Posted on 02/23/2021 9:36:21 PM PST by L.A.Justice
The part of Hawthorne Boulevard where Tiger Woods lost control of his SUV Tuesday and was seriously injured in a rollover crash is a steep, winding road described by locals and officials as a “hotspot” for car crashes.
At the intersection where Woods crashed, Hawthorne Boulevard forms the border of Rancho Palos Verdes and Rolling Hills Estates — part of the Palos Verdes Peninsula known for tony gated neighborhoods, cliffside vistas and winding seaside roads.
One man who lives in the area told KTLA Tuesday that the stretch of road is dangerous if you’re not careful.
“The one thing that all of us in this area recognize is we go through brakes a lot,” he said. “Because of this grade and the speed you pick up, you typically have to ride your brakes as you’re coming down.”
It’s easy to hit 65 mph if you’re traveling a typical speed and not riding your brakes, he said. Meanwhile, the road curves, “and if you’re not paying attention it’s easy to miss that turn, and/or overcorrect and find yourself in a bad situation.”
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
"...KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL, AND ON THE ROAD, TIGER!..."
We don’t know what happened. I doubt that Tiger was going anywhere near 80 mph when he lost control, probably closer to the speed limit looking at how far (not very) he travelled up a side slope and came to rest.
His earlier driving problem in Florida involved passing out from painkillers, and this would appear to be the leading candidate. He was known to be in a hurry to make a filming appointment, day two of some stint that he had attended all day Monday. So distraction could have played a role.
Also there is a side street from the right (Tiger veered left) with traffic lights, near the point where he lost control, and it seems possible to me that somebody turning right from a red light (if he had the right of way) could have forced him to swerve in a vehicle he wasn’t normally driving (a loaner from a recent golf tournament he acts as host at Riviera in L.A.).
Also looking at the area on google earth, it’s mostly residential, there’s a high school and some open grassy areas, and it looks to me like the sort of place deer or other animals might frequent at dawn (the accident was at 0710h). His direction of travel before losing control was towards the northeast, the rising sun would have been somewhat in his line of sight to his east-southeast (but perhaps casting confusing patterns of light and shadow through the open spaces of the side street).
I can picture the roadway as it’s very similar to another bad traffic spot in my vicinity. One sudden overcorrection and you could be quickly out of control.
Let’s hope he has not sustained major injuries and can recover, he was already fighting the aftereffects of yet another back operation. I saw an interview with him at the weekend golf tournament (he was there to give out the trophy, not to play) and he looked a bit tired but basically at peace with what has to be a frustrating situation — if it wasn’t for this back problem, he’d very likely be winning three or four times a year still.
He’s been chasing Sam Snead with whom he’s now tied at 82 wins, but ironically this places him in the shadow of another legend, Ben Hogan, who recovered from perhaps a worse automobile accident in 1949.
Early reports have this stretch of road described as so challenging that it would give Evel Knievel bone chills. The young female golf channel reporter stated that traffic routinely moves at double the speed limit, which will be 90 mph as it is a 45 mph zone... suffice it to say math is not her strong point in her effort to embellish.
Meanwhile they have a local offer an interview who is a professor at USC and was very bright. He seemed pissed that Tiger was endangering people in his community running around high as hell on pain killers, which was obvious in the Sunday telecast at Riviera and photos taken yesterday with various celebrities. His take on it was it is absolutely inexplicable for anyone to ever have an accident in that stretch, especially jumping a concrete median driving into oncoming traffic and then tumbling his vehicle 30 to 40 yards after crossing all lanes with no attempt to brake.
There is a report that Woods exited the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes at which he was staying in an agitated state, and he nearly hit another car in doing so. He was heading for day 2 of a “two-day shoot with Golf Digest/Golf TV at Rolling Hills Country Club, about two miles from the crash site.”
Woods has a reputation as a hothead. Good chance he was talking or texting on his phone as he sped down the road. Distracted driver, no braking/skid marks, hooked when he should have faded.
How many accidents other than this one?
Toonces could drive. Just not well.
The accident site is actually a couple thousand feet to north near Silver Saddle Ln. See the picture posted by deport in post 126 in this thread.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3937116/posts?page=126
Sure. Drivers can obey the speed limit and slow down. All fixed.
The fact there were no skid marks is very telling.
I am sure the technology of the SUV will be looked at. It has semi-autonomous driving capabilities, emergency braking, and lane keeping assist.
They need to close that road.
“Woods has a reputation as a hothead. Good chance he was talking or texting on his phone as he sped down the road. Distracted driver, no braking/skid marks, hooked when he should have faded.”
His car will rat him out in a day or two (once the data recorders are decoded and the phone records obtained), and then we’ll know what really happened.
There’s no problem with Hawthorne. I’ve lived in PV for 20+ years and never had any issue driving down that wide boulevard. He was likely speeding and probably on his phone. Pay attention when you re driving.
I have been driving this section of Hawthorne on a regular basis for over 45 years, the road is kept in near perfect condition because it is real steep and fast. It is very easy to get going too fast and a lot of people do, they just don’t understand that Gravity doesn’t allow them to slow down, so they Crash. Yes it is Common, but this is California, land of the Stupid and Home of the Lazy!
I know, I was just being a ‘Karen’. I used to live in CA, there are easily 1000 miles of road at least as challenging to drive - you do have to pay attention on them, no matter how many times you’ve driven them.
It’s going to be interesting to see if they test this guy for intoxicants or if he’s given a pass, which would be odd considering this was a single vehicle collision, his history with intoxicants, not to mention prior collisions etc.
Hey, you’re driving a 300 HP turbocharged rig, let it rip, right? He was driving a vehicle he wasn’t that familiar with is my guess, lost control, so much for the rollover test.
Toonces looks like my cat. And he’d try to drive if his back feet could reach the pedals.
Every place seems to have a “dead mans curve” where it’s just too dangerous to go anything other than sloooooow.
SUVs flip easy on sharp turn at higher speeds.
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