11 people in 1 car collectively wearing one seatbelt. Stupid bitch.

[Troy McClure SF]

A speeding SUV packed with 10 children -- none wearing seat belts -- rolled over several times on Interstate 280 in San Francisco, killing three people and injuring eight when the driver swerved to take an off-ramp, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Cherie Williams-Joseph, 28, of San Francisco was driving a Chevrolet Suburban about 80 mph at 7:30 p.m. Saturday when she missed her exit at Ocean Avenue and swerved over a raised median divider that separates the highway from the off-ramp, according to the CHP.
...
[CHP Officer] Chase said Williams-Joseph was related in some way to all 10 children in the SUV. No one in the vehicle was wearing a seat belt, and the three people who died were ejected.

Link (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/11/15/BAG7V9RNCU1.DTL).

Speeding? Check.

Eleven people crammed into a vehicle? Check.

Ten not wearing seat belts? Check.

Completely fucking oblivious to everything? Check.

God, what a stupid bitch. There are exits off 280 in the City every half a fucking mile, and signs for them all every quarter! It's mindboggling how many stupid, dangerous decisions all congealed together at this one magical point in time and space. So many things could've been done, so many quick, easy things, but no. Your stupid ass chose to hurl yourself and ten relatives over a curb (right toward a steep ivy-covered embankment, IIRC) and hope, if you even cared that much.

[Larry Mudd]

Horrible story, but where'd you get the idea she was wearing a seatbelt?

I'd be interested to know if there was alcohol at their family gathering.

According to The Bay City News (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/archive/2004/11/13/crash13.DTL), both her and another driver were reportedly driving recklessly before the crash, and she crossed several lanes of traffic to try to make the exit. Suffering Christ. :smack:

[metrochic]

God, what a stupid bitch.

I could not agree more. Obviously, she'd been driving pretty recklessly the entire time as someone phoned in a report before the wreck. Fucking ridiculous and selfish and I can't even begin to imagine being the parents of one of the other kids in the car.

[manhattan]

Horrible story, but where'd you get the idea she was wearing a seatbelt?To add to this, a Suburban is configured to hold 8 or 9 adult passengers comfortably. A driver plus 10 kids (little ones on laps) isn't a huge stretch.

But overall, though, yeah.

[Troy McClure SF]

Horrible story, but where'd you get the idea she was wearing a seatbelt?

I could've missed it, but I only saw the reference to the ten kids not wearing belts. Seems to me she'd be in character to belt herself in while ignoring the kids.

[Troy McClure SF]

It appears that the Suburban crossed all lanes of the freeway in an attempt to take the off-ramp

Fuckinay! It's like five or six lanes there!

Fuck I hate people.

[capacitor]

A five-lane switch in a California freeway? Ouch, that is about as reckless as one can get.

[GaWd]

AFAIK, she was not wearing her belt. She and the other 3 deaths(all children), were thrown from the vehicle and none had on a harness.

Sam

[gotpasswords]

Eep. That's my exit, and I was there roughly ten minutes before her on the way home.

It's a rather busy area, and 55-60 is fairly often as fast as you can get, so she was going REALLY fast.

[Helen's Eidolon]

Just for the record...
Cherie Williams-Joseph, 28, of San Francisco [...] Williams-Joseph, her 16-year-old daughter, Joan Parker, and 4-year-old Reggie Bennett died at the scene, authorities said. Holy cow. 12 at the first birth and all 10 kids were "related to her somehow". I just... man. I feel so bad for whoever else was responsible for those kids too.

[Eats_Crayons]

Just for the record...
Holy cow. 12 at the first birth and all 10 kids were "related to her somehow". I just... man. I feel so bad for whoever else was responsible for those kids too.
Whoa! Well, given that the story says "she is related in some way" maybe the 16 year old is a step-child.

Kinda wish the bitch hadn't died but had to live with the guilt (and be sentenced to cleaning up brains from every other fatal car accident in the area).

[Baker]

I know that the other parents must feel bad, but where were they? How come they let their kids into a situation like that? Just asking.

[Helen's Eidolon]

I know that the other parents must feel bad, but where were they? How come they let their kids into a situation like that? Just asking.I got the impression that she was either parent or step-parent or responsible for all of the kids in the van.

