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Accident on DC beltway

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ilg

Some guy on the Internet.
Feb 8, 2013
132
210
Maryland
Sad news: I just passed an accident on the inner loop of the DC beltway (near Suitland Rd , about 7:55 am) where a black Model S was involved. It seemed to have been the middle bit of a sandwich, as there was extensive damage to front and rear. That poor S is likely totaled. Of course, the passenger cabin was completely intact and looked to be unaffected. An ambulance was just arriving as I passed. 2 fire trucks were on scene. No flames that I could see and not a lot of activity.

I noticed 2 other cars that were involved. There could have been more, but the fire trucks were blocking the view. The other cars were strewn about at odd angles, while the S was sitting calmly, perfectly aligned in the second lane from the left. Not sure what to make of that.

On a quick, no-gawking pass, that was all I was able to glean.
 
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only furthers my theory that the Model S is an accident magnet.

I'm worried I'm going to turn into someone in my blind spot. I can't tell you how many times I have someone coming up to pass me on a multi-lane highway on the left only to slow down and cruise right in my blind spot. Presumably they're "checking out" the car, but it's getting a bit disconcerting!
 
I'm worried I'm going to turn into someone in my blind spot. I can't tell you how many times I have someone coming up to pass me on a multi-lane highway on the left only to slow down and cruise right in my blind spot. Presumably they're "checking out" the car, but it's getting a bit disconcerting!

There's an easy solution to that. Always drive in the left lane and make sure you're the fastest person on the road. :)
 
There's an easy solution to that. Always drive in the left lane and make sure you're the fastest person on the road. :)

Works for me when I drive that "Trail to/from Hell" (DC Beltway)!!
Drivers in this area are like our government ............... cant figure out what to do, how to do it or how to make a decision in general ...............then when they do .........it's usually wrong!

In a roadster one must always look out for cell phone jockeys, soccer moms with a car full, lawn service guys with beat-up trucks and trailers. Defensive driving to me means stay out of tight spots by the pedal to the metal, short bursts of impossible maneuvers technique. MS might be harder to negotiate that way but equally capable and probably better suited. Ever since the sawed off Honda incident where all four occupants were taking a picture of me ( including the driver) at 60mph on the Beltway I just don't let anybody hang close to old #992.:tongue:
 
In a roadster one must always look out for cell phone jockeys, soccer moms with a car full, lawn service guys with beat-up trucks and trailers. Defensive driving to me means stay out of tight spots by the pedal to the metal, short bursts of impossible maneuvers technique. MS might be harder to negotiate that way but equally capable and probably better suited. Ever since the sawed off Honda incident where all four occupants were taking a picture of me ( including the driver) at 60mph on the Beltway I just don't let anybody hang close to old #992.:tongue:

The other day, the driver of the car in front of me put his hand out the window with his phone and took a picture--nothing interesting in front, so I'm pretty sure it was a back-facing pic of my car. :rolleyes:

Sorry to hear about the accident--it sounds like the Model S driver's okay; I hope all involved are.
 
Yesterday I was sitting at a red, waiting for my green arrow to turn left. This is a T intersection, so I can only go left or right. There's a police officer just left of the T writing up a ticket for another driver. My light turns green, I sit for there for an extra moment and take a casual look to my right and here comes a pick up truck. He sails right through his red light, staring at the police scene, a cigarette hanging out the side of his mouth. Unfortunately the police officer has his back to the road so he didn't see what happened.

Later in the day I'm riding my bike. I have to cross a 4-lane road. There's a crosswalk button pedestrians can hit and it sets off some flashing lights to tell drivers in both directions to stop for pedestrians. I wait until there's a break in the traffic, hit the button, wait a couple seconds for the flashing lights, then proceed to cross. I get to center where there's a median separating traffic and I see this big, older, Malibu type car flying toward the intersection. Again the little angel on my left shoulder tells me to stop and wait a moment. The driver is a little old lady who can barely see over her dash board. She goes full boar passed me ignoring the light. I'm quite sure she never even saw me, so intent on the road straight ahead of her.

