Ever Wonder Why A Highway Crash Takes So Long to Clear?

FormerHangie

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FormerHangie
On Monday, I was heading back from Ocala, Fl, to Atlanta. I'd been moving my mother's possessions out of her assisted living apartment into a storage unit, as it's unlikely she'll be well enough to live on her own again. It had already been a long day when I headed northward at 3:30, getting on I-75 at the US 27 entrance ramp. I had barely gotten up to speed when it started to rain, hard. I backed off a little and gave myself some space as the visibility had gotten rather limited, and almost immediately I could see that traffic had come to a standstill, so I got on the brakes. I was having to brake a little harder than I would have liked, but nothing too extreme, but I immediately questioned whether the folks behind me were going to get stopped. In a situation like this, as soon I get my rate of braking established, if there's time available, I glance up in the mirror to see who is behind me and how close he is. On this occasion, I see a 1 ton Ram pickup towing a stock trailer, I can see he's on the brakes but his rig looks like it's getting a little jiggy on him, so I'm expecting an impact.

I'd rehearsed in my mind many times what to do in a situation like this: Left foot on the floor, push myself moderately into the seat, as soon as I get stopped put my head against the headrest and drop my hands to the bottom of the steering wheel, hold on loosely, and close my eyes, and wait for the impact. This is the first time in 40 years of driving that I needed it. About two seconds after getting stopped, maybe less, I hear a loud BANG! and can feel glass shards in my lap. I open my eyes and can see that the driver's window had shattered and the side curtain airbags had deployed. Because I can't see past the airbags, I don't know what's next to me, but figure it would be wise to stay in the car for a few more seconds just in case we're not through crashing. I can also tell that other than my left ear is ringing that I'm not injured, so I get out. Next to me is a black Chevy Malibu with heavy damage, and in the driver's seat there is a young woman talking on her phone in a very animated manner. I also see a white Honda in the leftmost lane that is badly mangled, and the occupants had gotten out and are standing by the guardrail. I can also see the truck and trailer, they've gone off the right side of road and are stuck in a shrubby area, with the truck jackknifed. Fortunately the trailer is empty. I go over to see if they are injured, but they are not, but the passenger says that part of the seat jabbed him in the side and that he was sore. Also stopped in the left lane, but in front of me, is a white SUV with minor bumper damage, and more confusingly, on the right side of the road behind me is another sedan, and a wrecker. I'm trying to figure out how he got here so quickly. There are a number of people out of their cars talking on their phone, but I'm not one of them, the airbag deployment has my ears ringing and I can't hear very well.

While we're waiting for the police, a few of us start kicking debris out of the way so that there's at least a path for one vehicle to start getting through. We get enough broken plastic and glass moved to get one lane going and continue to wait for the police. about 15 minutes go by and still no police, so I call 911. My hearing is still not very good, and there are trucks going by a few feet away so I can barely hear him. I tell him where we are and how long it's been, but am having the hardest time hearing him. The phone gets quiet, and I realize he's ended the call. Finally, about 10 minutes later, an unmarked car drives up and a state trooper gets out. He starts checking for injured,and then a second one pulls up. This one pulls out some rubber cones and stops traffic. Someone starts sweeping the debris off of the roadway and another wrecker appears, then a whole fleet of them. After talking to each of us, the trooper asks me if my car will move. It does and they ask me to put it on the left shoulder. One wrecker removes the black Malibu that was alongside my car, the white Honda pulls onto the left shoulder, and the troopers open two lanes of traffic. The wrecker drivers descend on the truck and trailer, and start pulling it out of the woods, while those of us with broken cars wait. It takes the wrecker drivers quite a while to pull the truck and trailer out of the woods, and then they all leave to work another accident, leaving us there. At this point we're probably an hour and a half from when this occurred.

While I'm waiting, I start talking to some of the other drivers. It turns out that there were three separate incidents: the truck and trailer going off into the bushes, the white Honda reareending the SUV, and the black Malibu rearending the wrecker that had been sitting on the shoulder and then bouncing into my car. Speaking of my car, the driver's door does open and close, sort of, but is badly beaten up. The outside mirror is gone, the window is shattered, and the side curtain airbags are hanging down from the windshield to the back glass. The seatbelt no longer works, and there's some damage to the rear door on the driver's side as well. The trooper asks me if I need a tow, and I say yes. If I lived nearby I would have driven home, but I'm not interested in trying to drive 400 miles in a car with no window, a door that may or may not close, the airbags hanging down and the seatbelt not working - plus who knows what else.

