Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Fatal Accident Town Center

Car vs Peter Pan bus Amherst town center

Regrettably the driver of the car, Adrienne Paquette age 22, that crashed head on into a Peter Pan bus that was legally parked at the bus stop yesterday a little after 5:00 PM has died.

She was transported from the scene by Amherst Fire Department (with three aboard) to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield the closest hospital with a Level 1 Trauma Center.

The accident is still under investigation by Amherst Police Department and the Northwestern District Attorney's office.

 Bus air brakes had locked up as a result of impact causing problems for tow truck driver

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

Neglectful drivers suck...drunk or not.

Anonymous said...

Sad story. What are the logistics of the accident, though? It looks like the car was traveling at a pretty high rate of speed on the wrong side of the road in the breakdown lane..? Is that what happened?

Also, the windshield doesn't look broken - how unfortunate she died since it's likely she wasn't wearing her seatbelt.

Rebecca Casa said...

Wow how do you drive head-on into a Parked bus... looks like she's from out of state maybe she had another medical issue going on. Very sad

Anonymous said...

tragic. may she RIP.

Anonymous said...

this was my friend and it happened after she left work in Amherst so she doesn't live out of state, please don't talk shit. this is a very sad situation.

Anonymous said...

So young. My whole heart is in pieces for her family.

Anonymous said...

A great kid!! She will be missed by so many. May you Rest In Peace Sweet Angel <3

Anonymous said...

How do you drive headon into a parked bus? Medical or texting.

Larry Kelley said...

That's what APD is now trying to figure out.

I for one will hold off on speculation.

Anonymous said...

She was probably on the phone or texting

Anonymous said...

1: Bus brakes locked up when driver parked. Dumped air, springs engaged. Air needed to release them -- or you "cage" them.

2: Interesting no head impact to windshield. Airbag deploy?
Airbags and seat belts DO kill people, it's very rare but does happen.

3: Any skid marks? I doubt there will be -- I doubt she was traveling more than 25 MPH, if that -- no yaw.

4: Where was she coming FROM?

My suspicion is she had turned left and never crossed the yellow center line, instead mistaking the white bike lane for something else. All those lines do get confusing.

Rebecca Casa said...

I was not talking shit I zoomed in on the license plate .. It looked like a ny plate. I would never talk crap about someone dying it is awful. And sad as I said in my post.

Dr. Ed said...

I'm going to say this: Larry, look at the CENTER of your top photo.

Tell me it doesn't look like she hit a green car NEXT TO the bus -- it's an optical illusion and would be the same on the other side.
here
But if you only look at the bus front tire, doesn't this look like the rear axle of a car with a bus behind it?

PP is free to paint their busses as they please, but I think they made a poor choice...

Anonymous said...

Her identity has been released. Adrienne Paquette, age 22 of Chicopee. Thoughts headed out to her family and friends.

Anonymous said...

Diabetic experiencing hypoglycemia. Or other such medical emergency? Maybe?

Anonymous said...

Dr ed is a total wreck of a human being. He must be home alone and his computer is his only friend. Very sad...

DaveMB said...

The Gazette now reports that the deceased is Adrienne Maquette of Chicopee, age 22.

Anonymous said...

Ed, don't you think Larry would have noticed a green car when he took the photos? As always you are completely nuts. She hit a bus. A big bus. Use your eyes.

Dr. Ed said...

No, I thought she hit a pregnant purple elephant....

Do you even know what an "optical illusion" is?

Anonymous said...

I surmise the Al Anon perps have a retort ,they haven't figured we need an answer -to they're kinda problem...go figure !!!&@$$$

Dr. Ed said...

Larry, I'm thinking about the Tesla crash in Florida where neither driver nor computer "saw" the white truck turning left.

In an OUI, medical or asleep accident you will see car drift in a curve, not lined up straight as she is. This is a typical "rear-end" collision with a vehicle stopped in traffic, almost like she got behind what she perceived to be a vehicle traveling the same way as she.

Remember both her limited viewing angle from a small car and humans see what we think we see, what we expect to see.

To her parents & friends, I am saying that maybe this wasn't completely all her fault, that she might have been the victim of an optical illusion.

And folks, seeing a mirage a couple miles ahead of you doesn't mean the road is wet, but it also doesn't mean what you are seeing isn't real. You're seeing the sky, which your brain knows shouldn't be there and hence perceives as what it logically should be.

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:14 no one can even understand what you said.

Anonymous said...

Mr Ed- you are insane... thank God our not a cop.. or an investigator..... my goodness.
Thoughts and prayers to this young woman's friends and family. God bless.

Anonymous said...

With all due respect Ed, for once please have some human decency and stop....just stop.

Dr. Ed said...

Anon 9:14 no one can even understand what you said.

I can -- and wonder why the visceral is directed at me.

Anonymous said...

Someone dies in a tragedy and Ed thinks the photo has a cool optical illusion. Insane!

Dr. Ed said...

No, Dr. Ed thinks the optical illusion is dangerously deceptive.

That it may have helped CAUSE a tragedy -- and worse, may cause more.

Anonymous said...

Takata Airbag?

Anonymous said...

I can't believe I'm going to say this... But I can see what Ed is seeing. What he's saying is that if you look at the side of the Peter Pan bus and ignore the top green part, it looks like there is a profile of a white car on the side -- a white car that could be headed in the direction in which the victim drove into it. If one was turning left out of the Spring Street lot and perceived that paint job as a "car," it wouldn't be a stretch to line up with it and drive into it while thinking you were easing into traffic *behind* it.

Unbelievably sad.

Anonymous said...

Your not going to get that amount of damage by pulling out of the Spring St lot...Thats easily a 3o-40mph hit...

Anonymous said...

Anon 7:44...that would still mean she rammed into the back of a white car...not really different.

Anonymous said...

Except the back of the white car would have had brakelights. Introduced in 1984, the center-mounted brakelight worked wonders.

Dr. Ed said...

What's even sadder, 7:44, is that I fear that it was the airbag which killed her.

This looks like one of the cars with the Takata airbags that were installed in Honda, Nissan and other vehicles. They explode rather than deploying properly, firing lethal shrapnel into the chest of the victim, much like a GSW.

The airbags almost certainly were triggered as the front end is demolished, but notice how the rest of the car isn't.

Note how the doors appear closed & latched. It appears that AFD didn't have to do anything (e.g. pry open or remove doors, remove windshield) to get her out. This is a unibody car -- it doesn't take much of a collision to knock the door-frameout of alignment. Also the front end is designed to break apart -- to absorb energy and hence reduce the G-forces on the occupants.

Note also how the rear end did't swing around. It didn't have enough Kinetic energy to yaw, and hence she wasn't going that fast -- and the MSP will get an actual speed from the airbag chip. (The Texas cheerleader was only going 15 MPH.)

As to the optical illusion, her eyes were where the headrest is, up close, that really is as high as she could see. So it isn't ignoring but not being able to see. And she was coming out of shadow into direct sunlight from the right, may have just left it -- not a good situation for visual perception. In addition to the illusion, she would have seen a very real bumper and license, and people inherently see what they THINK they see. And what they want to see (i.e. the rear bumper of a vehicle in the lane she should be in, the vehicle she should follow).

Now the Team Maria cadre can go firetruck themselves, but to those who care, I'm writing this because I don't want to see someone (who can't defend herself) accused of something that might not quite have been her fault. Yes, inattention was a factor here, but I think this situation is a bit more complicated than that.

Anonymous said...

Thank you ed. I think that solves the case. Good work columbo!

Anonymous said...

Also sad are people like you who complain and whine about people like me who whine and complain about ed! Shall we go another round?
.