I just saw the most terrible car accident in my life

[axelfox]

I'm heading north on the 605 freeway (Long Beach, CA), just past Katella. I look in the rear view and see all this dust flying up, and black car sliding and then hitting the center divider, flipping the car over.

I pull over to call 911 on my cell, but nobody was answering for like 5 minutes. I hang up, figuring someone had gotten a hold of 911 emergency. Then I see two CHP officers that responded to a previous accident farther north hop in their cars and dart for the next exit to (I'm assuming) get to the accident.

Man, it was a very bad thing to see.

I hope everyone was ok.

 

[Angrymarshmello]

Woah that sucks And what the hell is 911 not answering?

 

[SWirth86]

Wow, that sucks
How the hell can 911 not answer for 5 minutes?!?!?
Did the car hit anyone else?

 

[Mani]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
Woah that sucks And what the hell is 911 not answering?

Probably were getting flooded with calls - not that it's an excuse...

 

[bUnMaNGo]

doh... any idea on what caused it to lose control? Hope everything was okay.

 

[axelfox]

The only things I could speculate would be that the driver wasn't paying attention (it was a left curve in the fwy) and they over steered, or they got hit from behind.

Thats just speculation, I could be way off.

 

[d33pt]

i had to call 911 this weekend too (car smoldering in costco parking lot.. idiot left a cig butt on the seat) and i was on hold for 3 mins before they answered and then i was on hold again when they transfered me to the FD. geez, that was ridiculous.... someone could've been dying...

 

[Platypus]

Originally posted by: d33pt
i had to call 911 this weekend too (car smoldering in costco parking lot.. idiot left a cig butt on the seat) and i was on hold for 3 mins before they answered and then i was on hold again when they transfered me to the FD. geez, that was ridiculous.... someone could've been dying...

Same thing here, I was on hold for 3 minutes while this woman was bleeding from the head in an accident I witnessed. It's bullsh!t why do our taxes pay for this treatment?

 

[The Stigenator]

911 in LA county is a joke. The longest I have held on for an operator was 20 minutes.

They really need to expand the system in LA / Orange County. CHP does the 911 thing for cell phones but its too overloaded. The shortest was last year somewhere between King city and San Luis Obispo.. I called to report a "overturned car".. got it in 1 ring.

I have 911 go busy on me.. they really need to do something in LA county.

Edit:

Land line 911 is really fast (though LA City 911 vs Glendale 911 - the glendale 911 was faster - LA City took 3 rings).

 

[d33pt]

i am in san diego county when i made that call.. seems like they're just as bad as LA county

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: CorporateRecreation

Originally posted by: d33pt
i had to call 911 this weekend too (car smoldering in costco parking lot.. idiot left a cig butt on the seat) and i was on hold for 3 mins before they answered and then i was on hold again when they transfered me to the FD. geez, that was ridiculous.... someone could've been dying...

Same thing here, I was on hold for 3 minutes while this woman was bleeding from the head in an accident I witnessed. It's bullsh!t why do our taxes pay for this treatment?

Your taxes pay for the number to exist. If you wanna improve it's service vote a tax increase. You should also keep in mind that 911 gets a ton of prank calls which result in degraded service.

 

[MSantiago]

Originally posted by: rahvin

Your taxes pay for the number to exist. If you wanna improve it's service vote a tax increase. You should also keep in mind that 911 gets a ton of prank calls which result in degraded service.

You'd be surprised at the number of clueless people also call 911 to ask for directions and phone numbers.

People also use 911 to report things like cats stuck in trees and other non-emergencies.

 

[Cyberian]

Originally posted by: d33pt
i had to call 911 this weekend too (car smoldering in costco parking lot.. idiot left a cig butt on the seat) and i was on hold for 3 mins before they answered and then i was on hold again when they transfered me to the FD. geez, that was ridiculous.... someone could've been dying...

Was there actually someone in that car?
If not, then a smoldering car is not exactly a 911 call.

 

[sk560]

i know that some new voice+data (wireline or wireless) switches have special treatment for emergency call (like 911). they reserve bandthwidth and timeslot (i assumed) for these kind of calls... so the calls got highest priority and minimum delays.

but that's for routing the call.... answering the call is another story.

 

[MSantiago]

Originally posted by: Cyberian
Was there actually someone in that car?
If not, then a smoldering car is not exactly a 911 call.

Hmm... I'd say that a smoldering car would be a good time to call 911. People could get hurt if they got close or if it spread to other cars. It's the "my cat is stuck in a tree" calls that are really messing up the system. :|

 

[BigPotato]

wow that accident is right near my house!

i hope they are ok!

yah i've called 911 a few times for emergencies, and many times it's either busy or i'm on hold.

sucks!

 

[Jfur]

Originally posted by: The_good_guy
911 in LA county is a joke. The longest I have held on for an operator was 20 minutes.

They really need to expand the system in LA / Orange County. CHP does the 911 thing for cell phones but its too overloaded. The shortest was last year somewhere between King city and San Luis Obispo.. I called to report a "overturned car".. got it in 1 ring.

I have 911 go busy on me.. they really need to do something in LA county.

Edit:

Land line 911 is really fast (though LA City 911 vs Glendale 911 - the glendale 911 was faster - LA City took 3 rings).

Try calling 911 from South Pasadena or Highland Park. They won't even come!

 

[Pooteh]

wow. last year i also saw a car flip on the freeway. about 2 lanes away and a few cars ahead. it spun across and i barely dodged it. I think i was the last car to make it past the accident and when i called it took a while for them to answer. I believe 911 calls on cellphones don't go straight to the local call center, but instead go to the cellphone companies call center.. sometihing like that.. i forget

 

[HiTek21]

Wow, all of this going on and I didn't even know about it and I live like 10 minutes away from this accident LoL... I need to get out more

 

[Bluefront]

Jeez...That's the worst accident you've ever seen....a roll-over? I was looking for blood and guts and gore.

Worst one I ever saw close-up was when this black VW going north hit the front bumper of my yellow VW going south. Then the top of my head saw the windshield, followed by the front hood. Neat....no pics though.