I've seen the aftermath of a fair share of nasty accidents, a couple times with in a minute or two of it happening, but in my 15 years of driving I've never really seen one fully unfold before my eyes, until last night at least. I had just finished a canyon run up Latigo canyon here in SoCal. And was turning right onto Kanan from Latigo to head home. I have a stop sign and have to wait for this SUV-thingy to pass by before I can pull out and turn right.

I'm going to use some pics here from ElCheng's Thanksgiving drive to explain the rest, it happend right across from one of their stopping points.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/AudiWorldPics/2000/saint_stop1.jpg">
This is on Kanan rd. The road coming in on the left of the pic is Latigo, I turned right onto Kanan from there heading towards the camera.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/AudiWorldPics/2000/kanan_roundup.jpg">
This is another pic of the same location and view.

Here is the most important pic, the rest of my description is based on it:
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/AudiWorldPics/2000/saint_stop3.jpg">

Once I pull onto Kanan the speed of the SUV lets it get a few hundred feet in front of me as I get up to speed. In this pic (which is facing the direction we're both traveling now) the SUV is about as far ahead of me and in almost the identical location as the white minivan. Keep in mind it's night though with only sparse streetlights. At about the location of the minivan I see a cloud of dust, apparantly they drifted onto the dirt shoulder. The I see brakelights briefly and then I see the freeking SUV start fishtailing and then start to do a complete 180 while sliding all the way across the other lane. I see headlight for just an instant and then... Holy ****ing *hit! It's GONE!!!! It slid off the road behind that pine tree and just completely disappeared over the dropoff on that side. I pull over, put on my four-ways, and am punching 911 on speed-dial on my cell. I give the CHP dispatcher the exact location and they say they'll send "a unit" out. I tell them hell no, send fire and rescue immedietly as well, there's no way they're not going to need them! I then grab my Maglight and that first-aid kit from the rear armrest (lotta good that's going to do for a severed limb or something, I'm thinking!) I run over to the other side of the road where they went off and try to see anything down through the trees. I call out to see if anyone down there can hear me, but get no response. I then can kind of make out the totally smashed SUV sitting upright on its wheels (but obviously had rolled several times), my heart stopped for a second when I thought I saw what looked like the body of a child hanging limp out the rear door. Turned out to be just a shirt or sweater, that had be thrown around. It looked like they landed on some kind of road about 30 feet below and back from Kanan resting against somekind of fence for one of the ranch-type houses in the area.

I'm trying to get other cars that come by to stop, but with nothing visible from the road, they must all think I'm crazy and no one stops! After about 3 minutes I start to hear a female voice moaning from the wreck. I call out again to see if she can hear me and after a second she responds. She starts moaning and crying for me to help her, but I have to explain that she's off a drop-off from where I am, and that I can't immedietly get down to her, and that I need to be up there to flag down the EMT's when they come. I try to re-assure her that help is already on its way, but she's pretty disorriented, and just keeps asking for help, and moaning this horrible hurt sounding tone, it was the creepiest thing I've ever experienced since it was just me and this poor woman. I try to get her to try and not move but to stay awake and talking. I ask if she's the driver she tells me yes. I ask he if she has any passengers, and thankfully she tells me no. After a minute some residents of the area come down to investigate. The wife waits to direct the EMT's, and me and the guy start trying to find a way down the embankment to where she is. We can hear the approaching sirens though just a few seconds after we start down, and just wait to direct the rescue personnel to where she is. Here's the other surreal part. Only a few minutes after it was just me, this woman, and the wind blowing there are flashing lights EVERYWHERE as all kinds of cops, fire, EMT start arriving, all with engines running, radios squaking, running back and forth. I can see the woman is upright in her seat, partially obscured by what looks like the airbag, and pretty covered in blood. Some other resident shows them a way around to the road she landed on and they're able to get an ambulance down there. They eventually have to cut the drivers door away to get her out and onto a board and stretcher. Then they block of the road completely, there are emergency vehicles everywhere (at least 20) and just my little Audi parked across the road with it's flashers on still. Then the LifeFlight starts buzzing overhead looking for a nearby landing site that's level. They take her in the ambulance to the helo, and then to whatever hospital, Probably UCLA medical center. Then the CHP guys ask me to stick around and make a statement since I'm the only witness, So I have a chance to check out her vehicle more. It was a Toyota 4-runner, and there wasn't a side to it that wasn't crushed. The roof held up well though in the rollover, and probably saved her life. I gave my statement (the cops quickly look my car over for damage, you know just in case I'm not telling the truth that I was just following her, and then they tell me I can go. I ask if they have any update on her condition and they tell me that they only know that she was pretty hurt, but nothing looked life-threatening. I then had to drive the last 15 miles home (at a pretty subdued pace not surprisingly). It was all like a movie or something, and hadn't all quite registered yet.

