I'm quite used to hearing the sound of sirens from my office. We have a police department and fire department not too far from where I work. I guess that's a good thing, because most of the time they stop to sort out a traffic accident right outside my office. I'd say the intersection gets an accident about once a week (seriously). I work on the 5th floor, so that's usually about the only thing I can hear. Imagine my surprise when today I heard a screech and a slam. The whole office got up and immediately went to the window to determine how the accident happened, and whether or not everyone involved survived.
You'll be happy to hear that all 4 drivers in today's accident were protected enough to be able to get out and inspect their cars. But it was a lot harder than usual to figure out exactly how it happened. I'm still not sure how it happened. Maybe you can help. I've used my incredible artistic abilities to recreate the scene for your own benefit. To protect the identities of those involved (thereby avoiding much embarassment), I've drawn their vehicles in a generic color, so as to prevent them from being recognized.
The red arrows indicate which direction the car was facing at the end of the accident. It's a 4-way intersection, but should be treated as a 3-way intersection, as cars entering and exiting the west side are extremely rare. I don't believe I've seen an accident in that intersection involving a car from the west. To the east is a huge shopping area, and lots of traffic is generated there. There is a light almost immediately south of the intersection (as well as another large shopping area), causing southbound traffic to back up through this intersection quite often. The intersection directly north of this intersection runs through a cycle that takes about 2 minutes instead of 1 to run through. This tends to cause impatient drivers to put the pedal to the metal.
There was some question at first as to whether or not vehicle A was even involved in the accident. However, after the cops showed up, it became apparent that vehicle A ran into vehicle B. The glass on the road most likely came from the driver's side of vehicle D, unless driver D just had those windows rolled down. I didn't see any other broken glass on any of the vehicles. In fact, the only other damage visible from my office was on the front end of car D (hood was sticking up). I'll give you 4 possible scenarios, and you can let me know how you think it happened by voting in my poll:
Scenario A: Car C was making a left turn to head east as the light changed. Car D, heading north, sped through the intersection in hopes of catching the light. Realizing he would run into C, D slammed on the breaks, causing the skid marks. Since the light had turned green, A and B had started moving forward. C had been pushed over by D, and B ran into C, after which D wasn't able to stop soon enough.
Scenario B: It was car D that was making the left turn to head east. C came flying through the intersection northbound and when they hit each other, they spun into their final positions.
Scenario C: C was heading from the west side of the intersection to the east while B was pulling forward for a left turn. D didn't realize there was a stop light until too late. Came skidding in, hit the south side of C, which had tried moving out of the way, but instead ran head on into B.
Scenario D: D was suicidal, drunk, or just not paying attention and ran into a pole at the southeast corner of the intersection. C, watching the whole thing, slammed on his breaks and just happened to run into B. A went into a fit of rage and hit the gas pedal to blow off some steam, running into B.
Well, which is it?
