March Banter 2023

[vastateofmind]

42 minutes ago, nw baltimore wx said:

Horrible.  And be warned.  It's bad.

 

That is horrific...

[mappy]

1 minute ago, mdhokie said:

Sad thing is the only thing that would have prevented this is that truck with the big yellow bumper on the rear, which appears to be parked inside the previous work zone area. They need to make sure those trucks are deployed at the entrance areas were workers are at. Had that truck been 500ft further forward, those workers might still be with us :(. 

Good point. Seems the gray car spun and the white car ended up flipping it up and over the jersey wall. driver of the white car is only 20 years old. that's gotta suck.

shame on that gray driver, older, experienced and yet acting like a total ass trying to cut off the white car so they didnt get stuck behind a slower driver in the second lane. f-her. 

[TowsonTownT]

I wish we had more video, I thought it was a merge due to the work zone but it isn't. Looks like the dark car might have merged into the lane just before it comes into view and the white car wasn't having it and tried to speed around the dark car. Same result though and I'm even more flabbergast at the work zone itself. Why isn't that lane closed off with cones? In my previous state they would have at least two lanes closed down for work like this. 

[mattie g]

1 hour ago, H2O said:

When I joined our pool we didn't even have a website that was easy to find or updated.  We've only recently embraced social media as a mean to advertise and had zero marketing when I was on the board.  Now there is a more concerted effort to get the name out.  And in a lot of ways the success of the swim team was the best advertising we had.  But with that came problems.  Again, people expected our pool to be this awesome place based on moving up to higher divisions.  So the ones only joining for swim team would leave when it didn't meet those expectations.  And we have what i call rental families.  they only join because of the swim team and don't make much effort to be part of the pool community.  Never help on set up/clean up, barely attend social functions, etc.  They only use the pool for swim team.  So its been a struggle to build a solid group who just enjoy the pool for what it is.  

We definitely want to push social media more, but man...it's like pulling teeth. There's a handful of people who actually work hard to try to make it work, but it never feels like enough. I've mentioned to the Board that if you search "pool" in Google Maps near us, our pool doesn't show up, but no one does anything about it. It's insane! There are also a lot of ideas from Board members and neighbors, but then they look at us two swim team reps and assume we'll put their ideas into action.

I think I've hit the frustration stage of the team rep role after my bright-eyed optimism of last year.

[mappy]

45 minutes ago, TowsonTownT said:

I wish we had more video, I thought it was a merge due to the work zone but it isn't. Looks like the dark car might have merged into the lane just before it comes into view and the white car wasn't having it and tried to speed around the dark car. Same result though and I'm even more flabbergast at the work zone itself. Why isn't that lane closed off with cones? In my previous state they would have at least two lanes closed down for work like this. 

Probably figured the jersey walls were enough, poorly placed State vehicle as well. Idiot drivers, bad combo all around. 

[nw baltimore wx]

42 minutes ago, TowsonTownT said:

I wish we had more video, I thought it was a merge due to the work zone but it isn't. Looks like the dark car might have merged into the lane just before it comes into view and the white car wasn't having it and tried to speed around the dark car. Same result though and I'm even more flabbergast at the work zone itself. Why isn't that lane closed off with cones? In my previous state they would have at least two lanes closed down for work like this. 

There definitely should have been something in the opening but maybe there had been or would be? It was around lunch hour so ? As far as the two cars, it sounds like they were side by side and the gray tried to overtake the white but had to go left to avoid rear-ending the car in front. Gray car f’d up but white was involved too. They were both going way too fast.

[hstorm]

2 hours ago, pazzo83 said:

DC has an issue where there is no reciprocity with VA and MD, so camera tickets you get in DC don't do anything to your points if you are a MD or VA driver.  And DC doesn't have the resources to boot/tow every car with this level of violations (it's an ongoing discussion here).  The frustrating thing here is that most of these insane levels of violations are from out-of-state drivers where DC has limited resources to go after them.

You don't get points for camera tickets anywhere, insofar as I am aware.  It's done that way to avoid disputes over who was driving the car (which is almost impossible to prove for a camera ticket).

[mappy]

4 minutes ago, nw baltimore wx said:

There definitely should have been something in the opening but maybe there had been or would be? It was around lunch hour so ? As far as the two cars, it sounds like they were side by side and the gray tried to overtake the white but had to go left to avoid rear-ending the car in front. Gray car f’d up but white was involved too. They were both going way too fast.

I just saw the list of names of those killed. Looks like two sets of relatives. One set is potentially a father/son and the other could be brothers/cousins. Youngest was 31.

so sad and totally avoidable 

[hstorm]

1 hour ago, nw baltimore wx said:

Yes, but they were both driving recklessly.

