Snow plow drags CO senior's Chrysler half a mile
Colorado Springs senior John Archuleta, age 70, was driving his Chrysler Cirrus in a snowstorm when his vision was clouded, causing a collision with snowplow. The impact wasn't bad, in fact, plow driver Frederick Parrent, Jr, evidently didn't even know he'd been hit. The orange truck went on its merry way, pushing snow and pulling the 1999 Chrysler. The unintended sleigh ride only lasted about a half-mile, at which point fellow drivers flagged Parrent down and alerted him to the vehicle stuck in the truck's sander. There were no injuries, though both vehicles were bruised, and Archuleta was awarded a careless driving citation.
[Source: TheDenverChannel]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
mark 6:38PM (1/14/2009)
now thats funny
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KAIKAI 7:24PM (1/14/2009)
note to self
if i get to poor for gas.....
Nick 10:35PM (1/14/2009)
Now did the man really deserve a 'reckless driving' ticket?? He was in a snowstorm and already got screwed with the damage to his car.
Rocketboy 8:55AM (1/15/2009)
A: Well, he was tailgating for a half a mile
B: Too fast for the conditions = reckless driving. That's the way the world works.
KeatMP 6:41PM (1/14/2009)
That would definitely make for a funny story.
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aii 6:44PM (1/14/2009)
Silly Broncos fans.
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Kimura 6:44PM (1/14/2009)
Poor Cirrus! I always had a soft spot for those cars. Back when Chrysler lead the industry in designs (if nothing else).
At least no one was injured.
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Frank 9:35AM (1/15/2009)
The 1st generation Cirrus and Stratus were every bit competitive with the Accord and Camery in their day. Then Daimler took over Chrysler and as Paul Harvey would say "Now you know the ressst of the story".
dkw 11:22AM (1/15/2009)
ahhh, Chrysler's "cloud" cars.
More comfortable, if not as fun to drive, as the Ford Contour/Mercury Mystique of the day. Chrysler's had much nicer back seats, which found favor with American buyers.
... on that note... how well did the "bring it over here" philosophy work that time around?
(don't get me wrong, i'd like to see some European designs come over, but maybe a little can be learned from that attempt) We can talk about styling, but one of the major flaws of the Contour was the small back seat...... definately European, but didn't find favor with American buyers.
firstplace 6:52PM (1/14/2009)
anyone over 65 should have to have yearly vision checks to drive.
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bipar08 11:43AM (1/18/2009)
maybe people under 65 should be tested for driving with a phone in their ear
Stephen 7:01PM (1/14/2009)
Surprised to see David didn't get his grandfather a nicer car...
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Judy Zik 8:39PM (1/14/2009)
I guess Grandpa has had a Crush now too.
Noah 7:16PM (1/14/2009)
I wonder how he got a ticket for careless driving when the weather was so bad.
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montoym 8:12PM (1/14/2009)
You are still expected to drive according to the conditions. Plus, you aren't supposed to tailgate plows anyhow and they have enough lights on them that you should see them from quite a ways away, even in near whiteout conditions.
CO(at least Co Spgs anyhow) does have a "cold reporting" mode that the police will implement in really bad weather in which you don't have to report a minor accident until up to 24hr later if you don't suspect drugs or alcohol to be involved. You instead gather the info of each person involved and cal the police later. With the number of accidents that occur during bad storms, it cuts down on the police having to make a bunch of trips to fender benders and allows them to focus on more serious accidents.
That all said, I'm really surprised I learned about this here and not on my local news. Not something I would have expected.
Rob 10:35PM (1/14/2009)
I wonder how he got a license when he driving is so bad.
Oh wait. Old people aren't tested. Ever. Because no politician would want to lose the old person vote.
montoym 11:42PM (1/14/2009)
Lol, here is the best comment i saw for this story on the link provided.
"George commented 1 day 8 hours 16 minutes ago
Had this person been driving a foreign car, they surely would have gotten dragged for at least an entire mile. Those Japanese cars sure are efficient. "
I also just realized that this happened in Colorado City, not Colorado Springs. The driver was from Co Spgs though. FWIW, Colorado City is about 70 miles south of Colorado Springs.
There was a nice storm that came through Monday morning though. Didn't start until about 4am, but it really made a mess of rush hour traffic(not so much in CO City though with a population of about 2,000).
jt 7:35PM (1/14/2009)
Actually, Chrysler wasn't intending for the news to get out this early, but they've reached an agreement where a snowplow company will be supplying engines for Project D. This was a prototype. They figured it would require less engineering resources to hook up the engine this way.
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Chris 9:19PM (1/14/2009)
Extreme drafting!
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Bah! 9:21PM (1/14/2009)
Hey look! The snow plow fixed his Chrysler.
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