Finally more wreckers appear. They hook up all the other cars and haul them away, leaving me there. The trooper comes by, gives me a bottle of water, and tells me that the towing company didn't send enough wreckers because one of the other drivers said he didn't need a tow, then realized that he did, and since I was the farthest one down the road and the damage wasn't obvious, they left me there without asking if I needed towing. He gave me his name and phone number, and the number of another towing company that he had called, then asks me if I need anything else. I don't, so off he goes to another accident.

So, there I am, standing in the center median of I-75 with a broken car, no arrangement for a place to sleep or a way to get home. There's no air service out of Ocala, and the only bus available is Greyhound, which I'm not wanting to experience. Doesn't matter, they only leave once a day in the morning, and the next day's bus is full. I can get a flight out of Gainesville, which is about 40 miles away, but it's already 6:00 and the last flight is at 7:45, and I'm still stuck on I-75. Finally a wrecker arrives, at 6:15, only two and a half hours since the accident. I'd been up since 6 AM, got a rental truck, drove it an hour, helped load it from a third floor apartment, drove it an hour and a half, unloaded it into a storage locker, drove 45 minutes to return the truck, and then got in a crash. I missed both breakfast and lunch, and I had a headache and a stiff neck from the crash and airbag deployment.

We got the car to the wrecker's yard and unload it. The wrecker driver drops me off in part of town that has multiple hotels, and I snag a room. I have a sister who lives not far from Gainesville, Fl, and works as an RN at Shands Medical Center. She's working 7 PM to 7 AM that day, so I arrange a ride with her to the airport for Tuesday morning. I book a flight on Delta for midday, and finally can relax.

I really hope never to have to do any of that again.
 
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On Monday, I was heading back from Ocala, Fl, to Atlanta. I'd been moving my mother's possessions out of her assisted living apartment into a storage unit, as it's unlikely she'll be well enough to live on her own again. It had already been a long day when I headed northward at 3:30, getting on I-75 at the US 27 entrance ramp. I had barely gotten up to speed when it started to rain, hard. I backed off a little and gave myself some space as the visibility had gotten rather limited, and almost immediately I could see that traffic had come to a standstill, so I got on the brakes. I was having to brake a little harder than I would have liked, but nothing too extreme, but I immediately questions whether the folks behind me were going to get stopped. In a situation like this, as soon I get my rate of braking established, if there's time available, I glance up in the mirror to see who is behind me and how close he is. On this occasion, I see a 1 ton Ram pickup towing a stock trailer, I can see he's on the brakes but his rig looks like it's getting a little jiggy on him, so I'm expecting an impact.

I'd rehearsed in my mind many times what to do in a situation like this: Left foot on the floor, push myself moderately into the seat, as soon as I get stopped put my head against the headrest and drop my hands to the bottom of the steering wheel, hold on loosely, and close my eyes, and wait for the impact. This is the first time in 40 years of driving that I needed it. About two seconds after getting stopped, maybe less, I hear a loud BANG! and can feel glass shards in my lap. I open my eyes and can see that the driver's window had shattered and the side curtain airbags had deployed. Because I can't see past the airbags, I don't know what's next to me, but figure it would be wise to stay in the car for a few more seconds just in case we're not through crashing. I can also tell that other than my left ear is ringing that I'm not injured, so I get out. Next to me is a black Chevy Malibu with heavy damage, and in the driver's seat there is a young woman talking on her phone in a very animated manner. I also see a white Honda in the leftmost lane that is badly mangled, and the occupants had gotten out and are standing by the guardrail. I can also see the truck and trailer, they've gone off the right side of road and are stuck in a shrubby area, with the truck jackknifed. Fortunately the trailer is empty. I go over to see if they are injured, but they are not, but the passenger says that part of the seat jabbed him in the side and that he was sore. Also stopped in the left lane, but in front of me, is a white SUV with minor bumper damage, and more confusingly, on the right side of the road behind me is another sedan, and a wrecker. I'm trying to figure out how he got here so quickly. There are a number of people out of their cars talking on their phone, but I'm not one of them, the airbag deployment has my ears ringing and I can't hear very well.

