Man, everybody try and slow down a little bit out there

[Trauma-san]

Two lessons from this: Don't drive like an idiot on the highway, it'll eventually catch up to you, and 2. if your car breaks down, do NOT sit in a parked car on the side of a highway or interstate, get out of the car and climb up the side of the embankment... sitting in a parked car takes away your mobility.... this all happened in Charlotte yesterday. 


Driver in I-77 crash
had prior trouble

He's charged with DWI in fatal crash

Albert Lamont Pharr was driving fast, up to 90 mph, as authorities say he wove in and out of Interstate 77 traffic Wednesday evening with his 1-year-old child in tow.

Then, with a tractor-trailer in his way, the 26-year-old darted into an emergency lane to make a hasty pass. But he didn't look far enough ahead: A Jeep Cherokee was parked there, engine off and driver still inside.

The fiery wreck near Tyvola Road tied up traffic for hours Wednesday but caused permanent damage to two families.

The driver of the Cherokee is dead, and Pharr faces a slew of charges that includes driving while impaired. Pharr lay in a Chapel Hill burn center Thursday in fair condition.

Pharr has been accused before of high-speed, reckless and drunken driving.

On March 17, 2002, Pharr sped away from a DWI checkpoint near Remount Road, driving 65 mph in a 35 mph zone, according to a court affidavit.

He turned into a residential neighborhood, slammed on the brakes, then started to run. He threw down a bag of cocaine, the affidavit said, and kept going.

When the trooper caught up to him, the affidavit said, Pharr's breath smelled of alcohol. He slurred his words and stood unsteadily.

But the DWI charge was voluntarily dismissed in exchange for a guilty plea on a charge of felony possession of cocaine, according to court records. Pharr was sentenced to eight to 10 months, court records show.

Then this week, the N.C. Highway Patrol said he was driving drunk again, this time with his child. Witnesses had spotted Pharr's 1995 Ford Thunderbird weaving through northbound lanes on Interstate 77 Wednesday as far back as the S.C. line, Trooper Brandon Roberts said.

Just north of Tyvola Road, around 6:30 p.m., a tractor-trailer lumbered ahead of him. So Pharr zoomed into the emergency lane.

The tractor-trailer was sideswiped, a bit of paint rubbed off. The Thunderbird then slammed into the parked Cherokee, rupturing a gas tank and causing both vehicles to go up in flames.

The driver sitting in the Cherokee was pronounced dead at the scene. That person's name hadn't been released Thursday, Roberts said, because authorities were trying to confirm the person's identity against dental records.

At the scene, Pharr's breath smelled of alcohol, Roberts said. In addition to the DWI charge, he has been charged with careless and reckless driving, improper use of a lane, improper passing, not decreasing speed to avoid hitting another vehicle and having no insurance.

The district attorney will review the case, Roberts said, and could press other charges.

Pharr remained hospitalized Thursday night at the N.C. Jaycee Burn Center in Chapel Hill.

Though his 1-year-old child was taken to Carolinas Medical Center, Roberts said, the baby barely had a scratch. It had been strapped securely into a child safety seat.

[King Tech Quadafi]

Man thats fucked up, but how can u blame the dude in the cherokee rest in peace. Homeboy prob had car troubles sittin in his ride waiting for one of his boys or the tow truck to show up. How is he supposed to assume some drunk faggot is gonna come rumblin down.

[Trauma-san]

Man thats fucked up, but how can u blame the dude in the cherokee rest in peace. Homeboy prob had car troubles sittin in his ride waiting for one of his boys or the tow truck to show up. How is he supposed to assume some drunk faggot is gonna come rumblin down.

I'm not blaming him, I'm just saying this happens all the time.

Your reaction actually gets to the heart of the problem on the highways most of the time.  You're very quick to jump all over the drunk faggot that hit the car, and it's true the drunk faggot deserves death over this shit.

However, you have to assume that there's drunk faggots everywhere out there.  If you're going to take care of yourself you need to worry less about them not doing what they're obviously going to do whether laws or the people like it or not, and you need to worry more about how you can be defensive and stay the fuck out of the idiots way.

So you can say "Oh, I'll sit here in my car and as long as everybody drives the way they're supposed to, I'll be alright", or you can say "These people are fucking crazy I'm getting out of the car and hiding in the woods until the cops show up".

[Javier]

That's is basically how I drive, I pretend everybody is stupid around me and have no respect for the law. 

