An accident

I witnessed an amazing accident today. I was heading west on Sprague, the major east-west artery through Spokane and Spokane Valley, when a woman ran a red light at full speed on a cross street from the south. The light had changed at least a full half-minute before, and the traffic on Sprague was crossing the cross street in both directions at normal speed. The woman managed to get across the two east-bound lanes and one of the west-bound lanes, when she was hit hard, broadside, by a truck in the north-most west-bound lane.

It was like one of those action movies where the hero crosses an intersection against the light, except she only made it 3/4 of the way. It was amazing, though, to see that car cross right through the traffic, until it was hit. I was probably 25 to 50 yards back.

I pulled over and waited for the cops to come, and told them what I had seen, and gave them my contact information. I doubt anybody is going to ask me to testify. It was so clear what had happened, and there were lots of witnesses.

Nobody was hurt, thankfully, as far as I could tell. A fire truck and ambulance arrived before the cops did, and they didn't take anyone away, as I presume would have happened if there had been an injury. A woman driving an SUV was closer to it than I was, having passed me half a block back. She was the one who called 911, though other witnesses may have called also.

I have no idea why the woman ran the red light. Maybe she was paying no attention to the road at all (if she was, she'd have seen the cross traffic even if she didn't see the light.) Maybe it was one of those cases of momentary confusion and she hit the gas when she intended to hit the brake. Maybe her brakes failed. Or maybe she thought she was Bruce Willis.

The moral, I suppose, is don't assume the other guy (or gal) is going to stop just because they have a red light.

 

Re: Cellphone distraction????

It wasn't just a light. There was heavy traffic passing through the intersection at normal traffic speed when she entered it, and there had been for at least a full half a minute, maybe more like a minute, before.

When the accident happened I slowed way down, and drove slowly through the intersection because it was easier to pull over on the other side. The light turned yellow while I was in the intersection, which means it had probably been red for the cross traffic for a good minute.

I can actually understand someone being so distracted they fail to see the red light. What I cannot understand is someone being so distracted they fail to see that the intersection is full of cars.

That's why I wonder if it was one of those things where someone steps on the gas thinking it's the brake, of even a failure of the brakes.

I did not approach the car. I stayed away until the cops showed up, then spoke briefly to one, and then left, so I did not get a close look at the driver, who remained in her car. But from the glimpse I had, I think she was elderly. That makes me think it might have been more likely a gas/brake confusion than a cell-phone distraction.