A tragic accident in the early morning hours of April 1 in Yorba Linda, California serves as a stark reminder that everyone should move over and give cars sitting on the shoulder of freeways some extra space.
Watch police push a fleeing SUV over onto its side.
Someone called 911 to report a possible body in the westbound travel lanes of CA-91. When Orange County Fire Authority and California Highway Patrol responded to the area, they in fact did find a deceased person in the freeway.
Authorities believe the unidentified person’s Nissan broke down while they were driving on the 91, so they pulled off onto the shoulder, says OnScene TV, which recorded the aftermath of the accident.
While the victim was trying to fix whatever problem their car was experiencing, it’s believed another car slammed into them and their vehicle.
The theory is that the force of that crash killed the person, not another vehicle coming along later and driving over them. Apparently, the person who hit the broken down Nissan stopped instead of fleeing and was cooperating with the investigation.
This is a horrible way for anyone to go.
We know in some areas there are move over laws not only for police and other emergency workers but for broken-down vehicles as well. Even if that’s not the law where you live, it’s just a safe practice to move over when you see a car sitting on the shoulder, if possible.
People also suffer target fixation while driving. If they stare at an object, like a stopped vehicle or a cop car with the lights on, they actually steer towards it. That’s also a possibility and why racecar drivers are taught to see everything around them but to look at nothing in particular. Where your eyes go, your car goes as well.
Image via ONSCENE TV/YouTube
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