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No serious injuries in bridge crashes

By GAZETTE STAFF   Wednesday, August 27, 2008 - 3:35 p.m.
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JANESVILLE

No one was seriously injured in a pair of two-vehicle accidents shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday on Veterans Memorial Bridge in Janesville, police reported.

Police blocked eastbound traffic on Memorial Drive over the bridge to allow officers and firefighters time and space to investigate the accidents and clean the debris.

The first accident caused the second accident, but vehicles in the second accident did not hit vehicles from the first, police said.

In the first accident, the driver of a car speeding up the westbound ramp onto Memorial Drive swerved to avoid another vehicle. The car then jumped the median and sideswiped an eastbound vehicle, police said.

The driver of an eastbound sport-utility vehicle stopped suddenly to avoid the first crash, but a second SUV rear-ended the one that had stopped, police said.




reader COMMENTS
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(38)
deltafox5674
Aug 28, 2008 at 1 p.m.
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Maybe we could somehow build a tunnel for the merging traffic....

janesvillecomments
Aug 28, 2008 at 12:59 p.m.
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Emergency vehicles have those gadgets which send radio signals to trigger stop lights to change in their favor. The same gadget could be used to override the spike strips. I've never seen an ambulance or fire engine speeding when they didn't have their lights on, just squad cars. Wire them into police vehicles so that they won't keep the spikes down unless the lights and/or sirens are turned on and you have an instant training aid to remind officers not to speed without signalling.

truth1
Aug 28, 2008 at 12:07 p.m.
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Slowing down on the bridge will NOT "cause an accident"

ericbakkum
Aug 28, 2008 at 10:53 a.m.
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mymaro: he/she WAS the idiot coming up the ramp. Reread the article.

bennetonf1
Aug 28, 2008 at 10:31 a.m.
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Is it that difficult to merge?
All we have to do is cooperate with one another and pay attention.
Is that too much to expect?

grasshopper
Aug 28, 2008 at 8:26 a.m.
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I see a lot of people jumping to conclusions here. No one was drunk. I doubt even that anyone was on a cell phone. The car did not start out in the west bound lanes. She came up the ramp, tried to pass the traffic that "was yielding", went through the oncoming westbound traffic, jumped the median, and hit eastbound traffic. I am sure speed was a factor, not to mention that she was a youthful driver. Keep in mind the people she hit could have been someone close to you, and it is a miracle no one was injured.

onelife2live
Aug 28, 2008 at 4:45 a.m.
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I agree mymaro, to some yield means step on it and force your way in, especially at the five points.

onelife2live
Aug 28, 2008 at 3:52 a.m.
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And these are currently in place where?..What about emergency vehicles(police, fire, medical)?
For the amount of traffic that uses Memorial Bridge there are really few accidents. I've also noticed people driving slower with the higher gas prices....jmo It is a steep bridge and without pressing on the gas I coast down it at 35...of course I give it a little gas and usually do about 45mph. peace

janesvillecomments
Aug 27, 2008 at 11:07 p.m.
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You don't need radar to do speed enforcement at the bridge. Install a row of electric eyes and some spike strips. You go through too many beams in too short a time and the spikes pop up. A signal gets sent to dispatch a squad car to write a ticket and a city street department worker to replace the spikes.

onelife2live
Aug 27, 2008 at 9:18 p.m.
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It's kinda hard to do speed enforcemnt on a bridge, radar wise.

stap8598
Aug 27, 2008 at 8:58 p.m.
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I had an accident at the yield sign and I feel that there should be sometime of light because some one is gonna get seriously injured. I hope everyone was ok. The city needs to take care of this issue half of the time when someone wants to get on no one ever gets over so we the people at the yield sign do not have to come to a complete stop but no one has the respect to get over..

wavjmper
Aug 27, 2008 at 8:42 p.m.
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I live near washington school. People drive like idiots on that bridge. maybe agressive speed limit enforcement would help

SarahB
Aug 27, 2008 at 8:35 p.m.
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Pooroldman: Thanks for the laugh; I most definitely needed it.

truecitizen
Aug 27, 2008 at 8:27 p.m.
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Lots of you mentioning drinking and driving....maybe I'm reading a different article. If alcohol is involved then I'm P@$#!ed about it! We've had enough incidents with that.
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Maybe the driver wouldn't have had to swerve if he/she wasn't speeding. People need to slow the heck down. 5 mph over any speed limit is plenty, and below ticket range.
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I drove down that bridge just as they had cleared traffic (apparently), I didn't know why it was backed up.
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One of you metioned the electronic billboard. It had nothing to do with him speeding or swerving, but I often wonder if people merging from the on ramp, aren't looking for cars in that lane because they are watching the board.

gazettefan
Aug 27, 2008 at 8:10 p.m.
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He might have looking at that big giant TV with the pictures of the wanted criminals.

janesvillean
Aug 27, 2008 at 7:57 p.m.
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I think because it has ramps people treat this like a segment of the Interstate and assume that highway speed is OK. The ramps are designed for street traffic, though, and if somebody is zipping across and somebody else is treating the yield as "look but slow down only if you feel like it", there will be a risk of collision.
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My memory is the bridge's speed limit is 35 MPH. I wonder what the average speed is, though.

lakennedy
Aug 27, 2008 at 5:23 p.m.
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LOL!!! Gazettefan, you are on a roll today, buddy!
+

gazettefan
Aug 27, 2008 at 5:02 p.m.
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A recent study shows that talking on a cell phone while driving has the same effect on the driver as being drunk.

There is a study in progress to determine if talking on a cell phone AND being drunk while driving cancels each other out.

marymac4
Aug 27, 2008 at 5 p.m.
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BART SIMPSON is the perfect name for him Im gald noone was injured! hey bart say hello to homer

armyof3
Aug 27, 2008 at 4:58 p.m.
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I agree with red58... the article says nothing about drinking being a factor in this one.... 20:1, it was people on their cell phones at that time of day, speeding, and not paying attention to the road...

pooroldman
Aug 27, 2008 at 4:53 p.m.
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crazy drunk posters

red58
Aug 27, 2008 at 4:50 p.m.
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What am I missing here...where does it say anything about drinking? BartSimpson, were you there? Why do we always jump to conclusions on these comments. It's annoying.

pooroldman
Aug 27, 2008 at 4:43 p.m.
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drinking and driving is no good.

Teeber
Aug 27, 2008 at 4:28 p.m.
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Yep, Speed can kill! I totally agree!

janesvillemom
Aug 27, 2008 at 3:57 p.m.
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SLOW DOWN!

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