quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
...and with the bed extended, any Emergency Lights were entirely blocked by the bed (ramp!)...

The emergency light bar was mounted to the roll bar that's part of the flatbed and completely visible no matter what position the bed is in. It was not on the cab of the truck and blocked from view.

^^^Was it even on? I see NO flashing lights on that flatbed whatsoever...

This article says yes according to the accident report:

"The tow truck, described as a roll-back wrecker, was parked in the left lane with its emergency lights activated, the accident report said. Authorities had been on the scene responding to an earlier incident.

Georgia State Patrol Lt. Crystal Zion told WSB-TV that the crash underscores the importance of Georgia’s “Move Over” Law.

“When you see those lights to slow down, move over,” she said." Link

I couldn't see the lights on the GSP vehicles to the officer's left as he was running towards the rolled over vehicle. One would think they had to be on as well. I believe they can be activated front and back which could explain why we can't see them from the front in the video.

Alexander Shunnarah or morris & morris will make this gal some money. There’s gotta be some shared liability with the wrecker on this one.

And I’m taking my 15 year old to the DMV this am so he can try to get his learners permit ! I will have to show him this

quote:

Originally posted by ElToro:
And I’m taking my 15 year old to the DMV this am so he can try to get his learners permit ! I will have to show him this

So he can learn how to do a better job of sticking the landing next time?

Well, none of us was there, so...

The article says, or the report says doesn't mean shit! At least two of the Cruisers do NOT show emergency strobes/flashing lights in the video, and neither does the flatbed as far as I can tell...NO strobes anywhere on that truck are visibly activated. And while one 'could' activate only the rear lights, why the hell would anyone do that? Surely the flatbed would've had both the rear facing AND the front facing lights 'rolling' when they arrived on the scene. Were they shut off mistakenly? Were they actually on at the time? It doesn't appear so, but who knows.

I think 'that the crash underscores the stupidity of those controlling the scene', as well as that of the guy operating the flatbed, and driver! Curiously, there was a passenger in the car as well, but it would seem that neither saw that flatbed. This is speculation of course, but if the emergency lights were activated, surely one of the two would have noticed before it was too late, don't ya think?

That said, we live is a litigious society, and that video will certainly be introduced in court. I stand by my assertion...She may be due 'significant compensation', and there will be plenty of attorneys that'll be more than willing take up the charge on her behalf.

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
not even so much as a traffic cone behind the flatbed

That's what struck me, too. All those police and equipment, and nothing flashing behind the tow truck, at least none evident in that clip. Lots of stuff flashing on the other side...nothing on that side.

Car on the right, right beside the soon-to-be-launched car, so it couldn't swerve at the last second. Maybe going full "Dukes" was the right choice - if she'd swerved off to her left might have wound up plowing through a bunch of the LEOs on the scene.

Not clear what caused all that equipment and personnel to be there in the first place - looks there'd been a prior incident on the other side of the highway and that's where the attention was put.

I think a bunch of this will wind up in the tow truck driver's lap, unless there's more than what we see in the clip. Might want to have words with the guy in the yellow high-visibility vest (LEO?) who was just calmly walking in front of the cab of the tow truck as well...he must have known the truck was in the lane...why wasn't he doing something helpful like putting down cones, lights etc.?

^^^Cause? Hard to tell from the video, but it kinda' looks like a rollover (from the other direction?) in the median, and two perps placed in handcuffs (one being searched) right in front of the F150 when the Officer with the bodycam walks by, says 'good' and gives the thumbs up.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by ElToro:
And I’m taking my 15 year old to the DMV this am so he can try to get his learners permit ! I will have to show him this

So he can learn how to do a better job of sticking the landing next time?

Exactly ! It’s all about technique. If she had hit it strait on and not at that slight edge of the ramp I don’t think she would have rolled. But the increase of an end over end would have been greater. Watching mythbusters for years taught me there is a lot of physics involved with ramp angle and approach speed. Young drivers need to learn all that.

It is not uncommon for drivers to get focused on an object or activity and unconsciously drive towards it.

A classic example of this was almost 40 years ago when I was a kid. Dad, sister and I were out for a bike ride. My animal lover sister saw a bird on a telephone wire on the other side of the road and became so focused on it, her riding path was heading straight in that direction until a mail box got in the way.

