Lost cell-phone caller drives into river, dies

[Liberal_in_LA]

Lost cell-phone caller drives into river, dies
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

San Francisco Chronicle August 16, 2010 12:29 PM

ISLETON, SACRAMENTO COUNTY -- An Antioch woman died after she drove off a boat ramp and into the Sacramento River while she was talking on a cell phone with her daughter, asking for directions, authorities said today.

Kathleen Gomez Collier, 47, drove her Ford Expedition into the water near Isleton (Sacramento County) at about 11:45 p.m. Saturday, said Officer Michael Bradley of the California Highway Patrol.

Collier was lost on Highway 160 and was trying to find her way back to Antioch, so she stopped at Vieira's Resort to get directions, Bradley said.

She was on the phone with her daughter when she drove onto the boat ramp at the resort, Bradley said. She paused briefly before driving into the river, the CHP said.

Just before the call was cut off, Collier told her daughter that her car was filling up with water and to phone her insurance company, Bradley said.

Divers found Collier's body at about 9:45 a.m. Sunday.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/16/BAAH1EUOCI.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0wndvZr2T

[RockaFowler]

1. Get off the phone!!!!!

How many times a day do I see idiots like this talking on the phone and not looking at traffic????

[flvegan]

2. "She paused briefly before driving into the river, the CHP said. "

Wait...what?

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. People don't think clearly (about driving) when they are on the phone

[Mudoria]

18. People don't think... period!

What is so freakin' important about a phone call that you literally put your own life and that of other innocent drivers in danger?

[Regret My New Name]

33. I don't know if that's a valid excuse for that....

That works for stuff like running red lights, crossing into the wrong lane, running over pedestrians and stuff like that... I'm not sure how one can be so distracted to stop and then drive off a boat ramp. I must not have played out like it is in my head...

[Subdivisions]

20. I was going to make the same observation but decided since it

was nearly midnight that perhaps it was very dark. BUT, the fact she was on her cellphone definately contributed to this because, as hard as it is to see water on what looks like a road, at night, it is even harder to discern if your mind is working on a cell phone conversation and not potential obstacles in your path. Also, she could have been a short person in that big Expedition, which would also contribute to this accident as she may not have had an optimal view of the situation over the hood of her car.

[geardaddy]

21. I know!

That's what I thought.

I hate to say it, but this is a Darwin Award candidate.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. lol

whoops

[hobbit709]

5. TSTL

[Fumesucker]

6. It wouldn't have happened to a man..

He wouldn't have asked for directions.. :evilgrin:

:hide:

[EFerrari]

30. . . . .

:spank:

[MadHound]

7. I would say we had a Darwin contender, but then again she has already spawned.

Hopefully her progeny will take this example to heart and stay off the phone when driving.

Idiot, stayed on the phone talking after the car went in the water.

[Lance_Boyle]

8. Stopped to get directions, but then called daughter instead. OK.

But the bit about stopping briefly before driving into the river is... odd. I think the dead woman just might have been dumber than a bag of wet Ford Expeditions.

[RKP5637]

9. The ultimate distraction when driving. n/t

[Fumesucker]

14. Nope, not even close..

I know of something far more distracting than any cell phone.

Breaker one nine, we have a motorist in distress, he's losing air and a beaver is blowing like mad on his valve stem trying to reinflate him.

[RKP5637]

31. LOL LOL LOL !!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[JuniperLea]

10. I'd like a blow horn in my car, with a recorded message...

So all I have to do is hit one button...

"Get off the fucking phone before you kill someone!"

I see asshats on the fucking phone every damn day in Los Angeles! Idiots! If they want to play fast and loose with their own lives, so be it... but if they kill me, or force me to watch someone else being killed due to their stupidity, I'm going to be even more pissed than I am right now... and this story really, really pisses me off! Imagine that poor daughter... Jeebus!

[Bluebear]

11. 'her car was filling up with water and to phone her insurance company'

Oh my. :(

[RKP5637]

32. Maybe she was thinking I'll get a new Ford Expedition outta this one for sure! n/t

[gratuitous]

12. This is it . . . the rise of the machines

Our tools are becoming our masters. They will slowly begin to wipe us ou--***ZZZZTTTZTT!***

Never mind. Forget it. No, my computer didn't just electrocute me. Whatever are you talking about?

[hedgehog]

13. This must have been a case of cell phone use compounded by something else;

drugs? Alcohol? stroke?

[Gormy Cuss]

25. I agree.

The sequence of events and telling her daughter to call the insurance company both sound like something else was happening.

[Webster Green]

15. "car was filling up with water and to phone her insurance company"

Wow!

That was priority number one?

[EOTE]

16. The insurance company?!?!?

911 maybe, but the insurance company?!?! WTF? I just don't understand why so many people die this way. You'd think that people would learn to roll their windows down slightly in situations like this. Then, once they're in the water, they could just open the door and swim out. Why would one just wait to drown in the water?

[CBGLuthier]

17. another thread filled with the infinite compassion of the too funny uber cool

Life and its tragedies are just another excuse to pull out some rusty old comedy material heard once and impress with cleverness and aloofness.

SO everybody should just fuck up and die because the world needs a good laugh.

[Fumesucker]

19. Thousands of people die in horrible ways every day..

In fact there really aren't that many ways of dying that aren't horrible.

And everyone will die at some point, hence the joking.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

27. People die all the time in traffic accidents.

This story only made the news because it's funny.

Pro-tip: you don't look like a better person by being a scold, you only look like a scold.

[Bozita]

22. Gotta wonder if she got lost while talking on the phone

[Ezlivin]

23. That wouldn't have happened with a new iPhone!

She wouldn't have gotten a signal.

:)

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Xithras]

26. I know that ramp. I can see how this could happen. Not as farfetched as some here might think.

First, let me say that I CAN understand how someone could drive off that ramp. You turn off the highway, enter their parking lot, and the ramp is at the end of the lot. The ramp itself sits behind a levee, so you see a rise in the road, come over the top, and find yourself in the water. If you're not paying attention to the signs, it would be pretty easy to do. I don't think she's the first person to lose a car there. That is a very remote and rural part of the Delta, so it's VERY dark at night...no street lights around there.

I can even understand the comment about calling the insurance. It's a very shallow ramp, and she may not have immediately realized that her car was getting into deeper water. If she thought she was in shallow water, she may have just wanted her daughter to call AAA for a tow.

[name not needed]

28. "Gee, why does that road look all blue and wayey?"

[DailyGrind51]

29. She was driving a huge SUV while distracted, stupid people died in stupid ways!

[TK421]

34. There was a text message glug,glug,glug...gurgle IFS (I'm fucking sinking)