[UPDATED With Photos] Car Smashed Into Another on 101 Near the Sunset Exit in Arcata
An accident occurred where shoulder work is happening on Hwy 101 near the Samoa Blvd exit in the Arcata area about 2:07 p.m. One vehicle, possibly an older model black Mercedes, made a sudden lane change and struck a grey Nissan Altima causing major damage, according to the scanner and a witness.
An ambulance is responding to the area.
Please remember that information gathered from initial reports is subject to revision as more facts become available.
UPDATE 5:35 p.m.: A photography student, Nick Kemper, took the following photos of the minor injury accident.
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Worst driving in humboldt is in Arcata, avoid it if you can!
??You see I leave for a day and people beat me to the punch line. ??
The Mercedes made a completely unnecessary sudden lane change, that forced me partially into the median. I accelerated so he barely missed impact with me, but the Altima behind me wasn’t so lucky. There was shoulder work happening, and I’m hoping those workers, and everyone else, are safe.
You should have yielded immediately, right of way is determined by the cost of the cars involved, just ask any Mercedes owner (sarc)
I lived in northern San Diego County for three years, and worked out of El Cajon, in South County. My work truck was an old 1-ton dually flatbed, and daily I had to jockey for position with BMWs, Mercedes, and other spendy vehicles being driven by people who thought the value of their vehicle determined their position on the roadway. It was hell, trying to get across four lanes of seventy-mile-per-hour bumper-to-bumper traffic in time to make my exit.
So I got two bumper stickers. One said, “As a matter of, I do own the whole damn road.” The other said, “Don’t like my driving? Dial 1-800-EAT-SHIT.” One went on each side of the back of my flatbed, just about eye level to a person in a luxury sedan. I’d hit my blinker, let it blink twice, and make my move. There was always space made for me.
??I worked for Taylor Guitar in El Cajon.
I worked for San Diego Pipe and Supply, on Raleigh St., but lived in North County.
At least this isn’t the Land of BMW and Mercedes.
You are so right there are so many accidents by the sunset exits and by the sunnybrae exits people do not pay attention to the merging traffic and that one exit coming out of Arcata getting on 101 is a horrible one these blind on-ramps and off-ramps are terrible the one for 299 going north on 101 is totally blind you cannot see anything coming at you it needs to be changed
here is the deal merging traffic has bo right of way. they must yeild. trafficon the 101 has the right of way and is not required to yeild. is it poliet to yes but by no means should merging traffic assume that they will be let in. it is the mind set of most folks in arcata that they have a right to merge and that other drivers must make way for them. this is not the case and leads to many accidents.
You’re spot on AC. I don’t know why people (especially in the Arcata 101 corridor) have the merge, right of way thing completely backwards. I had someone flip me off because I maintained my speed and my right of way while he was entering the highway and could and should have slightly slowed and slid into the 10 plus car length gap right behind me.
At the Giuntoli lane on ramp I was merging and as you described. The result was I was slowing wanting to get behind the car in the travel lane and that car was slowing. I was prepared to come to a complete stop in the on ramp in order to avoid a wreck.
Please people, if you are in the travel lane maintain your speed.
This needs to be taught better to drivers. The DMV handbook only talks about who should yield the right of way. In other words, you don’t have the right of way until someone gives it to you.
Claudia, to be clear, no one was merging onto the freeway, though I do agree. We were all on the 101 well before the area where impact was made. I was in the process of passing the Mercedes driver, and the Altima had been behind me since the 299/101 northern interchange, in the #1 lane. We were coming up on right hand shoulder work, and as soon as he got close to the shoulder work, he had started to merge into me. I’m not sure if he just didn’t want to slow down for workers and didn’t look as he tried to change lanes, or what. I was able to avoid colliding with him, but that put the Altima at his mercy because instead of drifting back into his lane, he continued his attempt. I wonder if he was on his phone or distracted in some other way. Had it been a blind spot type issue, I would think that his first attempt at merging into me would have had him scared back into the #2 lane and to actually look before attempting again. I have been in contact with the Altima driver and given my info for her insurance and CHP.
Or maybe, just MAYBE, you should learn how to merge! I am so tired of getting stuck in traffic by dipshits like you that dont know how to merge! Match speed, people like you try to merge onto the freeway doing 40mph. Or are too incompetent to know how to cross 101 at indianola or bayside. Just get someone who can drive to drive for you and save all of us some of your bs on the road!
WTF? That wasn’t the situation at all.
