UPDATE III: Decatur PD says that North Decatur Road has reopened.
UPDATE II: From DPD…
On 5-6-2015 at approximately 12:22 pm, Decatur Police responded to a vehicle accident involving a passenger car and a cement truck on North Decatur Road and Superior Avenue. The road is closed to remove the vehicles and debris. The driver of the passenger car sustained minor injuries and was transported to an area hospital. The driver of the cement truck did not sustain injuries. The driver of the cement truck was cited for disregarding a red light and too fast for conditions. Clean up is still underway at this time but is expected to be completed by approximately 5:00 pm. We will send an update once the roadway has been reopened.
UPDATE: Decatur PD reports that there were no fatalities in this accident. All injuries were “non-life threatening”.
Catherine writes in with this report and photo…
Photo of accident at Superior and N. Decatur, just inside CoD so our police are working it. Cement mixer turns over on top of car. My husband talked to the fire and rescue personnel and they report that the driver of the car was conscious and talking when pulled from the car and the driver of the cement mixer is also alive and OK from what I understand.
Don’t know how it happened. We were out and came home to this.
I will be emailing city next to ask that they take more measures to make this intersection safer. Things are getting worse and worse.
The Decatur Minute is reporting that the road will be closed for several hours.
There has been an accident at N Decatur Rd & Superior Ave and the intersection is expected to be blocked for several hours while emergency personnel respond. Please avoid this area for now. An update will be posted once the intersection is re-opened.
We’re following up with Decatur PD to get the police report. Stay tuned.
Boy, this is as scary looking as the Scott Blvd fatal crash a week or so ago. Maybe the car driver in this case was saved by the space between the truck’s cab and body? I see that the car has a City of Decatur plate. Hope our neighbor is okay.
So scary. Hope everyone is okay.
We came after the accident had occurred. I spoke with an emergency medical responder and she confirmed the driver of the crushed car and the driver of the cement truck were both OK. The car driver was trapped, but conscious. She had to be pulled/extracted out of the vehicle, but was talking and lucid the whole time, including being placed into the ambulance for the trip to the hospital.
How in the heck did that actually happen?
I was wondering the same when I came upon the scene. I took the photo from the north side of N. Decatur. The intersection of Superior and N. Decatur is about 30 ft. to the right.
I’ve been saying this for 20 years. Atlanta leads the world in “How the fu*k did that happen” accidents. Thank God nobody was killed here but I’d still like to know how this did, in fact, happen.
“Atlanta leads the world in “How the fu*k did that happen” accidents.”
And “how the hell did they get a license” drivers.
For real. Looks almost like the car t-boned the cement truck between the cab and mixer and pushed it over the other direction. It’s just odd that the cement truck rolled the same direction as the car was traveling.
I would bet the cement truck came down the hill way too fast, slammed on the brakes, the back-end slid out from underneath and over it went. Despite its best efforts, the Audi was unable to catch and save the truck.
Decaturish has a photo of the accident from the other side of the cement truck.
http://www.decaturish.com/2015/05/accident-blocking-north-decatur-rd-at-superior-ave/
Yikes! Somebody’s guardian angel was on the job today.
Not religious at all, but that’s exactly what I thought when I saw the photo. A foot right or left and that would have been a really different situation. Glad they are OK.
Wouldn’t a good guardian angel steer them clear of the whole thing? Just sayin…
My interpretation of guardian angels is that they intervene to protect us from humankind’s bad (or negligent) actions — they are the “luck” in any situation that can be explained through an individual’s fault. From my perspective, this certainly qualifies, but I admit that I am not the authority on guardian angels.
Actually, I think it was the truck driver’s guardian angel who failed. His guardian angel should have kept him from disregarding a red light and driving too fast for conditions.
Update from DPD added to original post.
“The driver of the passenger car sustained minor injuries and was transported to an area hospital.”
Good news and one hell of a testament to Audi’s build quality!
And maybe also a testament to the Audi driver’s skill in aiming for the least massive part of the truck’s profile when he/she realized that there was no way to avoid its toppling down?
The driver of the cement truck was cited for disregarding a red light and too fast for conditions.
Not remotely surprised. This is an almost daily occurrence with these big cement mixers and dump trucks. They go way too fast and I have twice seen trucks come over the hill and blatantly run that light. i know of another neighbor who narrowly missed being hit by a dump truck at that intersection – he hesitated briefly before stepping on the gas when his light turned green and it ended up saving his life.
In addition to citing this driver, I hope the city finds out where this load of cement was headed and puts some pressure on the contractor in charge. They are the ones incentivizing these drivers – and the ones of the huge dump trucks that also speed through here – to “disregard” the safety of others.
Good possibility that the cement was headed for the Wal-Mart.
Or any of the other Decatur projects going on at this time.
I’ll tell ya one thing – I’ve been waiting for bad wrecks both on Scott and on this stretch of North Decatur for a while. They say these things come in threes, so I’ll be avoiding Commerce near the cemetery and East College at Commerce until the trifecta hits.
Don’t forget the intersection near CVS and Ted’s – but maybe that’s more for pedestrians and bikes to get mowed down than car accidents? Probably best to just stay home.
I don’t know the person who was in the car, but I can only imagine how I would have reacted to this photo if I did. It might be a good idea to consider not posting photos such as this for a few hours, or at least until more is known about the people involved. We live in a small city where it is highly likely that we recognize things – such as cars- to be that of a neighbor or friend. This is a difficult request, and some may consider it odd, especially since we live in such an instantaneous world, but it does deserve some consideration.
I don’t think it’s an odd request at all, but quite reasonable. But I’ll bet it doesn’t get much traction in this day and age.
+1
I don’t think it’s an odd request. I sent the photo and I would not have sent it if I hadn’t know that the drivers were going to be OK. And I can definitely still see an argument for waiting longer to post the photo.
Driving home this evening, the exact same type of concrete mixer–white with huge red and blue USA lettering, the company name McEilers or something similar–was next to me in the adjacent lane. Traffic was stopped so I had a chance to study it–amazingly huge and scary looking. The midsection–between the cab and trailer–is even pretty massive, not skinny like I was thinking. I think it is miraculous that the car’s occupant survived being under this behemoth truck.
Will anyone EVER do anything about the speeders on Scott and North Decatur Rd.? There is zero police presence, so the bad drivers think nothing of going 10 MPH over the speed limit and running red lights.
Don’t forget the accident in Downtown Decatur on Monday in the middle of the day. Somebody ran off the road across from the Marley. Two ambulances. Haven’t seen anything about that in any of the forums. It’s dangerous to be a pedestrian in Decatur. The sidewalks are frighteningly close to streets where traffic is moving at high speeds. Guy falls asleep at the wheel and brings down power pole on Scott about a month ago. A power pole is cracked in half on Clairemont a little less than a year ago. An so forth, apparently without an end to the risks for pedestrians.
IT HAS HAPPENED AGAIN!!!!! The SAME CEMENT TRUCK COMPANY had another truck, whose driver was also cited for speeding & failing to obey a traffic signal, flip over onto a car. This time, it was former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young’s car!
In this 11Alive story, you can see the “USA” on the side of the truck, just like the one in the accident on N. Decatur.
http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/midtown/2015/05/11/andrew-young-midtown-accident/27144757/
I noticed that too. Hope that this is fully investigated. Can’t imagine that it won’t be given who they hit this time! Thank goodness all victims are safe both times. But these accidents could have been tragic. The next one may be.