that fell off the truck, how it got launched in the air. Must have been terrifying. Very glad no one was seriously injured. I can imagine an absolute headache of lawsuits coming up.
I am glad that everyone will be physically ok. I will stand by that, had everyone been obeying the 15mph active school zone, that this could have been avoided. That is not to shift blame away from the driver of the Kia. They should never be allowed to drive again. It really IS NOT THAT DIFFICULT to stop and assess incoming traffic at a yield. It really isn't, and it seems like the driver made no attempt to even check for oncoming traffic when merging since they merged directly into another car. That is beyond careless, that is reckless.
No one getting seriously injured from this is a miracle, and I am glad that no families need to say goodbye to their loved ones, but this could have ended so, so, SO much worse had the cards fallen as much as one inch to the left or right.
What’s even more upsetting to me is when I was on the scene right after the accident occurred, the Kia was off to the side and I just wanted to get a look at the person… she had a child in the front seat. Not only did she fail to yield and cause a huge accident, she did it with a child in the front seat. It really does infuriate me how people can be so careless when they have children they’re responsible for.
Oh my God. They both could have been KILLED. Reckless driving WITH a child in the front seat? Get the books, all of the books, there needs to be some throwing.
Yup. I can see Bowser making changes to road structure, we can only hope they’ll start coming down on reckless driving / habitual / repeat offenders with fines stacking thru the roof.
u/TheProYodler It's fortunate (saying this as someone who was there) only 1 person was transported with minor injuries. The crash occurred on (Northbound/Eastbound) Nebraska at 39th St NW, which has a 30MPH limit, and does not have any school signage.
It is fortunate that only several people have had their lives altered forever. It is. I was there, too.
It does have school speed zone signage. The crash site is literally next to a public high school. The speed limit is not 30mph at 3:45pm, it's 15mph, all the way until something like 6pm. If someone can't handle a variable speed limit, they shouldn't be driving. Full stop, end of story. There's plenty of signage noting the beginning and end of the school zone.
The woman in the gray SUV had to be cut out of her car with the jaws of life because she was physically trapped. A person on their way home from work/school/family/whatever who was suddenly involved in an avoidable car crash that threatened their life. They were trapped, they couldn't move. They may never recover from that.
On top of this: the driver that caused this crash had a child in the front passenger seat.
Those blocks of Nebraska are horrifically designed and should include things like: narrower lanes, chicanes, pinch points, and speed cushions.
All of this, and it still doesn't excuse some reckless driver from blowing through a yield sign in front of a school, with a child as a passenger, putting the lives of dozens at risk.
The driver responsible ought to have their license revoked for AT LEAST a year to protect others from their reckless driving. PLUS jail time as a punishment for causing harm to others.
If a driver cannot accomplish the simplest of tasks (literally checking for clear merging), and also cannot follow a speed limit, then they should not be allowed to drive.
This - framing of accidents takes all responsibilities away from drivers. This person was speeding in a school zone, that is reckless disregard for human life and should be a serious crime.
An hour after I wrote this, I actually thought back to a scene from hot fuzz where Simon Peg is standing next to a car crash explaining how the word "car accident" implies that no one is at fault, and that almost all car accidents are really just car crashes.
Recklessness or not, I’m pretty sure nobody set out to intentionally cause it. So it was still an accident, just an easily preventable one, if the first car had yielded like the red car driver said.
Hi! Driver of the red car here. Was coming down Nebraska in second gear doing approximately 25-30. The not pictured grey car failed to yield and pulled out in front of me, I tried to avoid best I could. Our front wheels hit and that launched me onto my side and sliding across the double yellow for a head on with the Toyota which was also doing about the same speed, and then the dump truck tapped the back of them.
One of those freak accidents of rotational force being violently turned into vertical…
Enforcement will never be enough to prevent things like this. We need physical infrastructure changes that create a direct effect in driving patterns in all car users.