I don't think you can conclude that from the video because you don't see anything leading up to the crash.  My best distillation of the video is that the gray car was merging into the left-most lane to pass the minivan.  The white car was in its blindspot.  Gray car driver kept merging (because they didn't see the white car) and clipped the front of the white car, causing the gray car to flip.  Both cars may have been speeding, but can't tell that from the video (they are going faster than the other cars, but we don't know the speed of any car, etc.).  Plus, speeding alone -- unless truly excessive -- can't support a vehicular manslaughter charge.

[nw baltimore wx]

5 minutes ago, hstorm said:

I don't think you can conclude that from the video because you don't see anything leading up to the crash.  My best distillation of the video is that the gray car was merging into the left-most lane to pass the minivan.  The white car was in its blindspot.  Gray car driver kept merging (because they didn't see the white car) and clipped the front of the white car, causing the gray car to flip.  Both cars may have been speeding, but can't tell that from the video (they are going faster than the other cars, but we don't know the speed of any car, etc.).  Plus, speeding alone -- unless truly excessive -- can't support a vehicular manslaughter charge.

I deduced that from the article I read. And it is absolutely obvious in the video that both cars were going much faster than other vehicles on the road. They collided and still passed other cars.
 

[hstorm]

1 minute ago, nw baltimore wx said:

I deduced that from the article I read. 
 

Right, but there is no basis for the article's statement.  I'm sure that investigators can figure out the speed of each vehicle, and it's entirely possible that they were speeding, but the article appears to be just drawing the conclusion from the fact that the two cars are going faster than the others.  That alone, however, doesn't support the conclusion.

[nw baltimore wx]

7 minutes ago, hstorm said:

Right, but there is no basis for the article's statement.  I'm sure that investigators can figure out the speed of each vehicle, and it's entirely possible that they were speeding, but the article appears to be just drawing the conclusion from the fact that the two cars are going faster than the others.  That alone, however, doesn't support the conclusion.

When I need a defense lawyer, I’ll hit you up.

[mappy]

27 minutes ago, hstorm said:

I don't think you can conclude that from the video because you don't see anything leading up to the crash.  My best distillation of the video is that the gray car was merging into the left-most lane to pass the minivan.  The white car was in its blindspot.  Gray car driver kept merging (because they didn't see the white car) and clipped the front of the white car, causing the gray car to flip.  Both cars may have been speeding, but can't tell that from the video (they are going faster than the other cars, but we don't know the speed of any car, etc.).  Plus, speeding alone -- unless truly excessive -- can't support a vehicular manslaughter charge.

It’s amazing to me how very basic driving skills, like turning to look over your shoulder when going to change lanes, is lost on people. A quick glance could have saved lives.

[H2O]

I haven’t had to take a DOT traffic flagging and safety class for a while but I can def tell you that the truck parked where it is is the first line of defense against a vehicle slamming into a work zone. They are supposed to be deployed a distance away so that upon impact it doesn’t get pushed into the work zone. Not sure what the required distance is between crash truck and work zone. OSHA and other rules set that. 
 

As far as lane closures, that might almost depend on work and time of day and the permit. There are rules for when work zones along highways can be set up during certain times of the day. Lane closure might not have been permitted. We can’t see the signs set out indicating what kind of work is being done and if there were arrow boards and so on. 
 

So that video doesn’t give all the info for how well the crew set up that work area and if they followed proper protocols. 
 

This could be where the safety crew set up as needed and this was just a rare type of accident that no amount of prep could have stopped. 
 

Blame needs to be put squarely on the two drivers for how things played out. Speed, lack of awareness of the work zone, failing to maintain safe distance, improper lane change and any other factors

[H2O]

6 minutes ago, mappy said:

It’s amazing to me how very basic driving skills, like turning to look over your shoulder when going to change lanes, is lost on people. A quick glance could have saved lives.

I’ve been trying to get my daughter to learn this as she starts driving. Mirrors can’t always give the full picture and prevent two people merging into the same lane at the same time. You have to look. 

[nw baltimore wx]

9 minutes ago, mappy said:

It’s amazing to me how very basic driving skills, like turning to look over your shoulder when going to change lanes, is lost on people. A quick glance could have saved lives.

All speculation, and Esq @hstorm would grill me on the stand for this, but they were both going so fast side by side that the gray car just came up more quickly on the car in her lane than she expected. She didn’t look because she was likely panicked.

Also, father and son killed just confirmed on WBAL11. So sad.

