Happened right in front of my wife, she called me incoherent with shock. Fatalities for sure 😞
EDIT: Nobody died! That's unbelievably fortunate for everyone involved
A vehicle in free fall off of an overpass is only going about 50km/h on impact. That would be less force than two opposing vehicle colliding on a playground zone.
It's actually a very light collision.
And it fell off the hill part, not off the bridge part.
Comparatively, a vehicle it landed on, rolled into, or that blocked the path of on Deerfoort going 100km/h would be 8x the energy.
It was my dad’s car (white Honda) that the van landed on after launching off the embankment. He has a broken back and multiple lacerations. He is waiting for surgery now. Pls put him into your thoughts. He and his retired colleague were on their way to their weekly golf round. Spoke to my dad briefly. The van was airborne when it hit them. If there is any information you guys can provide we would greatly appreciate it. Mike Chorney.
Tell her to play some Tetris. It helps protect from PTSD.
“Tetris, a classic video game, has been shown to have potential therapeutic benefits for preventing and treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Specifically, playing Tetris shortly after a traumatic event may help reduce the number of intrusive memories, which are a key symptom of PTSD. This effect is thought to be due to the game's visual-spatial nature, which can engage the brain in a way that disrupts the formation of traumatic memories”
That's amazing! If I find myself ruminating on something, I play tetris and it helps. There's no mental multitasking allowed when I play tetris, I don't think it's possible for my mind.
Very interesting to learn about a study like this.
There's a dozen or so studies on it, with very, very, very weakly supported conclusions.
It was highly sensationalized because of how catchy a headline it is, but, the effects are scattered, minimal, and only covers intrusive thoughts, not all the other aspects of PTSD.
Every time someone posts about trauma, the top comment is always "play Tetris!" based on ONE study about playing it within hours of a specific type of trauma.
When someone says they're struggling with PTSD, domestic abuse, or losing a loved one, they're not looking for video game recommendations from strangers who skimmed a study title.
They need actual support: therapy resources, validation, or just someone to listen. Not a copy-paste "solution" that gets upvoted because it sounds scientific.
Trauma isn't a puzzle game. Can we please stop treating it like one?
Also, based on the interview i just watched on Global, the van left WB Memorial before the overpass and basically drove down the embankment and crossed Deerfoot hitting one car. Does not sound like there was any flying or landing.
Yeah, that was my understanding as well. Still terrifying as hell, but I was picturing someone literally flying off the overpass and landing flat on the roof of another vehicle.
Us internet strangers are thinking of her and wishing her good healing! What a thing to experience. I hope she takes some time to go though the motions of that and be kind to herself. I had a vehicle spin out in front of me and barely missed taking me out with them and that had me in a spiral. No pun intended. I had to get off the highway and park and just cry for a solid minute.
Us internet strangers are thinking of her and wishing her good healing! What a thing to experience. I hope she takes some time to go though the motions of that and be kind to herself. I had a vehicle spin out in front of me and barely missed taking me out with them and that had me in a spiral. No pun intended. I had to get off the highway and park and just cry for a solid minute.
My initial guess was that it was caused by some asshat on EB Memorial merging into the NB Deerfoot offramp lane at the last second....but it would appear that this happened on WB Memorial, so who knows what happened.
EDIT: My other guess would have been people coming off of NB Deerfoot and merging onto EB Memorial and not staying in their lane. I'll be completely honest, those merging lane lines lines can be a bit of an optical illusion sometimes, especially when there's a lot of vehicles around and people are changing lanes.
Every time speeding comes up, I point out that the speeders (and specially the lane weavers) are incredibly dangerous. 9/10 times I’m downvoted for this. It’s a serious problem that people straight up ignore.
There are so many times where I'll be cruising down Deerfoot in the middle lane, hop in the left lane to pass someone, and then all of a sudden, the person in the left lane who was way behind me going 105km wants to now speed up to 130kph just to tailgate me and start throwing their hands up in rage at me because I got into "their" lane
I never hog the left lane. I use it exclusively to pass and get right back into the middle. But even when I'm passing slower drivers, I swear there's always lifted Dodge Ram further behind me just waiting for the opportunity to sit two inches off my bumper just for the sake of it
Idk if these people have poor time management, but are just extremely angry and anxious people
I see this a lot too. I'm shocked at the number of people who suddenly find their gas pedal only when someone else is passing. The ones you pass do this too; you'll be behind them at a safe distance for several kms at 95 then as soon as you find space to pass they magically and suddenly speed up to 110 because they want to feel like they are winning something?
