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Arborway shut due to bad crash
By adamg on Fri, 09/06/2013 - 2:59pm
The remains of one of the vehicles. Photo by AlertNewEngland.
Update, 9:15 p.m.: The Arborway is clear and open again to traffic, State Police report.
Massachusetts State Police report four teenagers and two adults were seriously injured in a crash around 2 p.m. State Police say their initial investigation shows that an SUV carrying the teens "rolled over center line, struck a pickup with two adults in the opposite lane." AlertNewEngland reports two child car seats were found ejected from vehicles, but that no young children were in them at the time.
The Arborway was shut between Centre/the Jamaicaway and the Forest Hills rotary.
Boston Police advise:
Seek alternate route.
As of 4:40 p.m., motorists reported traffic across the area was a mess. Scott Bishop reports:
It took 35 minutes to drive one mile up Washington towards Rozzie Village.
The Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports:
The teens have been transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Medical Center, and Children's Hospital, with injuries ranging from relatively minor to life-threatening. The adults have been transported to Brigham and Women's Hospital, one of them with life-threatening injuries and the other expected to survive.
No charges have been sought at this time and we do not expect them imminently: this is a major collision with many victims and witnesses, and investigators will need time to examine the evidence from many sources before making a charging decision.
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Comments
Now would be a good time to
Now would be a good time to put that road on a diet in the name of safety. The MDC should have never been allowed to turn our parkways into highways.
Well
I can tell you the traffic in JP is at a stand still right now. Taking cars off the parkway and putting them on residential streets is not a solution.
I knew we should have built
I knew we should have built more and wider roads in that neighborhood. Will Boston ever learn?
Ya because
When people were riding buggies they should have known cars were going to be invented.
Is this what we face on a daily basis when the overpass closes?
Will this traffic mess--in Rozzie, JP, Brookline, West Roxbury (all experienced personally between 5 and 5:45 this afternoon) cause anyone looking forward to the overpass-demolition-and-surface-traffic-only plan to rethink their optimistic ideas about quality of driving life brought about by their fantasy?
Thank you, Henny Penny
Yes, the new Arborway will be even worse than the gridlock caused by the police shutting the entire current Arborway for several hours.
You could not be more wrong.
Actually, a new temp road will be built prior to the Casey coming down, resulting in more road capacity than currently exists, for a short time. Once the project is completed, there will again be a larger roadway to speed you from one traffic jam to the next.
Nope...
Huh? Turn parkways into highways? The issue here is people driving on the Ways like they are highways. Driven at 35 MPH or so, the Ways are perfectly safe.
Also, all those hysterical about "see this is what happens" should take a deep breath and reflect on how rare these cataclysmic accidents are on the JWay/Arborway. I can think of one other accident on this scale in the decade I've lived and driven in JP.
Horrible...I always stay to
Horrible...I always stay to the right hand lane for fear of a head-on crash. The only surprise is that this doesn't happen more often given how recklessly I've seen people take that stretch of road.
You're
safer in a head-on crash that hitting a tree!
but...
trees tend not to move into oncoming traffic...
Depends: Hitting another car
Depends: Hitting another car or truck at 60 also going 60 results in a 120 mile an hour impact. Hitting a tree at 60 is a 60 mile an hour impact. However, the tree unlike another car is less likely to deflect force since it is immobile. Therefor hitting a tree may or may not be worse than a head on collision.
Having watched Mythbusters, a
Having watched Mythbusters, a 60 mph car hitting head-on to another 60 mph car is not like a 120 mph impact.
True and untrue
Two 60 mph cars hitting each other *is* the equivalent of a 120 mph impact...shared by 2 cars, thus each car ends up enduring the equivalent force of a 60 mph impact. This is what Mythbusters demonstrated, but their explanation was horrendous and inaccurate on that episode.
They were comparing it to the result of a 120 mph impact of a single car against a fixed (0 mph) object/wall. That is not what resulted from the two 60 mph car impact...and shouldn't expect to happen.
That having been said, trees have no existent means of distributing the force of a car impact at the trunk/ground line (sure, they can withstand 60 mph winds in their branches because the tops are built for those speeds, but the bottom of the trunk of the tree connecting with your car is not).
