Sen. John Fetterman 'at fault' for recent car accident, police report reveals

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: USA TODAY

Sen. John Fetterman 'at fault' for recent car accident, police report reveals

Riley Beggin
Nick Penzenstadler
USA TODAY
Published 4:03 p.m. ET June 12, 2024 * Updated 4:03 p.m. ET June 12, 2024

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., was speeding and "at fault" for the car accident that landed him, his wife and another driver in the hospital on Sunday, according to a Maryland State Police report obtained by USA TODAY. ... Fetterman, driving a Chevrolet Traverse, passed a witness on I-70 in northwest Maryland "at a high rate of speed, well over the posted speed limit" before rear ending a Chevrolet Impala around 7:45 a.m. near the exit to I-68, the six-page report said. The speed limit was 70 miles per hour.

Fetterman and the other driver were not tested for alcohol or substance use, the report said. No citations were given and an investigation is ongoing, according to a Maryland State Police statement to USA TODAY earlier this week. A spokesperson for Fetterman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Both vehicles were towed from the site of the accident and Fetterman, his wife Gisele Fetterman, and the driver of the other car, a 62-year-old woman from Pennsylvania, were taken to War Memorial Hospital in West Virginia in ambulances.

USA TODAY attempted to contact the witness and other driver involved in the accident but were unable to reach them Wednesday. The names of the woman hit by Fetterman and the witness were included in the public police record but USA TODAY is not publishing them to protect personal privacy.

{snip}


Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/06/12/john-fetterman-car-accident-police-report/74073994007/

[jimfields33]

1. Yep. Happens even five seconds.

He had a fender bender. His insurance will go up. Maybe.

[enough]

4. A fender bender usually doesn't require both cars to be towed and

everybody involved to go to the hospital.

[Miguelito Loveless]

41. "Traveling at a high rate of speed"

In a 70 mph zone implies 80+ mph. In some states 15 mph over the limit is reckless driving. Sorry, but that should be a suspension of his license for causing injury.

[Deep State Witch]

2. As a Veteran of That Stretch of Road

It's very easy to go over the speed limit there. I've done it myself many times, traveling between DC and Pittsburgh.

[durablend]

5. This.

You're getting lapped if you do only 70 mph there.

[Farmer-Rick]

32. Exactly

It's a speedway there

[Miguelito Loveless]

42. Sorry, I do not understand excusing speeding

Physics is QUITE unforgiving. The laws of physics are enforced without mercy. The faster you go, the greater the risk of serious injury/death, to yourself, your passengers, and other drivers. I have seen too much death and mayhem caused by speeding.

[slightlv]

3. OK, maybe I'm being hypersensitive...

but we've got Republican congress critters that have KILLED people while they were driving at high rates of speeds. We've got kids of Republican congress critters (those that were called afflicted with "affluenza&quot who have killed people. And yet, nothing was done to these people. At least one incident I halfway remember was a pedestrian. Surely they didn't cite the dead person as at fault?

I'm not saying Fetterman was or was not at fault. And I don't know the area at all. But I'm picking up patterns here of legal "weaponization" that came long before T went on trial. Surely I'm not the only one seeing these jigsaw pieces? I wish I could cite chapter and verse, but my memory isn't what it used to be, I just remember being outraged when it happened. And a few of these that I remember were years ago. How many years? I can't even say if it was before or after T took the office. I tell ya, if you're young, do all you can to hang on to your marbles... because it becomes downright frustrating later on in life!

[Angrybob2001]

6. I live right up the road

This little section of MD is just miles from PA, and WV. It never fails that no matter what road im on there is someone from PA riding right behind you wanting to go faster. Granted everywhere you go the people from another place are the ones who cant drive. Here it's the PA drivers who are the ones who "can't drive"

[BumRushDaShow]

10. One thing I learned from years of going back and forth through MD from PA (via DE) -

I don't mess with the MD State Police! They are always out and about.

[FakeNoose]

39. A lot of PA drivers are rude on the highway - I see it all the time

I grew up in Pittsburgh and learned to drive here.

We used to think Pittsburgh drivers were courteous and a little slow. Well, driving the speed limit IS slow. Anytime we saw a driver going too fast and riding on someone's butt, we used to call them "New Jersey drivers."

Can't do that anymore, too many are from right here in Pittsburgh.

Not to say that Fetterman isn't at fault. He should probably make it a habit to drive during daylight hours.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. Do cars have black boxes? Driving data recorders?

Would my car rat me out if I crashed while speeding?

[radical noodle]

17. Some cars can give details

That's what finally caught Alex Murdaugh in his lies about what he did the night his wife and son were killed. His car logged the real details. It logged where he was, what speeds he went, when he started and shut off the car and anything else related to the car. It was a Chevy Suburban, so not an out-of-the-ordinary car.

[rpannier]

22. Unfortunately the answer to that is possibly yes

I was watching a news report on GM cars collecting your driving habits -- speed, how fast you accelerate, hit the brakes hard, etc

https://www.marketplace.org/2024/04/25/gm-was-collecting-and-sharing-drivers-data-often-without-their-knowledge/

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/technology/carmakers-driver-tracking-insurance.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerdooley/2024/03/12/your-driving-data-may-be-sold-to-insurers-general-motors-reveals/


GM says they shut it down.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

25. Thanks for that info. I didn't know my car was constantly collecting data for LexisNexis.

[Hope22]

27. Not only that.

Your car might be reporting the info to a company that sells the info to your insurance company!

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

30. Yes

Cars have had data recorders since the 90s. They will record things like speed prior to an accident, whether the vehicle was braking or not, acceleration rate, throttle position. Some will record steering position. Plus other data.

