Tag Archives: traffic collisions

Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right

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Unfortunately, I have to set the scene before I can get to the ‘meat’ of my story.

A couple of weeks ago, I was traveling on a two-lane Interstate highway headed to Las Vegas. There were two lanes in my direction and two going the other way. In portions of the route, the north and southbound traffic lanes are divided, and in the particular portion I was on, there was about a fifty-yard divide between the lanes and there was about a fifteen-foot sloping drop from the highway. It was mid-afternoon and the roadway was fairly crowded.

The highway traffic moves at high rates of speed because it’s mostly a long stretch with very few on or off ramps. Because of this fact, it would be safe to say that most vehicles are traveling at 70 mph or better, most drivers are following the car ahead of them too closely, and frankly, it’s easy to become complacent while driving. There is nothing to look at except the wide-open spaces of the high desert and the huge expanse of sky.

This road is usually crowded with traffic going from Southern California to ‘Sin City.’ For all the factors I mentioned, there are frequently traffic collisions – and for those same reasons, they are often multi-vehicle and serious in nature.

So, I’m by myself driving to Vegas. I’ve got the radio on and I’m trying to think of a fabulous title for my next book. I’m in the left or ‘fast’ lane of the two lanes. This lane is also called the #1 lane and the lane to my right would be called the #2 lane. I’m between Baker, California and Las Vegas, and traffic is winding its way through and down the Halloran Summit.

I’m minding my own business when a white Nissan pulls even with me. As a former cop, having a vehicle side-by-side like that is a little uncomfortable…we were always aware of the possibility of someone pulling up next to us and taking a few shots. So, naturally I glance over to take a look at the driver. I can’t see much of her face because she’s wearing a big floppy hat and her head is down. What I can see is that she is a woman of at least forty and she has dark curly hair, and she’s wearing driving gloves. She too is driving alone.

Now, we’re still parallel to one another and, all of a sudden, this woman starts moving over into my lane! I hit my horn while trying to slow my car and I’m precariously close to the fifteen-foot drop-off to my left. I can hear rocks and gravel being thrown into the undercarriage of my car. I’ve got my arms locked to keep the wheel straight and prevent me from falling down the embankment. The woman veers back into the #2 lane and she drops her speed.

I don’t mind telling you I was pretty shaken. There is no doubt in my mind if I’d gone off that ledge, I would have rolled my SUV. Thankfully, the big Dodge pick-up truck that was behind me didn’t rear-end me.

I’m sure my speed had slowed and I looked into my rear view mirror to see if I could see the errant driver. I couldn’t. She’s still in the #2 lane, but in my blind spot.

I’m trying to look at my right passenger mirror to see if there is any damage because I’m not positive that we didn’t actually collide. I don’t see any damage, but what I DO see the woman in the white Nissan pulling along side of me. I’m stunned to see that as she hurriedly drives past me she is angrily flipping me off!

I yelled at her, “Are you crazy?” knowing she can’t hear me. I threw in a cuss word too. Oh, and you know what she had in her other hand besides the steering wheel…her cell phone.

I was steaming for about fifteen minutes after that. It wasn’t the fact she’d almost run me off the road – although that DID tick me off. It was the one-fingered salute she’d had the nerve to display that really infuriated me. She’d almost killed me and THAT was her reaction?

I’m not a perfect driver and I’ve made some bone-headed moves myself, but on those rare occasions when that does happen, I make a point to pantomime an apology to the driver I’ve wronged. I can’t imagine doing something wrong and then blaming someone else. But I’ve been running into that situation a lot more lately.

What about you? Have you ever had someone do something wrong to you and then blame you, or go on the offensive with you?

Be safe out there!

KMA 367

Police Pursuits – Who's Responsible?

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Last week while I was out of town, there was a police pursuit that ended in a horrific car crash, with an alleged drunk driver ‘T-boning’ an innocent driver.  I probably wouldn’t have heard much about it, except the crash was so appalling, that it made it into the newsfeed of my web browser.

In the version I was able to view, I saw about five minutes of the pursuit just prior to the crash.  The clip I saw did not show the crash, but I saw it the next day on another news program.  In the portions of the pursuit I saw, the errant driver made a lot of unsafe lane changes, drove on the wrong side of the road, and blew through numerous red lights nearly missing other vehicles.  The pursuit went through a number of jurisdictions, and it was reported patrol officers discontinued the pursuit and the suspect was tracked by police helicopters.

