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- Hi there smart drivers, Rick with Smart Drive Test
talking to you today about flashing traffic lights,
intersections, and T-bone crashes,
another video in the Crash Analysis Smart series.
Stick around, we'll be right back with that information.
(upbeat music)
Hi there smart drivers, welcome back,
Rick with Smart Drive Test talking to you today
about flashing traffic lights,
intersections, and T-bone crashes.
Now just as a cautionary note, there is a good possibility
that the drivers in this crash did in fact, die
or were seriously injured, they did not emerge
from the vehicles in the footage that's available.
So just take that as a cautionary note
before I show you the video.
Now, just before we get started here,
if you're new to Smart Drive Test,
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So here in the crash, the camera is looking northbound
in the city of Spokane, Washington in the United States,
and the vehicle proceeds northbound through the intersection
and from what I can see in the footage here,
the vehicle is speeding, actually,
both vehicles I think are speeding.
So the vehicle's heading northbound.
The vehicle comes from the west
and is heading eastbound through the intersection.
The two vehicles collide in a T-bone crash
and none of the occupants from the vehicles get out.
It's a serious crash because the vehicle heading northbound
hits the other vehicle almost directly on the center post
of the, it's a four-door car that it hits.
And just on that center post where the two doors meet,
the back door and the front door.
So the back of the front door, there's a post there
where the back door hinges on, and that's where it hit it,
right on in a direct hit
on that vehicle.
I mean, it was almost, you know,
it's one of those crashes that a couple of seconds
either way and it wouldn't have happened as it did.
Now, one of the things that you don't see in the video
is to the left of the camera, you think that the vision
is obstructed of the driver heading northbound.
The vision is not obstructed, as you can see
here on Google Maps of this intersection.
It's an open field.
So had the driver heading northbound looked to the left,
he or she would've seen that vehicle coming.
The same thing with the vehicle heading eastbound.
If that vehicle had of looked to the right,
they would've seen that other vehicle coming.
Now, the other piece in this in the discussion
on the original video, and I'll leave that down
in the description for you, is the flashing traffic lights.
And in some U.S. cities, and cities in North America,
and other places in the world,
there are flashing traffic lights between certain hours.
So sort of like midnight to six a.m.,
the traffic lights flash.
And the vehicle heading northbound had the red light.
The vehicle heading eastbound had the yellow traffic light.
So both vehicles should have slowed
and scanned the intersection before proceeding.
And so, it's an err on both parts.
First, they didn't slow and scan the intersection.
And second, they didn't look across the open field
to see if there were any vehicles coming.
And the other piece that I want to iterate here,
and to underscore is the fact that you need to scan
intersections, even if it's not the middle of the night.
You need to scan intersections to make sure
that somebody isn't running that intersection
and that you're not going to collide with them.
Flashing traffic lights, just because you have
the right of way, it doesn't mean that you're gonna be right
and that is proven here in this.
And one of the things that we teach new drivers
before they take off from the intersection
in a passenger vehicle, scan the intersection.
It's a little different in CDL vehicles.
In CDL vehicles, they start the vehicle moving
and then scan the intersection to make sure
that there isn't anybody coming
because commercial vehicles are slower.
And one other point about intersections,
finally, is that 40% of crashes occur at intersections.
So if you're gonna be involved in a crash,
there's a one in two chance that you're gonna be involved
in a crash at an intersection.
And again, the last point that I wanna make about this,
is T-bone crashes, these are often fatal
because there isn't anything along the side of the vehicles
on either side that is going to protect us.
So if you're parents with young children
and you can put them in the center at the back,
that's the best place for them because,
as I said, there's nothing there.
That door panel is about this wide and it's hollow.
There's this thin piece of metal on this side,
and there's some plastic on this side.
There is nothing there that is going
to protect you in a T-bone crash.
And this is why I emphasize this point again and again.
When you're coming into the intersection
on a left-hand turn, or you're proceeding
straight through the intersection,
make sure that somebody is not running that light.
And the other reason that these two vehicles collided
so heavily on this collision on a T-bone crash
was because it was single direction traffic on both roads.
So both roads, in other words, were one-way traffic.
And that's why that vehicle is right over to the left-hand
side in that lane because it's three lanes in one direction.
And you can see that here on Google Maps.
So, again, the points that I want to reiterate,
scan the intersections, especially when
it's flashing traffic lights.
Do not assume that the other vehicles
are going to come to a stop.
Scan the intersection.
Even if you're in heavy traffic in the middle of the day,
scan the intersections.
Some cities in North America in the middle of the night
will have flashing traffic lights
just to facilitate traffic flow.
And the last point is, on left-hand turns
and going through intersections, T-bone crashes,
be very, very careful on T-bone crashes
because there is nothing in the vehicle
that is going to protect you.
And one of the things that I argue is that the reason
that we've reduced traffic crashes,
or traffic crash deaths, in the last half century,
is because improvements in roads,
improvement in automotive safety and technology,
and we've restrained people, and finally,
the other reason that we've reduced fatalities
in car crashes is because of medical advances.
Advances in medical science, and hospital procedures,
and those types of things.
And I'll put a link down in the description there
for an academic article that I wrote that argued that.
And that's the reason.
We still have the same number of injuries in crashes,
as you can see here.
Question for my smart drivers.
Have you been involved in a crash
because somebody didn't scan the intersection?
Leave a comment down in the comment section there.
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and the veteran drivers working to be crash-free.
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I'm Rick with Smart Drive Test,
thanks very much for watching.
Good luck on your road test.
And remember, pick the best answer,
not necessarily the right answer.
Have a great day, bye now.
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