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3 officers, 3 wrecks in 32 minutes

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VFRinAustin

VFRinAustin

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Whats up with APD and austin drivers. And two of these are motorcycle cops. Sound like the first one is another case of someone in a cage just not paying any attention to whats going on.

Anyone else know of the condition of either of the two injured cops or anything more about what happend?

Saturday, March 5, 2005

Three officers, three accidents in 32 minutes. A trio of traffic accidents Friday morning seriously injured one Austin police officer and injured a second. All three are under investigation and no one has been charged.

1. 8:42 a.m. A car turning onto RM 2222 from Westslope Drive collided with a motorcycle officer traveling west on 2222. The officer had his lights and siren on and had been attempting to make a traffic stop. Officer Steve Claiborne received serious injuries and was taken to Brackenridge Hospital.


2. 8:52 a.m. Assistant Chief Cathy Ellison, traveling south on Cameron Road in an unmarked city vehicle, collided with a Toyota traveling east on the 290 frontage road. Ellison was not injured.


3. 9:14 a.m. A motorcycle officer traveling north on the east frontage road of MoPac left the road and traveled into the grass. Officer Daryl Burrell was taken to Brackenridge Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
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SVinAustin said:
Still hard to believe that she could not have seen the lights or heard the siren before pulling out.
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:rofl :rofl

You'd think they would see and hear an eight ton, ten foot tall, eight foot wide, 20ft long, florescent hilighter yellow truck cranking out 140db and a million candlepower of LED flashers, but they don't. We get hit twice a month on average.

I don't know anything about their condition beyond non-life-threatening.

"The officer's lights and sirens were activated … possibly making a traffic stop," Albrecht said. "And he got away. That's the worst part. The one that caused the accident because he was speeding and got away."
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:scratch
 
txmedic said:
:rofl :rofl

You'd think they would see and hear an eight ton, ten foot tall, eight foot wide, 20ft long, florescent hilighter yellow truck cranking out 140db and a million candlepower of LED flashers, but they don't. We get hit twice a month on average.
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TWICE A MONTH. :eek: :eek: :eek:

In that thing. Thats just plain scary.
 
Any Greek letters on those offending vehicles?? :pound:
 
There is a thread on CF about this, evidently 2222 was a "target area" yesterday as someone saw 8 police bikes sitting together up there and some police cars on that road.
 
SVinAustin said:
Still hard to believe that she could not have seen the lights or heard the siren before pulling out.
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Your kidding right?
 
I wouldnt doubt it. I've seen an infinite number of cases of DWHUA. :shooter:
 
scar04 said:
I wouldnt doubt it. I've seen an infinite number of cases of DWHUA. :shooter:
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With 8,000 responses per month (EMS only), two a month is not horrible. :-P DWHUA is an unfortunate fact of life.
 
I have a little RANT about AFD and their driving that might explain some of this.

About two weeks ago I was riding the elevated part of 183 south between MoPac and 35. The road was pretty much deserted since it was late at night. I'm cruising at posted speed in the right lane when I start to hear sirens. I look around and don't see anything. I see lights reflecting off nearby buildings and figure the flashers are on the road below the elevated road I am on.

I stay alert. A few seconds later a firetruck comes up the entrance ramp to my right. I was in the right lane and I can't "move right" to get out of the way of the emergency vehicle. So I slow down to let the firetruck get ahead. He slowed down. I slow down more. He slowed down more. Okay, I get the picture mister beligerant fire truck driver. I change one lane to the left. He changes one lane to the left. I change another lane to the left he changes another lane to the left. By now we're both going about 20 miles per hour on an empty freeway. Oh, by the way, he's got a that extra horn going. BWAAAA-BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! I mean just leaning on it full time non-stop. He actually ran me all the way onto the left shoulder before his exit came up. He got off at the next (right) exit. He could have just stayed in the entrance/merge/exit lane wihtout all the drama. He merged onto south 35 where I tried to follow to "get the number of that truck" but he was responding to a car wreck that already had three fire trucks and several police cruisers on the scene. I couldn't "compete" with all the uniforms directing me away. I am still pretty pissed.

Was there something I should have done different?
 
Texason said:
Was there something I should have done different?
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Yes, pull completely to the right and come to a complete stop. Never move to your left unless traffic is so congested that cars are moving through an intersection to let an emergency vehicle pass.

If you are on a controlled access highway and see the EV coming up from behind already in the inside lane, you can move to the right and slow. But if there are and driveways, interesections or exit ramps nearby pull to the right and stop since you do not know their destination.

You absolutely would not believe what motorists do when an emergency vehicle comes up from behind. I've had drivers speed up, then slam on their brakes without changing lanes, swerve completely across the highway losing control and spinning out, change between lanes several times, etc etc...
 
Driving With Head Up *** - for the others who didn't know...
 
whoa said:
You absolutely would not believe what motorists do when an emergency vehicle comes up from behind. I've had drivers speed up, then slam on their brakes without changing lanes, swerve completely across the highway losing control and spinning out, change between lanes several times, etc etc...
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Texason:
You need to see it sometime to believe it. Next time you are sitting at a light where the traffic is backed up at least three car lengths and an emergency vehicle approaches, watch the ensuing circus. 50% will try to pull to the right, the other 50% will manage to get completely perpendicular to the direction of travel pointing in both directions and then refuse to budge. :mrgreen:

Use of the airhorn was uncalled if traffic was that light and he or she already knew you had seen them and were trying to vacate the path.
 
Well, like the story said...

I would have liked to pull to the right but the fire truck was on my right. I tried to slow down so he could get ahead, but he kept slowing down to match my speed. He never needed to leave the entrance/merge/exit lane since he got off at the next exit.

:evil:
 
Texason said:
Well, like the story said...

I would have liked to pull to the right but the fire truck was on my right. I tried to slow down so he could get ahead, but he kept slowing down to match my speed. He never needed to leave the entrance/merge/exit lane since he got off at the next exit.

:evil:
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I'd expect you were moving close to the speed limit and the truck was a good deal under the speed limit coming up the ramp. The driver did need to move to the left as the law requires motorists to move to the right and stop. So they move left to give space to comply.

I passed many cars on the right but every time I did, it was at great risk. If the driver was slow to react but then did start moving right while I was overtaking them, then I just hung myself in the fleet. I have not been on patrol in years but this still gets me.

If you seriously want to see what is behind these controls on movement, you should consider signing up for a ride along with one of the agencies. You will get a much different perspective.
 
whoa said:
Texason said:
Was there something I should have done different?
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Yes, pull completely to the right and come to a complete stop. Never move to your left unless traffic is so congested that cars are moving through an intersection to let an emergency vehicle pass.
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Yeah, I guess he should have just gone right through the middle of the fire truck to get to the right shoulder huh? :-?

Maybe something got lost in the translation for you, but from the way I read it, Texason could not physically pull over to the right. As the truck kept matching his speed and blocking him from the right lane.
 
Hood Ornament said:
Yeah, I guess he should have just gone right through the middle of the fire truck to get to the right shoulder huh? :-?
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No, in that case the vehicles would have been side by side, so the EV would not have to vacate the roadway to the right.
 
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