All I could think of was that I NEVER wanted to be laying off the side of some road hurt in my mangled Audi. I drive home though the canyons as an alternative way home maybe 3 or 4 nights a week, and sometimes its fun to "push" the car a bit. This made me think though. There is sedate driving and then there are several "clicks" on the dial for enthusiastic driving before you get to crazy and the limits of the car and your skill. I think I resolved to turn the dial down a click or two last night. There's a lot of room to have fun in this car without being boring, and most importantly to not end up like that poor woman.
Now certainly, it's most likley that she got onto the shoulder because SUV's handle like what they are, trucks. And she probably was an unskilled driver, and paniced once she lost control and overcorrected while braking too hard, but still, ratchet up the speed and risk and even we in our Audi's could find our world spinning out of control. I hope the woman was alright, I'm going to go out and grab a local paper and see if there's any mention of it. I forgot to ask for the womans name, I'd like to find out she was ok, and send her a card or something. What a trip kids, take it easy out there ok? Smokinturbo's post below underscores that point as well. Wrecked Audi's are just too sad, you know?

 

That is an amazing post. Hope she is OK.

 

wow! Good thing you were there and able to help out. Good thing for cell phones too!

 

Thanks Jason, You just made me slow down! Thanks again!

 

you see a fellow motorist genuinely in trouble...there are countless 1000's of miles of US roads...often times some of these roads see little if any traffic (Kanan is not one of those...but...) if you see someone have an accident understand that you may be thier LAST hope, the line between life and death can be as little as minutes wide...the few moments out of your day spent helping out could mean decades more for an injured motorist.

Regards,

James R.

2001 A4 1.8TQMSXP (Turbo5 Stage III Brakes, AWE Stainless Steel Lines, Oettinger Pedal Set + Dead, Oettinger RE's 17x8, Yoko AVS Sports 225/45/R17, European Xenon Housings, Bailey BPV & RS4 Grill)

 

You r0x0rz!!!!!

 

and yea, about that whole slowing down thing... since we had our accident last year, my dad has REALLY subdued himself... lets just say, he will find just about any excuse not to go on a SCAC drive anymore... he is still shaken up... and I honestly feel that, no matter what you drive, no matter how modded it is, no matter how good of a driver you are, there is <b><u><i>ALWAYS</b></u></i> a chance that something will happen... and in our case, on April 29th, 2000, it did, when we were involved in a head on collision on one of our SCAC drives, and then we were rear ended by another member who couldn't stop in time(I'm in no way saying it was his fault, he had two choices, hit us, or roll his car off the side of the road)... luckily the saftey of our car enabled me and my dad to both get out and walk away with only cuts/bruises.

For those of you that don't remember(or the many who weren't here then), we were coming around a blind right hander right near Julian, CA(A very popular windy road area here in San Diego), we found ourselves in an unavoidable path straight into an Old Beetle, totally head on, airbags blew, car filled with airbag dust, and then i got the chance to say "what the" and just then BOOM we were rear ended, spun off the road, down a slight hill and into a small fence post, which stopped us from rolling the car into a field.

My dad and I sat there for a few seconds(seemed like for ever), and then when we knew everything had stopped, i looked around, checked each other out, and opened by door and climbed out. came up to the road to find thousands of pieces of our car in the road, and a old beetle, totally smashed, with the driver seemingly unconsious, and then i said "wait, but we got hit in the back didn't we?", just then i looked up the road to find LarryV's A4 smoking like crazy with a destroyed front end... he was running down the hill to check on us, and more importantly the driver of the beetle(an elderly gentleman)... just then the two people ahead of us must have heard the crash and turned around to see what happened, to their total shock was three smashed cars in the road... soon on the scene was CHP, medics, Julian Fire Dept. and soon after a lifeflight helo...