The clip I saw followed the wayward driver right up until the point of impact.  But what I WAS able to view were the comments made by the public who’d viewed the same clip I’d seen.

Without exception, the folks who commented on the clip of the pursuit blamed the police department for not doing more.  Some thought the officers should have done the ‘pit’ maneuver – although, from what I saw, the conditions to initiate the ‘pit’ were not there.  Others blamed the police for going after the allegedly intoxicated driver at all. The police are damned if we do, and damned if we don’t.

I’ve been involved in my share of pursuits – with me being the pursuer ;-) ,  and I can tell you, while a pursuit is one of the most exciting tasks an officer can be involved in, it’s also one of the most dangerous – and we know it.  During a pursuit, an officer is constantly evaluating whether or not to discontinue the pursuit or not.  Liability is a big thing.  I know that in my tenure as a police officer the policies have changed over the years.

When reading comments from the general public regarding this particular car chase, what struck me, was that not ONE person blamed the driver who was being pursued.  It seems incredible to me that not one person put the responsibility on the person who caused the event in the first place.  I just don’t get it.

So, I ask you:  Why do you think the general public is so anxious to place blame on the police, and not the suspect, when a pursuit goes ‘bad’?

Until next time,

KMA367

New Years Eve in a Black and White

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One of the things you can count on when you’re a cop is that your personal life will often take a back seat to your job.  As an example, most patrol cops don’t get all the holidays off.  In fact, in the LAPD, patrol officers fill out a ‘wish list’ of the holidays they’d like off and rate those holidays in priority.  The ‘biggie’ holidays are Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas day, New Years Eve, and New Years day.

Oddly enough, most officers get their first choice of holiday off because it balances out.  Generally, the family-oriented officers want Christmas Eve and Christmas day off.  The single, officers want New Years Eve and New Years day off.  For me, the most important day to have off was Christmas day.  So in order to assure I’d get that day off, I’d work every other holiday…although I’d also ask for Christmas Eve off too – and most of the time I’d get it.  That meant I’d work every Thanksgiving, every New Years Eve, and every New Years day.

My favorite was working New Year’s Eve. The night would scream by.  Most of our radio calls were for loud parties and we’d log the most calls for service on that first night of the year.  There is a finesse to responding to a party where there are 60 – 300 drunken individuals wanting to have a good time, while the neighbors want to go to sleep.  As an officer, you try to get the revelers to quiet down – and they usually do while the officers are there…then as soon as you leave, the party returns to its raucous origins.  Chances are the officers (or another unit) will be back at the location in an hour or so.  Eventually, after about the third call for service, the officers will have no choice but to break the party up.  This is a dangerous task for the officers and usually, other officers will be called to assist.

Of course, one of the worse situations is when a fight breaks out at a large party.  Before you know it, you’ve got 250 drunks throwing punches at each other, or drunken crowds stampedeing to get outside after shots have been fired.  It’s a dangerous situation for everyone involved.

Sometimes officers will get assigned to handle a DUI (driving under the influence) traffic collision.  This type of call is very time consuming and a drunk driver who’s been arrested seems to lose all their joviality when it sinks in they’re going to jail.  The drunk drivers always seem to get through these accidents unscathed or with minor injuries, but the innocent victims seem to get the brunt of the collision and often suffer serious injuries.  The 2 – 3 hours it can take to book a drunk driver can seem like forever as they come down from their alcohol-induced high.  It makes for a very long night for the officers as the drunk goes from being slap-happy to sullen.

A little before midnight, seasoned cops know to find a freeway underpass to park under or to go into a parking structure for protection from bullets falling to the ground after shots had been fired in the air.  You’d think it was the Fourth of July with all the noise you’d hear from guns being fired.  I remember one New Years Eve, getting flagged down outside a gang-infested housing project by a  robbery victim about fifteen minutes before midnight.  I think I wrote that report in record time and still made it to the nearby mall parking structure for cover before midnight.

But…usually, just before the sun comes up, the radio goes silent.  It’s over.  You and your partner count up the radio calls you’ve handled in the night and are amazed you’ve responded to between 30 and 45 calls in an eight-hour shift.  You’re both thrilled at how quickly the night passed – and grateful you survived it.  Then you go home to bed to get your rest to do it all over again the next night – after everyone’s been drinking all day while watching football.

Until next time,

KMA 367