[LilyoftheValley]

There's more I'd like to know about this story. How many were in car seats? You're telling me that a 4-month-old was not in a car seat when a vehicle rolled 3 times and wasn't killed? Actually, what is not mentioned in either article from what I can tell is that the 4-year-old who was killed because he was "not in a seatbelt" actually should not have been in a seatbelt at all, but legally should have been in a booster seat (well, assuming he's not a 60-pound 4-year-old).

That said...FUCK! You have 10 children in your car including an infant and you are driving like an incontinent asshole? And your husband's doing the same thing in another car, giving you the rare opportunity to prove that you're both fucking morons? I hope CPS is taking a long hard look at the husband in the other car before they're letting any of those injured children go home with him.

[Siege]

Actually, despite the incredible stupidity involved in this, it's her husband I really felt sorry for. According to the article, he saw the whole thing in his rearview mirror. Assuming he was partially responsible for it, and from what the article said, I'd say he is, that just makes things worse. I cannot imagine the horror of seeing an SUV with your wife and children it in get into a horrible accident and be unable to do anything. It's too late for her; maybe he'll learn something from this?

CJ

[Troy McClure SF]

Actually, despite the incredible stupidity involved in this, it's her husband I really felt sorry for.

There's plenty he could've done to prevent or limit some of the damage. Fuck him, too. Learning the hard way can often be prevented by using the slightest bit of common sense.

[Frank]

There's plenty he could've done to prevent or limit some of the damage. Fuck him, too. Learning the hard way can often be prevented by using the slightest bit of common sense.
What could he have done? I ask in all seriousness. Was he the other reckless driver?

[Metacom]

Fuck I hate people.
Then why are you angry that some died?

[Eats_Crayons]

There's plenty he could've done to prevent or limit some of the damage. Fuck him, too. Learning the hard way can often be prevented by using the slightest bit of common sense.
Yeah, I get the impression (and granted this just wild speculation based on the way witnesses say they were BOTH driving like asshats) that perhaps she was following him because he knew the way. I can totally see some dickhead goofing around and "trying to lose them" thinking it was funny to make her work to keep up and not get lost.

[Troy McClure SF]

Then why are you angry that some died?

Good point. ;)

[Troy McClure SF]

What could he have done? I ask in all seriousness. Was he the other reckless driver?

Sorry, I missed this before that last post.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt about missing the exit, if he even did miss it. If his wife was following him home, then they must've met up at some point earlier, if they didn't leave the same place together. He could've made sure the wife wasn't drunk, he could've taken three or four of the kids in his car, making sure they were belted in, or he could've made sure the kids were belted in in the SUV before he left. And if he couldn't trust his wife to take the most basic of safety precautions (not much of an "if" now), then he shouldn't have trusted her with any kids, much less ten of 'em crammed into one vehicle. And even if the SUV had eleven belted seats, that does no good if none of them are in use.

[Cheesesteak]

What could he have done? I ask in all seriousness. Was he the other reckless driver?Considering she was following him home with a car stuffed to the rafters with unbuckled children, he could have tried driving at less than 80mph.

[Ghanima]

To clarify the OP, the news actually got it wrong at first. She was the aunt of the children who died, and absolutely no one in the car was wearing seatbelts, including the driver. Her husband witnessed the entire thing. I bet he'll see that whenever he lays his head down for the rest of his entire fucking life.

I can't believe anyone would do this. I drive recklessly sometimes too but when my neice is in the car, I drive like a grandma. I wonder if she was drinking...this is the most senseless accident I've ever heard of.

[Frank]

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt about missing the exit, if he even did miss it. If his wife was following him home, then they must've met up at some point earlier, if they didn't leave the same place together. He could've made sure the wife wasn't drunk, he could've taken three or four of the kids in his car, making sure they were belted in, or he could've made sure the kids were belted in in the SUV before he left. And if he couldn't trust his wife to take the most basic of safety precautions (not much of an "if" now), then he shouldn't have trusted her with any kids, much less ten of 'em crammed into one vehicle. And even if the SUV had eleven belted seats, that does no good if none of them are in use.
That all makes sense. I got the impression you had later local information on this that wasn't in the links.

I don't know how my family would have got around these days. There were eight of us, plus my folks, and there weren't that many seats in the station wagon, let alone seat belts, let alone taking up space with car seats.