Toyota Tacoma driver flies off Boston's elevated Rt. 93 and lives

The driver of a 2006 Toyota Tacoma survived a plunge off of Boston’s famed “Uppah-deck” this past Sunday morning at 6:21am. The Upper deck of I-93 leads drivers out of Boston away from the TD Banknorth Garden (The Gahdin) where the Bruins play badly as of late. The split that the driver fails to see coming leads drivers either further north towards Somerville and Medford (Medfid), or one can loop left down into the worst traffic nightmare imaginable. I grew up just three miles from that spot and have never exited left there in 30 years of driving. I never will.

Tacoma Crash
As you can see in the video, the driver goes straight into, and through, a pole. There is also a concrete divider and aluminum car railing (cah-railin) in that spot. Just for good measure there was a chain link fence. The driver took away six segments of that. Usually there is a safety barrier of barrels full of sand or water as well. That appears to be the case in the video. The Tacoma pretty much ignores that whole physical impediment and goes up and over the railing and plunges down onto the lower deck (lowah-deck). The lower deck of I-93 is the road into the city. The stop-and go line of traffic to get to that spot on workdays starts about 35 miles north of this location in New Hampshire about exit 3 near Canobie Lake Park at this time of the morning. Only readers not from the area think this is a joke.

Boston's Rt. 93
This spot is famous in a way. The U.S. taxpayers and the Commonwealth of Mass. paid, and are still paying, a $15 billion price tag to submerge the upper and lower decks through Boston to beautify the city. Somerville and Charlestown were not beautified and hence the road is still a concrete jungle there. Traffic flow was not helped by the project, as the roadway was increased from three lanes to three (not a typo) in a brilliant moment of foresight by city planners. The spot that was cleared of the highway in downtown Boston was the location of the Occupy Boston movement. The area of this crash is called the Leverett Connector. According to Wikipedia the spot was the “winner of a July 2001 National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA) "prize bridge" Award."

Lexus and Toyota Safety
Like the Lexus RX350 we recently reported on that flew 4-stories off of a parking garage roof and landed upside down, this Toyota Tacoma also protected its driver from being killed. How, is unclear. Either Toyotas and Lexus trucks and sport ‘utes have some serious safety protections from airborne crashes, or this is all just a coincidence. The driver of the Tacoma has been charged with driving under the influence. Thank goodness nobody was under this crash.

Earlier Crash
For those from this area, yes, this is the same spot at which a Boston Globe truck flew off. Recent reports are that the driver, Paul Healey has made a full recovery. Healey’s vehicle was forced off the road in August of 2013 by a driver arrested for drunk driving. Boston is nothing if not consistent.