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Aug. 16th, 2012 06:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wxkatAaaand... I'm back on Oahu after spending a few days on Kauai -- at one of the beach cottages on PMRF, to be exact.
Seven of us from my HIANG flight went up to Kauai to do some training and teambuilding. In between, we did a couple of beach trips, and I took one person to check out Waimea Canyon (nobody else was really interested in that particular trip).
The trip was mostly uneventful.
Why do I say "mostly"?
It's because about a third of the way, while still in Waimea, and preparing to turn onto Waimea Canyon Road (which would take me up to the canyon), I witnessed a traffic accident.
Here's the location of the accident site, as it appears on Google Maps:
And here's the scenario: you are looking in the direction that I was headed. The road I want isn't in the pic yet... it's the next left AFTER the one that you see in the pic.
I'm behind one car (we'll call this car #1), and another one (car #2) is coming out from the road on the right, preparing to turn left (i.e., toward me). Car #2 almost cuts off car #1, but car #1 stops and motions for car #2 to pull out. I stop about a car length or so behind car #1.
Car #2 pulls out in front of car #1. No big deal... usually when this happens, the second car pulls out partway, waits for cross traffic on the other side to stop, then continues with the turn.
Except this time car #2 doesn't stop and continues the left turn.
Right in front of a medium-sized van. You know, one of those repair vans with no windows in the back, maybe about the size of a minivan or small SUV?
At this point I've got several thoughts running through my mind, all at the same time:
"Oh $#!+!"
"This is NOT gonna be good."
"WTF?!"
From my perspective, the van's driver has no time to react. He broadsides car #2's front passenger door at speed, sending it into and around car #1. By the time both vehicles stop, car #2 is pointed toward my right behind car #1 and I can see the damage to the front passenger door. Car #2's windshield is also cracked.
I'm far enough behind car #1 that I'm not involved, but I just got a front-row seat of everything that just happened. Luckily the speed limit on this part of the highway is 25 mph, so it could have been MUCH worse if it had happened in an area where the speed limit was higher.
I angle my car to the right, stop the car and turn on the hazards. Already a couple of other people are checking to see if anyone was hurt (fortunately, nobody was since car #2 had no passengers, and the driver of that car appeared okay... definitely shaken, possibly disoriented).
I stay put in the car while my passenger calls 911 to report the accident. The van's driver also appears to be calling 911. In a few minutes a police officer arrives. By this time other traffic on the road is slowly making its way through the accident scene. Those headed in the direction I was headed are driving slowly over the sidewalk on the right, while those on the other side stay in the lane (my lane was blocked by the accident), and the van's driver moves it off the road.
The police officer asks me if I was involved in the accident. I say no, but that I did see what happened -- like I said I pretty much had a front row seat -- and wait as the cop tends to those actually involved in the accident. A few minutes later, a second KPD officer arrives. The first cop identifies the drivers and tells the second cop to take my statement so he can send me on my way. I describe what happened, but don't say anything about how I perceived the driver of car #2 (since I didn't think about this until after I'd given my statement and been released from the scene), after which I'm released from the scene.
Needless to say, for the remainder of the drive up to the canyon, all my senses are on full blood alert. Kinda sorta, but not quite, like in "Over The Hedge," how Hammy reacted when RJ gave him caffeine.
I got some great pix of the canyon (which I'll post later), but didn't take any pix of the accident. I thought at the time that doing so might have been in poor taste and/or could have gotten me in trouble. If nothing else, though, the incident definitely gave me a story to post here.
Seven of us from my HIANG flight went up to Kauai to do some training and teambuilding. In between, we did a couple of beach trips, and I took one person to check out Waimea Canyon (nobody else was really interested in that particular trip).
The trip was mostly uneventful.
Why do I say "mostly"?
It's because about a third of the way, while still in Waimea, and preparing to turn onto Waimea Canyon Road (which would take me up to the canyon), I witnessed a traffic accident.
Here's the location of the accident site, as it appears on Google Maps:
And here's the scenario: you are looking in the direction that I was headed. The road I want isn't in the pic yet... it's the next left AFTER the one that you see in the pic.
I'm behind one car (we'll call this car #1), and another one (car #2) is coming out from the road on the right, preparing to turn left (i.e., toward me). Car #2 almost cuts off car #1, but car #1 stops and motions for car #2 to pull out. I stop about a car length or so behind car #1.
Car #2 pulls out in front of car #1. No big deal... usually when this happens, the second car pulls out partway, waits for cross traffic on the other side to stop, then continues with the turn.
Except this time car #2 doesn't stop and continues the left turn.
Right in front of a medium-sized van. You know, one of those repair vans with no windows in the back, maybe about the size of a minivan or small SUV?
At this point I've got several thoughts running through my mind, all at the same time:
"Oh $#!+!"
"This is NOT gonna be good."
"WTF?!"
From my perspective, the van's driver has no time to react. He broadsides car #2's front passenger door at speed, sending it into and around car #1. By the time both vehicles stop, car #2 is pointed toward my right behind car #1 and I can see the damage to the front passenger door. Car #2's windshield is also cracked.
I'm far enough behind car #1 that I'm not involved, but I just got a front-row seat of everything that just happened. Luckily the speed limit on this part of the highway is 25 mph, so it could have been MUCH worse if it had happened in an area where the speed limit was higher.
I angle my car to the right, stop the car and turn on the hazards. Already a couple of other people are checking to see if anyone was hurt (fortunately, nobody was since car #2 had no passengers, and the driver of that car appeared okay... definitely shaken, possibly disoriented).
I stay put in the car while my passenger calls 911 to report the accident. The van's driver also appears to be calling 911. In a few minutes a police officer arrives. By this time other traffic on the road is slowly making its way through the accident scene. Those headed in the direction I was headed are driving slowly over the sidewalk on the right, while those on the other side stay in the lane (my lane was blocked by the accident), and the van's driver moves it off the road.
The police officer asks me if I was involved in the accident. I say no, but that I did see what happened -- like I said I pretty much had a front row seat -- and wait as the cop tends to those actually involved in the accident. A few minutes later, a second KPD officer arrives. The first cop identifies the drivers and tells the second cop to take my statement so he can send me on my way. I describe what happened, but don't say anything about how I perceived the driver of car #2 (since I didn't think about this until after I'd given my statement and been released from the scene), after which I'm released from the scene.
Needless to say, for the remainder of the drive up to the canyon, all my senses are on full blood alert. Kinda sorta, but not quite, like in "Over The Hedge," how Hammy reacted when RJ gave him caffeine.
I got some great pix of the canyon (which I'll post later), but didn't take any pix of the accident. I thought at the time that doing so might have been in poor taste and/or could have gotten me in trouble. If nothing else, though, the incident definitely gave me a story to post here.
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Date: 2012-08-18 08:33 pm (UTC)The pic: I know that road - if I'm not mistaken, that's near the south shore looking west.
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Date: 2012-08-19 07:23 am (UTC)BTW, here's where the pic's location shows up on google maps:
http://wxkat.livejournal.com/pics/catalog/1192/13653