Tragic accident this weekend near my home in MA.
 

"Audi Sedan" looked like an A6 when they flashed it on the TV news.

The car went through a stop sign at the end of a road which rises to an apex at the intersectin. Went straight across and into a stone wall, which is back-filled by earth.

No skid marks that I could see when I drove by today. Must not have braked in time for ABS to do any good.

Tragic. Both had kids. Lots of flowers at the site now.

http://cbs4boston.com/topstories/local_story_253122153.html<ul><li><a href="http://cbs4boston.com/topstories/local_story_253122153.html">story on cbs4boston</a></li></ul>

That is terrible.

wow
 

I drove up to the same stop sign at 7pm Sat. night, a few hours before the incident.. I always wonder why Mill St. just curves around and ends with no sign warning about the roads sudden end.

The Globe had a paragraph on it in todays' Metro/Region. I have a bad feeling the accident is about to get a lot of press, but I won't go into details..

Wow, that's terrible!
 

How fast did they hit the wall? 2006 Audi. An off duty motorcycle officer was killed yesterday in Quincy on 3A - terrible.

2006 A6 so it had air bags, etc. how fast do you have to be going for the air bags to not
 

do their jobs? I know for proper protection one should always use seat belts and the air bags are for added protection but even if you're not wearing seat belts wouldn't the air bags provide a good amount of protection?

If they were going too fast into the wall, I doubt the air bags would have done any good...so many
 

factors that we don't know about that contriubuted to the crash and unfortunately, their deaths.

I saw the news that night and the front end was almost all crumpled in, 90% of the engine compartment was gone. They must have been going at a pretty quick speed.

Airbags won't help without seatbelts. You'd go right past them.

There is a warning sign.
 

It's kind of obscured though.

At least there was an old yellow "stop ahead" sign there on Mill St yesterday (Monday) 150 feet before the end. It's a bit obstructed by bushes. If you are driving at reasonable speed (20 MPH) on a nice day, you will have time to see it and react.

But if you're racing up the hill at 35 or more, you're in for a shocker if you don't see it. The actual stop sign at the end is set so far to the right you would be panic stopping to keep your nose out of Dedham Rd.. If you don't know Mill St well, the approaching wall might be your only warning that the road is ending.

The stop sign I saw yesterday looked brand new.

So, throw in speed, bravado, and possibly any impairments to reaction time, and you can imagine somebody flying over Dedham and plowing into the wall across the street without touching the brakes at all. Seat belts and airbags wouldn't help. The wall is backfilled by earth and didn't move very much.

Indeed, there is more to the story. I wonder if the police accident report will mention whether seat belts and airbags were deployed.

some info for the curious
 

1:30 AM was the time of the accident. Female owner of the vehicle was the passenger. (was the "designated driver" not familiar with the 2006 Audi or the abrupt end of the road?)

Mill St. is a good cut thru street if you are heading from the edge of Needham or Dover into Westwood. It could also be used to get back into Needham (home of both victims), but it wouldn't exactly be the best route.

I have driven that street in daylight, at lo speeds (25 mph) just to have some deathwish pedestrians shout at me to slow down! On that narrow road, your only choice is either to hug the bushes and piss off the pedestrians(who are stupid) or to cross over the double yellow and eat a metal sandwich head on.

I drove that road on Saturday for one reason; I was stuck behind someone who was turning left onto South St. at way below the speed limit. I hung a right instead to use Mill to Dedham to Summer and then onto 128 and Norwood where I was heading. I was actually risking the rt 109 detour to take another route, the alternative of sitting on South St for 5 miles doin 20 mph is quite agonizing.

Even tho I take Mill St. often, the sudden end still has a way of creeping up on me. If Dover is adding signs ( not replacing damaged ones), that looks like an admission of fault to me by their Town

I didn't see the Globe article yet. What did it say?
 

Note that both driver and passenger lived a mile away. I find it hard to believe they did not know the road.

The STOP sign on Mill looks spanking new. I just don't know how long it's been there. The "stop ahead" warning sign looks pretty old. My wife says she missed it too. Drove by it twice yesterday before she saw it.

Yeah, these are all country back roads. Amazing what a Navigation system can find for you. Fun to drive, but too narrow for a "safe" joy ride.
South Street is a beautiful road. But definitely 30MPH max. People live here.
It's a well-known route for bicyclists, runners and walkers. And I confess to setting my cruise control to EXACTLY 30MPH when somebody starts tailgating me on South St.

Not 20 though! Wasn't me ;-)