19 November 2009

On the Skids in Carbon Canyon #3172


It is really astounding that, given all of the incidents were cars have crossed lanes and gone off the road in Carbon Canyon over the last year or so, there has not been more than a fatality or two in that time (at least not that I'm aware of.) Here is another example of a driver drifting across Carbon Canyon Road and leaving the roadway, evidently without major injury or damage.



This one appears to have taken place as late as last night, since I noticed it this morning but not any of the preceding three mornings as I drove eastbound on SR-142.



It actually appears as if there might have been two cars involved here, because there looks to be two distinct sets of skid marks.



Moreover, when looking at these images of the dirt area off the shoulder of the highway, it looks as if there were two different terminus points: one on the dirt area and another further back toward the trees.



So, we'll see if there is any mention of this latest incident in the local paper, but, more than likely, there will be nothing said, given that it is apparent that little else occurred than some burned rubber, displaced dirt, and a crushed leaf or two on a tree, perhaps.

Yet, here's another incident to add to the catalog of dangerous driving that happens on Carbon Canyon Road on a very regular basis, incidents that evidently raise no concerns among officialdom and won't, most likely, until an innocent victim is claimed.

May I also add, as a postscript, that, yesterday, for at least the sixth time in the five-and-a-half years I've lived in the Canyon, I almost had someone literally rear end me as I was waiting to turn from westbound Carbon Canyon Road onto Rosemary Lane in Sleepy Hollow near the community center.

When I say "almost," I mean that, as in the other five or so incidents, I had to do a quick acceleration to avoid being hit. I long ago learned to turn on my turn signal before the sign indicating the Rosemary Lane intersection and to start braking by pumping my breaks to flash the brake lights. Yet, there are some people who just want to think (or aren't thinking at all, perhaps more likely) that no one ever turns off the roadway.

Vigilance is the only safeguard those of us have who have the audacity to make turns off Carbon Canyon Road where there is no turn lane, especially when there are two little kids in the car!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Complain, complain, complain. Drivers will never learn to slow down, get over it. Blog more about the nature part of the canyon. I used to live there but moved away because I too complained about the traffic!