[Miguelito Loveless]

43. Depends on the car

Teslas and a lot of newer EVs do have "black box" recorders. Their admissibility varies by jurisdiction.

[Talitha]

8. Love my cruise control - set it, and forget it.

I've had plenty of cars speed up behind me. Some suddenly slow down, as if they didn't realize how fast they were going till they got behind me.

Others expect me to increase my speed. When I don't, they pass me up - occasionally giving me the one finger salute. That's ok - one of these days I'll pass them up as they sit on the side of the road accepting a ticket from an Officer.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

35. Cruise Control!

One of the best inventions, EVAH!

[BumRushDaShow]

9. LOL I think I have been past that location

It was almost 30 years ago when I was driving home with some co-workers from a conference in Berkeley Springs WV and we went up 322 to get to I-70 so we could go to the PA Turnpike (I-76), and I believe that route would pass by that big interchange. The one thing that stood out to me was going over a bridge leaving WV and crossing over into MD (with the state line cutting across the bridge/overpass), but only briefly, before going over a border again into PA.

[DJ Synikus Makisimus]

11. Cue the House inquiry in 5, 4, 3 ... (n/t)

[Deminpenn]

12. Rear end collisions are generally

the fault of the driver of the vehicle that hit the other vehicle from behind. That would be Fetterman in this case.

[maxsolomon]

13. What's "well over" 70 mph?

80?

Most everyone out here in the great PNW lives by the maxim "10 miles over the limit isn't really speeding".

[Mawspam2]

14. The unofficial PO rule is...

Nine your fine, ten your mine.

[LisaM]

15. I can't believe people are defending his speeding.

He was in a very large vehicle, he's a lawmaker, and, moreover, he's a fairly recent stroke victim. I like the guy, but there is no excuse. He injured someone and totaled her car.

[hamsterjill]

16. I agree

I don’t understand why Congress members do not take it for granted that they are constantly under scrutiny and behave accordingly, at least during their elected terms. Maybe that’s not fair to them as human beings, but I get frustrated when our side provides any kind of negative fodder for the other side.

[stopdiggin]

18. +1. we gotta' learn to take our lumps when we're in the wrong

(as is so clearly the case here)
Poor decisions and bad judgement - from a guy that was (unfortunately) already under a bit of a microscope.
Does this 'mistake' make him a Jeffrey Epstein? Not hardly. But it's also certainly not a good look ... And the criticism coming his way is warranted!

[orangecrush]

19. How do they know he was speeding?

He was not clocked by radar.

"passed a witness on I-70 in northwest Maryland "at a high rate of speed, well over the posted speed limit"

[padah513]

21. Can't say, but both cars were towed and everyone went to the hospital, so he wasn't driving Miss Daisy.

[rpannier]

23. Don't know.

But they probably judge it by damage to the vehicles, how far the car ahead of Fetterman was pushed once he hit it, and other items and info collected.
He is at fault because he hit the other car.
It's really, really, really rare that the driver in front is at fault.

I didn't see what car he was driving (or the other car). But if he was driving a GM, maybe they do know
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerdooley/2024/03/12/your-driving-data-may-be-sold-to-insurers-general-motors-reveals/
https://www.marketplace.org/2024/04/25/gm-was-collecting-and-sharing-drivers-data-often-without-their-knowledge/
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/technology/carmakers-driver-tracking-insurance.html

And if GM was doing it, what are the odds other manufacturers either do, or were going to do so?

[LisaM]

24. He was driving a Chevrolet Traverse, not a small car.

He hit an Impala.

It was an eyewitness account that he was speeding but given that it was 7:45 am and on a highway, it seems reasonable to believe it was true. Anyone who's been on a freeway early in the morning can tell when someone is speeding.

[rpannier]

33. Thanks for the info

Appreciated

[mahatmakanejeeves]

34. The other day, I hit an impala in my cargo shorts.

What an impala was doing in my cargo shorts, I'll never know.

[orangecrush]

40. ...

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

31. All modern vehicles have data recorders, similar to the "black box" on aircraft

Police can pull the data and see the speed the vehicle was traveling prior to the impact.

[Novara]

29. I totally agree. He was speeding and hit someone. He was stupid.

And yeah, he's not just a Joe Schmoe - everything he does will be scrutinized.

I used to be a habitual speeder. I've gotten less aggressive on the road as I've gotten older, and I didn't even have a wake-up call. It just doesn't make sense to drive like an asshole, to peed, etc. Accidents can happen in a split second.

Slow down. The extra minute you might save by speeding isn't worth someone's life.

[RobinA]

36. Gotta Agree

I'm not a slow driver or a timid one, but what goes on on major highways these days is truly frightening. I've been driving I-95 between Philadelphia and points south since the '70's and within the past 10 years it has become truly hair raising, particularly north of DC. There's really no excuse for some of the driving out there. Not only the speed, but the ones that run up behind you and then dart out into the next lane, nearly removing the back end of your car while they're at it.

[Aussie105]

20. Bad decisions while driving?

Most of the time you get away with it.

Sometimes you don't.

Unfortunately you can't tell what might happen until it happens.

Wouldn't even have made the news if the driver of the at-fault car was named Fred Bloggs.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

26. Sometimes, you are just "multi-tasking". ...

... or in other words, not paying attention.

[True Dough]

28. Maybe not newsworthy, as you suggested,

but I know Fred Bloggs and he's a terrible driver!

[RobinA]

37. I've Made My Share

but going faster than the car in front of you generally has pretty predictable results, and there are way too many people doing it on highways these days.

[Bucky]

38. I still like the guy, but given his medical history...

I don't think he should be driving. He's a senator. He should hire a driver and read proposed legislation in the back seat. Or call campaign donors.