Tragedies happen that don't involve guns.

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A fiery multi-car crash left five dead, including a pregnant woman and an infant, in Los Angeles’ Windsor Hills neighborhood Thursday, according to authorities. Eight people were also injured in the crash at La Brea and Slauson avenues. The L.A. County Fire Department responded to the crash just after 1:40 p.m. Officer Franco Pepi, a California Highway Patrol spokesperson, said Thursday afternoon that three adults, including a pregnant woman, and an infant were killed in the crash. Authorities later found another person’s remains inside one of the burned vehicles, he said. That person’s gender or age weren’t known Thursday night. The pregnant woman also lost her unborn child, which the CHP was counting as an additional fatality “due to rare circumstances,” Pepi said.
Surveillance video of the crash shows a Mercedes-Benz barreling down La Brea at high speed as dozens of cars cross the intersection on Slauson. The Mercedes runs a red light and slams into cars in the intersection, then bursts into flames and hurtles into a light pole, where it comes to rest. After the crash, a streak of fire burns on the ground. Smoke could be seen billowing from miles away.

A woman who did not want to be named told The Times a Mercedes-Benz hit her car as she was leaving a United Oil gas station. “I was getting out, had got gas,” she said. “All of a sudden that Mercedes is coming at me on ... fire. I didn’t have any time to think about it. It hit my car. I veered, hit the bench on the side.” The crash caused her to fear a gasoline-fueled explosion, she told The Times. Nearby, the wrecked Mercedes-Benz with a smashed hood had crashed into a curb. Investigators believe the driver of the Mercedes-Benz was responsible for the crash, Pepi said.
https://www.latimes.com/california/stor ... nant-woman

One cop said it looked like a war scene, "evil" cars.

Four people have been critically injured after being struck by lightning near the White House. The two men and two women were in Lafayette Park in Washington DC during a violent storm when they were struck down, fire officials said. Because of the park's closeness to the seat of the US presidency, members of the Secret Service were among the first people to assist the victims. The identities of those injured have not yet been confirmed.

The lightning struck the four people near a tree by the fence that surrounds the White House complex on Thursday evening. "All four were suffering from critical, life-threatening injuries," said DC Fire and EMS in a statement. "We were able to quickly treat and transport all four patients and they were all taken to area hospitals." Officials have yet to establish whether they knew each other and what they were doing before the lightning strike.

In the wake of the incident, part of the park remained closed, with emergency services at the scene. The National Weather Service had issued a thunderstorm warning for the area on Thursday evening. Lafayette Square is a seven-acre public park directly north of the White House. It is often crowded with visitors, especially during the summer.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62431231
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Tragedies happen that don't involve guns.

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The last time I looked at the numbers, it was something like thirty thousand people die due to car crashes in the US every year. Yeah, the number varies a bit, and it's certainly down from the fifty thousand mark frequently cited when I was a teen, but it's still roughly the equivalent of having a 9/11 every month.

And that 30,000 doesn't include the survivors who deal with life-altering injuries. I admit that I don't have a handle on that number.

These deaths and injuries happen despite all the advances in automotive technology over the last fifty or sixty years--better tires and suspension systems and braking systems to help keep as many crashes from happening, better seat belts, crumple-zone construction, and even air bags (I detest the idea of having what seem like explosives in my steering wheel...) to make crashes more survivable.

Cars don't make decisions, though. The person behind the wheel allegedly decides. And the majority of crashes seem to come down to one or more operator choosing to pay attention to something other than operating the vehicle, phrased as "driver inattention." Some of that is that people have their heads in their mobile device. Some of that is that people have their heads up their behinds.

Before I returned to the rolls of "people who own guns," I was active as a bicycling educator. My training for that part of my life helped me understand when this group talks about Root Cause Mitigation as a wiser way to reduce the firearm-related deaths in this country. The root cause of many traffic fatalities is a societal problem that won't be solved by making the cars differently.
Eventually I'll figure out this signature thing and decide what I want to put here.