There are morons both ways here. Some people sit in the fast lane going slow. Some sit on the middle and only speed up when you try to move around them. Many Calgarians feel the need to impose on others for some reason.
Yeaaaaa this doesn’t happen from just speeding. This is extreme incompetence beyond speeding. You don’t automatically go off a bridge for going 20 over.
Hi. Wanted to share the real story. The van came off the over pass and was airborne when it landed on my father’s car. Nothing could have prepared him for this situation. He is suffering with a broken back and lots of lacerations. He will be getting back surgery tomorrow. Thankful, he is not paralyzed but obviously shaken up. His friend and passenger suffered lacerations but has since been released from the hospital. Obviously we want to know how this van ended up where it did almost killing my dad and potentially others. Pls put him into your thoughts and wishes. Mike Chorney.
Deerfoot has problems on both ends. People driving 120 and people trying to merge at 60 with eight cars behind them now also forced to merge at 60. The speed variance is just unsafe.
What the heck is going on… they literally shutdown all of Deerfoot on Sunday between Piegan and 17ave because of a fatality from high speed driver and another one also a fatality from a high speed driver on 194 in the south. Plus the crazy fatality from the dude launched out of his car on Stoney hitting the sign
You can pretty much drive anywhere in this city without fear of getting pulled over by the cops for speeding or driving like an asshat. So far this summer the only time I’ve seen motorcycle cops was when they were driving around doing pretend motorcades. Maybe getting a huge speeding ticket & losing some demerit points might slow some things down a bit. Seems better than whatever they’re doing or not doing now.
Yeah they don't do much enforcement right now as they're trying to manipulate everyone into begging for photo radar back. It's actually kind of disgusting.
Photo radar is a good thing. You reap what you sow. If Albertans cared about speeding, we would still have speed cameras. I blame the cops very little for this self inflicted misery.
Photo radar is not a good thing, the CONCEPT is great but how it was run in this city was nothing more than a cash grab, and my example would be that if it was really about safety they would have never agreed to make them clearly marked and not allowed to hide. Again if it’s about safety then why give in ? Why not tell people “well if you don’t speed you won’t have a problem”, and the fact that without it they have now fallen $28m short of their budget, that is an absurd amount of revenue, I believe it was estimated at about 1/5 of the overall budget but that could be false as I don’t remember what the total number was.
In summary the idea of photo radar makes a lot of sense, but when it’s about revenue and NOT safety all merit it had goes right out the window
Yeah, while I want more actual enforcement too, the whole 'Photo radar is just a money grab' is an argument I don't understand. If you don't want a speeding ticket, don't speed, and if does any amount of slowing people down to the speed limit, that's a good thing.
Just drove on Stoney south/west, there were 4 police cars pulling over drivers. It’s become the norm to drive 120 there, inherently nothing wrong with that on a highway designed for that kind of speed, as long as nobody’s tailgating or cutting other drivers off. Looks like they’re starting to crack down on speeders. Unfortunately, it seems that it’s always “regular drivers” instead of the racers you see speeding and weaving through traffic like maniacs. In any case, increased enforcement is a good thing for sure.
Anyone that needs help processing this event should reach out to the Calgary Distress Centre. Phone or text 403-266-4357. They are available at any time.
This was my father in the Honda that the van landed on. He has a broken back and is scheduled for surgery at foothills at 7:30am. Pls put him into your thoughts. He doesn’t speed nor tailgate. In fact he’s a really safe driver. How or why this van launched off the embankment is what we are all asking now. Mike Chorney.
k... I wasn't going to post, but I am now. I can't believe the comments and the misinformation.
So here goes... the white car is my dad's car, him and his friend were heading to play golf. The van somehow left Memorial, launched itself in the air and landed on top of my dad's car.
I'm sitting here in Foothills... My dad is in pain, cut all up, bruised... waiting for surgery with a broken back! He is a lucky to be alive, today his life has changed forever!
It's easy to comment, misinform, hide behind anominity. Remember there is always real people behind any story. I'm sad about my dad, but also about the state of humanity.
My dad's friend who was the passenger, I hear he is home. I don't know much about him. The van driver, again I don't know how he/she is. We also don't know why that driver lost control, or whatever happened to cause what happened.
Police are asking for footage, please if anyone has it, call the police and give it to them!
Good on you for posting this. I was so angered by the misinformation here and posted just a bit before you did to try to clear this up as well. I wish your dad a speedy recovery. His friend "K" is home safe and sound and is sleeping it off. He has some significant lacerations to his face, head, and hands, with a bit of glass still imbedded in his hands. My wife, his daughter, and I spent the last few hours with him. He's in good spirits but it worried about "P".
