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2,179 Posts
Quick story...
Was driving home from my brother's house, after playing a bit of hockey, and I'm the only car on the road. This road (Woodbine in Toronto, at Queen St. E) goes southbound to the water (lake ontario), then banks right and goes along it. I'm driving down south, slowly, paying attention to some low RPM thing I'm trying to figure out. I see a car coming westbound (the other direction, before the same curve, which will curve northbound for him to where I am now), and it's a white beater, and I swear this guy is going 140km/hr. Absolute deathwish. *Maybe* you could do that dry with some suspension mods and nice tires.... this was -12C out, with black wet roads.
The guy starts to make the curve, and I'm watching, transfixed and horrified, and loses his line, hits some snow and the start of a guardrail that begins at curb level, launches off this like a ramp, hits the <u>second</u> level support beams of a house's terrace on the curve... two terraces on the two levels on the front of this house. They collapse as he mows through them and he's spinning, and comes to rest on the snowy sidewalk.
I throw my hazards on, grab my maglight I keep in the car for security, and run to the car. 911 asks me "police, fire, or ambulance", and I'm in shock, telling them to send everything. I get to the car, the driver and passenger were both unconscious. Both pretty lacerated. The driver is slumped with his head kind of against the side of the passenger seat, and what looks like a snowbrush impaled through his jacket into his arm. The passenger's feet are in the passenger footwell, and his head is against where the driver's glass WOULD be. He's ON the driver, yet somehow pinned UNDER the steering wheel. The car's still running, and there's tunes blaring on the tinny little radio in the car (early 90's 323 or similar white hatchback beater). Other people show up (from the house that had the front terraces collapse), and after a few minutes the passenger regains some consciousness. He's really confused, and the whole time, the ambulance dispatcher is asking me all sorts of questions and getting me to observe their condition. The other people tell me the driver (looking from the passenger side) is bleeding like a sieve. I walk over, and there's blood running down the brush, but also from somewhere higher up. I can see a huge gash in his forehead, and although he's breathing, he's not conscious.
As the passenger becomes conscious, he wants to move but the ambulance guy on the phone tells me to tell them not to move him. He's confused, and he's saying "I gotta get outta here... who is this guy? this guy is freaking me out" He's saying that about his friend, the driver, who's chest he is against. He doesn't even realize that's his buddy. The driver's wheezing in a weird way, quick gulp in of air, and wheeze out.
When ambulance shows up, they get the passenger out, and he seems OK, but totally confused, asking what happened and stuff. They pull the driver out, and he still isn't conscious, although for sure he was breathing the whole time because you could see his breath, and hear him. I overhear the paramedics saying there's "grey matter"... like brains... on the guy, or in the car or something. Another civilian at the scene overheard a paramedic say to the cop (a minute or two after they loaded him into the ambulance) "This guy's toast".
Apparently, the back of his head was split open, and when I looked in the car later, in the pool of blood, and on the seat, I could see the "grey matter" in the blood.
The cop who took my statement, confirmed the guy was dead.
Guys... I apologize for the morbid recount... but listen... be safe out there. Seriously... I don't know if this guy was drinking or what, but the passenger was only 27. Driver looked about the same age. It's fun to race and stuff, but this really makes me rethink things. Try and be careful... I'm asking myself if I will finally learn from seeing these things, and be a bit more careful myself.
Things like drinking and driving can be avoided... just make the right decisions... please.
Sorry for the recount, but I just got back, it's 1:30am, and I'm a little shaken...
Massiv.
Was driving home from my brother's house, after playing a bit of hockey, and I'm the only car on the road. This road (Woodbine in Toronto, at Queen St. E) goes southbound to the water (lake ontario), then banks right and goes along it. I'm driving down south, slowly, paying attention to some low RPM thing I'm trying to figure out. I see a car coming westbound (the other direction, before the same curve, which will curve northbound for him to where I am now), and it's a white beater, and I swear this guy is going 140km/hr. Absolute deathwish. *Maybe* you could do that dry with some suspension mods and nice tires.... this was -12C out, with black wet roads.
The guy starts to make the curve, and I'm watching, transfixed and horrified, and loses his line, hits some snow and the start of a guardrail that begins at curb level, launches off this like a ramp, hits the <u>second</u> level support beams of a house's terrace on the curve... two terraces on the two levels on the front of this house. They collapse as he mows through them and he's spinning, and comes to rest on the snowy sidewalk.
I throw my hazards on, grab my maglight I keep in the car for security, and run to the car. 911 asks me "police, fire, or ambulance", and I'm in shock, telling them to send everything. I get to the car, the driver and passenger were both unconscious. Both pretty lacerated. The driver is slumped with his head kind of against the side of the passenger seat, and what looks like a snowbrush impaled through his jacket into his arm. The passenger's feet are in the passenger footwell, and his head is against where the driver's glass WOULD be. He's ON the driver, yet somehow pinned UNDER the steering wheel. The car's still running, and there's tunes blaring on the tinny little radio in the car (early 90's 323 or similar white hatchback beater). Other people show up (from the house that had the front terraces collapse), and after a few minutes the passenger regains some consciousness. He's really confused, and the whole time, the ambulance dispatcher is asking me all sorts of questions and getting me to observe their condition. The other people tell me the driver (looking from the passenger side) is bleeding like a sieve. I walk over, and there's blood running down the brush, but also from somewhere higher up. I can see a huge gash in his forehead, and although he's breathing, he's not conscious.
As the passenger becomes conscious, he wants to move but the ambulance guy on the phone tells me to tell them not to move him. He's confused, and he's saying "I gotta get outta here... who is this guy? this guy is freaking me out" He's saying that about his friend, the driver, who's chest he is against. He doesn't even realize that's his buddy. The driver's wheezing in a weird way, quick gulp in of air, and wheeze out.
When ambulance shows up, they get the passenger out, and he seems OK, but totally confused, asking what happened and stuff. They pull the driver out, and he still isn't conscious, although for sure he was breathing the whole time because you could see his breath, and hear him. I overhear the paramedics saying there's "grey matter"... like brains... on the guy, or in the car or something. Another civilian at the scene overheard a paramedic say to the cop (a minute or two after they loaded him into the ambulance) "This guy's toast".
Apparently, the back of his head was split open, and when I looked in the car later, in the pool of blood, and on the seat, I could see the "grey matter" in the blood.
The cop who took my statement, confirmed the guy was dead.
Guys... I apologize for the morbid recount... but listen... be safe out there. Seriously... I don't know if this guy was drinking or what, but the passenger was only 27. Driver looked about the same age. It's fun to race and stuff, but this really makes me rethink things. Try and be careful... I'm asking myself if I will finally learn from seeing these things, and be a bit more careful myself.
Things like drinking and driving can be avoided... just make the right decisions... please.
Sorry for the recount, but I just got back, it's 1:30am, and I'm a little shaken...
Massiv.
