Posted on 02/08/2022 11:51:03 AM PST by BenLurkin
SAN DIEGO — A driver died Saturday after her car slammed into a boat that had fallen off a trailer as it was being towed on a state highway east of San Diego, officials said. The motorist was identified as Jennifer Kathleen Nichols, 49, of Bonita. She was the wife of interim San Diego Harbor Police Chief Kirk Nichols, who was a passenger in the car and suffered minor injuries.
The crash was reported around 6:20 p.m. on California 94 in Jamul.
The California Highway Patrol said Robert Keith Thomas, 28, was driving a 2000 Mazda B3000 truck pulling a boat on a trailer when the boat detached from the trailer as he turned onto the highway from a side road.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
That is some Twisted irony for you, right there. The wife of a Harbor Police Chief is killed in a boat Collision on dry land.
I think if I hadn't been "forewarned" they would have gone through my windshield.
Had the same issue when a flatbed stacked with hay bails passed us on the left: “Sure would be lousy if that strap failed”, when it did. Hay bails bouncing all over, managed to steer out of it.
Covid???
Sure hope Mazda boy has insurance. No excuse for not securing a boat on a trailer before towing.
This happens a lot. I try to avoid all vehicles towing trailers. I will go out of my way to stay far clear of them, especially the large tractor/trailers.
How awfully sad.
RIP to this woman...and, prayers for her family.
Fiat 500 is tiny and has smart air bags but, its a boat thats probly 5x bigger, in the road. Good grief.
Ever get the feeling that we only see a small part of reality? That there are things going on sort of behind the scenes that we have no idea of?
I have the same reaction as you did whenever I see some idiot moron driving down the road with mattresses strapped to the roof of their car.
I always think; “that’s gonna fly off”. And about 10 years ago it actually happened in front of me. And of course because I was thinking that it could happen, I was already taking evasive action and avoided running over the mattresses.
Probably following one car length at 80 mph.
Tail gating in California is insane. People in CA really need to chill when behind the wheel.
In 55 years of driving, I’ve had a golf ball soar over my (from the front), a poorly secured sheet of plywood zoom over my car, and watched a bicycle come off a carrier on the bumper of a car passing me to the left. So far, no accidents or injuries, thank God. A few years ago, my wife had a deer jump over her car from a steep embankment. That will startle you!
Ditto. I have seen unsecured objects fall from trailers on the interstate more times than I can count...ALWAYS keep your distance.
Absolutely. I HATE being next to any trailer or big rig. In North Idaho, there are log carriers all over and every now and then they spill their loads. You don’t want to get crushed by falling logs.
Like you, I give all big loads and trailers a very wide berth.
I see people in flat bed trucks bouncing up the freeway regularly with open boxes of nails in the back bouncing around.
And now we all see that your Attention Surplus Disorder is not a disorder at all. As we heard in the military and into the business world that "attention to detail" was paramount, you focus in.
You bet...I too have seen the brutal carnage caused by unsecured loads...I’ve seen illegals pack pickup trucks 12 feet high with all kinds of stuff, and as it comes lose and blows off, the traffic behind them gets fragged, casing all kinds of collisions.
An original member of the music group ELO was killed when a giant hay bail came loose. It rolled down some hills and then landed on his SUV killing him. I believe that happened in England.
google “sheet of plywood through car windshield”...
I was on the former elevated Skyway coming out of the city of Buffalo. The car in front to our right had a sheet of plywood tied to the roof with some string. It came of and smashed into the car next to us. The car kept going. We followed it and called it into the police.
This was in the 1980s before cell phones.
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