Okay, who was it?

[BRZnut]

why did the driver move to the left in front of the car that was driving in the shoulder? He just caused his own accident.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by ermax

Seriously. He was probably fleeing to the hospital due to the injuries from the first crash. Cut the guy some slack. Hahaha

OR, maybe he was speeding up to where the LEO was, to report the accident so the LEO could call for an ambulance .......




humfrz

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by humfrz

OR, maybe he was speeding up to where the LEO was, to report the accident so the LEO could call for an ambulance .......

If he had made it that far, he probably would have smashed into the cop. It's a known issue, flashing emergency lights confuse drunks and cause them to drive toward them rather than away from them, like moths to a flame. A number of cops have been injured or seriously killed by drunk drivers this way.

[Decep]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

If he had made it that far, he probably would have smashed into the cop. It's a known issue, flashing emergency lights confuse drunks and cause them to drive toward them rather than away from them, like moths to a flame. A number of cops have been injured or seriously killed by drunk drivers this way.

Doesn't surprise me. Coworker of mine died when she stopped on the side of the road with her flashers on. Drunk drove right into her going 60 mph.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

If he had made it that far, he probably would have smashed into the cop. It's a known issue, flashing emergency lights confuse drunks and cause them to drive toward them rather than away from them, like moths to a flame. A number of cops have been injured or seriously killed by drunk drivers this way.

Interesting comment. I've often wondered about that .....

I wonder if there has been a study to address that possibility ...... ??


humfrz

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

If he had made it that far, he probably would have smashed into the cop. It's a known issue, flashing emergency lights confuse drunks and cause them to drive toward them rather than away from them, like moths to a flame. A number of cops have been injured or seriously killed by drunk drivers this way.

He did make it that far. He flew right past the cop while blowing steam and dragging parts.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by humfrz

I wonder if there has been a study to address that possibility ...... ??

I don't know if there has been a study specifically of drunks, but I recall seeing a study showing that drivers tend to drift in the direction they're looking. If you put a confused person behind the wheel, I would expect that effect to be multiplied.

Beyond scientific evidence, there's plenty of anecdotal evidence for it. When I worked in television, I covered a few crashes of this type, and I heard about more from the cops themselves. It seemed to be generally accepted among cops, at least in the areas where I worked, that flashing lights attracted them. There was even discussion in Florida when I worked there of getting rid of the really bright flashing lights and dropping back to a more subtle warning light that wouldn't draw them in.

We news people weren't immune to it either. One station where I worked set up a live truck on the shoulder of the highway and had someone who wasn't even drunk rear-end it. I used to read on the forums about regular news trucks getting smashed the same way, by drunks and non-drunk looky-loos alike. Stations started advising their photogs never to set up a live truck on the side of the road (not really for our safety as much as they didn't want their $300,000 live trucks damaged--they continued to send us to roadside incidents in our regular news trucks).

Whenever I had to work a collision, I always pulled well off the road and turned my lights completely off so as not to attract them. No hazards, and no scene lights. Even so, my first day in a new job in Tulsa, I had someone rear-end the shitty Taurus they gave me to drive, even though I had pulled completely onto the grass next to a police car where common sense would have seemed to indicate it would be safe. She missed the cop and hit my car instead. It was kind of funny. When I walked up with the camera rolling on her, she was having a violent screaming argument with her passenger. Then when she saw the camera, she stopped, looked wide-eyed directly into the camera, and then grabbed her head and started screaming, "Oh ma'neck! O ma'neck! Oh Jesus ma'neck!"

And then there are also the videos on YouTube that seem to support it:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1cJlHvOFFU"]Drunk Driver Almost Hits Officer On Traffic Stop - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlyKbAvP3gs"]CAUGHT ON TAPE: Drunk Driver SLAMS Into Police Car! - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaEsRrJ2upk"]GRAPHIC Dashcam Video Shows Trooper Hit By Drunk Driver - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQfOjLrOKdI"]Police Dashcam Shows Police Officer getting Hit By a Drunk Driver and Survives - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj9FvXN7_-4"]Drunk Driver Crashes Into Police Car - Dashcam And Bodycam Video - YouTube[/ame]

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

He did make it that far. He flew right past the cop while blowing steam and dragging parts.

Yeah, but he had been slowed down and impeded somewhat by the collision. It might have changed the outcome.

Still a stupid thing for the Jeep driver to do.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

I don't know if there has been a study specifically of drunks, but I recall seeing a study showing that drivers tend to drift in the direction they're looking. ...........

Interesting story.

Ugly videos.

hmmmm........ maybe the highway patrol should set up police car "fronts" with flashing lights, along the highway to "attract" impaired drivers ...... ??

Sort of like back in the day, in the South, before freeways, some of the local police cars along side of the road were just billboards ....... and then some weren't ........ just how lucky do you feel today ........


humfrz