Discussions

The one thing that come to mind, and I do see it a lot, is people waiting to make a left turn are sitting in the intersection with their wheels already turned to the left.  
Not sure if this happened in the mentioned accident, but it is something that happens way to often.

You mean the car's on an angle getting ready to turn left or just the front wheels? I'm not following.

Either or fits the situation he's referring too. If you are stopped waiting to turn left - either on an angle or with your wheels turned and you are rear ended you are then pushed into oncoming traffic instead of straight ahead

don brown said "The one thing that come to mind, and I do see it a lot, is people waiting to make a left turn are sitting in the intersection with their wheels already turned to the left.   Not sure if this happened in the mentioned accident, but it is something that happens way to often. "

Don,  
 
That was my thinking as well as I too see it way too often in Brandon. This particular tragedy has little information and may not be a case where the car rear ended was waoting to turn left, not sure. But, the accident itself immediately made me think of what I see in Brandon way too often. When waoting to turn left a drivers wheels should remain straight kust in case of a rear end accident. Otherwise, a series of events could transpire with tragic results. Again, not saying that this was a chain reaction tragedy due to wheels turned while waiting for trafic to clear, but it is food for thought. Hope all injured recover fully and sympathies do go out to the victoms famiies. Tks for posting Don!

I have been told that even if your vehicle is aiming straight but your wheels are turned to the left, and you are rear ended, the vehicle will likely head off into the oncoming lane of traffic. Getting hit from the rear causes all objects in the vehicle to try and move into the rear of the vehicle, meaning if you have your brakes on when hit they will likely temporarily come off as the car moves ahead and you remain stationary for a split second.

I believe that in rural areas there are all sorts of innocent mistakes that put people in danger every day. The most common one I see is people not stopping at the end of lane ways before entering a main road. People usually don't miss seeing vehicles coming on their left since view is usually not obstructed, but on the right side the cab post can cause a blind spot that is responsible for many accidents, or close calls.

your driver ed, you'll remember the instructor recommending  
you keep your wheels straight when stopped trying to make a left turn in case of a rear end event. Unfortunately that does not always work. If you have pulled over a bit into the median but your rear end is still exposed i doubt which direction your wheels were turned , your going to get pushed into the oncoming traffic likley sideways.  
 
which is how they were hit. but the article did not mention if they were stopped, just that they got rear ended and pushed into oncoming.  
 
not enough information, gravel road, high speed.  
 
very unfortunate tragedy for 3 innocent people.