Last week I was out in Las Vegas visiting family. My BIL and I went to Huntington Beach for a few days and on the way back on I-15 near Barstow California there was a sign up saying right lane closed ahead and to merge in the left lane. We were already in the left lane and suddenly traffic came to a halt in the left lane and I also saw a red car on the left shoulder that looked very damaged and we were maybe a dozen cars back. As we got closer it was apparent there was a bad accident and traffic was getting through on the right shoulder. As we got near the red car we were both shocked at what we saw and I said "there are dead people in that car". My BIL is a retired paramedic and there was no police/fire/ambulance on the scene so he pulled over and said he had to go see if he could help. I said sure but I will stay in our car and to let me know if you need me. I really did not want to see what was inside. Turned out nothing could be done until fire dept came with extraction tools.

After a few minutes police arrived and then after a few more minutes fire and ambulance arrived. A while later my BIL came back and said it was the worst he had seen in a long time. One DOA, another about to expire, and a child in a car seat with unknown condition as only the legs could be seen hanging out of the carrier but no movement or noise. later that day we saw in the news that two women were dead but no update on the child.

He said that driver and lone occupant of the larger SUV vehicle (he said a Tahoe or something similar) that hit the red car was unscathed and described as a younger female maybe in her thirties. News said that there were five vehicles involved total. My BIL thinks that maybe the person that hit the red car was using phone or somehow otherwise not paying atttention to the road and hit the red car at high speed. He said he did not see any skid marks to indicate hard braking. The speed limit of I-15 was 70 and left lane traffic was going about 75-85 MPH.

Goes to show how bad things can get when someone takes their eyes of the road for even a very short period of time. Other people early on the scene besides those involved were a nurse and a minister who prayed for the people in the red car.

It is amazing what can happen in just a matter of seconds.

I worked accidents like those for over 14 years, and it always intrigued, amazed and baffled me that some people could walk away with barely a scratch while the vehicle was totaled. On the flip side, I have seen cars roughed up, but the person expired.

It is not only phones that are the cause of many of these accidents. It is all the gizmos that are inside of the vehicle.

A few years back, (June 2013) I flew into Houston for an interview with the PD. I rented a Ford Focus from the airport and when I got in I could not believe my eye. There were so many buttons just for the radio.

(I had to pull over to figure out how to turn it on. )

I have always complained about this. People forget that the object is to drive. It is a vehicle.. People have gotten lazy which leads to lack of attention. I made a comment that it is sad that car companies had to put auto braking into cars because people are idiots.

A couple of thoughts;

It surprises me how little it takes to kill someone, or how much it takes to kill someone. I agree with rapteam.

Accident scenes are dynamic the first rule is, is the scene secure? So easy to to get caught up in the duty to help someone and then you get your ass run over, shot, ect.

That stretch of I-15 from Barstow to Vegas is like a race track. Everyone in a rush to get to Vegas, hate driving that area.

i flew helicopter ems for several years.

whether car/truck, m/c, atv, airplane/helicopter crash, sky diving, driving too fast for conditions, etc, while under the influence, distracted, being at the wrong place/wrong time, makes for some grizzly scenes!!

What make and model was the red car? It looks fairly small.

In all my years as a Firefighter and on a Rescue squad I have seen my share of bad MVAs but I have never seen a car in as bad of shape as the red car.
So sad.

radio traffic transcripts only report it as a red compact sedan.

I actually looked at a red Nissan Versa for my daughter but deemed it too small.

The other cars were listed as a ford escape and a blue pickup

Jesus. That’s terrible.

Easter Sunday 1985.

I am outside of Vegas headed west on I-15 when I see a commotion in the traffic ahead, and it suddenly comes to a halt. Being in the leftmost lane, I eased onto the shoulder to see if I could determine what was up. Maybe 300 yards ahead is a 1980's vintage Jeep Grand Wagoneer in the median, tire side down, but all the doors open and I can see through the car - no one was still inside.

Then from both sides of the road people moved to help. Here is where the family was fortunate; there were four trauma nurses returning from a conference in Las Vegas. Across the interstate, a medic unit deadheading to Las Vegas pulls off. I am a newly minted EMT (not yet a paramedic). And a medical helo deadheading LA to Las Vegas saw the commotion and landed to see what was up.