Re: Tragedies happen that don't involve guns.

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Unfortunately, now days some people think their cars can make the decisions for them. It is amazing how many times I see people driving down the freeway at 70 mph reading or texting on their phones.

As for the lighting strike I can hear the Repugs complaining that their God missed.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Tragedies happen that don't involve guns.

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Video in this news story has CCTV footage of the crash and a woman describing how an infant thrown from one of the vehicles landed at her feet at a gas pump. There are gas stations on every corner, it's amazing one didn't explode.
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/loca ... e/2957365/


I heard that two of the four people who were critically injured after being struck by lightning across from the White House have died, they were an older couple. The other two are still in critical condition.


We're being sold self driving vehicles, but we're not there and I don't know when we'll get there.
Despite claims to the contrary, self-driving cars currently have a higher rate of accidents than human-driven cars, but the injuries are less severe. On average, there are 9.1 self-driving car accidents per million miles driven, while the same rate is 4.1 crashes per million miles for regular vehicles.
INCIDENTS

The April 17 Tesla crash mentioned above resulted in a fire that lasted four hours and required over 30,000 gallons of water to put it out. A vehicle fire is normally brought under control in minutes, according to the Washington Post.

In 2018, a 2012 Tesla model S appeared to spontaneously catch fire while it was being driven in West Hollywood, CA. There were no injuries in this incident but note that there was no collision that sparked the fire.

In 2018, a 2014 Tesla Model S crashed in Fort Lauderdale, FL, and burned for more than an hour, requiring hundreds of gallons of water to reduce the battery to hot embers. Two people died in this incident, and a third was seriously injured.

In 2017, a driver lost control of a 2016 Tesla X SUV and crashed into the garage of a house (reword). The battery caught fire and spread to the building. Firefighters were initially able to put out the initial flames when the battery flared up again in a “blowtorch manner.” It took several hours to finally get the blaze under control.
https://www.natlawreview.com/article/da ... 0vehicles.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Tragedies happen that don't involve guns.

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We shouldn't forget drownings in military style assault pools, lakes and rivers

Per the CDC:
More children ages 1–4 die from drowning than any other cause of death except birth defects.
For children ages 1–14, drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death after motor vehicle crashes. Almost 4,000 drownings per year.
https://www.cdc.gov/drowning/facts/index.html

Apparently, after age 14 kids stop drowning and start shooting each other. :(

Re: Tragedies happen that don't involve guns.

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featureless wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 12:32 pm We shouldn't forget drownings in military style assault pools, lakes and rivers

Per the CDC:
More children ages 1–4 die from drowning than any other cause of death except birth defects.
For children ages 1–14, drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death after motor vehicle crashes. Almost 4,000 drownings per year.
https://www.cdc.gov/drowning/facts/index.html

Apparently, after age 14 kids stop drowning and start shooting each other. :(
Good point, they're much more common than school shootings, but Everytown, MOMs, Giffords' and the other anti-gun groups won't admit it.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Tragedies happen that don't involve guns.

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A registered nurse has been arrested and will be booked on vehicular manslaughter charges in the fiery Windsor Hills crash that killed five people, including a pregnant woman, law enforcement sources confirmed to The Times on Friday.

Nicole Linton, a nurse who is registered to practice in California and Texas, was identified as the driver of the Mercedes-Benz that hurtled down La Brea Ave toward Slauson Avenue between 80 and 100 miles per hour at the time of the crash Thursday afternoon, sources said. She is currently in the hospital and is cooperating with California Highway Patrol investigators. Authorities are checking Linton’s bloodwork to determine if she was under the influence, according to two law enforcement sources. She is to be formally charged by the Los Angeles County district attorney on Monday. A family member of Linton’s declined to speak to a Times reporter on Friday.
https://archive.ph/Nnxk3

I doubt she'll ever practice nursing again.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Tragedies happen that don't involve guns.

