Couple Fenix's = Possible lifesavers

Hey guys, thought i'd share my story from the other night.

I was heading home on saturday night, it was about 12:40am. I'm on the 10 freeway in los angeles. If you've driven in this area at this time, you know how fast the traffic is going.

So im in the fast lane, cruising at about 74mph and i see a car far out and think nothing of it. Then i notice i am getting closer and closer to it very quickly. I then notice he has his hazards on and that his car is completely STOPPED in the fast lane of the freeway. I slow down as much as i can and try to turn to the side but was unable to because of oncoming traffic. So i come to a complete stop trying to get over. i then turn on my hazzards and keep my brake lights on solid. HOPING that ppl notice the lights on my car while i try to get over. So im sitting there trying to get over and a car is coming up behind and me and slams his brakes so he doesnt hit me. He barely missed me but the car behind him hits him and then causes a chain of about 4 cars smashing together. Thats was damn freaky.

So the FLASHLIGHT portion of the story. Everyone gets out of their cars and im standing there thinking, "wow...standing here parked in the fast lane is REALLY dangerous. Hmm...what can i do? FLASHLIGHTS!!" So first i use my L0P on my keychain and realize that the light might not be strong enough. I then i remember i have a light in my car. It was a Fenix P1. We used that to shine on oncoming traffic until the police closed the freeway so we could safely get off. I'm thinking that saved us from having any more cars hit us.

Too bad i didnt have any of my HDS lights with me, would have been fun using the strobe feature.

So yeah...next time anyone asks me, "why do you have flashlights?!" i have this story to backup my "hobbies". haha

frank828 said:

So the FLASHLIGHT portion of the story.

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Yeah, cuz that other part was getting boring. Not at all interesting, please skip ahead to the flashlight part next time But seriously, though, that's quite a story. Lucky no one was seriously hurt. And yes I know how fast they drive in LA, I used to live there.

Yow, scary story, and nice use of your edc lights. Everyone should have a light and/or some flares in their car too, of course. Actually flares might have been even better for making oncoming traffic understand immediately that there was trouble ahead.

yeah paulr, i never really saw myself needing flares so i never carried them. I plan on picking up a few now.

Hope everyone involved escaped any serious injuries........

jumpstat said:

Hope everyone involved escaped any serious injuries........

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yeah luckily everyone involved slowed down enough not to get hurt

In that situation the lights came in handy,

Fenix P1D and P1D CE versions have the strobe mode. Sounds like an excuse for an upgrade!

In that situation the lights came in handy,

2x

TORCH_BOY said:

In that situation the lights came in handy,

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Hey Torch Boy,

Got your strobe mode on already!

Kees

Wouldn't it be more beneficial to have strobing lights of different colors? Red and Blue Photon Freedoms ftw

(Another excuse to buy more lights and filters -- SF Kroma and what not :naughty: )

That's a good use of the lights, and an example of how they can contribute to safety. Another example of why more people should have flashlights.

One thing though, getting out of the cars, while a normal reaction, may be even more dangerous. If someone else fails to stop, the can directly hit people or send already stopped cars in them. In that case, I'd rather be in my vehicle. Of course it's hard to shine the lights to avoid a possible accident while in the vehicle. Catch 22?

Not sure what I would have done, maybe even the same thing, but I've seen too many video tapes and read too many tales of people getting hit in those situations not to think about staying in my vehicle. And a good many of those videos are from the dash cam of police cars that are trying to secure the highway.

Wow, I am glad you are okay. That 10 freeway from downtown to Santa Monica is freaky dangerous. Part of it collapsed during the Northridge Earthquake. I've got a 6D Maglite, a Wal-Mart 4D spot/lantern, and three flares from Home Depot in my trunk. And a Surge in my glove compartment. I don't know, in that situation, no light will seem bright enough, save for the flares and God Himself.

Glad to hear no one was hurt.

This is exactly why I have 4 turboflare360's in my car, I hope I won't need them though.

TorchMan said:

That's a good use of the lights, and an example of how they can contribute to safety. Another example of why more people should have flashlights.

One thing though, getting out of the cars, while a normal reaction, may be even more dangerous. If someone else fails to stop, the can directly hit people or send already stopped cars in them. In that case, I'd rather be in my vehicle. Of course it's hard to shine the lights to avoid a possible accident while in the vehicle. Catch 22?

Not sure what I would have done, maybe even the same thing, but I've seen too many video tapes and read too many tales of people getting hit in those situations not to think about staying in my vehicle. And a good many of those videos are from the dash cam of police cars that are trying to secure the highway.

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i know exactly what you mean. i stayed in the car as long as i could until other people got out of their cars. While i was out, i stayed by my car only (2nd car out of 7) so i was pretty far from other potential cars that would hit us. The others though decided he would go to the back and use the P1. I didnt think that was a good idea.


As for the blue and red lights...is that even legal? isnt that considered impersonating a police officer? I dunno

Jay R - that is a good point. Well thought out. Good to keep in mind for any untoward car situations that may happen (God forbid).

A far as flares, do you guys think flashlight cones/led flashers are sufficient, or would a 'real' flare be more attention-getting/give off the impression that this is a real emergency? One thing is that I'd rather not have incendiary devices in my trunk.

The Inova 24/7 has an interesting red/white/yellow LED combination with a swirling flashing pattern that's probably superior to a white strobe for this kind of thing. The Fenix strobe setting seems especially useless because it's too fast and is just sort of epilepsy inducing.

What I would like to have is a flare dispenser in the back of my car, with a push button deployment from inside the car. As soon as I see a stopped car in front of me on the freeway, bam bam bam, three flares deployed behind me and I don't have to walk back there and place them.

Pie in the sky, I know.