i can NEVER wish such a thing to happen to anyone, and i hope that no one on these forums ever must experience it. and you cannot understand the shear power, and amazingness of airbags untill you witness it... our car shrunk a good 6-10" in length, the engine/tranny was severly pushed back, and the rear end missing up untill about 1/2 way of the CD Changer in the trunk... the ONLY body panel not damaged was the trunk... mind you, a few 16 hours earlier, we had just gotten the car back from the body shop where they fixed the trunk, two doors, and both bumpers... both bumpers, now missing, were in the road, every door panel was bent, and amazingly the trunk had been shot open(when we were rear ended) and was not damaged... although, it did throw our Nikon Camera bag a good 50-60 feet down the road.

Ok, my whole point in telling this is, PLEASE BE CAREFUL! I know SoCal has become infamous for our, rather, "spirted" drives, but please people, do not push your limits, learn SLOWLY, and most importantly, <b>ALWAYS</b> expect the unexpected..

I know this incident(and the SUV's), aren't common, but when they happen, they change your life forever.

Sorry for dragging on, but its always good to inform people

 

that stopped and used their cell fone to call 911 when we had our accident, i have no idea if they are on AW, and they didn't know us at all, they simply came around a corner to spot a crazy accident, stopped, and called 911, and helped us out...

thanks again, who ever you were.

 

See: http://www.zing.com/picture/p4131b3077ba6e74a095370873d3407c2/fef0cecf.jpg.orig.jpg

I was on my way home from Cape Cod on the Mass Turnpike last August when this Ford Explorer (with Firestone tires, no less!) zips by me doing about 80 mph, and pulling a 30-foot house trailer!

About a half mile down the road I caught up to him ... he was upside down on a guard rail. I called 911 on my cell phone, then ran over to the truck with other motorists to try to free the people inside.

We got the two children out the back hatch; shaken up, but relatively uninjured. But the mother and father were hurt badly, and a Lifestar helicopter landed on the highway to take them to the hospital.

Seeing as I am a journalist, and carry a camera with me almost always, I snapped a couple of shots before I left.

I can't believe this guy put his wife and kids' lives at risk that way!<ul><li><a href="http://www.zing.com/picture/p4131b3077ba6e74a095370873d3407c2/fef0cecf.jpg.orig.jpg">http://www.zing.com/picture/p4131b3077ba6e74a095370873d3407c2/fef0cecf.jpg.orig.jpg</a</li></ul>

 

About two and a half years ago, i was with a friend coming home from school, it was raining, and just starting to get dark out. We dip down into a little valley, onto a sweeping turn. All the sudden, a deer runs infront of my almost brand new volvo S70. I swerve to the left, hit gravel, lose the back end, correct, swing back, hit the wet pavement, go totally perpendicular to the road, hit the brakes, adn try to counter steer again, i didnt know any better then but i was too sideways to correct, the ABS kicks in, and i shoot straight into the forest going 55mph. We busted through a chainlink fence, missed a lake by about ten feet, smacked 4 oak trees (none head on luckily) and then a fallen oak tree still somewhat attatched to its stump and held up by another tree hits the area right where the windshield meets the roof. destroying the windshield, and the roof. Finally we come to a stop about 500 fet into the forest, and thanks to the volvo, we walk away with only bumps and bruises. All 4 airbags went off in the car, both of the plastic surrounds around the seatbelts(where they enter the b-pillar) had popped off due to the seatbelts being jerked so hard. Remarkably the volvos structure was strong enough to withstand the impact of an oak tree and we were able to open the doors to get out. Every single window and body panel was crushed dented scraped shattered or ripped off, The front crumple zones compacted 6 inches, and the engine dropped to the ground, but both foot boxes had no visual effects from the inside! Both bumpers had been completely ripped off. I was lucky enough that a woman driving buy saw us shoot into the forest, and call 911. when the EMTs got there to check us out they told me that the volvo saved our lives. If we were in an suv we would have been decapitated by the fallen oak tree. It took 2 tow trucks one winched to the other the other winched to my car to get it out. To this day i have a love for volvos that most people do not understand, except for those in the Volvo Saved My Life Club. Im still not sure why i dont drive a volvo now though. I also do not know who the person was that helped us out by calling 911, but i guess thats the way things go.