Accident on Monday

[Wunder]

Does anyone know anything about an accident that caused the detour at Nixon on Monday? It was about 2:30 or so when I reached Nixon and was detoured through Sparks.

[Isotopia]

I'm wondering if it was someone pulling off on the sandy shoulder in order to help a participant who didn't secure their load correctly.

[spectabillis]

Yep, it was me.


Lost my backpack with my stash, spilled out everywhere and about a dozen RV's slammed into each other to snatch it up the bastards.

[Lassen Forge]

Now the *real* story (we were 10 cars behind the fiasco)

Constructon zone on Westbound 80 east of Mustang. Guy saw the barrels and freaked. Hit a couple cars (including a burner) and rolled his way off the shoulder - as in barrel roll. Shut down 80 for about 1 1/2-2 hours, until they could lifeflight the injured out of there. REALLY nasty accident, I'm just glad more weren't hurt.

What pissed me off is we got a late start outta there and to get stuck that close behind (where we could see freedom just beyond) really sucked. At least it wasn't hot...

When the Sheriff and NHP realized the severity, they started diverting people to 446 and Pyramid way. Wish we had gone that way now... instead of costing us 15 minutes it would have saved us 90.

BB

[dj big E]

I posted what truly happened in discussions check it out because everyone didn't need to take the detour..........

[dj big E]

As we were driving home on monday there was a bad accident on the highway just after nixon involving a highway patrol and a burner this is a tewrrible thing .... My question opr comment is wy did law enforcement make the large amount of burners take a detour causing most burners an extra 2-3 hour drive basically it lead them to sherts i believe the name is which is allmost in reno. When there was an easier alternative. After waiting about a half an hour to figure out what would happen cars that were obviously from the burn started heading back saying that law enforcement told them to take the alternate route. Amongst these cars i kept noticing cars that obviously had not been to the burn. I flagged one down thanks cable guy and asked him were he was coming from and had he seen the accident. He informed me that he had been diverted to a side road that came out 100 feet south of were i was. So i informed the burners behind me about the buypass they chose not to follow. Anyways i found the road 100 ft down the line mind you i had an rv it was paved and dirt but was in great shape 5 minutes later i was back on the highway and in fernley in 15 minutes. My problem is that they could have diverted all of the traffic this way very easily this detour caused hours of travel extra resources and most of all probly caused some accidents due to fatigue. It seemed as thoe the tribal police who were directing traffic decided that the 20 -30 cars per hour headed north were more inportant than the 10,000 or so headed south . If they would have let the south bound traffic use the bypass they could have stopped it every 30 minutes or so for 10 minutes to allow the north bound traffic through. Not to mention the temporary businesses that were set up and had no customers. I am not positive how long the highway was closed for but the bypass was there and way more convenient. I hope all that were involved in the accident are ok. But paiute police could have done a better job with traffic. BIG E

[JediDale]

I am told by many highly experienced Burners that "The way to go is through Sparks" on Pyramid Highway. There's going to be shit given me for telling you this, but its rediculous going all the way to I-80 when going
on Pyrmid Hwy. is just about as fast for west bound I-80 travelers. Now I expect the people who told me of this route to give me some shit, because there was very little traffic!



Genuinely,

Jedi Dale Of Reno

[AntiM]

There are more stoplights through Sparks so some folks, especially those towing trailers, may wish to avoid this route. We take it because we spend the night in Reno before heading east to Utah.

[Chai Guy]

The information that I recieved was that a "local" travelling in the direction towards The event lost control, hit the a guard rail, became airborne and were ejected from their vehicle. The information I received (from an eyewitness) indicated that it was single car accident (though they themselves were within inches of the being hit as the car passed their car mid-air!).

[unjonharley]

I got stuck on the north run. A home town parade and a bad acting horse. I was third car bringing up the tail. The people were yelling "yah burning man" and bringing us candy. Burners spend a lot of money there. No other ranchers would help with the horse. It had to be turned around and around for ten blocks. Guess you should train them some where besides a parade. Slowed down for a lot of burners, stoped along the road. All of them were resting and waved me on. Lucky for me. The van droped dead when I stoped for gas. MY@#^ machanic didn't put the parts in he charged me for. The rotor was toast. I managed to kneral enough metal to close the gap and beat feet for home. The cat was happy to see me. After we got settled down,he bit me. Just letting me know he was upset.

[Lassen Forge]

When I was a kid Pyramid way used to take longer than 447, but I have been told that the difference now is negligable. Either one will get you to the new Nixon Minimart (447 and 446) or back out in about the same time. And we got stuck behind the wreck on Tuesday (sorry for the error in my earlier post - the lifeflight from 80 at Mustang was the next day) for a couple hours. Not bad as we met a lot of locals, and that was cool... Going 80 you can stop at the groceries and Sierra Sid's and the other stores off McCarran if need be. Going Pyramid you go through town which isn' bad if you like going through town.

Next year - I'm going up and back with the rest of the crew, and the heck with being there that early (unless of course *everyone* goes up that early! >>grins<<)

BB

[Wunder]

Thanks for all the info everyone!

It felt like the detour took a bit longer, but not by much. It was a much nicer drive though, cruising along side the lake and then going through the valley to sparks. It was refreshing to see all the green trees after being in the desert. I only wish I had time to stop for a swim in the lake.