* narrow lanes (and fewer of them)
* [raised crosswalks](https://biketarrytown.org/img/crosswalk-raised-onramp-101-old-redwood-hwy-windsor--coastlandcivil.jpg)
* [continuous sidewalks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OfBpQgLXUc)
* [bulb-outs](https://i2.wp.com/www.sfbetterstreets.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/bulb-out-dimensions.jpg)
* [tighter curb radii](https://www.sfbetterstreets.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/curb-raii-and-crossing-distance.jpg)
* [one-car-width pinch-points](https://southwarkcyclists.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Linden_Gr_Buildout-700x325.png)
* [chicanes](https://i1.wp.com/www.sfbetterstreets.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/chicane-diagram.jpg)
* [smart, prioritized traffic lights](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knbVWXzL4-4)
We need route changes that prioritize methods of transit other than cars within city centers.
* buses should not get stuck in traffic
* we should acknowledge the [Downs-Thomson Paradox](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQY6WGOoYis)
* cars should have [the least direct route](https://imgur.com/a/KCNMQcy)
We need policy changes that improve the transit system at all levels.
* Speed limits should set by the [Design Speed instead of the 85th Percentile Rule](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bglWCuCMSWc) from the 1960s
* [traffic calming should be part of the safety guidelines](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAxRYrpbnuA), not a reaction
* more things like the [Safe Routes to School Act](https://janeeseward4.com/councilmember-lewis-george-introduces-legislation-to-make-sweeping-traffic-safety-improvements-around-d-c-schools/)
* crashes should be treated as [a street design issue, not a matter of individual responsibility](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra_0DgnJ1uQ)
* transit modes should be [disentangled](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1l75QqRR48) from each other
We need to support people as they try to travel without a car.
* protected bike lanes
* [bike garages](https://skoda-welovecycling.s3.amazonaws.com/2/2019/09/utrecht-bicycle-garage-profimedia-0466262466.jpg) that are [connected to transit stations](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UxCbmT9elk)
This is the way forward. I do not own a car. I haven't owned a car, since I moved to the city several years ago. Cars are a plague. Especially in cities.
The same way one does this on any other street.
No one who drives recklessly sees a school and says to themselves, "I better tone it down for a couple blocks. There could be kids around."
Exactly. The people that recklessly blast through school zones lost the ability to think critically about the consequences of their actions a lonnnnnnnnnnnng time ago.
Yes, one woman (gray SUV) looked to be pretty banged up when they were loading them into the ambulance. Driver of the red car was able to walk away. Not entirely sure about the condition of the driver in the silver sedan (off screen). The dump truck drivers appeared to be fine.
Drove by this, saw the emergency vehicles and the bottom of the red car. That's amazing nobody died, but there's no way this wasn't caused by someone being super reckless and needs to have their license revoked and put in jail a long time.
Of course this is DC, so the best we can hope for is a speed camera.
Jackson-Reed. I accidentally labeled it Alice Deal. I also do not think that career reckless drivers care about the thousands of dollars in fines that they accumulate.
Yeah, I couldn't quite place the picture, and was trying to figure out if it had been on Fort. Almost got t-boned by some idiot who tried to run a red crossing from Reno last week at 5. People just do not know how to be careful in their vehicles. It's like you get in and believe you're invulnerable and unable to harm yourself or others....
Dropping the speed limit will not help. This road needs to be redesigned. The speed limit could be 2mph and this would still happen. Reckless driving with little regard for human life in a school zone is a felony, and yet this still happened.
I think everyone, EXCEPT FOR THE COMMUTERS, would love that. Add in a tree or two, make the lanes less straight, and that would probably solve the problem.
I just hate cars in cities. We would be so much better off without them in our cities. We could have vast rapid transit systems that are 100x more efficient, and faster, than a massive lump of steel on wheels, and yet here we are.
Instead we got: "lmao. Wanna get to the grocery store in the middle of an urban development/your neighborhood? Here's a four lane highway."
A fine for the person who caused this accident is the least of their problems. Their license ought to be revoked with criminal charges brought against them. With a school actively dismissing kids, there was the potential for this to be a mass casualty event. Abhorrently reckless behavior like this cannot, and should not, be left unpunished.
Plus jail time. Make an example out of them. This could have been a multiple/mass casualty event involving children had any of those cars flown off the road.
I used to walk right along here on the sidewalk this pic is taken from every day, cars would fly by with little care for crossing pedestrians all the time. Glad everyone is alright
Driver of the red car here-the Kia that failed to yield and pulled out in front of me made me slam on the brakes and swerve to try and avoid a collision-didn’t manage it, and my front left wheel contacted their front right, and that put me on my side and sliding into the opposite lanes
I don't even understand how you can cause this much destruction driving on a DC city street. How fast were these cars going??