God knows they needed help. It was a family, father, mother, two daughters, one son. All the kids looked under 10 by my recollection. The father (driving) wandered off the road onto the median shoulder, and then down the steep short slope to the center median whereupon the Jeep rolled. Two or three times, spitting the unseatbelted kids and wife out the doors when they came open during the roll.

The boy was dead on scene, just a bag of bones, crushed under the vehicle. I went with the flight nurse to see if he was alive. The only human body I ever saw more disfigured was a suicide off a 30 story balcony, impacting on concrete. Of the two daughters, maybe 6 and 8 years, one had a severely depressed skull fracture and faded out while we packaged her for the helo. The other one had a broken pelvis, two broken legs, a broken arm, a flail chest, and a bad head injury. The wife was the worst, legs broken in several places, broken pelvis (crushed might be a better term), flail chest, sucking chest wound (caused by a compound broken rib), and a probable basal skull fracture. She was alive but unresponsive. They were all packaged in the hel0 and launched to Vegas, about a 20 minute flight.

And that was the last I knew of them. I have no idea how it turned out, but I have always envisioned the father, overcome with grief because his inattention got his entire family killed, eventually taking his own life.

That's a helluva stretch of road.


ETA: That might be the most damaged automobile I've ever seen. It looks like it was in a car compactor.

ETA2: In the picture, the front of the car is to the right. Look at the impact force on the rear of the car. It looks like they were stopped and driven into.

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:
What make and model was the red car? It looks fairly small.

I don't know as I did not get close enough to get a good look. I stayed over on the shoulder on the other side of that lane.

quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:
radio traffic transcripts only report it as a red compact sedan.

I actually looked at a red Nissan Versa for my daughter but deemed it too small.

The other cars were listed as a ford escape and a blue pickup

Good info! Thanks.

I've done many trips on that section of road. People drive like absolute morons on it. Not unusual to get passed like you are standing still while having the cruise set at 80.

quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:
radio traffic transcripts only report it as a red compact sedan.

That's a prime example of why I don't like such cars.

My wife drives a Chevy Equinox. She's happy with it. I'd be much happier if she was in something more like my Jeep Grand Cherokee.

K=1/2M*V^2

Speed kills, exponentially. And then some.

My son will be driving soon. Scares the hell out of me.

I’ve seen too many mangled bodies.

Yeah……I recognize a few posters here that work emergency services and know they know all too well whats in that red car…..I just retired and won’t miss seeing that shit!
I told all my new guys everyone gets a cup…everyones cup is a different size dependent on the individual. The cup is for all the sights/sounds/odors of the terrible things you will have to witness….pay attention to your cup, get out when your cup is almost full….the guys that let it overflow are the retired drunks/addicts or just off themselves….don’t let that happen to you!!
First responders endure a lot over time that the general public doesn’t think about…..stay safe my Brothers!

We had one last week that I came upon on my way to work early last Friday. Happened around 5:20 and I came to it at 5:30 just before the first fire truck was arriving. Car was totally engulfed in flames. All three in car died or burned alive and 2 in Tahoe killed.

https://www.cbs19.tv/article/n...bb-9bd9-57ed11800bb3

I drive I-5 100 miles to PDX a lot. Setting the cruise not over 65 is a lot more comfortable than 75. At my 65, even big rigs pass me

My son-in-law’s mother was killed just last month in a head-on collision. The driver of the other car was a 15 YO girl, driving under a rural school permit (school is out for the summer). She crossed the centerline and the sheriff’s department described it as “distracted driving.” The young girl wasn’t a farm kid either, her dad is a chiropractor.

Accidents like these can happen in the blink of the eye even if we are doing every thing right and get caught up in the event.. Once got stopped by a state trooper for doing the speed limit on a two lane elevated section of I-10 eastbound headed towards New Orleans, La. Morning rush hour inboud traffic.. He threatened to write a ticket for "impeding traffic" says I was going too slow for the flow was going 12 to 15 over posted limit.. was driving a 25ft box van that had a speed governor and a dash cam that recorded vehicle speed and wanted him to give me the ticket and would gladly see him in the court room to explain to the judge but he would not even write a warning ........drill sgt.