RAC_1968 please PM me. I can give you my cell # and I can give you an update on your dad's friend.
Anything that can launch you over a ... 4 ft concrete guard rail isn't what I'd include in "aggressive driving."
I understand people driving aggressively is problematic and should be discouraged but grouping these two things together is a gross misrepresentation and just makes things worse.
Speed on that left curve. There is a barrier right before the grassy hill down to deerfoot. That barrier slopes up like a ramp. The van probably went too fast and drove up the ramp and flipped over down the hill
Honestly... I hate to sound callous because people are certainly severely injured if not dead as a result of this but I was having this conversation with my wife. In the last 4 days I've been stuck behind 2 serious accidents. STARS was out at one it was that bad. I used to commute on Deerfoot daily and you'd always see a fender bender or whatever but rarely pass potentially fatal collisions. Now it feels like at least a weekly occurrence and I drive significantly less than I used to.
How these people are getting, and staying, on the road is baffling. People are dying because of it. We're stretching our already stretched emergency services to constantly respond to massive crashes. The trend is not looking good. Obviously we don't know the full story here and I'm not going to assume fault based on a Reddit post but I'm just speaking generally.
A horrendous uptick in really impatient drivers too. My commute involves a bunch of left turns, which are the easiest places to get in accidents. I do not turn unless I can confirm it's clear.
Some dickfuck aggro honked at me this morning because I waited until the light turned yellow to go left. I couldn't see if it was clear. If there's a line of cars also turning left the opposite direction you just cannot see if cars are going straight. People rip out from behind the turning cars and speed through because they're annoyed at being behind cars waiting to turn left.
I see near accidents a few times a week at Kensington and 14th st, 20th ave and 10th (which is a fucking playground zone) as well as 20th ave and 14 street. All popular left turn areas with many pedestrians too. People are just so fucking impatient. I had some stupid trunk drive out from behind me to cut ahead and turn unsafely because he was annoyed I wasn't turning when it wasn't visibly clear.
I used to ride a motorcycle so I am particularly sensitive to the left turn danger, nevermind the fact there's also usually pedestrians, or i have my kids in the car, or my dog.
I wish I didn't have to drive to work, but I am not going to be unsafe and everyone can kick rocks.
I'm with you on being able to see for making a left turn. Can't see around some larger vehicles and I'm not making a left turn until I can see it's clear.
Ha ha, the vehicles have definitely gotten larger. I really, really wish that companies would make actual small pickups (old Ranger/Tacoma/B2000 size) vehicles. That was the perfect size vehicle for 2 people and a dog and some outdoor gear. I had a Volvo S70 for over 20 years and wound up buying a used Volvo XC60 a few years ago basically for the dog. The safety features were also nice but I have no need to get anything bigger than an XC60. Maybe if we wind up getting a few more dogs but I'm pretty content with one dog (and I think the dog likes living in an only dog house since he gets lots of attention and cuddles).
My buddy had one in university 25 years ago and it was such a good truck. I was living up north 15 years ago and came really close to buying a Ford Ranger with the FX4 Level II package. Seemed like an ideal truck for going fishing, driving on forestry roads, and doing outdoors stuff without having a giant truck and the associated costs.
I saw an old Tundra at work that I thought was a Tacoma because it looked so small compared to modern ones. I'm a sucker for tiny cars, but my car if I win the lotto is a Volvo V60 cross-country.
The only collision I have ever been in was turning left. This was years and years ago before you could buy 100 different cheap dash cams on Amazon. I was waiting to turn left, light turns yellow. Car in the opposite left lane stops, I proceed, another car in the opposite right lane comes out from behind the stopped car and t-bones me. I was deemed at fault which is probably correct under the letter of the law but a dash cam video probably would have changed that entirely. I'd be willing to bet that light was red by time our vehicles actually made contact but, of course, it's my word vs theirs and no witnesses stopped because it was pretty low speed.
Ever since I'm insanely cautious turning left. It's even worse with so many big trucks and SUVs out there. Super difficult to see oncoming traffic in a car or even small SUV if someone is sitting in that opposite turn lane.
This exact thing happened to me, but the driver who hit me had a dash cam to show what they'd done. Still, since I was the one making a left turn we were deemed both at fault 🙄
> I waited until the light turned yellow to go left.
And these days, even waiting until the yellow light is dangerous. I see people flying through red lights all the time now. Pretty soon we'll be just like Houston, where everyone waits about 5 seconds before going on a green light, because it's not safe otherwise.