During that same bike ride, there are two other roads I had to cross. One had a traffic light. I waited for my white hand and am crossing when a lady in an SUV, texting on her cellphone down on her lap, finally comes to a stop halfway through the intersection. Do you think she looked apologetic? Nope. She never even saw me and went right back to texting. I'm afraid I didn't act very lady-like in the moment and displayed some sign language.

The second road I crossed was a two-lane residential road with a crosswalk type set up for pedestrians. A biker a bit in front of me crossed with one car stopped. In a random act of kindness, that driver remained stopped and waited for me even though I was a number of seconds behind. Just before I was about to cross, a car from the other direction was approaching. Now anybody paying attention would see that the car in the other direction was stopped. My angel once again tells me to wait a moment longer before crossing. Sure enough the other car isn't slowing down and is going to go through the crosswalk. At the last moment the driver sees the other car stopped, then looks my way and sees me and slams the breaks on ending up stopped right in the middle of the crosswalk. I cross like a lady, but in my head I'm talking like a sailor.
 
Sad day for our fellow Tesla DMV owner. Driving in this area always has me in defensive mode. Like mknox I've noticed a bunch of people hanging out in my blind spot more than my last car.

My latest odd encounter was a week or so ago where a lady in a late 90s Jaguar drove up to me on 50 East past beltway and at 65-70mph wanted me to roll down the windows for a conversation. :scared: Gave the confused shrugged shoulder sign and sped off so I didn't get into an accident.
 
The other day, the driver of the car in front of me put his hand out the window with his phone and took a picture--nothing interesting in front, so I'm pretty sure it was a back-facing pic of my car. :rolleyes:

I get that a lot. Some folks try to be discreet... I'll see the phone peek up over the side window sill or over the dash at a red light. But last summer, two girls were leaning half way out of the car on the freeway(!) taking pictures.
 
I'm worried I'm going to turn into someone in my blind spot. I can't tell you how many times I have someone coming up to pass me on a multi-lane highway on the left only to slow down and cruise right in my blind spot. Presumably they're "checking out" the car, but it's getting a bit disconcerting!

I leave the rear view camera up in the upper position. It covers both blind spots nicely:smile:
 
I'm worried I'm going to turn into someone in my blind spot. I can't tell you how many times I have someone coming up to pass me on a multi-lane highway on the left only to slow down and cruise right in my blind spot. Presumably they're "checking out" the car, but it's getting a bit disconcerting!

I keep my rear view camera on and occupying the upper half of the screen. Anything outside the trapezoidal left and right lane markers (if I am in the middle lane) which is large enough to be recognizable as a vehicle is almost always in my blind spot or about to enter it. It's gotten to the point where I preferentially check my screen before the outside mirrors.
 
I find that the Tesla's drivers side mirror doesn't travel far enough out to view the blind spot.



I keep my rear view camera on and occupying the upper half of the screen. Anything outside the trapezoidal left and right lane markers (if I am in the middle lane) which is large enough to be recognizable as a vehicle is almost always in my blind spot or about to enter it. It's gotten to the point where I preferentially check my screen before the outside mirrors.
 
I'm worried I'm going to turn into someone in my blind spot. I can't tell you how many times I have someone coming up to pass me on a multi-lane highway on the left only to slow down and cruise right in my blind spot. Presumably they're "checking out" the car, but it's getting a bit disconcerting!

I had that a couple of times before I got used to using the rear camera.
 
They 're everywhere!!!
They're everywhere!!!

I prefer to say "They're out there." More than one meaning to that...

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There's an easy solution to that. Always drive in the left lane and make sure you're the fastest person on the road. :)

Yeah, I've been doing that. Unfortunately, I got a rude awakening from an unmarked patrol car. Hard to beat a "pace" ticket.