Therefore, I'd prefer the head-on collision knowing that both involved vehicles were going to try to do everything they can to keep me safe (and the other driver might even take as much mitigating action as possible too, like braking). Whereas the tree is going to be more like shining a flashlight at a mirror into your own eyes...all reflection of impact right back at me with no remorse.
Oh, really?!?
If this:
is not the case, then what is it?
It's like 2 60-mph collisions
Think of it this way:
A single car going 60-mph into a crash test wall makes 1X amount of damage to the car, no damage to the wall (they're built to take this kind of damage without problems because they make the car take all of the resulting damage).
A single car going 120-mph into a crash test wall makes 2X amount of damage to the car, no damage to the wall again.
A single car going 60-mph into a single car going 60-mph the other way makes 2X damage by making 1X damage to both cars equally.
So, it's not like a 120-mph impact into a crash test wall (or tree in this case). It's like TWO 60-mph crashes which add up to a total of a 120-mph crash but spread over two different vehicles. If one of the cars were to end up with the crash damage from the equivalent of a 120-mph impact, the other car would have to be completely unaffected...like the wall was.
Not true
Hitting another vehicle the same size as yours, heading towards you at the same speed you are moving, is exactly equivalent to hitting an immovable, unyielding barrier (e.g., a perfect brick wall). Hitting a tree is about the same.
not true
1)Trees are narrower than cars and walls, which focuses the energy of the crash.
2)Live trees have built in "lubrication" - sap and whatnot - making them act like a hot knife through butter.
Hitting a tree will take a 5-star-safety-rating car and leave them looking like a giant ripped them apart.
Don't forget
3) Trees are attached to the ground
Conservation of linear momentum
Depends on how fast the vehicle was going and how large the car was that struck the tree, and whether or not the vehicle rebounded off that tree. It would also obviously matter the weights and speeds of two vehicles hitting each other in a head on collision.
So a vehicle hitting a tree at a certain speed may not displace it's energy the same way if it hit another vehicle going the same speed head on depending on the Weight.
You really believe that?
This:
is so wrong, anon. You're not any safer in a head-on collision with another car, first because steel hitting against steel causes a massive amount of damage to both cars and people. Secondly, let's say one person is driving 40-50 miles an hour going in one direction and another person's going 40-50 miles an hour in the opposite direction. Both of those cars collide, head-on. The total impact is anywhere from 80-100 miles per hour, which can kill, often instantly. Don't kid yourself into thinking otherwise. Plenty of people are seriously maimed or killed in head-on car collisions.
Crumple Zone
It depends how you hit that tree.
The tree is stationary, the other car is moving ... but, the other car and your car have crumple zones in front.
So, hitting a tree head on at 60mph is much safer than hitting a tree at an angle, as there is less structure in your car available to dissipate the energy of the impact. But hitting a tree head on really isn't much different than hitting another car head on - unless that other car is going considerably faster than you are - because that other car has crumple structure, too. Car-on-car, there is both increased energy (due to closing speed being additive), but that increased energy is shared between two non-rigid structures designed to absorb energy.
This is the major reason why t-bone and angle accidents are the most commonly fatal ones - the side of a car can't dissipate that energy like the front end of the car.
Years ago, when somebody took a sudden left in front of me into the Shell station on Memorial Drive, I knew it was best to not swerve to avoid and risk losing control sideways into oncoming traffic in a subcompact wagon. I scrubbed as much of the 35mph speed as I could with the brakes while avoiding a skid and steering the car as straight as I could, knowing that we would be safest hitting that other car with as much of the engine and front end crumple zone ahead of us as I could manage. (to my amazement, we missed by less than a foot ... and the passenger in the other car probably needed new pants)
You are almost always better off going straight in if there is no safe way to avoid an accident, given how cars are designed.
Center Mass
Not always Swirrly.
The energy of a angle crash into a tree can dissipate the energy more than a straight on crash where the engine block hits the tree straight on. A human brain may not be able to handle the 60mph-20mph crash if you hit a tree head on, but may be able to survive the 60mph to 40mph angle crash. (with the other 20mph in energy getting lost in the rebounded crash).
Then again, if the angle you hit is on the drivers side, you have a better chance of other injuries, even if the total energy is dissipated is spread out.
Energy= (.5)x(Mass)x(Velocity squared)
The weights of the vehicles matter so much more than people are talking about here. A surburban going 60mph hitting a prius going 60mph is going to do better than a surburban going 60mph into a tree.
