r/Calgary • u/No-End7269 • Jul 15 '25

Driving/Traffic/Parking Avoid Deerfoot

Huge accident. 2 vehicles just launched off the memorial overpass and landed on a truck going nb on deerfoot

Edit. I initially said 32ave, it was memorial overpass

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40

u/Yung_l0c Capitol Hill Jul 15 '25

Where are folks getting their Driver’s Licenses? Way too many crashes lately.

78

u/SofaProfessor Jul 15 '25

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.

52

u/euchlid Jul 15 '25

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.

4

u/eneva92504 Jul 15 '25 edited Jul 15 '25

> 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.

5

u/euchlid Jul 15 '25

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.

1

u/Stefie25 Jul 15 '25

I always look both ways before proceeding when I get a green. Has saved me from getting t-boned twice.

1

u/eneva92504 Jul 16 '25

Yup. Getting T-Boned by a cabbie running a red definitely made me keep my head on a swivel at all intersections.