Identified! CA - Police searching for car seen in video driving off CA hwy cliff, 30 Dec 2019-ID Tracey Sinclair

[MJPeony]

And traffic tends to drive far too fast for the road's condition.

Oh that is so true. I’ve started sweating bullets on several occasions driving that road with cars barreling down on my bumper. Very stressful. There is nothing you can do until a pullout comes along and even then it’s hard to pull over. I’m not surprised that the videoing car didn’t pull over. I would assume they immediately called California Highway Patrol however. I can’t remember if it’s been stated if they called right away.



MOO.

 

[oceanstarryeyes]

It is interesting and thanks for sharing that article.

I agree with the article that it would be difficult to do a good fake so its likely a real video but I do disagree about one part in the article.

Article says that it would have been hard for the person to fake date/time stamps on each frame of the video and do that in the short time it took from time of event to calling LE when they showed up. But that doesnt take into account what if the person took days and days to make the fake video and edited the date/time stamps to be future date/times to match the day he was going to unleash this video to the world and drive by that spot. It could have all been done ahead of time.

I do agree it is painstaking and would be very time consuming to do it. But isnt that what hackers and people that make fake videos do? They invest a large amount of time and effort into making things seem real. So I think it could have been possible to do in advance.

I am also not sure LE has even checked that metadata information on each frame. I had not seen LE confirm that they even looked at that. The article tells us how to check it but I had not seen where LE said they did check it.

The lack of seeing dust behind the wheels as car drove into that sandy parking area and off the cliff is bothersome as well as the lack of the driver even reacting to the car crossing in front of them. So a few things still bother me about the video but I have to go with LE determination that its real because surely by now they have really checked things out about both witnesses. I hope they did anyway.

We really need to identify who and how many people went off that cliff. Someone is surely worried about them by now I would think.

San Mateo County cliff crash video mystery: Real or deepfake?

Sand doesn’t make dust like dirt or gravel would.

 

[Kittybunny]

Just catching up on this...crazy that no one has come forward yet! What a mystery!

 

[carbuff]

Oh that is so true. I’ve started sweating bullets on several occasions driving that road with cars barreling down on my bumper. Very stressful. There is nothing you can do until a pullout comes along and even then it’s hard to pull over. I’m not surprised that the videoing car didn’t pull over. I would assume they immediately called California Highway Patrol however. I can’t remember if it’s been stated if they called right away.

Post upthread says the driver pulled over at the next safe space and waited for LE there.

CA - Police searching for car seen in video driving off hwy cliff in California, 30 December 2019

 

[10ofRods]

[bbm]

I don't understand the bolded part?

Highway 1 is a paved state highway that stands about 4-5" above the shoulder. However, in many many places (especially this time of year), there's erosion, so the differental can be 10" or more. If I have to pull of in my SUV (which is one reason I have one, since I drive the lower section of PCH frequently for work), I know I'm not going to scrape bottom in my car. Lower clearance SUV's and typical passenger cars may hit bottom and do real damage to their car. Plus, they may have difficulty getting back on the road (the solution of course is to either carry wedges or look around for a good sized tree limb or some rocks). This is true in many places in the American West, but especially true for Highway 1.

People in their Ford F-150's do not worry about this, I don't worry about it in my 4Runner but we actually killed a VW bug in a similar circumstance (cut a line, lost oil, no warning light came on - which is a known defect for VW bugs and a reason why they're no longer made, IMO).

At any rate, hitting a 1 foot drop in your car at 50 mph is a bad idea, and slowing down suddenly on Highway 1 (with all its curves and cars going 60 mph right behind you) is also a bad idea. Even a 6" drop is like driving off a sidewalk, which most people prefer not to do in their cars.

I don't drive northern Highway 1 at this time of year, btw (for just this reason). I don't like to speed and cars stack up behind me and then I have to slow down and check each pull out before I use it (because there's also erosion inside those pull outs - big huge potholes and sometimes sink holes). My route to work has one place that we locals know about where there's a huge pothole/sinkhole and it is filled with water right now. It's on Highway 1. You wouldn't know that it's actually more than a foot deep unless you've driven it before, so yeah, some people get their cars very wet going through it (makes me worry a bit about their electrical components). I know exactly how to hit it to keep my tires on the pavement...but the entire puddle is probably 10" deep right now. It's slippery as heck, too.

 

[10ofRods]

Oh that is so true. I’ve started sweating bullets on several occasions driving that road with cars barreling down on my bumper. Very stressful. There is nothing you can do until a pullout comes along and even then it’s hard to pull over. I’m not surprised that the videoing car didn’t pull over. I would assume they immediately called California Highway Patrol however. I can’t remember if it’s been stated if they called right away.



MOO.

If they had cell service - another major issue once you're south of Point Lobos, all the way to San Simeon. Nepenthe has cell service, for those of you planning a trip - it really is spectacular (although the last two years, residents have protested the sheer amount of cars in summertime - April and October-November are great times to visit).

Anyway, we Californians are watching this case with real curiosity and trepidation. Car parts do sometimes wash up in big storms...people sometimes dump unoccupied cars in coastal gullies (and...in the ocean? Who knows?) Can a whole SUV just disappear? We've been having king tides and 35 foot waves and such.