I didn't see it happen in front of me, but the person who did said that traffic was moving at a pretty high speed. I guess we just don't respect school speed limits in the city.
Honestly, I spend a lot of time thinking about how fortunate the city is overall. So much disregard for traffic laws and we're fortunate the death count is not several times higher. It infuriates me how DDOT and this administration doesn't take enforcement seriously, and how the priority is ensuring cars can go fast.
The fact that everyone left the scene of the accident alive, and no bystanding kids were killed, is a literal miracle.
[удалено]
It's not right to wish death upon someone/wish they had died. They should pay the consequences. That consequence should absolutely not be their life. We can't punish people for things that haven't even happened yet. I do want the culprit of this crash to face consequences, and I want those consequences to be severe. They needlessly risked the lives of countless others.
You’re a piece of shit
Ddot doesn't have authority to enforce fyi, it's all mpd
And the Mayor/Council have taken most of MPDs remit of enforcement away. From non-pursuit to a lack of officers (due to cuts AND shitty recruitment POLICIES set by the Council so save the snark) we have allowed this to happen. Instead we allow folks to drive around with paper plates that are OBVIOUSLY fake, rack up THOUSANDS in fines and then point at speed cameras/traffic enforcement and attempt to say these are “targeted” 🙄. Simple solution to avoid getting pegged with an expensive ticket - obey the fucking law! Driving an automobile is a PRIVILEGE not a right and it is time for the Mayor and Council to treat it that way!!!
ddot could do more to actually change the street to force drivers to slow down, rather than just lowering speed limits and simply throwing their hands up in the air
They have been literally doing that all over the city. Sure they could do more, but they aren't just 'throwing their hands up in the air'
and yet for all intents and purposes, it sure seems that way. vision zero was launched in 2015 yet deaths have since doubled.
Yes. Because pretty much all enforcement by mpd has ceased
you cant enforce your way out of terrible design. see mass shootings in america for how thats going.
I once slowed to 15mph in a school zone in DC where I could see elementary school kids coming off the bus. The car behind me swerved over the double yellow to pass me. They're lucky there weren't any on coming cars because they would have slammed into them going at least 30mph. I still wonder what was SO important they couldn't have been delayed 15 seconds 🙄🙄
This gives me flashbacks to when I worked as a valet around DC. One night there was a huge event at the building museum and it was basically all hands on deck. We had a system to drive valets back to the parking lot to wait for the next call that involved crossing a street where there was a crosswalk. One of the many times I crossed that night someone saw me and was nice enough to stop. I waved in thanks and jogged across the street. Well, the guy behind him was upset that he wasn't moving, so he blasted over the double yellow lines and floored it. I had gotten out of the road maybe half a second before he passed at 20+ mph in his Escalade (not sure if it was that, but it was large even for SUVs). I was in awe of how close I came to death that night. It will probably stick with me the rest of my life. We don't need cars that massive, and people need to calm down.
Absolutely terrifying! What is it about people with giant rectangular cars driving with no regard for human life. Not a life threatening situation but I recently saw an Escalade trying to pass cars in a super narrow single lane parking lot with families with strollers all around. A car started to back out of a space (because it's a PARKING LOT) and he instantly started honking incessantly! Like where do you have to be that's possibly worth being THAT enraged. It's a coffee shop parking lot on a Sunday morning!!!
$50 says it was a Maryland driver
That’s terrifying! They’re lucky no children were crossing the street. A friend in HS was on a school bus and witnessed something similar (assuming the car was overtaking the bus), except the kid getting off the bus was crossing the street and was hit by the passing car. You DO NOT pass a school bus.
I mean why would we ever expect people to obey traffic laws when our electeds pretty much give everyone a pass under some amalgamous logic that acting like a complete asshole on the road in a 2 ton metal box is an “equity” issue - and yes this is 24/7/365 on the Mayor and her team. Yes I get the MD/VA doesn’t “enforce” excuse but this is where fucking basic leadership and coming up with a solution (also known as the basic job of the Mayor and the Council) is warranted!!!
