I will be so glad when Ubama flips that Interwebs off switch and we are safe from lobotomized texters once again.
Couple years back a man in his twenties had his car go off the road and land in the Waters River in Danvers, MA (yup kinda like Ted K). He managed to get out of the car and swim to land. Later the car was fished out of the river.
Cause: He was texting. (And damn lucky to still be alive).
$100 fine, I think. Oh and this was in Feb. so you can imagine the water temp.
http://www.salemnews.com/local/x1348434660/Beverly-dive-team-pulls-car-from-Waters-River
>>DANVERS — The Beverly Fire Department’s dive team managed to locate a submerged car in the icy Waters River yesterday, then haul it out to dry land.
The car plunged into the river late Monday night after a Danvers man, who police say was texting behind the wheel, crashed through a guardrail on Water Street.
The dive team was unable to locate the car on Tuesday and, due to extreme temperatures and dangerous current, decided to wait until low tide yesterday morning to search again. They found the car, a 1999 Nissan Altima, just before 9 a.m.
Divers found it in about 20 feet of water, resting on its roof between two cofferdams flanking the bridge’s openings on the inland side of the river. The state has erected the temporary cofferdams as it reconstructs the bridge.
Police said the driver, Gerald Maher, 21, was heading toward Peabody on Route 35 on Monday around 11:45 p.m. when he crashed through a rusted guardrail of the bridge on the opposite side of Water Street.
The car traveled down a steep embankment and into the river, and it was apparently carried by the incoming tide through one of the bridge’s two openings.
Divers said Maher is lucky to be alive. He managed to get out of the car in frigid water as both he and the car were swept by the incoming tide under the bridge. Maher’s car came to rest more than 100 feet from shore. He was out of the car when police arrived.
“This kid is lucky as can be,” said Beverly fire Capt. Peter O’Connor, a member of the dive team.
Beverly Deputy fire Chief Michael Acciavatti said the force of water rushing under a bridge can “pick up a car like a potato chip.”
After Maher was located by rescuers, he was transported by ambulance to Beverly Hospital, where he was treated and released. Police plan to summons Maher, the sole occupant in the car, for negligent operation of a motor vehicle and texting while driving, which carries a civil fine.
With the operations of Eastern Propane at 131 Water St. in full swing, and management anxiously looking on, the Beverly dive team, Danvers firefighters and Harbormaster Chris Sanborn set up their recovery operation yesterday on the steep, rocky shore in back of the facility within sight of the bridge.
Asked how much yesterday’s river recovery might cost, Sanborn said he could not say, but with more than a dozen firefighters from Beverly and Danvers on scene, plus the cost to hire the wrecker, “It’s not cheap,” he said. “That’s for sure.”