[H2O]

1 hour ago, mattie g said:

We definitely want to push social media more, but man...it's like pulling teeth. There's a handful of people who actually work hard to try to make it work, but it never feels like enough. I've mentioned to the Board that if you search "pool" in Google Maps near us, our pool doesn't show up, but no one does anything about it. It's insane! There are also a lot of ideas from Board members and neighbors, but then they look at us two swim team reps and assume we'll put their ideas into action.

I think I've hit the frustration stage of the team rep role after my bright-eyed optimism of last year.

It makes you jaded pretty quickly. You value the ones that help and give death stares to those you know COULD help but don’t. 
 

 

[pazzo83]

4 hours ago, hstorm said:

You don't get points for camera tickets anywhere, insofar as I am aware.  It's done that way to avoid disputes over who was driving the car (which is almost impossible to prove for a camera ticket).

yeah but there is action for tickets that go unpaid.  DC can't enforce any of that with out-of-state drivers.

[pazzo83]

5 hours ago, mappy said:

It’s amazing to me how very basic driving skills, like turning to look over your shoulder when going to change lanes, is lost on people. A quick glance could have saved lives.

it's amazing the excuses we hear.  when you are driving around pedestrians, bikers, road workers, etc - the driver needs to be the most responsible one because they are operating the machine that could easily kill everyone else.  and we wonder why this country has the highest rate of vehicle-related injuries and deaths in the developed world.

[nj2va]

6 hours ago, hstorm said:

Right, but there is no basis for the article's statement.  I'm sure that investigators can figure out the speed of each vehicle, and it's entirely possible that they were speeding, but the article appears to be just drawing the conclusion from the fact that the two cars are going faster than the others.  That alone, however, doesn't support the conclusion.

What? Those drivers were reckless and speeding. The lack of accountability these days is astounding. 

[hstorm]

48 minutes ago, nj2va said:

What? Those drivers were reckless and speeding. The lack of accountability these days is astounding. 

Maybe they were, maybe they weren't.  This one video is not conclusive.  It certainly is not enough to suggest a crime.  We should wait to see what all the evidence shows before drawing any conclusions.

The one conclusion we can draw is that -- at a minimum -- this was a terrible and likely avoidable tragedy.

[Jebman]

Palisades is getting good heavy snows once again!

https://www.palisadestahoe.com/mountain-information/webcams

They might pick up 7 inches overnight!

Dont look now but another significant COLD storm will demolish Palisades AGAIN next Monday- Thursday! Might dump 2-3 feet of fresh POW! Winter aint over with at Palisades! Not so fast!

[WxUSAF]

Looks like aurora were visible at our latitude last night if you could somehow avoid clouds and city lights. Several posts on Twitter with pictures from Shenandoah. 

[WxUSAF]

1 minute ago, WxUSAF said:

Looks like aurora were visible at our latitude last night if you could somehow avoid clouds and city lights. Several posts on Twitter with pictures from Shenandoah. 

 

[nw baltimore wx]

1 hour ago, WxUSAF said:

Looks like aurora were visible at our latitude last night if you could somehow avoid clouds and city lights. Several posts on Twitter with pictures from Shenandoah. 

I’m heading to Iceland for a week soon. I can’t wait!

[Baltimorewx]

To add to the accident talk, a tanker flipped and exploded near Pikesville 795 this morning...Metro Baltimore just seems like a traffic disaster at this point

[nw baltimore wx]

1 hour ago, Baltimorewx said:

To add to the accident talk, a tanker flipped and exploded near Pikesville 795 this morning...Metro Baltimore just seems like a traffic disaster at this point

I got caught up in the traffic for that.  Bad week for the west side of the beltway.

 

[mdhokie]

1 hour ago, Baltimorewx said:

To add to the accident talk, a tanker flipped and exploded near Pikesville 795 this morning...Metro Baltimore just seems like a traffic disaster at this point

I've been WFH for 6 years and don't miss the commute one bit. Feel like covid made people even worse on the roads.

[toolsheds]

11 minutes ago, mdhokie said:

I've been WFH for 6 years and don't miss the commute one bit. Feel like covid made people even worse on the roads.

Me too for the past 4.  Think of the $$ you are saving from Gas alone. 

[Baltimorewx]

23 minutes ago, mdhokie said:

I've been WFH for 6 years and don't miss the commute one bit. Feel like covid made people even worse on the roads.

I dont know that its Covid related....I just think its a multitude of things. The number of people on the roads increases by day, there are more potential distractions than ever and I think in general people just are becoming more aggressive/lack of being carful and taking more risks in just about everything they do. Then combine all the mental health issues, substance abuse etc. Its not going to get better I dont think Ill say that.