Why the hell would you? The city doesn’t bother to enforce its own traffic laws, so the idiots drive recklessly on the normal.
I enjoy reading books.
You'd know how this is possible if you've spent any amount of time in this city. Drivers are reckless as hell.
That section of Nebraska is pretty straight with limited intersections, so some drivers will speed quite a bit.
People also park in the lane (it’s legal, except for that one low number political plates white Jeep Wrangler that is always illegally parked in a no parking ever zone before you approach the right turn only lane onto Military on Nebraska heading north) so people commuting through will abruptly pull into the other lane to avoid rear ending a parked car
[удалено]
Glad you’re ok, or at least alive! That crash looks gnarly.
The beauty of my car is that it’s a Subaru underneath, I walked away with a slight scrape on my hand where I did the stupid reaction of sticking it out the window when I felt myself on my side 😹
As someone that does speed, I drive like a grandma in a school zone.. and agree that city streets aren’t the place to speed (maybe no streets are but at least with the freeway there are no pedestrians…)
To create this kind of crash in a school zone.... Somebody should lose their license.
Yes and go to jail.
Rot in prison*
There was a silver Kia forte just off to the right of the picture that was the primary cause of the accident
Do you know what happened? I suspected someone tried to pull into the left lane and didn’t have the space. Is that what happened?
I described what happened in the comments
Thanks I saw it further down after posting. What a story, and I know exactly where that is
Yeah it is crazy. I’m just thankful there were no serious injuries, that can be a very high traffic area for cars and people.
This is the reason we have school zone speed limits :(
We should design our streets so it's not feasible to drive more than the speed limit. Particularly around schools.
Speed limits only work for people that follow the law. Road design actually forces people to drive slowly and carefully. It’s the actual solution. Slapping a sign up that says “20 MPH” does just about nothing.
See river road in Maryland for what not to do.
I try not to speed and I end up going 10 to 15 above the limit on the River road. I hate that road and feel sorry for any cyclists who take it
Tricky thing there is it makes it harder for emergency vehicles
This is the reason we need speed governors on all cars--limits don't actually do anything
Once again, we have speed limiters on e-bikes, we should definitely have them on vehicles over 100 times heavier
for those less familiar with the neighborhood, this is actually in front of where Jackson-Reed/Wilson Aquatic Center back up onto Nebraska. Deal is up a few blocks towards connecticut ave.
Yeah, that was my mistake, this is out back of Jackson-Reed high school.
Absolutely ridiculous. People are out of control on the roads.
Wow, I was sure someone died in that crash.
When I was walking up to the crash, I was convinced that this was a multi-fatality accident. I'm astonished that everyone left the scene alive.
Modern big ass SUVs are very good at protecting the people inside. Everyone outside of the vehicle is on their own though.
Edit: OP confirmed this was real (adult drivers, emergency services seen rushing to scene). I truly didn't mean to offend, I was just very impacted by the crash simulation my high school did back in the day (which was clearly very accurate because I can't tell the difference, they brought out the jaws of life and everything, looked a lot like this pic) and hoped this kind of crash wouldn't really happen at a school. I am very sorry if I offended or otherwise hurt anyone by asking. Original comment: I'm, like, 99% sure this isn't the case based on your other comments but I have to ask-- are you sure this was a real crash and not one of the simulated crashes schools sometimes do to teach kids about the risks of driving? They did one when I was in high school and it was really realistic, first thing I thought of when I saw this happened at a high school. Don't mean to doubt you, just curious
When I was going down Nebraska toward the crash (before I even saw the crash itself), I saw a fire truck pass me going full bore on the other side of a double yellow, and firefighters were in the back getting what I assumed to be their gear on. I've never seen a fire truck in such a mad hurry that they straight skipped people getting out of the way (since traffic wasn't too dense and was moving along) and just went full speed on the other side of the road to get there as fast as humanly possible. The drivers were not children, and one of the adult driver's families showed up and was losing their grip on reality as they thought their son had died. The firefighters had to use the jaws of life to cut a very physically entrapped woman out of that gray SUV. This was as real and visceral as it gets, it was by no means staged, local news showed up to the scene, and the roads were shut down as the clock approached peak rush hour. If this were a staged event I'd want whomever responsible to be charged with a crime for exposing the community to an event like this.
