Venus Williams fatal crash in Florida

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I'm kind of surprised that nobody else posted anything about this case. This seems like a perfect point of discussion for an auto forum.

I know it's kind of old news, but I've been following this case for about a month. It's kind of an interesting case because the initial reporting was after the local police issued a collision report that placed Williams at fault, and after the passenger (Jerome Barson) died of internal injuries about two weeks after the collision. Then the police received video from the guard shack of the gated community where Venus Williams lives, where one of the cameras was pointed towards the intersection. The latest news was that a couple of days ago the police department released video from the bodycam of the officer who investigated at the scene.

This has the bodycam video at the scene:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/28/sport...atal-crash.html

However, here's the police statement and a link to the security cam video:

http://pbgfl.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=308
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vhjp91zyd2p7nr3/6-9-17 Crash Surveillance Footage.mp4?dl=0

The way I see it, Williams entered the intersection on a green and stopped because a driver from the opposite direction made a left in front of her, cutting her off. Then she proceeded as is legal under Florida law, even though the light had turned yellow then red while she was in the intersection. I'm pretty sure we've all been in an intersection when the light turned red and made it out unscathed. However, then from the cross direction there's a car that's just flying through (estimated at 25 MPH) just when it turns green past cars that were stopped at the red.

Here's a shorter, annotated version of the security cam video:



http://www.tmz.com/2017/07/07/venus-williams-car-crash-video-surveillance/
 
Read an article in the paper this morning about the crash. It says the officer stated Venus was at fault but didn't give her a ticket of any kind. But as mentioned if she wasn't cut off then she probably would have cleared the intersection without being hit.

Kind of like when you're rear ended and get pushed into the car in front of you. Similar concept.
 
Money grab. The lady who plowed into Venus had to be totally inattentive. Not saying Venus could not have avoided the accident.

On a less than stellar day any of us could have wound up the same way as Venus. Hope the lawsuit goes nowhere and the Plantiff winds up paying the costs. I know..I am dreaming....two more lawyers (at least) get fat. It sucks.
mad.gif
 
I question the timing of the lights and the thoughts of the driver that hit Williams' vehicle. We have a more than a few lights in the Houston area at large intersections where one side is already green when the other turns red and there have been some serious wrecks because of it. I am certainly not condoning running a red light, but a few more seconds of delay on one side of the lights would limit potential incidents for those who do not run the lights and find themselves in the intersection under similar conditions as Williams did. The other driver seems to be inattentive as they were already moving at 20+ MPH when the light changed and assuming the other vehicle would be out of the way before they reached intersection is not very wise.
 
Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Read an article in the paper this morning about the crash. It says the officer stated Venus was at fault but didn't give her a ticket of any kind. But as mentioned if she wasn't cut off then she probably would have cleared the intersection without being hit.

Kind of like when you're rear ended and get pushed into the car in front of you. Similar concept.

Well - I don't fault her for not wanting to play chicken with a driver turning in front of her, even if she did have the legal right of way. I guess "but I had the right of way" are rather famous last words. I know it gets kind of tricky because some drivers almost assume that someone in the opposite direction is turnings even without blinkers. There's this intersection near me that's tricky because it's two lanes merging into one. One has left/straight arrows and the other has right/straight arrows. If I'm there first going straight I prefer being in the left lane because it's a straighter path. If I'm not first I always assume that someone in the left lane is turning left, even without the blinkers on, because that happens about 90% of the time. However, when I've been in the left lane going straight, I've seen cars to might right almost cutting me off, or even a car in the opposite direction trying to turn left assuming that I was going to turn left. In my estimation a lot of drivers turn left from an opposite direction assuming you're going to turn left too.

And personally I think she should have been able to clear the intersection without being hit anyways. She got T-boned trying to clear an intersection where she had entered on a green.
 
If you need to make a left turn at a stoplight under green and unable to do so, you can enter the intersection, then once the light turns red for the oncoming traffic, then you can go.


I thought only ONE car is allowed to be in the intersection. (because something like this can happen) if a car is turning left, people can pass on the right. She should have waited at the white line, or passed on right.. SHE WAS TAILGATING, but she is rich..


You know "the elderly" behind a wheel, we all know how they drive.
 
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That intersection is huge, and I'd question the timing of the lights also. There needs to be a lot of light overlap on huge intersections like that.

