February 2001

Those of you who are regular visitors to this site know that from time to time, I'll use
the "'Tard of the Month" section to show or talk about something that isn't meant
to be funny.  This is one of those months.  On Thursday, January 25th, I was on I-85
on my way downtown to drop my wife off at her work.  All of a sudden, traffic came to
a halt, which is unusual considering that it was only 6am.  Only a half mile ahead of us,
one of Atlanta's worst accidents in recent history had taken place.  A van had lost one
of its front wheels.  The driver of a Toyota (presumably in an adjacent lane), slammed
on his brakes to avoid hitting the wheel.  Behind the Toyota was a Jeep Cherokee, and
the driver of the Jeep swerved to avoid hitting the Toyota, and when he did this, a Ford
Thunderbird slammed into the rear of his vehicle.  The Jeep caught fire, as did the Ford
and the Toyota.  For whatever reason, the Jeep erupted into an inferno.  Being so close
to the scene, I had the opportunity (if you can call it that) to snap some photos (I wasn't
running my video camera that morning).  These are probably the earliest photos in
existence, as the news crews weren't there yet.

The glow of the fire can be seen in the distance.
(Notice that I'm in the HOV lane, and notice the number of occupants in the car ahead of me.)

That used to be a Jeep Cherokee, and there's an infant and mother trapped inside.

The silhouette of a firefighter as I drove by. 

Two people died in this crash.  A witness was able to pull the driver out of the vehicle,
but was unable to open the passenger door to get to the driver's wife and infant child.
The driver himself had burns to over 50% of his body.  My heart and prayers go out to
this man, whoever he is.  I can't even begin to imagine the pain and grief he must be
in.  It has been reported that he and his family were on their way to the airport to go on
a family visit.  There is debate as to who is at fault here.  Some people want to point
the finger at the van driver for having an improperly maintained vehicle.  Some people
want to blame the driver of the Jeep, saying that he must have been following too close
if he couldn't stop in time and had to swerve into an adjacent lane.  I'm not going to get
into that debate, it really doesn't interest me.  All I can think of is the fact that two
people, including a baby, burned to death in front of me.  Somehow, the blame game
just doesn't seem to matter.  That, and the sobering realization that that had I left my
house just a minute earlier that morning, that could have been me and my wife.

Update

Police have laid charges against the driver of the Thunderbird.  It now appears that
the driver of the Jeep did not swerve into the adjacent lane and into the path of the
Thunderbird after all, as earlier reports implied.  The Thunderbird was behind the Jeep
all along.  The Jeep was able to stop in time, and the Thunderbird plowed right into it.
Police have charged the driver of the Thunderbird with 2 counts of vehicular homicide
and one count of following too close.

Update 2/7/01

The driver of the jeep has also died.  He was unable to recover from his burns.