While we're waiting for the police, a few of us start kicking debris out of the way so that there's at least a path for one vehicle to start getting through. We get enough broken plastic and glass moved to get one lane going and continue to wait for the police. about 15 minutes go by and still no police, so I call 911. My hearing is still not very good, and there are trucks going by a few feet away so I can barely hear him. I tell him where we are and how long it's been, but am having the hardest time hearing him. The phone gets quiet, and I realize he's ended the call. Finally, about 10 minutes later, an unmarked car drives up and a state trooper gets out. He starts checking for injured,and then a second one pulls up. This one pulls out some rubber cones and stops traffic. Someone starts sweeping the debris off of the roadway and another wrecker appears, then a whole fleet of them. After talking to each of us, the trooper asks me if my car will move. It does and they ask me to put it on the left shoulder. One wrecker removes the black Malibu that was alongside my car, the white Honda pulls onto the left shoulder, and the troopers open two lanes of traffic. The wrecker drivers descend on the truck and trailer, and start pulling it out of the woods, while those of us with broken cars wait. It takes the wrecker drivers quite a while to pull the truck and trailer out of the woods, and then they all leave to work another accident, leaving us there. At this point we're probably an hour and a half from when this occurred.

While I'm waiting, I start talking to some of the other drivers. It turns out that there were three separate incidents: the truck and trailer going off into the bushes, the white Honda reareending the SUV, and the black Malibu rearending the wrecker that had been sitting on the shoulder and then bouncing into my car. Speaking of my car, the driver's door does open and close, sort of, but is badly beaten up. The outside mirror is gone, the window is shattered, and the side curtain airbags are hanging down from the windshield to the back glass. The seatbelt no longer works, and there's some damage to the rear door on the driver's side as well. The trooper asks me if I need a tow, and I say yes. If I lived nearby I would have driven home, but I'm not interested in trying to drive 400 miles in a car with no window, a door that may or may not close, the airbags hanging down and the seatbelt not working - plus who knows what else.

Finally more wreckers appear. They hook up all the other cars and haul them away, leaving me there. The trooper comes by, gives me a bottle of water, and tells me that the towing company didn't send enough wreckers because one of the other drivers said he didn't need a tow, then realized that he did, and since I was the farthest one down the road and the damage wasn't obvious, they left me there without asking if I needed towing. He gave me his name and phone number, and the number of another towing company that he had called, then asks me if I need anything else. I don't, so off he goes to another accident.

So, there I am, standing in the center median of I-75 with a broken car, no arrangement for a place to sleep or a way to get home. There's no air service out of Ocala, and the only bus available is Greyhound, which I'm not wanting to experience. Doesn't matter, they only leave once a day in the morning, and the next day's bus is full. I can get a flight out of Gainesville, which is about 40 miles away, but it's already 6:00 and the last flight is at 7:45, and I'm still stuck on I-75. Finally a wrecker arrives, at 6:15, only two and a half hours since the accident. I'd been up since 6 AM, got a rental truck, drove it an hour, helped load it from a third floor apartment, drove it an hour and a half, unloaded it into a storage locker, drove 45 minutes to return the truck, and then got in a crash. I missed both breakfast and lunch, and I had a headache and a stiff neck from the crash and airbag deployment.

We got the car to the wrecker's yard and unload it. The wrecker driver drops me off in part of town that has multiple hotels, and I snag a room. I have a sister who lives not far from Gainesville, Fl, and works as an RN at Shands Medical Center. She's working 7 PM to 7 AM that day, so I arrange a ride with her to the airport for Tuesday morning. I book a flight on Delta for midday, and finally can relax.

I really hope never to have to do any of that again.

I hope NONE of us has to do that. Sorry to hear about your day!
 
Wow, glad your okay. You'll certainly be sore for a few days.
 
Yikes. Sorry to hear about the wreck, but glad that you're alright. How does fault get assigned in something like this?
 
Wow, that's an absolute eye opener. So sorry that happened, just glad you aren't hurt worse, hope the hearing recovers completely. Sounds like a nightmare.
 
Wow what an exhausting day but glad to hear you made it out okay.
 
Thanks for the get well wishes. I was a little sore the next day, and I have a little airbag rash on my left arm and face, but nothing of consequence.

Yikes. Sorry to hear about the wreck, but glad that you're alright. How does fault get assigned in something like this?