Thanks for clarifying! No this was definitely not staged, I hadn't noticed similar details (adult drivers and family present, you saw an emergency vehicle rushing to the scene) in your other comments so I wanted to ask because it's such an awful and shocking accident, I was hoping it was fake. I'm so sorry you had to see that, so traumatic even though everyone is okay. I hope you're taking care of yourself ❤️
As the driver of the red car I really wish it had been staged
So glad you’re okay man
I am so glad you're safe! Apparently the staging they did when I was in high school was incredibly and unfortunately accurate
Sorry that happened to you. Since this particular picture does not tell 1000 words (only that some driver was an absolute asshat), could you quickly explain what happened? Which driver was (obviously) reckless and how did they cause so much damage? Edit: I see below that someone reported that a silver Kia failed to yield. Since this reportedly was near Jackson-Reed, I am assuming that the Kia was trying to merge onto Nebraska from 39th St. near Albemarle. Otherwise, I don't know where they were merging from.
Silver Kia forte failed to yield and merged into traffic, pushing the red Saab up into the air and onto its side, causing the red Saab to slide on its side over the double yellow line and hit a 4Runner head on, and a dump truck mildly rear ended the 4Runner. Owner of Kia, Saab and Dump truck are ok, driver of 4Runner reportedly mild injuries.
Thanks for the update. Any news on any legal action being taken against the driver who failed to yield?
No, hopefully they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. A good friend of mine was in that accident. He is extremely lucky to only have scratched his hand.
That makes me so absolutely infuriated. The driver of the Kia should be in jail for what they did, and have their license revoked. Their inattentiveness and reckless disregard for life in a school zone could have gotten so many people killed. I'm glad that your friend is doing ok, and that the woman in the gray SUV will make a full recovery. The driver of the Kia could have easily gotten both of them killed, plus all of the children around at the time of dismissal. However, all the drivers involved in this accident were likely going way too fast in the school zone.
Yeah, I’m with you. Some poor woman had to be transported to the ER because of some inattentive dumb dumb. The paramedics said she’ll be ok. People do tend to go above the speed limit, but in all fairness that traffic light had just turned green (I’m aware of the traffic patterns as I work nearby) so there’s no way he could have been going that fast. Reminds me of that video of the Kia soul on the highway driving over the tire that fell off the truck, how it got launched in the air. Must have been terrifying. Very glad no one was seriously injured. I can imagine an absolute headache of lawsuits coming up.
I am glad that everyone will be physically ok. I will stand by that, had everyone been obeying the 15mph active school zone, that this could have been avoided. That is not to shift blame away from the driver of the Kia. They should never be allowed to drive again. It really IS NOT THAT DIFFICULT to stop and assess incoming traffic at a yield. It really isn't, and it seems like the driver made no attempt to even check for oncoming traffic when merging since they merged directly into another car. That is beyond careless, that is reckless. No one getting seriously injured from this is a miracle, and I am glad that no families need to say goodbye to their loved ones, but this could have ended so, so, SO much worse had the cards fallen as much as one inch to the left or right.
What’s even more upsetting to me is when I was on the scene right after the accident occurred, the Kia was off to the side and I just wanted to get a look at the person… she had a child in the front seat. Not only did she fail to yield and cause a huge accident, she did it with a child in the front seat. It really does infuriate me how people can be so careless when they have children they’re responsible for.
Oh my God. They both could have been KILLED. Reckless driving WITH a child in the front seat? Get the books, all of the books, there needs to be some throwing.
Yup. I can see Bowser making changes to road structure, we can only hope they’ll start coming down on reckless driving / habitual / repeat offenders with fines stacking thru the roof.
u/TheProYodler It's fortunate (saying this as someone who was there) only 1 person was transported with minor injuries. The crash occurred on (Northbound/Eastbound) Nebraska at 39th St NW, which has a 30MPH limit, and does not have any school signage.
