A tragic wrong-way crash at the entrance to Ocean Beach took 2 lives and injured 2 more early Sunday morning, April 19th.
It appears from news accounts that a VW sedan took a wrong-way turn down 8 West – going east- right – before 1 a.m. The VW – driven by a 22-year old – crashed head-on into a Honda Accord with 3 people in it.
The crash occurred just east of the traffic signal where 8 West ends.
The driver of the 2004 Honda – 37 – died at the scene. His two women passengers were taken to UC Medical Center in Hillcrest with minor injuries.
It took rescue crews spent a half hour in efforts to cut the driver of the 2009 VW from his car. He was also rushed UC-San Diego but succumbed to his injuries.
News sources:
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
My first comment is that this is a sad tragedy for the families who lost loved ones in this crash and I feel badly for them.
My second comment concerns the response. I drove by this accident at 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning as I went to pick up my dog at the Emergency Vet Clinic on Taylor Street. I can honestly say that I have never seen so many response vehicles for one accident in my entire life. They had the freeway closed so I just had to wonder why so many cop cars? Firefighters were there for obvious reasons, as were the ambulances. But, there must have been 30 vehicles with flashing lights on the roadway. I’d sure like to hear from someone why so many response vehicles had to show up at this accident. This heavy response to every single incident makes one wonder that maybe some reassessment of who needs to show up like this is in order. This was a very expensive response.
Are you really considering there being too many first responders, in your opinion, a problem? Sorry, but we drop millions of insanely bad things, helping someone is a place where no expense should be spared. I hope you never need help, maybe funding cutbacks will make the response time just a few minuets too long for you to survive. That’s fine, ‘ cus now the city can have more July 4th fireworks! :/
I was actually hoping for someone who knows about these things to respond and enlighten us as to why so many. According to the news report, one driver died at the scene so he, unfortunately did not need much help. One driver had to be cut out of his car so the firemen response was necessary. Two passengers had minor injuries. What I saw looked liked a major catastrophe. Thanks anyway for hte comments about my survival but that didn’t add to the conversation.
My hunch is that all those first responders are on duty anyway and would be at the station if not on the call. Yes, it may waste some gas and put wear and tear on the equipment, but they need to practice and drill. And if another call comes in they are ready to go and will just leave the scene if they are not needed. Like when a cop pulls someone over for speeding – if he gets another call for an armed robbery in his proximity, he will likely just take off leaving the speeder with no ticket. Plus, most of the responders don’t really know what will be required until they arrive.
Thanks, Dan. That is a reasonable explanation for the firefighters. What puzzled me more was the number of police cars. They would not normally be at a station I wouldn’t think, but would be out on patrol. I couldn’t tell what agency they were all from as I drove by, perhaps many of them were CHP but I’d still have the same question. Seems their time would be better spent patrolling the roadways.
I know why…it’s the same reason people rubberneck on the freeway when an accident happens. Curiosity. The officers are human after all and they are always allowed access so they get a front row seat to the tragedy. I used to work for an alarm company and one night I watched as a man broke into our yard and then a truck to steal some tools. I called the police and seven different units showed up and then I also watched as they stood in a circle and chatted with each other. They looked so happy just to be doing something. I would imagine it was the same with the officers the night of the accident. I think they were bored and wanted to see some action. Sad but true.