If the intersection is blind, it isn’t safe to come barreling in at 65. Big rigs, which usually travel in the no. 2 lane, are unable to slow down. This is especially true when a blind intersection occurs on a hill.
This is not a position that I usually take but I believe that Arcata has a lot of stoned drivers especially young stoned drivers. I drive around in Arcata pretty often and see a good amount of what seems to be not just bad driving but what my friends and I used to call a stony maneuver (can be applied to more than just driving).
I think that’s it too. Just test it at a 4 way stop.
People who don’t allow others to merge onto the freeway are the problem. Seriously people in Arcata make zero effort and it’s dangerous. Arcata has the worst drivers in California.
It’s not always possible to let people merge, particularly when it comes to moving over to the passing lane to allow someone on to the highway. You’re correct that drivers should make an effort to let others merge but ultimately it is the merging driver’s responsibility to be safe and not force a situation.
(For Faro) Yes, because you, personally, are so damned important that everyone should totally disregard the rules of the road (and the law), just to make sure you can drift over unmolested to your God-given spot on the freeway.
I saw a woman like you one time, at the Tri-County Mall in Carlsbad, California. The road out of there is like Broadway, in Eureka: two lanes each direction, with a turn lane in the middle, and parking lots alongside emptying into it. It intersected another road identical to it, which had an offramp from, and an onramp to a freeway connecting at that point; then it crossed a bridge over said freeway, and had an identical arrangement on the other side. Busy road; five o’clock; lots of traffic.
I saw a woman in a Mercedes coming out of one of the parking lots. She (I shit you not) had her visor down and was applying makeup in it, while holding some food in the other hand and eating it. I was surprised she wasn’t reading a book, smoking a cigarette, and drinking at the same time. Steering with her knees, she drifted out into traffic with nary a glance left or right, made the appropriate lane changes, made it through the traffic lights, across the bridge, into the turn lane, through the second set of lights, onto the freeway onramp, and away she went – all without checking traffic one time. Her aura of cluelessness surrounded her, and glowed so brightly that everyone on that road saw her coming, and traffic parted for her like the Red Sea for Moses.
Don’t be that woman.
And please, no comments about how in my first comment I was acting like the lady in my second comment. Different deal, and you know it.
But a lot of those Arcata drivers are from other areas.
I nominate Ford F-250 drivers as the worst. Closest call I ever had around here was with one of those mofos making a left turn onto the #1 lane northbound on 101 south of Fortuna before it was limited access.
I was given a beautiful black Mercedes S55 AMG by my son-in-law when I was in a 4 car pileup last year and my Toyota Camry was totaled. I can assure all of you my driving habits have not changed. I have never had a speeding ticket or caused an accident. It is not the luxury cars, it is the people driving them. Believe me I see plenty of regular cars following too closely, speeding through the safety corridor and generally driving bad.
I think that’s the crux for most traffic problems: people follow too closely. Give the person in front of you space. If someone needs to fill that space it’s available. If you need to make an evasive maneuver you have more time to do it.
In the bigger picture if everyone gave space the “accordian” effect of traffic jams would be mitigated.
I see a lot of people in the fast lane that decide to use one of the exits to Arcata and don’t care if they cutoff the people in the slow lane or they try to squeeze between 2 other cars with no warning and then ride the bumper of the one in front of them. We joke about the “race” to Arcata, Humboldt State and McKinleyville.
Look ahead at traffic at exit & and entry ramps and try to anticipate. USE TURN SIGNALS. Go back and read the DMV driver handbook.
It isn’t hard to drive safely if you just pay attention to driving while you are actually doing it.
Listen to this: in Europe, the vehicles entering the roadway have the right of way. Maybe these people who drive like that here are….Bulgarian!
I agree with the statements re: merging traffic and the “presumed entitlement” of those merging onto the freeway. It is infuriating to be traveling in the slow lane of the highway at proper speed, when someone entering the highway bullies his/her way onto the highway from the merging lane, believing that the driver on the highway has the obligation to yield to the merging driver.
The the following statements come from the CA DMV driver’s manual:
“A 3-sided red YIELD sign indicates that you must slow down and be ready to stop, if necessary, to let any vehicle, bicyclist, or pedestrian pass before you proceed.
Right-of-Way RulesGeneral Information: Never assume other drivers will give you the right-of-way. Respecting the right-of-way of others is not limited to situations such as yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks, or watching carefully to ensure the right-of-way of bicyclists and motorcyclists. Yield your right-of-way when it helps to prevent collisions.
If possible and when safe, make room for vehicles entering freeways even though you have the right-of-way.”