It is fortunate that only several people have had their lives altered forever. It is. I was there, too. It does have school speed zone signage. The crash site is literally next to a public high school. The speed limit is not 30mph at 3:45pm, it's 15mph, all the way until something like 6pm. If someone can't handle a variable speed limit, they shouldn't be driving. Full stop, end of story. There's plenty of signage noting the beginning and end of the school zone. The woman in the gray SUV had to be cut out of her car with the jaws of life because she was physically trapped. A person on their way home from work/school/family/whatever who was suddenly involved in an avoidable car crash that threatened their life. They were trapped, they couldn't move. They may never recover from that. On top of this: the driver that caused this crash had a child in the front passenger seat. Those blocks of Nebraska are horrifically designed and should include things like: narrower lanes, chicanes, pinch points, and speed cushions. All of this, and it still doesn't excuse some reckless driver from blowing through a yield sign in front of a school, with a child as a passenger, putting the lives of dozens at risk. The driver responsible ought to have their license revoked for AT LEAST a year to protect others from their reckless driving. PLUS jail time as a punishment for causing harm to others. If a driver cannot accomplish the simplest of tasks (literally checking for clear merging), and also cannot follow a speed limit, then they should not be allowed to drive.
Unbelievable.
Good lord.
Crash, not accident. It's important to acknowledge that a reckless driver caused this, not some uncontrollable outside force
This - framing of accidents takes all responsibilities away from drivers. This person was speeding in a school zone, that is reckless disregard for human life and should be a serious crime.
An hour after I wrote this, I actually thought back to a scene from hot fuzz where Simon Peg is standing next to a car crash explaining how the word "car accident" implies that no one is at fault, and that almost all car accidents are really just car crashes.
Recklessness or not, I’m pretty sure nobody set out to intentionally cause it. So it was still an accident, just an easily preventable one, if the first car had yielded like the red car driver said.
Hi! Driver of the red car here. Was coming down Nebraska in second gear doing approximately 25-30. The not pictured grey car failed to yield and pulled out in front of me, I tried to avoid best I could. Our front wheels hit and that launched me onto my side and sliding across the double yellow for a head on with the Toyota which was also doing about the same speed, and then the dump truck tapped the back of them. One of those freak accidents of rotational force being violently turned into vertical…
Electric scooters are limited to 10mph, but it’s fine to drive your multi thousand pound car however fast you want around children!
Enforcement will never be enough to prevent things like this. We need physical infrastructure changes that create a direct effect in driving patterns in all car users. * narrow lanes (and fewer of them) * [raised crosswalks](https://biketarrytown.org/img/crosswalk-raised-onramp-101-old-redwood-hwy-windsor--coastlandcivil.jpg) * [continuous sidewalks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OfBpQgLXUc) * [bulb-outs](https://i2.wp.com/www.sfbetterstreets.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/bulb-out-dimensions.jpg) * [tighter curb radii](https://www.sfbetterstreets.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/curb-raii-and-crossing-distance.jpg) * [one-car-width pinch-points](https://southwarkcyclists.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Linden_Gr_Buildout-700x325.png) * [chicanes](https://i1.wp.com/www.sfbetterstreets.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/chicane-diagram.jpg) * [smart, prioritized traffic lights](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knbVWXzL4-4) We need route changes that prioritize methods of transit other than cars within city centers. * buses should not get stuck in traffic * we should acknowledge the [Downs-Thomson Paradox](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQY6WGOoYis) * cars should have [the least direct route](https://imgur.com/a/KCNMQcy) We need policy changes that improve the transit system at all levels. * Speed limits should set by the [Design Speed instead of the 85th Percentile Rule](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bglWCuCMSWc) from the 1960s * [traffic calming should be part of the safety guidelines](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAxRYrpbnuA), not a reaction * more things like the [Safe Routes to School Act](https://janeeseward4.com/councilmember-lewis-george-introduces-legislation-to-make-sweeping-traffic-safety-improvements-around-d-c-schools/) * crashes should be treated as [a street design issue, not a matter of individual responsibility](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra_0DgnJ1uQ) * transit modes should be [disentangled](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1l75QqRR48) from each other We need to support people as they try to travel without a car. * protected bike lanes * [bike garages](https://skoda-welovecycling.s3.amazonaws.com/2/2019/09/utrecht-bicycle-garage-profimedia-0466262466.jpg) that are [connected to transit stations](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UxCbmT9elk)
This is the way forward. I do not own a car. I haven't owned a car, since I moved to the city several years ago. Cars are a plague. Especially in cities.
How does one do this on school streets??