I saw this quite often working accidents on freeways, people get focused on the lights, apparatus, and incident and find themselves driving right for it. Great way to get hit if you're foolish enough to step out between vehicles anywhere near a traffic path. I've seen several police cars and an apparatus hit that way.

It's possible she was so focused on what was happening on the other side of the freeway and lost bearing on where she was going.

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
The Flatbed was 100% in the passing lane (there was NO Shoulder!), and with the bed extended, any Emergency Lights were entirely blocked by the bed (ramp!). There were six cruisers (minimum!) of the other side of the road, and as 'r0gue' indicates, not even so much as a traffic cone behind the flatbed. The back of the flatbed would have appeared the same shade of gray as the roadway until it was too late!

She may be due 'significant compensation'...

And who is responsible to see that the roadway in front of you is clear and safe to travel upon?

The wrecker had a lightbar atop the rollbar/front of the bed. It may have been set in the “back or rear” setting only displaying yellow towards the rear traffic


And while one 'could' activate only the rear lights, why the hell would anyone do that?

Because led lightbars are blindingly bright. As a cop I always set the bar to the “back” setting so it wouldn’t blind me while I was doing stuff at a wreck scene. At a traffic stop they stayed on 360°.

That is crazy! I was impressed by the officer making his way to that car while it was still in the air. Hats off to him and those of you who run towards danger to help like that...

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
And while one 'could' activate only the rear lights, why the hell would anyone do that?

Because led lightbars are blindingly bright. As a cop I always set the bar to the “back” setting so it wouldn’t blind me while I was doing stuff at a wreck scene. At a traffic stop they stayed on 360°.

I'm aware they're 'really' bright, but in the daytime? At an accident scene? Wet road conditions? I've seen that at a Traffic Stop, but NEVER at an Accident Scene!

The light bar on a roll back tow truck is mounted at the forward end of the bed, on top of the barrier that sits behind the cab when in the down position. Specifically so it is not blocked when the bed is tilted up. You can see it in the video. It may have a “rear only” flash mode as well.

There 'may' be regional differences here, so maybe just not a thing in the south, but EVERY Emergency Vehicle I've ever seen in the Northeast has alternating strobes in the directional and marker light housings. As such, I'd expect to see something flashing on all four corners of the vehicle in addition to the light bar, regardless of how it's activated.

Imagine the damage if she had arrived moments earlier with the tow truck's bed still horizontal and 3' off the deck. The Nissan would have hit the back end at full speed with the flatbed right around torso height.

All of this talk about distracted driver and failure to move over is pure BS! If you adjust the volume and increase the treble when watching the video, you can clearly hear the driver say "Hey - watch this!"

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
Every emergency vehicle in the county on the other side of the road. Not so much as an orange cone marking out that truck sitting 1/2 in the lane.

Whatever may have had her distracted, it's not the only contributing factor to this shit show. I believe she's going to make a few dollars on her stunt show appearance.

I assume Georgia has some proportionate/comparative responsibility negligence rules, which means that she can only recover the proportion of her damages caused by the wrecker driver, and not for the part caused by her own fault. A fact-finder will be asked to determine how much, as a percentage, is her fault and how much is the wrecker driver's. And further, in some states (Texas is one), if the plaintiff's own negligence exceeds 50%, that plaintiff cannot recover.

The older rule is that if you are at all responsible (even 1%), you can't recover at all. This is a minority view in the U.S., and it may be that no states still do it this way.

If she was looking at her cell phone a jury may well hang a lot of contrib on her. But the wrecker was on the highway, and there was no traffic cone or flare, so . . . That is what trials are for.

Trying to speculate on how this will play out based on 30 seconds of video is the height of folly. There is so much we don't know just by looking at the video.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:
Imagine the damage if she had arrived moments earlier with the tow truck's bed still horizontal and 3' off the deck. The Nissan would have hit the back end at full speed with the flatbed right around torso height.

Depends on age of flatbed. They implemented underride protection laws 20+ years ago to require designers and fabricators to provide both a low bumper and a tested bumper that wouldn't let a car bury itself up to the driver. Of course, like all mandated designs they're at a prescribed speed (in this case 35 mph) so it may not prevent underride at limited access freeway speeds.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
Trying to speculate on how this will play out based on 30 seconds of video is the height of folly. There is so much we don't know just by looking at the video.

Well then what the hell is even the point of internet discussions if we can't jump to conclusions based on little to no information?!

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