[King Tech Quadafi]

Man thats fucked up, but how can u blame the dude in the cherokee rest in peace. Homeboy prob had car troubles sittin in his ride waiting for one of his boys or the tow truck to show up. How is he supposed to assume some drunk faggot is gonna come rumblin down.

I'm not blaming him, I'm just saying this happens all the time.

Your reaction actually gets to the heart of the problem on the highways most of the time.  You're very quick to jump all over the drunk faggot that hit the car, and it's true the drunk faggot deserves death over this shit.

However, you have to assume that there's drunk faggots everywhere out there.  If you're going to take care of yourself you need to worry less about them not doing what they're obviously going to do whether laws or the people like it or not, and you need to worry more about how you can be defensive and stay the fuck out of the idiots way.

So you can say "Oh, I'll sit here in my car and as long as everybody drives the way they're supposed to, I'll be alright", or you can say "These people are fucking crazy I'm getting out of the car and hiding in the woods until the cops show up".

I dont understand how one could live their life effectively if they assumed people around them were destined to fuck up. Homeboy in the cherokee had no reason to believe some idiot is gonna barrel into him and i dont think he souldve had that assumption

[Trauma-san]

It's called Defensive Driving.  He had every right to believe that someone would hit him parked on the side of the highway, there is absolutely NO WAY I would have been in that car.  If this news story was about me, it would have included quotes of me telling the reporter how fucked up it was to see my car explode into a fireball from my vantage point sitting safely 150 feet up the side of the embankment. 

[Don Seer]

word..

i've broken down on a country road with no hard-shoulder and that shits scary.. i got out..

[Don Rizzle]

when i broke down on the m4 motorway i pulled into the hard shoulder and called the aa, they advised me to stay in my car while i was waiting

[J Bananas]

man in the bay area people drive like fuckin animals without turn signals and shit at high speeds so theres always some accident happening. Driving has almost become a sport for me since it requires the perfect muscle/mental combination. Europe has to be even crazier tho with the higher speed limits.

[Trauma-san]

when i broke down on the m4 motorway i pulled into the hard shoulder and called the aa, they advised me to stay in my car while i was waiting

I can't really comment on that because I'm not sure what the driving conditions are over there or where you were or anything, so maybe that's alright in that situation.  In most any area of the U.S., though, if I broke down, I would get out of the car a.s.a.p.

[Sikotic™]

Your reaction whn your car breaks down depends on the situation and what kind of car you're driving. Getting out of the car can be just as dangerous.

But about that news story, what kind of fucking idiot drives down the emergency lane just to get past a truck. Drunk or not he's a stupid son of a bitch. Man, people like that make me fuckin sick. I hope he loses custody of his kid for putting him/her in danger.

[7even]

It only takes one lunatic to kill you. Never forget that, whereever you go. 

[Don Seer]

^ yeah thats true...

we call em "sunday drivers" over here a lot... as the roads are filled with coffin dodgers (old people) who drive once a week


generally over here the hard shoulder would be safe.. i only got out as i was on a country road with no hard shoulder and was close to a corner..

how can you say all of europe is crazier..you guys are so quick to bash the whole of europe.. europe is FORTY FIVE countries. with nearly as many languages to boot... think about it for a second.. the ends of the spectrum are as far apart in wealth, culture, road quality etc as America and Iraq.. multiply those differences up across 45 and you realise how tarnishing "europe" as being all the same is extremely fucking ignorant.

i'd imagine rural US vs city wide US driving conditions vary a great deal... cities here can be hectic.. and yes america does sound nuts.. i've heard italy is totally insane too..

some countries have very well laid down and funded motorways.. particualarly france (which can be toll based) and germany where the autobahns have no limit at all.

[Trauma-san]

I hope  you weren't talking to me, I don't pretend to know what the roads are like in Europe.  I imagine they're very different depending on where you are. 

What I can talk about is this stretch of I-77 that the accident happened on.  I drive on it every day.  If I broke down on that road, I would get out of my car and as far away from the car as I could.  Like I said, a woman was hit parked in her car about a year ago on the same stretch of road, about a mile from where this happened. 

[Don Seer]

i wasnt.. i was replying to the person that actually mentioned europe dude



as for speed limits.. i dunno.. i wont lie.. i have a fast car and i break the limits all the time.. but never when conditions are bad, or when its busy and not when i'm tired etc.. you _do_ need your wits about you at over 80.. (the limit here is 70 btw).. in town of course i keep it slow.. theres not much choice.. its often bumper to bumper..