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Packard's Corner goes boom
By adamg on Thu, 05/08/2008 - 9:12am
UPDATE: Driver charged.
A box truck driver says he blacked out around 7:15 this morning, causing a multi-vehicle collision that ended in explosions and the shutdown of the intersection of Comm. Ave. and Brighton Ave. - and, of course, Green Line service through the area.
Channel 4 has video of a car fireball. Helicopter video. Ilovesashimi posts a couple of photos. Harry Mattison posts a couple as well. Channel 5 reports.
Meanwhile, an 18-wheeler hit the BU Bridge while on Storrow Drive but managed to get off the road without causing major damage, according to our friends at Traffic on the 3s.
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Comments
Does anyone know what the
Does anyone know what the fine is for driving an over-height vehicle on Storrow Drive? I'd like to know so that the next time I'm stuck in traffic while they get someone's U-Haul out from under a bridge I can take some satisfaction in knowing that whoever caused the mess is out a few bucks.
Not just a fine for that
Sure, the state will fine you for taking a truck where trucks get stuck. I don't think it is more than $100 or so ...
HOWEVER, that fine won't likely add up to the cost of replacing the parts of the truck that got stuck. If it is your truck you stuck, the insurance company will likely stick you with a surcharge. If you rented it, HOO BOYYY will you pay the freight ... last time I rented a truck like that, it explicitly declared that the renter is FULLY responsible for all damages incurred from driving the truck where it ought not be driven.
Good Point.
Good point. I imagine things don't go too well at the U-Haul office when you bring back their truck with the roof missing.
Correct
I've had it explained several times, in rather emphatic language, that any damage from driving a rental truck somewhere with insufficient clearance is always, always 100% on the renter.
Still, extra fines would be a good thing.
it's been a while
since Adam used "things go boom" for a headline. I actually laugh when you do.
my husband called and said his commute was from hell this morning because of this and he works nowhere NEAR the accident (Boston Medical Center)... just because people can't head that direction.
and up here in the woods i drove past a dead baby coyote in the middle of my street on the way in for my commute. A bad morning for man and beast.
Packard's Corner crash
One initial report did say that the crash was caused by the SUV making an illegal u-turn, but all other (later) reports say that it was the box truck which hit the pickup and other vehicles at Babcock, continued up Comm. towards Packard's Corner at about 75mph, creamed the white car (parked) that ended up on the sidewalk in front of the UPS Store (?) and sent the SUV across the road into the front of the real estate office, before hitting the final car on Brighton, in front of the Super 88, and exploding.
boston.com...series_of_crash.html
I heard the first explosion as I was leaving my house to walk my dog, and it scared the heck out of me. Several blocks away you could smell the smoke and ozone. Amazingly, I caught a 66 bus at about 7:40 and got through to work with no delays, although I dare say if I'd been running about 10-15 minutes later I'd have been caught in the giant traffic snarl.
Did they write this story in
Did they write this story in Denver or something?
www.thebostonchannel.com/mostpopular/16197949/deta...
Odd detail
"Both crash scenes are within a few blocks of Boston University's Nickerson Field."
Both crash scenes are within a few blocks of an entrance to the Massachusetts Turnpike.
Both crash scenes are within a few blocks of the hometown of 1988 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis.
Both crash scenes are within a few blocks of the famous Wing-It take-out chicken-wings place.
Both crash scenes are within a few blocks of the former headquarters of the Massachusetts State Police.
Nickerson Field
Yes, I was extremely puzzled by that as well.
In one of the crashes, a
In one of the crashes, a pickup truck came to rest on the Green Line MBTA tracks, causing T officials to suspend Green Line service between Landford Street and Blandford's Corner.
Between where and where?!
Isn't that near Babock's Corner?
You know, right by Abcock Street?
From my cellphone
Yeah, I submitted this Ch. 5 link from my cellphone while stuck on the train at Babcock's Circle, right down the road from Sports Depot.
I was too lazy to login on my Blazer browser interface. Just be glad I was able to cut-n-paste the link. :)
You all picked up on the two things I was thinking at the time: 1) what the hell does this have to do with Nickerson Field? and 2) Lanford what? Who's corner?
Hehe, man, they really phoned that story in, didn't they? From Beijing?
I took a walk through
I took a walk through Kenmore Square a little over an hour ago, and I saw a Silver Line bus shuttling people. Will the B-Line now follow the fates of the A-Line and Arborway?
And at Somebody's Corner ...
I passed through Packard's Corner about 25 minutes ago, and the B train was back up and running through. No traffic was being permitted onto Brighton Ave. from Comm. Ave (westbound) and I could see at least one mangled car hooked onto a tow truck almost in front of the Super 88 market, about to be removed. Because of all the cruisers and emergency vehicles, I couldn't tell whether there were other damaged cars or hazardous materials lying around. Oh, and there was some temporary fencing on the T tracks near Babcock St. where the truck we all saw in the photos crashed through.
My co-worker just came back from Packard's Corner
She said that the police told her the truck driver who mowed through the area had actually had a seizure and lost control of the truck.
My assumption
For someone to have multiple accidents for two to three city blocks and run into some of those vehicles the way they were destroyed, the truck driver had to have something medically wrong or have fallen asleep at the wheel to have no control like that.
And you'd think
the first crash would wake a person up...
Maybe so
Of course that doesn't mean that his brain was able to talk to any of the parts of his body necessary to correct the situation.
Not always the way you like
My friend fell asleep behind the wheel once after working the graveyard shift for only the second time ever.
Waking up didn't really help. He woke up when his right tires left the road, but that just caused him to react excessively in panic to the opposite direction. He finished rolling over in a ditch on the left hand side of the road. They were able to cut him out of his seat belt and he only had minor cuts and bruises, but as Swirly said, your brain isn't really acting the way it should if you wake up in the middle of a accident already in progress.
One report I read said that he was doing 75 when he reached Packard's Corner, which means that after he hit the pickup (and another car?) around Babcock. Then he probably slammed the wrong pedal, whether waking up or seizing up, and that one white car wrapped around the pole in all the photos took the brunt of that energy leaving him to roll into a parked car on Brighton near Super 88 and then the truck lit on fire.
NECN says it was carrying xylene (a low flash-point solvent sometimes found in fuels), which accounts for some of the explosions (and subsequent hazmat response) after the engine was fully engulfed. It's not that bad of a chemical however, but you don't want to inhale or swallow tons of it of course.
EDIT: Just saw the parts of the stories saying the driver commented on "blacking out". If he doesn't have a medical condition, then we call that "falling asleep". Maybe I'm being overly cynical but if I fell asleep at the wheel, hit the gas instead of the brakes when I came to, and caused the kind of mayhem reserved for video games across 2 city blocks once it was all said and done, I'd go with "blacking out" too....ya know? It's also pretty clear he wasn't in the truck when the fire was really going strong, so I'm guessing he wasn't "blacked out" when it came to a stop and he got a safe distance away before heading to the hospital with minor injuries. I dunno, "blacking out" just doesn't sit well with me.
Driver in Allston crashes had lost license -- twice
Driver in Allston crashes had lost license -- twice
Explosion haiku
Realsupergirl composes one.