Good point
I had considered the momentum vector "angle", but intentionally omitted it because the person commenting was already confused by the subject.
The intensity of deceleration also matters with soft tissue injury. If crash energy dissipates too quickly, the rapid deceleration can cause serious injury. I have an old classmate who spent a couple of years doing experiments on this with agar jello meant to simulate brains and meat. Lots of meat.
In general, however, cars are designed to best absorb/dissipate energy from a crash in the forward crumple zone, and restraint systems are also so designed.
Also best to not drive if you are drunk, tired, or too distracted ... kind of prevents the slamming into trees and other vehicles problem.
These were likely teenage
These were likely teenage drivers. I've been driving for 25 years and hate that road. Eek.
Mass. State law says
Mass. State law says teenagers are not to drive without an older licensed driver in front seat. Why are these teens and their parents not cited? And certainly teen drivers should not have teen passengers. A lot of teens with licenses drive as if they are more skilled than they are.
Um. No.
They can drive solo if they get their full license, which starts at 16.5.
Permit starts at 16 - that's when you need an adult with you.
From 16.5 to 18, they are not permitted to have passengers (with an exemption for siblings).
I agree that a lot of teens think they are more skilled than they are. A lot of adults make the same mistake. That's a universal issue - but it is far worse in MA as we do not have anything remotely resembling a comprehensive rules exam covering a wide variety of issues, nor is there any meaningful road exam with comprehensive assessment of skills.
These are two reasons why, if you move to Canada with an MA license, most provinces will make you completely retest from square one.
isn't there a big ol' median
isn't there a big ol' median along the center of the Arborway?
Couldn't have been a head on
Just rode through on my bike. This was the section with the substantial divider between directions. Based on this section of road and the severity of damage I'm totally confused as to what happened.
Just updated the original post
Not sure if it makes it clearer, though. Where exactly on the Arborway was the crash?
accident location
I saw a seriously damaged black car up on the sidewalk on the arboretum side. This was about midway between the two sets of arboretum gates (main gates with building and gates just before overpass).
Boston.com is reporting near
Boston.com is reporting near St. Joseph St (i.e. a bit past the visitor center entrance when heading towards FH). This section of Arborway has a small raised median, but nothing an SUV/truck couldn't jump over.
Hope everyone recovers from this accident. Looks like a nasty, nasty crash.
Someone could've ended up on
Someone could've ended up on the wrong side after going through the rotary...?
My guess
I was in the area today on foot, and saw both wrecked cars in person.
The larger SUV truck likely swerved into the median, and then spun out
some as it did, it then either hit the other oncoming car, head on, or T'd it
as the other swerved and then spun out more. It was a giant
ball of foil after all that.
All of the southbound city traffic
hemorraged into JP Centre/South.
The MA State Police could stand to meet the
Statey's from CT and find out how they handle
accidents on the Merritt Parkway, cause they just
turned the whole place into an all-day movie set, when this
could have been cleaned up much quicker.
I've been on the J-Way when a large tree branch caused
traffic to go up on the oversized sidewalks to keep it moving.
There are options with such a wide road.
The cops just sat around looking at the wreck for
hours, as kids all around the state went hungry
waiting for late parents to come home, haha.
Feds urge faster accident clean ups
Federal DOT urges faster accident clean ups and mitigation of accident impacts to reduce traffic congestion and resultant increase in greenhouse gas production. Mass continues to do a bad job of this everywhere, despite classes given to police. Really slow to clean up accidents and on multi-lane roads, usually closes more lanes than necessary, often just to make more parking for responders, it seems.
Poor median greatly contributed to the accident
What should have been a Jersey Barrier was instead a low curb median that lead to the car rolling over into oncoming traffic.
We can blame child car seats for the high number of cars with too high center of gravity! Its much easier to get kids in and out of these seats when vehicles are higher and less bending is required.
Inexperienced teen driver likely distracted by other teens in vehicle likely reason the driver went outside too narrow lane into rollover producing curb.
no, actually
1)Jersey barriers cause rollovers
2)The crash was on a section of the arborway which has normal granite curb, wide lanes, and a 20+ foot wide divider.
No. There's a yellow line.
No. There's a yellow line.
There's a median, although not much of one
That section of the Arborway has a narrow median with granite curbs.
This is why all cyclists should have to have licenses
Look at all the damage they do and all the people they kill.
