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April 20, 2004
ONE OF THOSE THINGS THAT MAKES YOU THINK
The Saw Mill River Parkway is one of the major arteries running north-south through Westchester County; it's a parkway and not a highway, so it's very windy and goes through a lot of wooded areas. In the fall especially, it's kind of a pretty drive. I drive on it every day going to and from work. Yesterday, on a beautifully mild spring day in the New York area, with temperatures in the upper 70s and not a cloud in the sky, a large tree suddenly fell onto the parkway during rush hour, out of nowhere and for no apparent reason. It landed on a moving SUV... the resulting accident was horrific enough to get coverage on CNN.com. (When was the last time a local traffic accident near you made CNN?)
I left my office around 5:30 yesterday; by 6:00 pm, when this incident occurred, had I taken the Saw Mill all the way home, I would have been right about in the area where this accident occurred. But the reason I left a little early yesterday was because I had some shopping to do... and so I took a different exit and was browsing the khakis and the housewares section at a Kohl's about 5 miles away when the accident happened. I didn't even hear about it till I turned on the local news this morning. So... it's not like I was on that road when the accident happened; nor would I necessarily have been there had it been a normal day (I usually leave my office around 6:15 or so). But it still is one of those things you wonder about: what if I hadn't stopped at Kohl's? What if I'd just taken off a little early because it was a nice day out? And why on earth would a huge tree fall over on a clear, sunny day with very little wind?
The New York Times identified the couple tonight; the 27 year old father was driving and was killed instantly; the 31 year old mother appears to have managed to unbuckle herself and crawl into the backseat with her daughter before she died. What a sad, sad -- and horribly fluky -- accident.
UPDATE: The New York Daily News has an article this morning about the miracle of this baby's survival... as well as a horrible yet amazing series of photos of the accident's aftermath. Check the cover here: crash covers.bmp