 

[LadyL]

Highway 1 is a paved state highway that stands about 4-5" above the shoulder. However, in many many places (especially this time of year), there's erosion, so the differental can be 10" or more. If I have to pull of in my SUV (which is one reason I have one, since I drive the lower section of PCH frequently for work), I know I'm not going to scrape bottom in my car. Lower clearance SUV's and typical passenger cars may hit bottom and do real damage to their car. Plus, they may have difficulty getting back on the road (the solution of course is to either carry wedges or look around for a good sized tree limb or some rocks). This is true in many places in the American West, but especially true for Highway 1.

People in their Ford F-150's do not worry about this, I don't worry about it in my 4Runner but we actually killed a VW bug in a similar circumstance (cut a line, lost oil, no warning light came on - which is a known defect for VW bugs and a reason why they're no longer made, IMO).

At any rate, hitting a 1 foot drop in your car at 50 mph is a bad idea, and slowing down suddenly on Highway 1 (with all its curves and cars going 60 mph right behind you) is also a bad idea. Even a 6" drop is like driving off a sidewalk, which most people prefer not to do in their cars.

I don't drive northern Highway 1 at this time of year, btw (for just this reason). I don't like to speed and cars stack up behind me and then I have to slow down and check each pull out before I use it (because there's also erosion inside those pull outs - big huge potholes and sometimes sink holes). My route to work has one place that we locals know about where there's a huge pothole/sinkhole and it is filled with water right now. It's on Highway 1. You wouldn't know that it's actually more than a foot deep unless you've driven it before, so yeah, some people get their cars very wet going through it (makes me worry a bit about their electrical components). I know exactly how to hit it to keep my tires on the pavement...but the entire puddle is probably 10" deep right now. It's slippery as heck, too.

wow I'm surprised the city leaves it like that and no lawsuits

 

[oviedo]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.sacbee.com/news/california/article239369388.html

More proof emerges that car flew off California cliff — but mystery remains unsolved
BY JARED GILMOUR

JANUARY 16, 2020 02:36 PM

snipped
....phone interview with McClatchy News. “He stuck around for about five hours on scene and cooperated with our investigating offers. As you can imagine, he was a little shook from what he saw.”

But that man was the only witness until a second came forward this month, bolstering the story of what happened that day
...

 

[meanmaryjean]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.sacbee.com/news/california/article239369388.html

More proof emerges that car flew off California cliff — but mystery remains unsolved
BY JARED GILMOUR

JANUARY 16, 2020 02:36 PM

snipped
....phone interview with McClatchy News. “He stuck around for about five hours on scene and cooperated with our investigating offers. As you can imagine, he was a little shook from what he saw.”

But that man was the only witness until a second came forward this month, bolstering the story of what happened that day
...

I believe this. I know I've seen accidents happen on the roads, and being a nurse feel compelled to stop and render aid. BUT if I see no signs of injury OR I see someone else is stopping to help- I generally continue on my way. Car off the cliff- there's CLEARLY nothing anyone in another car can do besides report it.

 

[carbuff]

I bet he was shaken. If he was another twenty feet farther along the highway, the Lexus would have hit him and probably taken them both over.

 

[katydid23]

wow I'm surprised the city leaves it like that and no lawsuits

There's not a lot they can do to fix the road. It's on the edge of a receding cliff. On the other side is hills and large boulders. So there is no place to expand the roads or even fix it. It may not last for many more decades. And I believe it is the oldest highway in California. Highway One.

 

[BeachSky]

I bet he was shaken. If he was another twenty feet farther along the highway, the Lexus would have hit him and probably taken them both over.

Excellent point.

 

[BeachSky]

There's not a lot they can do to fix the road. It's on the edge of a receding cliff. On the other side is hills and large boulders. So there is no place to expand the roads or even fix it. It may not last for many more decades. And I believe it is the oldest highway in California. Highway One.

I think it was bazillions to fix just 1/4 mile of PCH /Big Sur after the mudslide ..took a year & half closure.
CA don’t fix it if not very broken
It is what it is.

MOO

 

[LadyL]

it scares me just looking at it - I sure wouldn't drive it regularly

 

[Rosegold68]

thats horrific, hope its solved soon

 

[human]

I would think the car would not break into tiny pieces. Has a drone been flown over to see if there is anything in the water? Or does the ocean cover everything with rocks and sand?

 

[carbuff]

I would think the car would not break into tiny pieces. Has a drone been flown over to see if there is anything in the water? Or does the ocean cover everything with rocks and sand?

The articles/videos mention divers, side-scan sonar, and some car parts (unspecified) recovered, but nothing definitive that they've announced.

 

[MJPeony]

Is it possible that someone could figure out it was their friend/relative in the car, contact the police, yet it would never hit the news? I imagine that would be possible, and that we the public may never know even if the person has been identified.


(Or is LE somehow required to disclose the name in an incident such as this? I feel like I should already know this ....)


MOO.

 

[carbuff]

Is it possible that someone could figure out it was their friend/relative in the car, contact the police, yet it would never hit the news? I imagine that would be possible, and that we the public may never know even if the person has been identified.


(Or is LE somehow required to disclose the name in an incident such as this? I feel like I should already know this ....)


MOO.

As far as I know, you are correct--they don't need to tell us or make any kind of announcement.

 

[BeachSky]

Some photos of the area