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Yeah, the horrible video of the crash showed her driving way more than the 50mph other news sources claimed. It definitely looked more than 75mph to me, which is absurd on a regular street. On the surface it appears she tried to commit suicide and took other people out in the process of failing. I’m sure her lawyers will try to get her to claim “falling asleep after 12 hour shift” or some inane excuse like that. They will certainly subpoena phone records to see if she was fighting with a significant other to precipitate this random act of madness.

On a side-note, passenger safety designs have progressed incredibly at MB. Hard to imagine the driver alive after that crash. Of course T-boning a Kia still resulted in near fatalities for everyone in that car after it split apart at the seams. Cars are far more fragile at the sides than with ample crumple-zones in the front or back. She honestly couldn’t have done more damage if she tried.
Last edited by Bisbee on Fri Aug 05, 2022 4:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

Re: Tragedies happen that don't involve guns.

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Bisbee wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 4:13 pm Yeah, the horrible video of the crash showed her driving way more than the 50mph other news sources claimed. It definitely looked more than 75mph to me, which is absurd on a regular street. On the surface it appears she tried to commit suicide and took other people out in the process of failing. I’m sure her lawyers will try to get her to claim “falling asleep after 12 hour shift” or some inane excuse like that. They will certainly subpoena phone records to see if she was fighting with a significant other to precipitate this random act of madness.
I agree, the video was horrendous. It looked to be more like the 80-100 mph as stated in the Times article, CHP techs I assume were able to clock it. I'm just glad she didn't hit a gas pump and start a major fire which could have killed more.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Tragedies happen that don't involve guns.

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This morning I got the following message:
"Good morning everyone. I'm asking that we all take 5 minutes and pray for XXXXXXXX and her family. She lost her son, YYYYYYY, through the night. I know she can use all the strength and love we can give...thankyou all."

This is down in Abaco and the lady lives in our neighborhood. Her son was a nice kid who was interested in our VFD and firehouse. I think he was now 18 or 19. I just spoke with the lady last week. I have not learned yet how he died, but I doubt it was by gunshot. Condolences from everyone in the community, even from the US, have been pouring in.

I just got an update that suggests the young man died of The Bends, since there is a call island-wide to get a decompression chamber. Freeport has a de-commissioned one (WTF good is THAT???) but that's a plane flight away.

I hope he wasn't SCUBA diving for crawfish (Caribbean Lobster) because that's against Bahamian Law. Crawfish season opened 1 Aug and pretty much every able Bahamian is out lobstering.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Tragedies happen that don't involve guns.

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YankeeTarheel wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 4:34 pm This morning I got the following message:
"Good morning everyone. I'm asking that we all take 5 minutes and pray for XXXXXXXX and her family. She lost her son, YYYYYYY, through the night. I know she can use all the strength and love we can give...thankyou all."

This is down in Abaco and the lady lives in our neighborhood. Her son was a nice kid who was interested in our VFD and firehouse. I think he was now 18 or 19. I just spoke with the lady last week. I have not learned yet how he died, but I doubt it was by gunshot. Condolences from everyone in the community, even from the US, have been pouring in.

I just got an update that suggests the young man died of The Bends, since there is a call island-wide to get a decompression chamber. Freeport has a de-commissioned one (WTF good is THAT???) but that's a plane flight away.
Sorry to hear that YT. They are costly pieces of medical equipment but can also be used in wound care and other conditions are being studied. Hope locals can lobby their MPs.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Tragedies happen that don't involve guns.

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featureless wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 5:28 pm
sikacz wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 5:07 pm Sad reality, people die in the process of living.
Shit. Medical malpractice kills hundreds of thousands every year. Life is not without risk.
Yep. Won’t help making laws against it. Better results from increased education for doctors.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: Tragedies happen that don't involve guns.

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Witnesses Claim Driver In LA Crash Made Signal From Window Before Collision That Killed 6 People

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/witne ... r-AA10m8kv

We are going to discover the driver had her phone out the window and was live streaming her suicide attempt or something like that just to spite her boyfriend...
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

Re: Tragedies happen that don't involve guns.

