Road Runner: ‘Don’t judge,’ says driver whose stalled Volvo was swallowed by monsoon

Aug. 15--Many Tucsonans have faced the decision: to cross or turn around.

When summer monsoons turn many regional thoroughfares into ephemeral but ferocious waterways, the quickest route can mean rolling the dice and forging ahead, while the safe way can mean significant delays.

Many drivers, including Road Runner and his trusty four-cylinder Ford coupe named Boss, have taken the chance -- on at least one occasion. Probably most motorists, including Boss and the Road Runner, make it safely to the other side.

Craig Sumberg and his Volvo sedan were not so lucky on Tuesday, when torrential rains flooded downtown's Stone Avenue underpass, swallowing his stalled-out car. The rains also led to eight swift-water rescues elsewhere in the area. A Tucson Fire Department spokesman called the day one of the busiest for flood-related incidents that he could recall in recent years.

Sumberg, like many whose monsoon misfortunes are aired publicly, was subjected to a torrent of online criticism.

"People are just too dumb to take another route which would add maybe five minutes travel time," one representative Facebook commenter wrote after the Star published a video of Sumberg's car re-emerging.

"Stupid motorist," wrote another, both insulting Sumberg and referencing a well-known Arizona law that will be discussed below.

Sumberg certainly regrets having made the decision to proceed through the underpass, but his account of the incident suggests that if he is indeed a "stupid motorist," the ranks of such drivers locally are legion (if you honestly answer this poll, we'll get some idea of just how many).

After having crossed several flooding roadways uneventfully on his way to work Tuesday morning, Sumberg got to the underpass and saw that vehicles were still "passing on both sides." He went in with other southbound vehicles, and estimated that there was between a foot and a foot-and-a-half of standing water at the bottom of the many-decades-old structure. Not much, but enough to spell trouble.

His Volvo made it through the tunnel, but stalled on the way up and out, coming to a stop on a patch of road with no standing water yet, according to his account. An SUV behind him waited a few minutes before passing him and driving away. Motorists entering the underpass northbound saw what had happened to Sumberg and U-turned to high ground.

Over the next 10 minutes, Sumberg watched the water rise to door-level as he called his insurance company and then 911, hoping to get the car towed before it was overtaken completely. He eventually grabbed some of his belongings and walked the rest of the way to work downtown.

"It was not a happy piece of information," he said of learning that the tow truck didn't arrived in time.

What did he take away from this experience? That many local drivers, despite years of experience with monsoons and their awe-inspiring power, make risky decisions with floodwaters. He just happened to be the one whose number was up.

"Until you've been in the situation yourself, don't judge the actions of the driver," he told the Road Runner. "What I did I've done dozens of times and seen dozens of other Tucsonans do it. I was just the first car to get stuck."

He'd also like readers to learn from his misfortune: "Unless (drivers are) 100 percent sure they're going to make it, turn around."

Boss will be glad to know that your humble columnist intends to heed Sumberg's sensible advice going forward.

As for the Stone underpass -- whose flooding has been such a regular occurrence historically that, when waterlogged, it has been dubbed Lake Elmira for much of the past century -- major infrastructure work on tap may cut down on the frequency of flooding like the water that claimed Sumberg's car.

The drainage system beneath the underpass is set for a major upgrade, and new catch basins will be installed nearby, said Sam Credio, a Tucson Department of Transportation engineering manager.

Those improvements, part of the roughly $40 million third phase of the Downtown Links project, will also improve the situation at the Sixth Avenue underpass, which also fills up during heavy downpours.

A TDOT spokesman estimated the underpasses flood a few times every monsoon season, but Credio said that once construction is complete -- it's slated to start in early 2017 -- the "possibility" of such events will "definitely" be reduced.

And now, back to the famous "stupid motorist" law, which became an even hotter topic of conversation later Tuesday after it was learned that county Supervisor Sharon Bronson's county-issued SUV was swept away near Oracle and Fort Lowell Roads.

Many commenters insinuated that the law would not be applied in her case because of her political prominence.

"Think she'll get a 'stupid motorist fine?'" one Facebook commenter asked before answering his own question: "I doubt it!"

But whatever the circumstances of Bronson's incident, the details of which are somewhat unclear, she would certainly not be alone if authorities don't apply the law (28-910 of the Arizona Revised Statutes, if you want to Google it).

Subsection A of the statute states that to be fined for rescue expenses, a driver must, of course, enter a flooded roadway, but the crossing must also be barricaded at the time. Bronson said there was no barricade across Cemetery Wash on North Balboa Avenue.

Because of last week's incidents and resulting social media uproar, the Road Runner called local law enforcement representatives to see how often the stupid motorist law is applied.

The short answer? Not often.

Between June 2014 and August of this year, the Pima County Sheriff's Department responded to 81 flood-related rescues and issued eight stupid motorist citations, according to data provided by Capt. Russell Ponzio. That works out to 3.6 per year.

While the Tucson Police Department did not provide analogous data, spokesman Sgt. Pete Dugan said TPD "rarely" applies the statute (but before you think you're off the hook in that jurisdiction, he also pointed out there are many other statutes officers can apply when drivers make poor driving decisions during downpours).

"Driving through running water or flooded areas is not only extremely dangerous for the driver and their occupants, but is also dangerous for the first responders that oftentimes have to rescue those individuals," he went on to say in an email. "If you see running water, whether it is barricaded or not, turn around and choose an alternate route. It takes very little water to float a vehicle."

Tucson Fire Department spokesman Capt. Barrett Baker, whose colleagues broke the rear window of Bronson's 2014 Ford Escape Tuesday morning and helped her to safety, said even if the law were to be used against the supervisor, "We didn't have to call in any additional resource. We didn't incur any additional costs to perform that rescue."

"There's nothing for us to charge for," he added.

"All we're worried about, truth be told, is whether the person is OK and how do we prevent other people from doing it," Baker told the Road Runner.

DOWN THE ROAD

Starting at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Stone Avenue will be closed between Helen Street and First Street. Detours will be established directing northbound and southbound motorists east to Sixth Avenue. The section is expected to reopen by Aug. 22. The closure is intended to expedite the reconstruction of the Speedway-Stone intersection.

Contact: mwoodhouse@tucson.com or 573-4235. On Twitter: @murphywoodhouse

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