Car accident in front of my house today

mike64

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Apr 10, 2008
Messages
1,042
I was in the garage with my laptop computer, actually getting ready to post to iboats this afternoon when I heard a crash. I ran to the road in time to see a car that had just run into the tie wires of a power pole across the street, causing it to snap at the top. I was just in time to see the top of the pole fall on the car, which made a transformer explode bright white-green at another pole, just to the left of me.

As I was running down my driveway I hit 911. They said there was rescue on the way, and asked to see if the person was alright. I went as close as I could-- there were loose power lines on the car- the top of the power pole was dangling right over the hood of her car. I could barely see her through the windshield but called out to ask her if she was alright and saw her eyes were open and she seemed conscious.

I went to the backyard where my wife and kids were and told them to go inside, power lines were down.

when fire & rescue got there they waited around 45 minutes until the electric utility guys came by and did their thing. That's got to be the worst case scenario for a rescue guy...no idea how bad an accident victim is, but you can't get near them. Fortunately the woman didn't seem too badly hurt. They strapped her on a stretcher and secured her head, precaution hopefully.

Why she went so out of control was a lot of speculation with the neighbors who came by to see what was going on. We're on a road that's an artery, 40 mph but around the bend we live on, people fly through doing 50 or more. We're pretty far back from the road, fortunately. Guesses from the neighbors-- she was going too fast and paying too much attention to her cell,or maybe epileptic fit. Who knows. There's a path of wreckage, mostly street signs (showing there's a bend in the road, Caution!) that she took out. The woman also obliterated our mailbox (fortunately my wife already got the mail, and she was NOT in the wrong place at the wrong time).

Hope the woman's ok. We already have our power back, they rerouted it somehow, even as they replace the power pole. Tomorrow I got a mailbox pole to replace. Nieghbors tell me this happens once every 10 years. We've been here 3.
 

eaglejim

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Feb 2, 2008
Messages
1,006
Re: Car accident in front of my house today

Glad you and your family are ok,hopefully the driver is ok too.
 

ebry710

Ensign
Joined
Jan 29, 2008
Messages
981
Re: Car accident in front of my house today

Wow. Not your normal Saturday. Glad everyone is safe.
 

kenmyfam

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Aug 10, 2006
Messages
14,398
Re: Car accident in front of my house today

Looks like it could be a good idea to lower the speed limit a little. Maybe if you lower it to 30 then the majority will keep down to 40.
 

Splat

Lieutenant
Joined
Jul 20, 2008
Messages
1,366
Re: Car accident in front of my house today

Glad none of your family was involved.

You did good staying away from the power lines. We had a discussion a while back on High voltage when another member struck a line while digging in his yard. I posted this a while back , and it seemed like a good time to post it again. Just some food, and safety for thought.

This is kind of off topic but since were kind of on topic(yea I said it ok) I'll mention it. It may save someones life.

If your ever digging, or working around high voltage for that matter and hit a power line and see sparks STOP and wait.(seems obvious I know but please read on). Normally the breaker at the substation will detect the short and trip. HOWEVER most will automatically reset ONCE or twice before fully tripping.

The purpose of this is so if a branch or something falls across a High Transmission line and creates a short for a second two, the breaker will reset in hopes that the short has either fallen off or burnt off the line, thus contuning service.

This is important because if your on a piece of machinary and a line is struck either above or below ground and starts to spark, when the sparks stop you may assume it's safe and attempt to get off the equipment. If you survived striking the line you weren't grounded and thus safe, chances are when you go to get off the machine your going to grab metal, thus grounding yourself, when the breaker automatically resets you'll be fried.

SO JUST STOP AND WAIT A MINUTE TO ASSES THE SITUATION. If you didn't get zapped, your safe(r) for the time being.

Also did you know if your in the area of a power line coming down (like striking a power pole in a accident) when you leave the immediate area(within say 75 ft.) you should hop like a bunny with your feet together?

Why?

Good question. With the power line on the ground it has closed the circuit to ground. As we know from lightening and school, electricity always takes the path of least resistance to ground. There is a chance if you walk away, the amount of distance in your stride(distance between your feet) could create a difference of resistance that is lower to your foot further away from the power line, to that of the ground of the foot nearest downed line. Basically your body would create a easier path to ground by going up one leg and down the other. Hopping like a bunny virtually eliminates this possability.

What the hell, I've all ready written a novel and sound like a bad safety video you have yo sit through at work, why not one more.

If you get shocked through the chest(up one arm and down the other) GO TO THE HOSPITAL AND GET CHECKED OUT, even if it was only 110volts. The electrical impulse traveling from one arm to the other goes right across your chest and your heart. This can cause a abnormal heart beat, that can easily be masked and symptoms covered by the adrenalin rush. You'll feel fine because the adrenalin is causing your heart to pump harder, as the adrenalin wears off, your heart because it's not pumping correctly with weaken and you'll drop from cardiac arrest. This has been known to happen hours after the injury.

Bottom line, just be careful and when working with electricity turn it off if you can.

Ok I'm done boring you now, but maybe one day this information can save your life.

Bill
Edit/Delete Message

Bill
 

jay_merrill

Vice Admiral
Joined
Dec 5, 2007
Messages
5,653
Re: Car accident in front of my house today

Excellent info on what to do in this situation! Thanks!
 

beerfilter

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
May 11, 2007
Messages
305
Re: Car accident in front of my house today

Bill , that is very usefull advice , thanks for posting it .

I work around power lines all the time , some times under less than ideal circumstances .

As former Rescue Technician and EMT , I witnessed 1 tragedy and many near tragedies , due to high voltage power lines .

1 patient , disoriented from thier injuries , ignored instructions from us and exited their car . I still have nightmares , occasionally . 15KV of electricity is not kind to us mortals , and is not something you want to ever witness , much less experience first hand !

Please heed Bill's advice , STOP and look before rushing in to any accident involving electrical lines . It only takes an instant to become a statistic .
 

mike64

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Apr 10, 2008
Messages
1,042
Re: Car accident in front of my house today

Thanks Bill, that is some great info.

Can't find any news about the accident to see if the woman is alright. Like I said, I think she is ok. She was conscious when they removed her from the car and she never actually hit the power pole, she hit a bunch of street signs and mailboxes which slowed her down some, then she hit the tie wires of the pole, which actually sent her airborne a little, so I heard. So she didn't have a really hard collision with anything. If she had hit the pole it would have been worse.

The utility guys really took care of business-- they had a brand new pole installed that same night.
 
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