Chuck B
Full Access Member
The previous nite the wife and I (as well as both dogs) awoke to a tremendous crash. At 2:30am everything is amplified and my first thoughts were my motorcycle came off the lift in the garage. All was good and then the two of us went outside...all was quiet. No other neighbors were up, lights on....dead silence. Comparing notes the crash I heard was the last part. Wife said she heard a crash just moments prior. We have open area around our place so I did a quick walk and saw or heard nothing.
About 5:30 I woke and headed out the door with the dog for our normal desert run. I walked maybe 100ft and spotted what had happened. A late model Ford Ranger was obviously crashed about 120ft from the road in the open desert. I immediately phoned for emergency and ran over to the vehicle. The guy never had a chance....DOA.
Police estimated he was doing about 100mph when he realized the 1/2 mile straight road he was on ended abruptly. Unfortunately for him it ended at a 10ft deep 40ft wide wash. I estimated he left about 70-80ft of skid marks before exiting the road. He sailed straight across the ravine striking the other bank nearly head on. Both engine and transmission were in the passenger side of (in) the cab. The truck still had enough energy that it flipped up into the air and another 40-50 ft landing on the drivers side rear. Once striking it simply rolled back to wheels down position. To put a good 1ft deep clef in our hard desert dirt must have meant the truck attained quite of bit of height after striking the bank.
Within an hour the only thing remaining was some Cheetos, glass and plastic. Wife was obviously very upset. She feels bad that he might have been alive at the time and we had shrugged it off. If I had to do it again I'd have spent a little more time looking around. Regardless, a thrill seeking early 20's male coupled with poor judgment and wrong road cost him the ultimate price.
I just spent this morning erecting the barricade. It had obviously been down for quite some time. Painted it white and will pick up some reflective tape at HD later today.
About 5:30 I woke and headed out the door with the dog for our normal desert run. I walked maybe 100ft and spotted what had happened. A late model Ford Ranger was obviously crashed about 120ft from the road in the open desert. I immediately phoned for emergency and ran over to the vehicle. The guy never had a chance....DOA.
Police estimated he was doing about 100mph when he realized the 1/2 mile straight road he was on ended abruptly. Unfortunately for him it ended at a 10ft deep 40ft wide wash. I estimated he left about 70-80ft of skid marks before exiting the road. He sailed straight across the ravine striking the other bank nearly head on. Both engine and transmission were in the passenger side of (in) the cab. The truck still had enough energy that it flipped up into the air and another 40-50 ft landing on the drivers side rear. Once striking it simply rolled back to wheels down position. To put a good 1ft deep clef in our hard desert dirt must have meant the truck attained quite of bit of height after striking the bank.
Within an hour the only thing remaining was some Cheetos, glass and plastic. Wife was obviously very upset. She feels bad that he might have been alive at the time and we had shrugged it off. If I had to do it again I'd have spent a little more time looking around. Regardless, a thrill seeking early 20's male coupled with poor judgment and wrong road cost him the ultimate price.
I just spent this morning erecting the barricade. It had obviously been down for quite some time. Painted it white and will pick up some reflective tape at HD later today.
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