RICHARDH
Junior Nomad
Posts: 84
Registered: 11-15-2006
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A really, really incredible rear-end collision on Mex 5 north of San Felipe
Is there any conceivable way a rear-end collision could be an accident on Mex 5 in broad daylight with perfect weather and lighting conditions and no
other vehicles around?
On my return north from San Felipe just recently I saw a car pass going south slowly with a flopping flat tire. I wouldn't blame anyone for not
stopping to change a flat tire on that highway. Not only is it extremely narrow, but also it has severe drop-offs for it seems most of the length of
that highway. And stopping on the pavement to change a tire is just asking for a disaster.
I figured that that flat tire was probably a blow-out from the severe potholes on Mex 5. I too had a blow-out on my trailer just a few weeks earlier
soon after I reached San Felipe on Mex 5 from Mexicali. I figured that my blow-out was probably also a result of the severe potholes on Mex 5. I had
towed that trailer a great many miles without any problems with the tires that came with it when I bought that trailer.
So when I encountered the severe potholes when traveling north, I decided to slow down to around 40 or 45 mph so that I could avoid the potholes if at
all possible.
Soon after that I was apparently rammed from behind by another vehicle. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon, it was a clear day, the sun was
high in the sky off to the west. You couldn't ask for better lighting conditions for such driving. The weather was clear. Again, you couldn't ask
for better weather conditions for avoiding a collision with such driving. And there was no other vehicle involved. And the highway was perfectly
straight and level for miles around.
Moreover, the pavement is sufficiently narrow and the drop-offs at the sides that such driving by anyone there demands that the driver pay close
attention to the roadway ahead. So it seems inconceivable that someone could fail to notice a vehicle ahead in sufficient time to slow down to avoid
a rear-end collision.
At first I thought maybe I had another blowout, but I experienced none of the characteristic bumpiness after the jolt, and in my rear view mirror I
saw a vehicle drive off the roadway by turning perpendicular to the highway. It seemed the jolt was the result of a rear-end collision.
So the next thing that came to mind was that the collision could have been caused by a driver intent on highway robbery. I recalled recent postings
about 1) carrying a firearm in spite of Mexico's strict laws otherwise, and 2) someone who said that once he was on the toll road to Tijuana, he was
going to stop for no-one, apparently out of fear of highway robbery. I didn't think I was anything close to an ideal target for highway robbery, but
stranger things have happened.
It seemed inconceivable that the collision was an accident.
Later the only way I could imagine that the collision was an accident was that several unlikely things occurred simultaneously:
The driver could have been extremely inexperienced.
The driver could have had a heart attack and was driving under an impaired condition.
The driver's throttle may have been stuck _and_ the driver could not get his transmission into neutral _and_ the vehicle's brakes were so bad that
they could not stall or slow down his vehicle.
Even if it the collision were an accident, stopping seemed likely to cause a serious hazard and perhaps even a disaster.
So I just drove on and looked at the damage to my trailer's bumper when I stopped at the military checkpoint.
Does anyone have any ideas as to what was really going on there?
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Crusoe
Senior Nomad
Posts: 731
Registered: 10-14-2006
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Some drunk or deranged person initialy was starting a confrontation but failed to follow through. Count yourself lucky. I have heard of this before!!
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DirkEXC
Junior Nomad
Posts: 64
Registered: 12-14-2006
Location: Sherman Oaks, Ca.
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Thank God your trailer was not disabled and you were able to continue driving. Since this is a very popular road, can you give a discription of the
vehicle and driver.
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RockhouseTom
Junior Nomad
Posts: 73
Registered: 8-23-2006
Location: Atascadero, CA. / Bahia De Los Angeles
Member Is Offline
Mood: Really Ready to Go!
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Richardh,
My family experienced an attempted car jacking on the toll road out of TJ last summer. I was pulling a flat bed trailer loaded with off road toys
at 3 in the morning, a near fatal mistake. We have sense changed our driving habits to avoid driving at night between Ensenada and the boarder and
driving with friends when possible. What happened to you is probably as simple as a tired driver just nodding off .........or an attempt to take your
entire rig. I am grateful that you continued on and stopped at the checkpoint. You did the right thing.
A gang of thugs was arrested several months back and charged with multiple counts of hijacking vehicles and the shooting death of a man driving
between Ensenada and TJ. Their M.O. matched that of my incident and that of a number of others that happened around the same time.
So, can the worst happen when in Baja? The answer is yes, but that applies to the States as well. I believe we make our own luck. Be aware of your
surroundings and be prepared.
This is another reminder to all Nomads to travel with care.
\"FREEDOM\" William Wallace
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RICHARDH
Junior Nomad
Posts: 84
Registered: 11-15-2006
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by soulpatch
Could've been 'faced. |
soulpatch, could you explain what you mean by "'faced"? (Even without the initial apostrophe, "faced" can have a lot of different, nebulous
meanings.)
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RICHARDH
Junior Nomad
Posts: 84
Registered: 11-15-2006
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DirkEXC
Thank God your trailer was not disabled and you were able to continue driving. Since this is a very popular road, can you give a discription of the
vehicle and driver. |
I only got a brief glimpse in my rear view mirror of the vehicle behind me after about two to five minutes when the vehicle drove off perpendicular to
the roadway to the west, after it was probably evident that I had no immediate inclination to stop.
The vehicle seemed, surprisingly, to be a fairly nice- and moderate-looking mid-size (or slightly smaller) SUV (or perhaps a sedan?). The color
seemed to be either tan or "platinum". It was not a particularly old vehicle -- probably built within the last ten years. And it didn't seem
particularly new either. Nor did the vehicle have any visible attributes that suggested the driver was a vehicle aficionado of some sort either.
