An Officer’s Close-Up Look at Crash Deaths, Shattered Families

Cpl. John Turner has seen the holes torn in people’s lives by a fatal car crash.

Like so many other traffic cops in Ventura County, he has interviewed stunned witnesses, dazed survivors and the shattered relatives of the dead.

And, despite 19 years as an officer, Turner is still amazed at how easily society accepts this random, brutal brand of death.

He also is alarmed by what he sees as a rise in aggressive, risky driving and a corresponding jump in the accident rate.

“In society, homicides are shocking, and fatalities are just a price,” says Turner, the lead traffic investigator for the Ventura Police Department. “The general public accepts [them] as the price of doing societal business.”

Murders rarely come as haphazard bolts from the blue, he says. Most murder victims are killed for a reason. Not so for auto fatalities.

“How many times was somebody simply extricated from society because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time?” he asks. “Collisions are very democratic in their application. They choose every strata of society, from risk-taking people to people on their way to work.”

A fatal wreck “creates a vacuum, a hole where someone used to be who was not engaging in a risk that would invite death,” Turner says. “He was not a gang member. He was not involved in narcotics or alcohol. He simply pulled out on a green light and was slammed into by someone else who was running a red.

And that person did nothing else but expect another person to comply with the law.”

While the number of fatal crashes in Ventura County is not increasing with the population--some say it’s because cars are safer and more people worry about seat-belt use and drunken driving--the number of accidents is rising, Turner says.

So is the type of automotive aggression that leads to major-injury crashes, he adds.

One trend that troubles Turner is a rise in accidents caused by grudge matches between two drivers who trade discourteous moves for several miles, such as cutting each other off or blocking an attempt to exit.

“People just seem to gather some type of enjoyment out of denying people the opportunity to do something they need to do,” he says.

And he notes that even if police hires in Ventura County kept pace with population growth--which they do not--respect for the law among many motorists is fading fast.

“You can design all you like. You can educate all you will. And the bottom line is if they don’t fear enforcement, that’s the end of that,” Turner says. “It feels like they don’t fear being stopped any more.”

Nor do most motorists fear death on the roads, he says. Many believe fatal accidents only happen to other people.

“The typical driver has no more recognition of fear of what he’s doing, or the possible repercussions, than a person has if he smokes a cigarette,” he says. “They lose sight of the fact that this could kill you. Everybody drives. Everybody speeds. Everybody says, ‘I did it yesterday and I didn’t get caught, so I’ll do it tomorrow.’ ”

The ultimate cost is the swift, hard blow of a fatal crash that changes their lives forever.

“I’ve watched a man setting out breakfast while I’m trying to interview him about an accident where his wife died,” Turner recalls.

“He’s laying down the plates, and he stops, and says, ‘Huh. Look at that. I set a place for her. Pretty silly, huh?’ ”

“And he picks up the plate again,” Turner says. “And it rips your heart out.”