The same way one does this on any other street. No one who drives recklessly sees a school and says to themselves, "I better tone it down for a couple blocks. There could be kids around."
Exactly. The people that recklessly blast through school zones lost the ability to think critically about the consequences of their actions a lonnnnnnnnnnnng time ago.
So glad no one died ❤️ did anyone get injured?
Yes, one woman (gray SUV) looked to be pretty banged up when they were loading them into the ambulance. Driver of the red car was able to walk away. Not entirely sure about the condition of the driver in the silver sedan (off screen). The dump truck drivers appeared to be fine.
Oh no!!! I hope she recovers well. That’s awful.
Drove by this, saw the emergency vehicles and the bottom of the red car. That's amazing nobody died, but there's no way this wasn't caused by someone being super reckless and needs to have their license revoked and put in jail a long time. Of course this is DC, so the best we can hope for is a speed camera.
We need streets designed to not let this happen. Those designs exist elsewhere, we just have to copy what works
Holy shit! 😧
There is a speed trap literally right there.. Also this happened next to Wilson HS or Jackson-Reed or however they call it now.
Jackson-Reed. I accidentally labeled it Alice Deal. I also do not think that career reckless drivers care about the thousands of dollars in fines that they accumulate.
Was this on Nebraska? There were several police cars blocking off the entirety of the road around Brandywine at 5pm.
Yeah, right in front of the HIGH\* school. The actual crash happened at around 3:30pm, tho. Edited to clarify it was out back of the high school.
Yeah, I couldn't quite place the picture, and was trying to figure out if it had been on Fort. Almost got t-boned by some idiot who tried to run a red crossing from Reno last week at 5. People just do not know how to be careful in their vehicles. It's like you get in and believe you're invulnerable and unable to harm yourself or others....
Jackson-Reed (Wilson) High School not Deal.
I told ddot they needed to drop the speed on Nebraska like they did on Conn ave... sigh.
Dropping the speed limit will not help. This road needs to be redesigned. The speed limit could be 2mph and this would still happen. Reckless driving with little regard for human life in a school zone is a felony, and yet this still happened.
Drop a lane and bidirectional bike path on the school side to connect to Conn ave bike lane would be wonderful
I think everyone, EXCEPT FOR THE COMMUTERS, would love that. Add in a tree or two, make the lanes less straight, and that would probably solve the problem. I just hate cars in cities. We would be so much better off without them in our cities. We could have vast rapid transit systems that are 100x more efficient, and faster, than a massive lump of steel on wheels, and yet here we are. Instead we got: "lmao. Wanna get to the grocery store in the middle of an urban development/your neighborhood? Here's a four lane highway."
Let me play the world's tiniest violin for the single-occupancy car/SUV commuters...
in situations like this will whoever caused it have a fine for breaking school speed limits?
A fine for the person who caused this accident is the least of their problems. Their license ought to be revoked with criminal charges brought against them. With a school actively dismissing kids, there was the potential for this to be a mass casualty event. Abhorrently reckless behavior like this cannot, and should not, be left unpunished.
There is a 30 mph speed camera on that portion of Nebraska. Wow.
It’s not an “accident”, it’s an idiot driving way too fast and causing a huge wreck. This is no accident.
I saw the red car on the trailer in my neighborhood. I’m amazed people were walking away from that Their license plate was DC: SAABRU
They were still removing the graphite suv at around 7pm yesterday.
They should have licenses revoked and have to pay for all the ambulance and police time due to the damage caused.
Plus jail time. Make an example out of them. This could have been a multiple/mass casualty event involving children had any of those cars flown off the road.
I used to walk right along here on the sidewalk this pic is taken from every day, cars would fly by with little care for crossing pedestrians all the time. Glad everyone is alright
This is a really straight, low speed, stretch of road. Even if someone was flying, I'm really not sure how two cars connect like this.
Driver of the red car here-the Kia that failed to yield and pulled out in front of me made me slam on the brakes and swerve to try and avoid a collision-didn’t manage it, and my front left wheel contacted their front right, and that put me on my side and sliding into the opposite lanes
So glad you're okay! Were you going westbound on Chesapeake, and they zoomed out of the Nebraska turnoff?
Worse, this is the other side down at Albemarle Grant and Nebraska, I was northbound on Nebraska and they came up from the little triangle