Truck totaled in front of my house tonight

So, I was lying in bed at 1:03AM, and I hear CRUNCH-crunch. I go outside right away, because only one thing sounds like that: a wreck. I see a new navy blue Chevy pickup resting on its side, headlights on. What happened was he crossed over onto the wrong side of the road, and the driver's side of the truck went up a ~65 degree, ~4 foot tall embankment and slammed into a telephone pole embedded in the embankment. The first (louder) crunch was the truck hitting the pole, the second was it coming to rest on the passenger side. Two years ago, someone else wrecked a truck on the other side of the street, not 15 feet from this site. I go back inside and put on some proper clothes (it's 10 degrees out) and rush out to see if anyone needs help, while my mom calls 911. I get out there, I see a neighbor already on the scene and the driver (and sole occupant) standing there, dazed. I'm not sure how he got out of the truck, it was laying on its passenger side. I look at him, look at his truck, and say the following: "Sh*t, man." Then two police cars pull up. They look at him, his lips, chin, and hoodie spattered with blood, and call for an ambulance. When one of them asks him what happened, he mumbled something about going too fast. Then one of the officers says he smells alcohol on the driver's breath, and administers a field sobriety test which the driver passes. I recognized the driver as someone who graduated from my high school last year (i.e. under 21), and he's coming from the middle of the town, so probably not from a party at somebody's house, so him passing the field sobriety test isn't that surprising. He gets in the ambulance and it drives off, no siren. Then the tow crew shows up, and while they're righting the truck, his family arrives, and frantically asks where their son is. When the officer tells them he's okay and on the way to the hospital, they (the family) hurry off in pursuit. What a terrifying phone call that must have been for them. After they leave and after the truck is righted, an officer searches the truck for drug paraphrenalia. I didn't see him find anything.

Well, here it is an hour after, and the truck has been towed away (by the rear wheels, the driver's side front wheel is perpendicular to the direction of travel - it hit the pole), all the police are gone, and the only evidence of the event is some broken plastic along the side of the road.

WOW! I HATE accidents!!!

Glad nobody was seriously hurt!

DID YOU AT LEAST BRING A FLASHLIGHT TO HELP ILLUMINATE THE SITE?

DaFABRICATA said:

WOW! I HATE accidents!!!

Glad nobody was seriously hurt!

DID YOU AT LEAST BRING A FLASHLIGHT TO HELP ILLUMINATE THE SITE?

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I had my Rebel B3 but didn't need to use it. All the police and tow guys had 4D mags, except the one who searched the car; he had some 1-inch bezel incan, possibly a 6P or G2.

Had to ask.....it is CPF after all:laughing:

A similar thing happened to a pickup at the front of my place a few years ago. I dialed 911 and the cops came to check things out. Luckily, no one was hurt. Later, the young driver ragged on me about calling 911. Go figure. He could have been seriously injured.

Ouch, nothing worse than hearing tires squealing and then that crunch, followed by deafening silence and then screams.

Glad no one was seriously hurt. :buddies:

Diesel_Bomber said:

Ouch, nothing worse than hearing tires squealing and then that crunch, followed by deafening silence and then screams.

Glad no one was seriously hurt. :buddies:

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He had fallen asleep at the wheel, so no squeal. Just a sickening crunch in the night. As it turns out, he missed another pole and the stone wall of our driveway by inches.

This morning we called the electric company and they came out and repaired the severed ground wire from the transformer on the pole.

Dang dude, when I read the title of your post, I figured it was YOUR truck parked in front of your house while some jerk plowed into it!!

I have a similar story from 1994. I was driving home from work, just got off the freeway and driving down a city street at 9:00 pm. Bright flash in the distance, like an explosion, and then all the street and building lights go dark. Whoa!! I figured the flash and the lights going out were related (yeah big IQ it takes to figure that out).

Pull into my driveway and see my roommate standing there, he immediately jumps into my car and tells me to drive down the street. I see he's excited, so I quickly comply.

Not 150 feet from our driveway, a large power pole is lying in the street, wires everywhere. The pole was located alongside the road in a big grass field where someone kept horses. Across the street were regular single-story houses.

My roomie and I pulled out our lights (Mag 3Ds) and start scanning the area looking for... what were we looking for? Victims? I don't know, maybe it was just morbid curiosity. The wires on the ground didn't appear to be energized but we kept our distance anyway. In the darkness, about 25 feet from the road, we spot a 1970s full-size Blazer or Bronco. It was obviously the vehicle that plowed down the power pole.

We pick our way over to the truck to see if the driver's okay. He's fine, and trying to start his truck so he can get the heck outta there. Beer bottles ALL over the floor. The driver was conscious and appeared 100% unfazed by the collision, which from what I know about the strength of wooden poles, must have been quite the smashup.

By this time the people that live across the street are starting to come out of their houses. The see the truck, the smashed-down pole... go "meh" and return to their homes. Completely jaded to what just happened.

Of course, the ramifications to us was... no Internet!!! Oh well, back then it was VAX VMS over dial-up... but we still geeked out every night. ;-)

DaFABRICATA said:

Had to ask.....it is CPF after all

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I was surprised he didn't mention flashlights in the first post.

My high school was very near to a large road and a dangerous intersection. Not a day went by without a tire squeal or three... I remember we'd try to guess the moment of impact from the intensity and position of the tire squeal. Yes, we were very bored...

A few years ago as I was coming home from work I watched a guy spin out in the snow after another car had veered across the double yellow line. He ends up sort of in the ditch. After I pulled well off the road I hollered to see if he was OK while I was dropping a flare or two. No response from him and he's not moving too fast so I tell him I'm calling 911. Vrooom!, screeech! he's gone. Well, he did leave a few bottles behind... Cost me a flare or two for no good reason. Ah, the wonders of alcohol.

From now on, I dial 911 as I drop a flare and give them the plate numbers even while they're asking my name and number. I repeat the plate numbers and then give them my info so that if anybody leaves the LEO's can still find them. The 911 operators are so programmed that they don't start to think at all until they get your info. I can understand that, but when the drunks start to leave fast I want to be sure the recorded information includes those plate numbers before I can forget the numbers and the intox drivers get away and hit someone else. The 10 seconds or so doesn't make that much difference in that situation.