A family travelling on the Garden State Parkway was involved in a serious crash late Sunday night.
The single-vehicle crash happened just before Midnight near Exit 171. Sources tell YWN that the driver of the 15-passenger-van swerved to avoid a deer, lost control, and rolled off the side of the Parkway into the trees.
Two people were ejected from the car and at least one person was trapped and had to be cut out after the van veered off the road and came to a stop about 100 feet into the woods, Woodcliff Lake Fire Department Chief Dan Schuster said.
The passenger van was the only car involved, he said.
Rockland Hatzolah along with local EMS, NJ State Police and other Emergency Personnel were on the scene.
The driver was heavily entrapped in the vehicle and needed to be extricated. A 13-year-old child was driven by Ambulance to the “Old Mill Baseball Complex” in Woodcliff Lake, where he was airlifted to Hackensack Medical center. The child was reportedly in critical condition at the time.
A total of 13 people were transported to the hospital.
New Jersey State Police Sgt. Jeff Flynn said that at least three people were injured in the crash, but Schuster estimated there were at least six who suffered serious, but non-life threatening injuries.
The family was travelling from the Catskills and had made a stop in Monsey just a few minutes earlier.
Names for Tehillim were not available to YWN.
Photos Credits: Woodcliff Lake Fire Dept
(Charles Gross – YWN)
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8 Responses
They should all have a refuah shlaimah.
Please everyone remember always hit the deer!! We’re hearing too many stories of swerving to avoid hitting and going out of control. Swerving at high speed is extremely dangerous.
Refuah Sheleima
Refuah Shleima to all involved Bsoch Shar Cholei Yisroel.
I feel a little unfomfortable saying this – especially after this happened – but I think this is the Second time recently I have seen in YWN that a frum family decided to drive from the country or to at between 12-2 AM with a car load of kids.
Is that the SAFEST time to go on a 2-4 hour drive when people are over tired with a car full of kids???????
If you are on a stretch of highway with open space (aka cornfield) on the side of the road and moving at relatively modest speed (45 mph), than swerving may be a better option than hitting a deer. Otherwise, Uncle Ben is 110 percent correct….you may think you can control the car’s direction off the road at 65 mph but more likely than not, you will lose control and may end up in the opposite direction and hitting cars going the other way or hitting a concrete median barrier.
Don’t hit the deer either. It’s not like running over a squirrel. It’s very heavy. The main thing is seatbelts and child seats, to avoid being ejected from the car, which is the most dangerous thing.
May all the passengers have a Refuah Shelaima B’mehaira. If updates, or names for daavening become available, please post them.
Uncle Ben’s comment is worth repeating:
If you find a deer in your path on a highway…. you are supposed to hitthe deer!!. If you try to avoid the animal, you will most likely lose control of your vehicle. Losing control of the car is what causes the high mortality rate, as your car may hit anything: a tree, a road barrier, or another car – possibly head on. Instead, you are supposed to hit your horn, and flash your lights if possible, but the main thing is to brace yourself, keep your steering wheel steady, and hit the deer!!.
Your car will probably be significantly damaged, or totaled, and the deer will be either seriously injured or killed. But you will protect the life of yourself and your passengers. The signs that say “deer crossing” are there for you to be cautious and alert in the area. They are not meant to cause you to have a life-threatening car accident in order to protect the deer.
I only understood this after I encountered a deer while in the left lane of a 65 mile an hour highway. Due to ignorance, I did swerve, and my car slipped onto gravel and then spun out of control. My survival was 100% miraculous, b’chasdei Hashem. My car stopped PERPENDICULARLY to oncoming traffic, and within one inch of hitting the metal road divider head-on. Due to the late hour, there were no cars behind me, or I would likely not be here to post this comment. As per my Rav, I try to observe a personal form of thanks to Hashem on the anniversary of that date every year.
And I make it my business to post this information whenever I come across a related news item.
BenK: I personally find it easier to drive at night as traffic is lighter at that time. If you are referencing the accident to the family from Cleveland, it had nothing to do with fatigue. How was the driver, coming around a bend know there was a tractor trailer blocking the road?
Refua Sheleima to all involved!
“the driver of the 15-passenger-van swerved to avoid a deer”
In my extensive night time driving experience, the reason you swerve not to hit the deer, or anything else directly in front of you, has nothing to do with rational thinking! It’s a basic instinct of self preservation – to avoid the head on collision even with cardboard box. At night, on too many highways in NY and NJ, your headlights are the only source of illumination. So at 65 mph your are traveling about 85 feet in one second. Your headlights give you about 200 feet of reasonable viewing. So you have at best 2 seconds from spotting the deer to figure out what to do about it. You just can’t think through all the possibilities fast enough to make the right decision. You panic and your instinct of self preservation kicks in and makes you swerve, unless you are a professional kamikaze. The only answer is to SLOW DOWN!!! YOU ARE ALLOWED TO DRIVE BELOW THE POSTED SPEED LIMIT!!!! At below 55 mph you will have much easier time swerving or even stopping for a deer and much lower chance of loosing control of your vehicle. At night, just because there are no cars on the road, you are on a race trek! If you are tired and falling asleep, don’t try to race home. First of all, turn off the cruse control, slow down to 50 mph, pull over at a safe place as soon as possible and take a 20 min nap, it could save your life!