The car that T-boned her must have seen the green as they approached the intersection without slowing down much at all, and just kept flying through it even though the other cars sitting there hadn't even really moved out yet on green (that's not a good idea as seen in this case). Looking at the clock on the video, her green light was only about 6-7 seconds long. You can see other cars come up to the intersection and stop just before Venus started across the intersection.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
I recall this subject being discussed here on BITOG previously. Did the mods delete it?

I did a 3 month search of "venus williams". If I saw another topic I probably would have added to it.
 
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
That intersection is huge, and I'd question the timing of the lights also. There needs to be a lot of light overlap on huge intersections like that.

The car that T-boned her must have seen the green as they approached the intersection without slowing down much at all, and just kept flying through it even though the other cars sitting there hadn't even really moved out yet on green (that's not a good idea as seen in this case). Looking at the clock on the video, her green light was only about 6-7 seconds long. You can see other cars come up to the intersection and stop just before Venus started across the intersection.

I found out the speed limit on that street was 55. Doesn't excuse going 20-25 right as the light turns green, especially when there are cars stopped at the light blocking the view of the intersection.
 
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
That intersection is huge, and I'd question the timing of the lights also. There needs to be a lot of light overlap on huge intersections like that.

The car that T-boned her must have seen the green as they approached the intersection without slowing down much at all, and just kept flying through it even though the other cars sitting there hadn't even really moved out yet on green (that's not a good idea as seen in this case). Looking at the clock on the video, her green light was only about 6-7 seconds long. You can see other cars come up to the intersection and stop just before Venus started across the intersection.

I found out the speed limit on that street was 55. Doesn't excuse going 20-25 right as the light turns green, especially when there are cars stopped at the light blocking the view of the intersection.


If the speed limit is 55 on that road, then there needs to be HUGE light timing overlap.
 
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
I recall this subject being discussed here on BITOG previously. Did the mods delete it?

I did a 3 month search of "venus williams". If I saw another topic I probably would have added to it.

I know. That's why I'm wondering if the thread got locked and mods yanked it. Doesn't matter...
 
Originally Posted By: Vern_in_IL
If you need to make a left turn at a stoplight under green and unable to do so, you can enter the intersection, then once the light turns red for the oncoming traffic, then you can go.


I thought only ONE car is allowed to be in the intersection. (because something like this can happen) if a car is turning left, people can pass on the right. She should have waited at the white line, or passed on right.. SHE WAS TAILGATING, but she is rich..


You know "the elderly" behind a wheel, we all know how they drive.


The police statement linked in the first post says Williams was going straight. Someone coming from the opposite way made a left in front of her, cutting her off and making her stop in the intersection to avoid a collision. The car coming from her right then failed to stop and hit Williams before she could proceed through the intersection.

http://pbgfl.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=308
 
Originally Posted By: Rhymingmechanic
The car coming from her right then failed to stop and hit Williams before she could proceed through the intersection.


After watching the video a few times it appears as though the driver didn't even attempt to hit the brakes even though Williams car should have been visible from a distance.
 
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
I'm kind of surprised that nobody else posted anything about this case. This seems like a perfect point of discussion for an auto forum.


There was, appears to be deleted, is still in google's cache.
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:a3CONWpWsA0J:https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4455037/Venus_Williams_accident_video_+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk
 
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
If the speed limit is 55 on that road, then there needs to be HUGE light timing overlap.

+1
Exactly
 
Seeing that this case went from initially being determined to be Williams' fault to what's more or less become an unfortunate circumstance, it certainly appears that the wife was not being attentive. Independent of Williams' actions, the number one rule of good driving is to be attentive and project ahead. Some will only see a green light and not cars or any obstructions...just as some people only see the bumper in front of them and not the flow of traffic 100 ft. further on.
 
Originally Posted By: NormanBuntz
I don't like the Williams family even a little bit. But if I was the judge hearing the civil case brought by the deceased passenger's estate, I would blow the case out of the water.


There is a special judgement for this kind of behavioral so giddy up.
 
Florida Law says that no driver has the "right of way" and that all drivers have the responsibility to avoid an accident.

Legally, it doesn't mean exactly what it says. It just means that just because you have a green light, etc., does not mean you get to just plow through someone who is in your way.

Venus doesn't appear to have done anything wrong. She attempted to avoid a collision, and another inattentive driver smashed into her for no good reason.

Was it malicious or accidental? Hard to say. Down here, and especially in Palm Beach County, there are many who like to "teach them a lesson".
 
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