... oh ... wait ...
As much as I appreciate pro-bike comments
This really isn't the time. Hoping that this isn't as bad as it looks from the pics.
oh yeah?
Every time a cyclist gets injured or killed, you all come out of the woodwork with your uneducated, victim-blaming opinions.
Nice to meet you too...anon
I'm one of the regular pro-cyclist ranters on here. But please explain to me why the bike folks should act like dickheads when it looks like a bunch of people have been seriously injured or possibly killed? And maybe get a screen name before you start getting all "you all..." on everyone?
Because their smug level
Cannot be contained.
again...
"e. But please explain to me why the bike folks should act like dickheads when it looks like a bunch of people have been seriously injured or possibly killed?"
You mean like how all the anti-cyclist nutjobs act every time a cyclist is seriously injured or killed?
The OP's comment was completely justified. There's no end of bitching and moaning about what a menace cyclists supposedly are, even when the city's statistics show it isn't true. Meanwhile there's virtually no outrage or attention paid to reckless, illegal, irresponsible, threatening, endangering behavior by drivers. "Oh shucks, those crazy Boston drivers!"
The OP was pointing out the double standard. That the truth makes you uncomfortable is not my, or anyone else's, problem.
So...again slowly
Your "truth" is that because some anti-bike nutjobs act like dickheads when some cyclist is killed, cyclists posting here should unite to post similarly asinine dickheaded comments when a carful of teens crashes on the Arborway (no bikes in sight, btw)? Sorry, but that's completely bonkers and if you think dumbass comments like this do anything to further the safety or sanity of cyclists in this city, you're truly off your rocker.
Sorry for the people involved
Sorry for the people involved but the traffic nightmare is just a small taste of what will be an everyday thing once the casey bridge is removed ...speak up people....
Proof of concept
Displayed for us today and it didn't work.
Foolish comment
The bridge handles at most, half of the traffic, and the surface route will still be open during construction. This means a significantly higher traffic capacity compared to the zero capacity this afternoon. Also, singular events do not allow for adjusted car flow, but a long term and predictable event will enable alternate routines to form. And when it's all done, the new configuration will allow more cars to pass through.* Now why don't you go back under your bridge and show enough respect for the victims of this crash not to troll the discussion.
* this is a questionable goal, as through passage of vehicles doesn't actually serve the interests of the Forest Hills neighborhood.
Blame the road
but I will bet this will come down to speeding, distracted kids.
Why are people blaming the road? There was a 10 to 20 foot median. To jump that you would need a good amount of speed.
Blame the road?
Speeding, distracted kids is more like it, imho!
Or are you just being snarky?iv
Reading
Is not one of your skill areas, is it?
The most level headed and intelligent comment I've seen.
This accident like most accidents probably involved some combination of 1) drinking or marijuana smoking, 2) speeding, 3) texting on an iPhone.
While the Globe is still
While the Globe is still reporting two have life-threatening injuries, I hear (but cannot confirm) that two of the teens are in stable condition.
I pray that these two were the ones the Globe reported on, and that all others involved are in stable condition too, if not better than stable.
overpass
First off the overpass could be fixed easily but is neglected to keep the blacks out of rich areas. Its so obvious to me.
Secondly I have said for years that the Jway needs 25 mile an hour signs up.
Thirdly when you come off the JP overpass you naturally want to speed up since you are so pissed off...
Erm...
Where are these "blacks" and "rich areas" of which you speak? Seriously.
Where along the route was Francis X. Moloney killed?...
Where along the route was Boston Public Library's Francis X. Moloney killed?...
First this was an accident
First this was an accident caused by speed and lack of experience. Just the other day a man and his dog were killed while walking in N. Easton by a seventeen-year-old for the same reason and road design was not blamed. Second, the parkways were created to expand the cities outwards not as parks. They usually have major water and sewer lines built under them. That is why they were part of the MDC. Also, forty years ago highway expansion was stopped (for right or wrong) by the neighborhoods and those on the left. I95 would have run right through Forest Hills by way of the Southwest Corridor and Hyde Park Ave. and there would have been an Inner Belt Highway along Melnea Cass Blvd. stretching north which would have replaced the need of the Riverway, Jamaicaway, Arborway, Morton Street, and Gallivan Blvd. as a highway system.
I know right. Look how well
I know right. Look how well that worked for every city in Connecticut.