Rural car wreck

[MossRoad]

And one more thing about using a speedometer examination to determine speed, the theory being the needle gets pinned against the dial at the speed the vehicle is going when it hits the tree.... well, if your tires break traction with your foot on the gas, your speedometer indicated speed can increase even though your vehicle speed doesn't. So if you're going 70, slide into dirt, stomp on the gas instead of the brake, your speedometer immediately increases in speed. Same thing can happen with cruise control when you hydroplane. The speedometer jumps in speed. So I'd take the reference to 100mph in that accident as just another data point to consider in the overall accident investigation. If the vehicle had a computer, that would most likely be more accurate, as would skid-mark analysis, weight of vehicle, etc...

 

[MossRoad]

Noted. For some reason I had 75MPH stuck in my head and I noted the correct speed in the my second to last sentence

Point being when you have two opposing lanes of traffic separating each other by only a double yellow line with perhaps not much of a shoulder, 70MPH is way too fast IMO.

I agree.

We have a highway here that was designed and built for 55mph. Speed limit was increased to 65. On and off ramps to this highway are way to short and tight now. Lots of wrecks getting on and off this thing now.

 

[Sigarms]

We have a highway here that was designed and built for 55mph. Speed limit was increased to 65. On and off ramps to this highway are way to short and tight now. Lots of wrecks getting on and off this thing now.

Be forwarned, in NC, on an off ramp, yield means to come to a complete stop.

Don't even get me going about roundabouts, it can be complete mayhem.

 

[two_bit_score]

The article said 70mph speed limit, not 75.

The actual speed and braking info will be extracted from the black box that all vehicles have had for the last ten years at least.

That road is a Farm to Market Road (FM 1428). Most FM roads in that part of Texas were not engineered for 75MPH traffic. 70 MPH is probably too fast on most.

Texas raised the speed limits a couple years back and went to 75 on some state highways. It's one thing to drive 80 mph on an interstate in Pecos County in West Texas and entirely different to drive 75 on State Highway 21 in Madison County in East Texas. Very different country. Texas is not all flat and open. Many speed limits on rural highways have been reduced back down to where they were before the last increase due to public request after increased accidents.



TBS

 

[robbyr]

Having lived on this farm road for 33 years I don't see 70 mph being too fast a limit. It is a farm road with a couple slight hills but not very curvy other than one spot about 6 miles further down. I'm kinda leaning toward thinking he just dozed off then overcorrected. I told another fella the drivers name and he found him online in a matter of seconds. Not sure why I couldn't. Turns out he was 26, not 36. And from Pasadena. Almost 2 hours south. Saw a pic of him with the child I pulled through the window.

 

[ovrszd]

Hope you can continue to gain closure.

 

[robbyr]

On another note, two other things come to mind.
1. Wife and I just came back from our lease 3 miles down the same road about 2 minute before this happened.
2. Many times I drive tractor down to the lease with a round bale or pulling a trailer with tractor with several round bales.
Usually don't see much traffic at all.

 

[Diggin It]

Back to the Double Nickle nationwide sez I.

 

[robbyr]

Back to the Double Nickle nationwide sez I.

Oh no. I ain't that old.

 

[ovrszd]

Oh no. I ain't that old.

I agree. No 55 for me. And I don't speed.

 

[robbyr]

I agree. No 55 for me. And I don't speed.

Yessir. It's a matter of trying to be a good driver, not a slow driver.

 

[ovrszd]

Yessir. It's a matter of trying to be a good driver, not a slow driver.

I've got some slow drivers in my neighbor hood that are most certainly not good drivers.

 

[wheelbuilder]

Other than track day trainings, are there any good, hands on driving schools that aren't aimed at new drivers ?
I'd love to do a Skip Barber school, but maybe there's something more practical.

 

[MossRoad]

Be forwarned, in NC, on an off ramp, yield means to come to a complete stop.

Don't even get me going about roundabouts, it can be complete mayhem.

They started installing roundabout around here about 10-15 years ago... everywhere in the country roundabouts reduce accident rates.... except here! :laughing: They went up here.

At one intersection, there were 7 accidents in the 4 years before they installed a roundabout.... in the next 7 years there were 43! Other parts of the state, accident rates went down, but not here. Possibly the worst drivers in the entire state live here. No doubt about it.

https://wsbt.com/archive/roundabouts-bring-a-sharp-learning-curve

We've got a couple roundabout near here that my wife and I walk near. We lost count of how many times we've been walking, heard screeching tires, then BOOM! accident. Turn around and cloud of dust. Cars go airborne over them like the Dukes of Hazard! The cars took out the landscaping in the centers in the first few weeks they were open. There used to be a sign just past one round about that said Welcome To South Bend, a 21st Century City.... a car went airborne over the roundabout, landed on the other side, and went right through that sign. The never replaced it.

The newspaper put a drone over one of the roundabouts and it showed only 4 out of 15 cars navigates the roundabouts correctly!

Good grief. :laughing:

 

[robbyr]

Not gonna lie. If I came upon a roundabout I would probably be confused. It's been many years since I've seen one.

 

[k0ua]

Not gonna lie. If I came upon a roundabout I would probably be confused. It's been many years since I've seen one.

Oh, come to Branson. We have several here now, as well as the diverging diamonds at all of the overpasses

 

[goeduck]

Not gonna lie. If I came upon a roundabout I would probably be confused. It's been many years since I've seen one.

The roundabouts that I do not like are the two lane ones. I Have seen some that are part 2 lane and part 1 lane. Your regular 1 lane ones are the best for moving traffic compared to stop lights and stop signs.

 

[Dftodd]

Oh, come to Branson. We have several here now, as well as the diverging diamonds at all of the overpasses

We've got over 30 round abouts in Conway. And more added every other month. worst is off exit 129. There are two back to back. You come out of one into a second one.

The city planners need to be kicked in the berries for that one. Just me personally, I had near misses almost weekly when that was my commute to and from work. Someone would either not yield to the folks in the round about or cross I to the rlwrong lane.

Just last night there was a couple kids parked off to the side with damage to their rear corner panel. Looked like a hit and run.

 

[Sigarms]

They started installing roundabout around here about 10-15 years ago... everywhere in the country roundabouts reduce accident rates.... except here! :laughing: They went up here.

At one intersection, there were 7 accidents in the 4 years before they installed a roundabout.... in the next 7 years there were 43! Other parts of the state, accident rates went down, but not here. Possibly the worst drivers in the entire state live here. No doubt about it.

https://wsbt.com/archive/roundabouts-bring-a-sharp-learning-curve

We've got a couple roundabout near here that my wife and I walk near. We lost count of how many times we've been walking, heard screeching tires, then BOOM! accident. Turn around and cloud of dust. Cars go airborne over them like the Dukes of Hazard! The cars took out the landscaping in the centers in the first few weeks they were open. There used to be a sign just past one round about that said Welcome To South Bend, a 21st Century City.... a car went airborne over the roundabout, landed on the other side, and went right through that sign. The never replaced it.

The newspaper put a drone over one of the roundabouts and it showed only 4 out of 15 cars navigates the roundabouts correctly!

Good grief. :laughing:

And this is EXACTLY why I get ticked off when people say "southerners" don't know how to drive in snow giving "northerners" a feeling of superiority driving in snow / bad weather.

The reality is there are as many idiots up north as there are down soth that can't understand that when the temperature drops below 32 degree F, when going over a bridge, you have to be particularly careful if there is water on the road. I've seen more cars hit their breaks on a bridge in winter up north than I ever had seen in the south.

No different than understanding a roundabout and the concept of yielding and not having to come to a complete stop (unless traffic is so backed up of course).