[wolffie]

Don't relax until you're home in bed. Keep both hands on the wheel and all of your mind on the road. Your phone does not exist until you've pulled off. Imagine explaining to someone how your phone call was more important than their kid's life. Even in daylight on level freeway, perhaps the best attention won't be enough when the wrong-way drunk is coming at you at 100 mph on your right shoulder -- would you even recognize something so utterly unexpected? you see a vehicle ahead, you think it's parked or something. Like that study wherein a guy in a gorilla suit walks across the center of a basketball game, and spectators don't remember or even notice it. When it happens, it's going to happen JUSTLIKETHAT, and you'd better be ready. I know people who drive with one hand on the wheel, and they gesticulate and point out scenery. 28 y.o. woman dead, 56 y.o. drunk with 6 DUI conviction and oodles of other unforgivable offenses finally in prison (maybe... we'll see). We can do better than this. Why don't we? I was first on the scene. Why it wasn't me was a matter of chance. Gruesome, but mercifully quick. NOTEWORTHY: The unhurt innocent driver had perfectly protected her toddler in a rear-facing rear-seat car seat. Unhurt in a 150+ mph head-on collision. My memory of the ugly gawkers with their obscene cellphone cameras is soothed by my memory of the helpful passersby, including the guys who smashed and peeled away the driver's windowframe with their bare hands to free her before the first responders arrived, and the guy who crawled through the broken rear windshield to free the child. You want to be a safe hiker? If you have someone with an alcohol problem, help them get sober. It can be done. I've met many.

[Schenk]

[puzzlr]

I totally agree with the topic of this thread. Sleepiness is usually the biggest threat for me after a big day outdoors. Saw this Thursday 07/05 coming out the Middle Fork paved road. This is not a sharp curve. There were two dogs. Did a deer jump out? Did a dog distract the driver? There's no cell service here. Sometimes I just don't get it. But at the posted speed limit of 35 MPH I don't think this could happen.

A pickup sailed off the side of the Middle Fork road at MP 10.5. It was heading down valley and didn't make the turn just before River Bend. The driver was not critically injured and aid cars were en route.

[DigitalJanitor]

This is why when people get wound up about how I manage predator encounters in the woods, I wind up having to work pretty hard not to laugh and tell them they're insane. I'll gladly take my chances with a bear or a cat, you keep driving in the Puget Sound.

[grannyhiker]

That has always been my contention-by far-the most dangerous part of a hike is the drive home. You're tired, you're in a hurry to get home, you may even have imbibed a beer or two. Recipe for disaster! Plus you could easily involve innocent people in your disaster. At least once, I stopped at the nearest pullout and took a short nap, because I found I was nodding off while driving. Another time, I stopped for the night at the first motel I came to. Thanks, wollfie, for bringing this up, with your own graphic tale!

[moonspots]

[the Zachster]

In the blink of an eye... We can probably all recall many close calls. And hopefully do better as a result. I'm so sorry you were so close to this one, Wolffie. Must have been awful.

[Randito]

I drink only half my last cup of coffee on the way to the trailhead, leaving a cold half cup of black coffee waiting for me for the return drive. Enough to keep me from nodding on the way back, but so much too interfere with sleep (for this caffeine junky anyway) I can't wait for self-driving retrofit kits.

[Schroder]

I was first on the scene of an early evening collision on Hiway 9. A hiker in a small pickup crossed the center line and hit a dump truck head-on. 3 other cars piled up in the debris. The hiker's gear was spread all over the pavement and I concluded he was just coming down from long exhausting day in the hills. I stayed with him until the aid car arrived. I don't think he made it.

[Chief Joseph]

I get very annoyed at the hikers who frequent the Mountain loop highway, they are constantly speeding and tailgating me. The speed limit at my property in Verlot is 35 mph and very rarely does anyone drive the speed limit. With the explosion of hiking, it has become way worse. Slow your frickin' Subaru down!!!!!

[Slim]

Wolfie - I'm sorry you had to witness that. And totally agree that driving to/from the mountains can be the most hazardous part of the trip. I had a similar incident a few years back that ended without tragedy: https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7970959 These are not isolated incidents and people need to be vigilant. ~Slim

[coldrain108]

Driving home from PDX the same day as this fatal accident my wife and I drove past a white sheet covering the body of a motorcyclist, his bike was another 1/4 mile down the road and his boot was in the middle of I-5. We were driving home from my sister's memorial service. Seeing that really took my spirits to another level of low. Why is driving from point A to point B now a gladiator sport? Life is so short anyway, what is the freakin hurry?

[cambajamba]

In my experience it's ego, not being in a rush that leads people to drive super aggressively.

[SwitchbackFisher]

I always plan to take longer than a GPS will tell me the drive takes when going on a hike so I can slow down for winding mountain roads and better reaction time for animals

[payslee]

Thanks for bringing up this important topic for a thread. I have lots of scrambly friends down here in Portland, routes involving Munra point were especially popular before last fall's gorge fire put it off limits. One of their favored things to do was to park on the shoulder of Interstate 84 right at their target ridge. I could never convince them to start at an actual trailhead, which was 1 mile away, because that part of the route was "boring". In consequence, after their long day, to get home they would then have to pull into the left lane of a busy freeway in the dark in a spot with no onramp to get speed up, and where none of the drivers, all going about 80 mph, are expecting anyone to do that. The risks of skipping the 20 minute walk are exponentially worse than the sketchiest exposed moss belay on their scramble routes. Don't put yourself in a position where you have to rely on the attentiveness, night vision, and good reflexes of random strangers in order not to die or cause someone else's death. Save the adventure for the woods. /end rant. thanks, payslee