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Bisbee wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 6:45 pm Witnesses Claim Driver In LA Crash Made Signal From Window Before Collision That Killed 6 People

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/witne ... r-AA10m8kv

We are going to discover the driver had her phone out the window and was live streaming her suicide attempt or something like that just to spite her boyfriend...
Perhaps. We’re a self absorbed fucked up society. What else is new.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: Tragedies happen that don't involve guns.

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highdesert wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 6:47 am A third person died in the lightning strike across from the White House, a 29 year old male. The surviving victim a woman is still in very critical condition.
So sad--they always warn you NOT to stand under a tree in a thunderstorm--poor people.
A doctor who was a medical consultant for a company I worked for had worked ER early in his career and described the victims of a lightning strike, a couple, both of whom expired in the ER. It was pretty horrific.

First time I was in Lafayette Park was a 1965 anti-war protest. I was 10 and Joan Baez sang off the back of a truck.
Later went past it countless times in the nearly 10 years I lived and worked in the area.

Why couldn't lightning strike a certain orange calamity while cheating a golf?
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Tragedies happen that don't involve guns.

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highdesert wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 4:54 pm
YankeeTarheel wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 4:34 pm This morning I got the following message:
"Good morning everyone. I'm asking that we all take 5 minutes and pray for XXXXXXXX and her family. She lost her son, YYYYYYY, through the night. I know she can use all the strength and love we can give...thankyou all."

This is down in Abaco and the lady lives in our neighborhood. Her son was a nice kid who was interested in our VFD and firehouse. I think he was now 18 or 19. I just spoke with the lady last week. I have not learned yet how he died, but I doubt it was by gunshot. Condolences from everyone in the community, even from the US, have been pouring in.

I just got an update that suggests the young man died of The Bends, since there is a call island-wide to get a decompression chamber. Freeport has a de-commissioned one (WTF good is THAT???) but that's a plane flight away.
Sorry to hear that YT. They are costly pieces of medical equipment but can also be used in wound care and other conditions are being studied. Hope locals can lobby their MPs.
It's tough. I cannot imagine what the family is going through, especially knowing that his death was preventable had there been a chamber. Now it seems there is not one, not a single decompression chamber in the entire country (Bahamas) that's working. For an island nation, where SCUBA is so commonplace, not to have a single working chamber...well, as people say with great irony in such circumstances: "Welcome To The Bahamas!"

We love our little house there, we love our beach, we love the (usual) quiet, but the worst thing that happened to the Bahamas, was, surprisingly, independence from the UK in 1973. Any remnant of competent government is the result and corruption is everywhere. One woman, in Inland Revenue, fucked up our property tax debt so badly it took almost a year to clear. By the time I got it cleared, she was in prison for skimming government funds!

The recovery from Hurricane Dorian 3 years ago is slow but now the progress is very good, no thanks to Nassau and their drooling at the chance to steal donated goods, and refusing to release them to Abaco and Freeport. No, there have been SOME allowances, like dropping duties on building materials and, for a while, vehicles, but that has ended. Mostly it's been due to the efforts and investments of some really savvy people. So the local supermarket, which had sold appliances and furniture before the storm, now sells hardware, set up a lumber yard, has given space to a local pharmacy, and had a pop-up branch of Commonwealth Bank (which has since moved back to its restored building).

Even the auto parts store the young man's mother works in is a new, post-storm business. But getting a working chamber is going to take some major fund-raising and I'd bet $100 against a donut some "official" will skim the shit out of it. There's just a refusal to see the damage such corruption does.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Tragedies happen that don't involve guns.

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Wino wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 7:53 am Yeah, YT. You'd think gahd would have struck down the irreverent blasphemous turd during his photo op holding a bible in front of St. Johns Church. FDT
I might WELL have seen that as proof that I, as a devout Agnostic, needs! :roflmao:

But such divine justice doesn't exist. There are no miracles other than the 1969 Mets and the 1980 Olympic Hockey team.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

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