Interstate-15 2004 Jul 21, Wed, 20:03:26 (aka 8:03pm for you civilians)
Not a normal view from inside the car. Most of the time, things are flying
by at 80 or more. I left work in Temecula about 6pm and made it home to Escondido
around midnight; normally a 30 minute commute. This one was a toxic chemical
spill: Chromium which was part of a mixture of corrosive acid that ate through
a tanker-truck container. There are still barrels, dumpsters and police
tape at the site of the spill today. I drive by it on my way to work.
It's not the first time this stretch of I-15 has been shut down for lengthy
periods due to emergencies.
In August 2003, a suicidal 31-year-old man stopped on the freeway just south
of Deer Springs Road around 4 p.m., prompting the CHP to close the freeway.
The man eventually shot and killed himself. Traffic was backed up for four
hours. It was hard not to think of ways that I could have solve the problem
much quicker. Funny how violent people can get on the road.
In February 2003, police officers hunting for a fugitive stopped a pair of
sport utility vehicles south of Deer Springs Road, backing up traffic for
five miles.
A similar tie-up occurred in the same area in August 2000, when Lucias Macias
of San Diego refused to emerge from her van and held police at bay for almost
two hours.
I was there for all but that last one. And every time, the police did a lousy job of letting anyone know what the problem was, how to get around it, and what the detour path was.
At this one they had a helecopter yelling at people not to drive on the sholder, then we we got up to an officer setting flares, he was yelling at people to turn on their lights and go ahead and use the sholder. The route they expected people to take was 9 or 10 miles out to the east, then the same distance back into Escondido, but no one was telling us that. I went out about 7 miles, said "this can't be right" and turned around looking for another route. After driving all the way back to the I-15, I pulled into a bar and ask directions. "nope, the only way is 9 miles out there and then turn left at Valley Center and drive 9 miles back in"
Ah well, time to go drive it again. If I die, I'm sure it
will be on that road. Freeways were invented by terrorists, did you know
that?
http://www.massmind.org/other/911
file: /Techref/member/JMN-EFP-786/MyLovelyCommute.htm, 9KB, , updated: 2005/1/3 18:17, local time: 2024/8/14 20:45,
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