YES, new cars are safer.

[tallyho8]

It's been 2 weeks since the last wreck that knocked down the pole in front of my house. There was another one tonight at 1 am! They missed the pole in front of my house and got the next one 100 feet over and knocked it down. The same wires are down again. This SUV hit the pole, flipped over and landed in the pasture next to my house. I went to help but by the time I got there the driver was gone. There was blood in the car and a pair of shoes but he must have taken off running. It is raining and cold and when I got back with my camera the police were already there and wouldn't let me get close enough to take a good photo. The one I took from far away is very bad and you can't really tell anything.

It isn't unusual for the driver to run away, especially if they are drunk, because they just say the car was stolen to get out of trouble and it is nearly impossible to prove otherwise. Since these wrecks in this curve almost always occur on Friday & Saturday night the drivers are always drunk.

 

[rox]

Tallyho8,
Do I have this right? Does that make 3 recent accidents on the same curve, all in the middle of the night ,all drunk drivers?
Geeze, have you thought of any interventions you could ask your highway department to make, or are you fine with seeing the bang ups every couple weeks.

 

[tallyho8]

Tallyho8, Do I have this right? Does that make 3 recent accidents on the same curve, all in the middle of the night ,all drunk drivers?
Geeze, have you thought of any interventions you could ask your highway department to make, or are you fine with seeing the bang ups every couple weeks.

I am not sure what type of interventions to ask the highway dept to make except for setting up a permanent alcohol testing station down the road.

They have already lowered the speed limit to 35 mph which is ridiculously low already. Many of the local residents are upset about this because they are used to driving 45, which is quite safe under most conditions, and now they are getting tickets for going that fast.

We don't want them to put up a guardrail to keep them from hitting the posts because the guardrail would direct them back into oncoming traffic where they would hit someone headon and kill innocent people.

There is no way that the highway department is going to put up flashing warning lights at every curve in the River Road because this is a very curvy road and they would need hundreds of lights.

Louisiana finally raised the drinking age from 18 to 21 but most of these wrecks involve someone in their 20s and you can buy alcohol at any gas station 24/7/365.

This curve has more poles with more streetlights than any other area of the River Road. The pole they hit this morning had a streetlight. This is probably why they missed my pole. They have not replaced my streetlight yet.

Luckily, the ditches slow them down before they hit the poles and the houses around here are way back from the road. The drunks manage to never get seriously hurt except for 2 who were on motorcycles in separate wrecks in other curves on the road last year.

Many times a drunk will knock on one of the doors around here, since we all have tractors, and ask one of us to pull him out a ditch. We all refuse to do it and call the police instead. This may seem harsh but it is better than him getting out and driving down the road and killing someone.

I do keep my camera handy and will take a video of the next one taking the field sobriety test and post it.

 

[coobie]

I cannot tell you how many of this type of accidents that I have seen over the years being a electric lineman.Some folks are just darn lucky to be alive.coobie

 

[schmism]

i say give them 1970's cars to drive around in... the next poll they take out when they are DUI = darwin award, the way it should be.

 

[dmccarty]

TallyHo8,

How about asking you local law enforcement to setup a checkpoint on the road on a Friday or Saturday night. Maybe the drunks will get caught before they tear up all of the power poles on you road.

Later,
Dan

 

[tallyho8]

TallyHo8, How about asking you local law enforcement to setup a checkpoint on the road on a Friday or Saturday night. Maybe the drunks will get caught before they tear up all of the power poles on you road. Later,
Dan

One of the main problems we have in the area is a shortage of law enforcement officers ever since Katrina. During Katrina many officers abandoned their posts and were all later fired. They have been trying desperately to hire and train more deputies ever since. With the severe shortage, traffic divisions suffer the most as deputies are put on higher priority missions. It is almost impossible for our civic group to get traffic stops or radar set up in the area. Since this is common knowledge, there are far more speeders and reckless drivers in the area than usual.

Anyone want to be a cop? Plenty positions available!

 

[tallyho8]

You will NOT believe it! It has only been one week since a drunk knocked down the 3rd pole in front of my house in the last 6 weeks and tonight it happened again!!!

Tonight a drunk hit the pole across the street in front of my house and knocked it down. This time he had his 2 little kids in the truck with him and all 3 were uninjured!

I know new cars are safer but they just aren't making poles like they used to.

I got a couple decent photos but the video I have of the cop giving the driver a field sobriety test and handcuffing him after is kind of poor. I don't have any software to edit movies to make them brighter like I can do for photos. Anyone know some good software for me to edit movies with?

There is only one pole in front of my house that they haven't hit yet and that is the one with the high power lines on it. If they ever hit that one there are really going to be some fireworks!

I was thinking about putting a stand in front of my house to sell coffee and do-nuts on weekends as there are usually quite a few tired and hungry, police, firemen, paramedics, tow truck drivers, utility repairmen and spectators out there for half the night while repairs are being done. But with my luck the next drunk would hit my stand.


http://members.cox.net/tallyho/busted.mpg

 

[GinNB]

Have you ever asked the linemen what they make the poles out of down there? I wonder how long a rock maple pole would last in Drunkville? Normally the softwood poles rot more slowly but it looks like the pressure treatment hardly has time to dry down your way so maybe hardwood is the way to go??

 

[jimmer2880]

The stand is a great idea. Just put it on wheels so you can keep it safe until it's time to use it. Then, just fire up the tractor & wheel it into place.

Seriously though, I'd be contacting my local legislators since the police don't seem to have any ambition to stop it.