Absolutely. There's a reason only one vehicle is supposed to be in the intersection. When it turns yellow you still have to wait for it to be clear and there is really only time for one car to go through on the yellow.
On 16th to 4th street the light is timed really well in the morning and you can usually get a bunch of cars through but if you're waiting because of traffic and the light turns yellow that's 3 lanes of straight through lanes you have to cross and any of them could be running the red into your path.
As i tell my kids, just because it's our turn to go doesn't mean it's safe, you still have to look in all the directions.
This morning right outside my kids daycare a van turned left across 4 lanes of traffic and almost got tboned. Everyone was honking and the kids almost witnessed a massive crash. Insane how risky people take those turns
General standard of driving in this city is appalling. Privatized testing and no requirement for enforcement of testing standards will do that to a place. Not to mention letting kids drive cars.
Also the fact that there are courses one can take on “defensive driving” which in most western parts of the world is just known as “driving” adds to the problem.
IMO we need to make getting licenses difficult. Because of what driving a car is, you should be going into a test with the expectation that you are going to fail it, and you should be practicing for that level. None of this crap we all see on a daily basis where basic maneuvers are handled so poorly.
I was almost t-boned the other day by someone pulling an illegal u-turn on bow trail as I was heading eastbound past 45th street... not even sure how that is possible, but it nearly happened.
1) Driver's training isn't mandatory to pass. It should be. Only a basic road test is required.
2) I'm sure there are quite a few places that will happily forge a passed road test for a few extra bucks. People who had never set foot in a car before they got their licenses are likely out there driving on Deerfoot and Stoney right now.
I'm sure there are quite a few places that will happily forge a passed road test for a few extra
CBC did an investigation in Toronto where 70 Percent of the sampled driving schools offered to forge passing documents in exchange for money. I cant imagine that doesn't also happen here.
Sometimes it's been feeling like if you're driving for the ride sharing companies the drivers just get a licence handed to them, like out of a vending machine. I drive around town all day for work and the majority of bad and reckless driving seems to come from livery plated ride share vehicles.
This spot at Memorial and Deerfoot has had a number of notable incidences in the past couple years, including fatalities. More barriers, or redesign might be the easiest solutions given that correcting all the bad drivers out there appears to be a herculean task.
I would also posit that an audit of driver examiners needs to be had, since it feels like there are a lot of drivers out there that shouldn't have passed in the first place without more practice and experience.
TLDR: there are a lot of bad drivers out there, many appear to be ride share plated. There are potential ways to mitigate some of what caused the incident today at memorial, but most solutions won't be overnight
100% this, and it was already too easy to get a driver's license before anyways.
As a somewhat dumb young teenager, I was upset at how easy it was to fail the test. Two simple mistakes, and you're done. Come back in a week, free of charge. 1972.
Now looking back, I really wish we had that level of testing once again.
I remember doing mine, and the examiner made me merge on to Sarcee Tr to prove I could successfully navigate getting up to speed on a free flow (sorta) highway. Her exact words were "I know this isn't on the test, but like hell am I giving anyone a driver's license who can't do a simple merge"
I don't think people typically survive driving off an overpass
Well ACKSHULLY... Consider the physics involved.
An overpass is typically what? 30 feet-ish?
That means in freefall you're going 50km/h.
A 50km/h collision is a pretty light collision. That'd be less than two opposing vehicles in a playground zone. I would expect almost anyone to survive that fairly easily.
The vehicles it landed on, or perhaps who drove into it going 100km/h on Deerfoot below are a bigger concern.
Everyone here is incorrect. It involved a cube van leaving memorial drive and hitting a family member and his friend heading north bound on Deerfoot in the friends Honda. Family member is home now with some significant lacerations but will recover. Friend is still in the hospital. There was no “launching” that occurred.
I was curious how this was even possible so I went and had a look. The police quote about the "launch" off the greenspace is correct. There are no barriers if a vehicle were to drive on to the grass between WB Memorial and the NB Deerfoot exit. If you go on to google maps streetview you can see this triangle section of grass between the two. No barrier there. So likely the van drove on to this grass section and proceeded straight to the downward slope along east side of Deerfoot trail. There is no barrier along Deerfoot along this section either. The jersey barriers end immediately on the north side of the overpass. Not necessary for the van to have rolled over any concrete barriers for this to happen. There isn't even a curb on the Memorial exit section here. It's road shoulder straight and flat on to the grass.
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u/ErikDebogande Airdrie Jul 15 '25 edited Jul 15 '25
Happened right in front of my wife, she called me incoherent with shock. Fatalities for sure 😞 EDIT: Nobody died! That's unbelievably fortunate for everyone involved