We talk about what trains do to cars, but let me tell you what cars do to people and other cars. I was standing in front of my office building at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge at 12:30 this afternoon. I just happened to stop to talk to a friend hanging out in front of the building. Suddenly we heard a roar and a horn blazing! Off the bridge came a white Towncar going about 60 miles an hour past us with a small blue BMW not 20 feet behind him! They FLEW by and I realized the the Towncar was on fire! It was spewing black smoke from the front and pieces of plastic from the motor were falling out from under the car all the way up the street! I turned and looked at my friend and we made some stunned comments and suddenly I heard BOOM!!!!!!!!! We ran to the street and looked up towards Worth St. and saw heavy black smoke!!!! Within 20 seconds, there was a huge explosion! We could see a ball of flames go up into the air! The car had slammed into a parked car and pushed it's gas tank right to the back of the driver's seat! The Towncar had dragged someone also. I don't know how far or where because I saw no sign of that when I got up there about 2 minutes later. They must have been tossed into a police car or something and were taken away right away. I was there just as the first fire engines arrived. The fire was huge. There on the corner by 80 Centre was a poor man lying on the ground with Court Officers trying their best to comfort him. HIs left arm was very badly broken. It was gruesome. He was another pedestrian that was struck. What happened was that the driver of the car service Towncar said he couldn't stop his car until he hit people and clipped a lightpole and slammed into the parked car. Those poor Court Officers were really trying to take control of a terrible situation and they were just amazing towards that injured man. The driver, and two passengers walked away almost unhurt. The driver didn't even have a scratch. It was just awful, but if it wasn't for the guy following the car and honking his horn, I think many more people would have been killed. he took off right afterwards according to a Court Officer I was talking to.
Saw that in the paper today. Terrible indeed! The one thing that I always wonder about these people that say that their brakes do not work is why they don't think about flipping it in neutral and applying the E-brake. I think that there is not enough training of most drivers and they seem to panic. Incidentally, this stuck accelerator problem in NY happens a lot to elder people in brand-new Cadillacs. So, beware dem Caddies!! Russ
Russ, did you see Newsday yesterday? The accident story? If you can find one. Read it carefully! LOL!
I drive an 18 wheeler for a living, for the past 20+ years and I know that we need to tighten up our driver education regulations. You would be amazed so of the silly stuff I have seen drivers do! And kids are the worst of any bunch, they get this LOOK AT ME I AM SOMEBODY attitude. Every year a few don't make it to 21. Don't talk about making it harder to get a license, ooh no, people have this idea that a driver's license is a RIGHT. It is a PRIVILEGE and it is still too easy to get one! This idea that you can go to summer school and learn all you need to know to drive safely is crazy. Driver education needs to be a lot longer than a couple of weeks. People ought to have to do all the testing I have to do to get my COMMERCIAL DRIVERS LICENSE(CDL). Don't get me started about DRUNK DRIVERS either! As far as I am concerned, the first time you are caught drunk driving, you should loose your license for a year and do 30 days jail time. It is time we stopped treating drunk driving as something minor and got serious about it. I'll get off the soapbox now! MARK
I rode with my dad many times. I know how stupidly people react to large trucks. There's no respect for anyone out there on the road. It's a free-for-all.
Porkypine. That's one thing I'm well aware of. Although I'm not on the road nearly as much as a professional driver, I have averaged over 30k miles per year for the past 3 years, and I've seen so much stupidity it's not even amusing. Just two days ago, some dipsquat comes flying up beside me in the left lane just as the left lane ends, and nearly clips my front bumper trying to get into my lane. I blow the horn, and I see a hand come away from her head, and she's got a dang cell phone in her hand!!! Another of my driving peeves is how often people will steal the right of way at a four way stop. There's several moderate traffic level four way stops that I frequently pass thru, and people act like such morons in those places. I think we need less "speeding" enforcement, and more "dangerous driving" enforcement... as well as MUCH better driver training. [ 15 July 2002, 01:46: Message edited by: RidgeRunner ]
What I find interesting is that they will still toss people in cop cars and run them to the hospital. I swear that has to be a NYC thing, as I can't imagine it being done anyplace I've seen. As a volunteer firefighter and emergency manager it scares the hell out of me to think of handling trauma patients that way. Must create some awful liability problems for the city!
I just couldn't figure out where the person that got dragged had gotten too. I was there within 2 minutes and couldn't see anyone that fit that decription, and several Court Officers had told me and it was in the papers that someone had been dragged. The person I thought was the driver of the Towncar, turned out to be another victim hit in the street. His left arm was a mess. The bone was sticking out at a 90 degree angle.........the poor guy was in shock. He was being taken care of as soon as the first ambulances came. It was amazing that the driver and the passengers walked away with minor scratches!!!!!!! A Sanitation worker said he pulled the drag victim away from the wreck and the passengers were pulled out of the cars too before they exploded. But what happened to the critical pedestrain is beyond me.......never saw him...... I was really there JUST as the first fire engines came. Even if an ambulance was right there, they would have had to stablize them first, I would imagine! Must have been do or die at the moment. Ever watch COPS? In Philly they sack 'em up and throw them into the back of a Paddy Wagon and race off to the hospital! And no one in the back of the van with them either!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wanna trade a patch? NYPD or FDNY? Let me know! I can get unit or house patches when available, instead of the regular NYPD or FDNY ones. I have to buy them but no big deal. I can trade one! LOL! Ladder 25 right here in the hood has a nice Yosemite Sam. Engine 6 down by work has a tiger. Cool stuff!
I'm not sure we even have a district patch. As much as I hate to admit it, we're pretty much a podunk little department out in the sticks. I'll have to root around and find my can-o-insignia and see what I've got.
