If you would like more information about what’s happening in Oregon, please FReepmail me. Please send me your name by FReepmail if you want to be on this list. The Ford Explorer was one to two hundred yards north of the Edge. It had rolled onto its left side and landed in a drainage ditch on the west side of the road. The engine and radiator were steaming. The windshield was opaque from damage. Several people were near the vehicle providing aid. I've never seen so much crash debris in my life. Two wheels and tires had come completely off the Edge and were lying in the road.
When I saw the accident, I figured there had to be at least one fatality.
It's real sobering to see an accident like that and realizing "There but for the grace of God go I." I feel so sorry for the innocent people hurt and killed. You are out on a fun journey and it's ended abruptly by an idiot. Who knows what he was doing. Texting? Daydreaming? Medical problem? Cutting a pass too close (there are too many of those)?
...the crash occurred when Mercer was driving north in the southbound lane in a no-passing. At the same time Walter Robert Gilmore, 73, of Star, Idaho, was driving his 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee in the southbound lane followed by Luia.Gilmore avoided hitting the car coming at him in his lane by swerving to the edge of his southbound lane. But SECONDS LATER Mercer hit the Luia vehicle. Why didn't Mercer get back in his lane after forcing Gilmore off the road? Why did Mercer stay in the wrong lane for SECONDS? Did he commit suicide?Gilmore swerved to the edge of the southbound lane to avoid hitting Mercer’s vehicle, struck a fog marker and came to a stop.
SECONDS LATER later Mercer and Luia’s vehicles collided.
If we are going to report local news of no national or even regional significance, then I caught two trout this morning, including a 23 inch brown beauty (which is about to become dinner).
Another illegal-caused crash?
Nice drivin’, Tex. Gilmore.
However, interesting and sad as this is, why posted?
Could have been anything, heart attack, medical issue, drugs, who knows.
Your comment about rural undivided highways is correct. For the life of me I can’t understand why these counties cities etc will not install k rails, chained together right down the center line. It would save so many lives and almost eliminate deadly head on collisions.
One of the straightest roads in the country. No excuses for this stoopid stuff. I live on an Eastern Oregon road just like that one. They are all long, straight, and boring, and city folks just don’t know how to handle them. We lose at least one a week on my stretch of road. Phones get most of them——look down to answer it and take out a Kenworth. Weekly——weekly—— guaranteed.
It’s 259 miles from my house to the next town of much. One has to stay focused and take rest stop breaks. And the roads are fast. As soon as I find the one Mountie that’s usually out there I open it up——and I don’t use a cell phone.
“Gilmore and a passenger, Diana Lynn Bonsey-Gilmore, 72, of Star, Idaho, were not injured.”
Great reflexes by the elderly Mr. Gilmore. I suspect he saved the lives of both himself and his (I assume) wife.
This must be the accident you mentioned in a comment posted to me yesterday on another thread. I personally find this thread interesting, because I have driven that road many times when I worked in that area. In fact, in August 1974 I was in a fairly serious wreck not all that far away, just a few miles north of the Basque highway maintenance station that’s located about halfway between Burns Junction, OR and McDermitt, NV. I was driving a one-ton BLM fire tanker north, at midmorning on a Sunday, and started to turn left into the Whitehorse Ranch road. Some guy in a pickup who had been driving all night tried to pass me at about 60 and nailed me just behind the cab. No serious injuries but both vehicles were totaled. Probably the only two vehicles for 20 miles in either direction.
I’m guessing Gilmore was going south, Luia was the next car behind him at a normal distance. Gilmore sees Mercer and swerves off to the right.
From Luia’s perspective, he is watching the car in front of him, and that car suddenly breaks right, and he sees Mercer bearing down on him with a second or two... no time to react.
Wonder if there is cell service in that area? Was Mercer on a phone?
There’s tons of roads like this in New Mexico. The only saving grace is low population density. I’ve driven 100 miles without seeing another car, it’s always a bit of a pucker factor when someone is coming the other direction given our DWI statistics.
thx for posting....I like knowing what’s going on across the nation...
If you would like more information about what’s happening in Oregon, please FReepmail me. Please send me your name by FReepmail if you want to be on this list.