majormojo

From snopes.com:

"It's a chilling scene: a video clip shows a vehicle as it speeds through an intersection and runs broadside into another car; a pedestrian crossing the street breaks into a run to run to get out of the way of the out-of-control vehicles, but the struck car rolls on top of him. The video is all the more chilling because it isn't a scene from a Accident movie, nor is it the product of special effects wizardry — it's the real thing, captured by a red-light enforcement camera."

Link to video

Link to story

SaraWI

Yikes..cross at the light children.. P.S. Did you see the age of the driver in the PT Cruiser. No surprise at all, unfortunately. " I want you to have rights Grandpa, I just don't want to die."

sixspeed

This is terrible. Stupid a-holes running red light

TSX 'R' US

Wow...I can't stand stupid people

provench

I don't wanna watch this, but I am to assume this thread should be NWS?

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

It's not gruesome, per se, but it certainly is bone-chilling.

Sheesh...anyone think this is another case of mistaking the accelerator for the brake like the thing that happened in Santa Monica a year or so back at the Famer's Market?

majormojo

It's not gory. It must be work-safe, a co-worker sent it to me. What I find fascinating about the event is that the pedestrian was going to get it anyway - the red-light running PT Cruiser probably saved his life by a) slowing the Subaru and knocking it over and b) making the big dent in the Subaru that allowed the pedestrian to not be crushed when it rolled over on him. Wild.

phile

Sounds frightening, I'm not watching it.

biker

Just like there's a low age limit for driving there should be an upper one too.

dom

Not sure how he survived that.

Arcticcl9

Lessons learned...don't run red lights, and do not jaywalk!

TSXEuphoria

A old guy killed tens of people in Santa Monica, CA. Old peeps are more scary than reckless teenage street racers.

ABP-CL9-TSX

damn red light runners!

dabuda

noticed that too...lucky guy

majormojo

Apparently this is a real-life example of two wrongs making a right.

Soze75

I'd strongly disagree.

I've run a red light once. It wasn't out of ignorance but simply a one off where my usually strong observation skills went completely offline. As I passed through the intersection and saw that a Cherokee had just screeched to a stop I looked up and "I just went through a red? WTF!?"

My mind started playing images of what usually happens when you run a red. Death, destruction, what have you. I had a feeling that I had been very, very lucky. Such a small lack of judgement can ruin yours and others' lives in an instant.

The old folks don't "run" the lights. They miss them. Their aged brains aren't as efficient as they once were. You got to give our elders a bit of respect folks. They built the very roads that we'd rather they not be part of. Sure, the Santa Monica tragedy magnifies the elderly motorist menace but I don't think that we'll see anyone over 70 years doubling the posted speed limit in a dense urban setting.

My grandfather was an excellent driver right up until his passing last year. He followed the rules and was always courteous. The truth is he was scared on the busy roads. He couldn't take in all the goings on as well as he used to. He drove what we hot-rodders would consider slow because it was the only comfortable speed where he could take it all in. Just wait until we have to experience losses of mental sharpness. Give them a break.

Teenage/twentysomething, street-racing f*ckwads are by far the real menace out there, besides the majority of drivers who just plain suck. They know the rules, they know the risks but they live in ignorance and they drive in ignorance. They'll run a red because it suits their selfish and thoughtless way of being. They don't give a F because they think that they're awesome drivers. Four years of Gran Tourismo and two years of real world driving and hell, they're only steps away from F1 fame and fortune

I'll take a highway full of grandpas and grandmas rather than a highway with only a few mindless, reckless drivers weaving through us fools who realize how easily life can be taken away.

majormojo

Good point about the seniors being more cautious. Sometimes they are simply not observant enough, and sometimes it's the opposite. I like the idea of graduated licensing for new drivers and I think that current drivers should be re-tested from time to time as well - more frequently as they get older. My grandfather voluntarily stopped driving a number of years before his death. He knew that his vision and reaction time were not what they once were and he found changes in the roadways and amount of traffic to be confusing. So he stopped before he got himself or others hurt. He'd stopped driving at night a few years before that. I hope I have that much good sense when I'm 80.

Soze75

I'd agree with some re-testing.

Not out on the road or anything.

I'd like to see a thorough 'road rules' test being taken every decade or so.

I'm getting very tired of drivers who either ignore them or don't even know them. Nightmare. Hey idiot, I'm turning left, you're turning right, you have the right of way....GO FFS!!!!!! Why are you waiting for me?!!