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RICHARDH
Junior Nomad
Posts: 84
Registered: 11-15-2006
Member Is Offline
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Here are a few extraneous facts.
Hopefully, readers will find this of interest and the extended "read" worthwhile.
Perhaps an hour or more before the collision, I was at the "Palapa Bar" at La Ventana del Mar, the community area for El Dorado Ranch real estate
development. I was using the Wi-Fi Internet access point there and tried to make telephone calls via the "Gizmo Project" VOIP software I had
installed on my laptop; I had tested the software there a few weeks earlier in order to be prepared to make a couple of important calls to the U.S. --
one to restart my Verizon Wireless cell phone service and another call to restore my U.S. auto insurance to its normal state; I also contemplated a
couple of personal calls as well. At this subsequent time, for some reason, the computer would not log onto the web connection to make the calls. I
remarked about the fact to a young lady nearby, and she indicated that she had a similar problem with her laptop in trying to use the Wi-Fi. I
speculated that perhaps someone had deliberately (or clumsily) modified the local network to block access to certain web sites -- as if allowing such
nearly free VOIP calls was somehow detrimental to someone's idea of business success. She speculated that deliberate modification (for blocking) was
the more likely alternative.
I then tried to use what was left of a 30-peso Ladatel card, but the "telephone-menu run-around-and-wait" ate up the card's remaining time before I
could reach a live person to get down to business. So I then tried to make the calls with a previously unused 50-peso Ladatel card. Again, the
"telephone-menu run-around-and-wait" ate up all of the card's time before I could reach a live person to get down to business. I remarked to the
young lady about these frustrating events. And she said, "Don't you just hate that?" I certainly agreed. We then discussed the general trend of the
"telephone-menu run-around-and-wait" problem with U.S. businesses. I remarked that I would most likely have to drive a short ways in the U.S. before
I could get to a telephone and reestablish my normal auto insurance coverage via toll-free calls. Conversation also got into the hazards of driving
on Baja paved highways, the narrow two-way roadways, the generally severe drop-offs at the sides, the fact that truck drivers often take three inches
out of opposing traffic's (e.g., my) lane (forcing oncoming traffic to the extreme edge of the roadway with no margin for error) and often seem to
take some rather awful chances in passing on (what seemed to me to be) blind curves and my response of slowing way down to allow such trucks (when
passing me) to return quickly to the right-hand lane. We also discussed the potholes on many of Baja's highways and specially the potholes on Mex 5
north of San Felipe. In the discussion I relayed the fact that I was trying to be extremely careful not to have an accident in Baja, and that I often
drove with flashers blinking as an added measure of safety.
The young lady seemed rather personable and introduced herself as if she expected to see me again. I introduced myself as well. The thought crossed
my mind to get better acquainted. But I was already planning to head promptly for the border. This was the Wednesday or Thursday before Good Friday
and I hand in mind that the reportedly imminent throngs of reveling crowds would be jamming everything in sight in Baja. But the clincher was the
fact that my starter battery was failing and I needed to get back to the U.S. and to a Kragens Auto Supply store to take advantage of the likely
warranty I had on the battery. Having to buy a battery of uncertain quality in Baja would likely have been much more costly in the long run.
Then, as I was leaving the complex of La Ventana del Mar, one of the Mexican men at the gate seemed to ask me for a Coca Cola. I was already fairly
exasperated, and this "request" (or whatever it was) seemed to be just another complication. I tried to think of all the possible things he might be
trying to say. I wanted to say, "Sorry, I don't have any Coca Cola and I'm not thirsty either." -- in case he was possibly asking me if I wanted a
Coca Cola. But all I could think of was "No tengo Coca Cola y no bebo" or something roughly approximating that. I probably also said something like
"No comprendo." or "Comprendo muy poco." I also wanted to convey that I wanted to say more but I simply did not know how to express it in Spanish.
So I simply said something in English like, "Sorry, I don't have any Coca Cola and I'm not thirsty either." I may have said something like "Hasta
luego." But my memory of all the details is unclear.
After leaving the gate I was glad to be finally on my way to the border. After getting stuck earlier in soft sand near La Curva del Diablo and having
to walk three hours in the desert and bivouac overnight and shiver in the cold and then walk another hour and a half to a fishermen's camp to ask for
help, which event I prepared for by writing down all the Spanish requests and statements I thought I might need to express and "cramming" as if for an
exam in Spanish, and then having a three-gallon water container stolen from my pickup in C. Constitucio'n that afternoon or evening (I forgot to lock
the door again after the stuck-in-sand ordeal), and also having my trailer broken into and pilfered at about the same time, I was quite ready to call
it quits in Baja this time around.
The reason I mention all of this is that 1) readers of this post might simply find it interesting, and 2) my conversations about trying to be very
careful to avoid any accidents in Baja seem _terribly_ coincidental to the accident, especially since I've driven a great many miles in the U.S.
without having any such really, really incredible accident or even any other accidents aside from very minor fender-benders, which occurred in very
tight spots and which I considered major lessons in driving care especially when backing up or trying to do a critical lane change in clogged,
horrendously dense traffic.
I suppose I should note that I also had my warning flashers blinking and that I had just recently thoroughly checked that the trailers taillights,
flashers, and directional lamps were operational.
Of course, I had many other, positive, interesting experiences in Baja as well. But a write-up of these will have to wait for another time.
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