The trooper ( who did a terrific job ) told me that there were three separate incidents, the truck and trailer was a single vehicle accident, the Honda rearending the SUV was a second accident with the Honda at fault, and a three vehicle accident including me, the black Malibu and the wrecker. She hit him and then me, so she was cited, probably for following too closely. Sounds like if you hit the person in front of you or if you left your lane and hit the person next to you it would be your fault, which makes sense to me. The only exception is if you got rearended and pushed into the car in front of you, the person who hit you would be responsible for both vehicles.

Wow, that's an absolute eye opener. So sorry that happened, just glad you aren't hurt worse, hope the hearing recovers completely. Sounds like a nightmare.

Thanks. My hearing is back to normal.

The worst part of it was trying to figure out what to do while I was waiting to get off the highway. As the day grew later my options started decreasing. After I got my wits about me, I started taking inventory of what resources were available. My sister was about 40 miles away, but she had to be at work at 7, so I wasn't going to get out of Ocala that day. Then I started looking at how I could get home, whether it be by rental car, bus, or airplane. My wife asked me if she needed to come down, but it's six or seven hours each way and I wasn't injured, so no. There was one bus (Greyhound) out of Ocala each day, and Tuesday's was full - no great loss, I've never ridden Greyhound and I don't think I want to start now. Delta had a number of flights from Gainesville on Tuesday, and I knew I could get a ride from my sister there, so that's what I settled on. A one way car rental was as much as the Delta flight,and didn't feel like driving. Once the wrecker driver dropped me off where I could get a hotel, everything was under control. It was definitely an exercise in thinking on your feet.

Plus, I learned two things: that a CRJ-200 is pretty cramped, and that if you are on the road never let your phone battery get less than half charged, and carry a fully charged USB battery in case your car charger isn't available.
 
It could always be worse.

bad_day.jpg
 
Geez - really glad to read that you're OK. Great to keep the presence of mind to prepare in that situation, and great to hear that you're not hurt. But it sucks as your car is likely a write-off since the air bags have deployed, and this is made worse with having to find a way home. But hopefully all else goes smoothly to get you home.
 
Wow, what a day.
Happy to hear you weren't hurt; that can be a fine line in these sorts of situations.
 
Big highway wrecks are always such a mess. Glad you're okay, and sorry folks don't have any clue what a safe following distance is anymore...
 
Thanks for the get well wishes. I was a little sore the next day, and I have a little airbag rash on my left arm and face, but nothing of consequence.

This happened in Florida. It's your civic duty to collect the $10,000 medical payment for that soreness.
 
Glad to hear you're okay.

Few things in life bother me as much as tailgaters do. They're one of the reasons why I yearn for Labor Day every summer. It's when most of the downstaters and other tailgating summer residents go home. The locals don't tailgate because we've witnessed enough accidents caused by suicidal deer to know better.

Tailgaters are also why I've become a fan of dual-lens dash cams. I think the rear-facing camera is more important than the forward-facing one. If I hit something in front of me it's likely to be a deer, and deer have no money and carry no insurance. A jerk who rear-ends me when I stop for a suicidal deer, on the other hand, is likely to have both: and the dash cam video of tailgaters is very striking. I think it would make quite an impression in court.

Rich
 
Glad you're ok, sorry it happened far from home.
 
Glad you're okay.
Yes I also detest Tailgaters. Especially in the rain. I've driven to Florida many many times and everytime it rains there is an accident...or three....or more. Once it started raining you could pretty much pick them out. When they flew past you you knew you would see them again very shortly.
 
The trooper ( who did a terrific job ) told me that there were three separate incidents, the truck and trailer was a single vehicle accident, the Honda rearending the SUV was a second accident with the Honda at fault, and a three vehicle accident including me, the black Malibu and the wrecker. She hit him and then me, so she was cited, probably for following too closely. Sounds like if you hit the person in front of you or if you left your lane and hit the person next to you it would be your fault, which makes sense to me. The only exception is if you got rearended and pushed into the car in front of you, the person who hit you would be responsible for both vehicles.

Gotcha. So (theoretically) that person's insurance should pay.

I'm sure you've talked to your insurance company as well, but you might want to consider having your car towed back home to get repaired locally. When my mom wrecked her Volvo, we were 400 miles away from home, and not even with the benefit of being near people we knew when it happened. She opted to have the car towed to near my grandmother's house and have the Volvo dealer there handle the repairs. Of course, if the insurance adjuster ultimately says that your car is totaled from the side impact, then it becomes a moot point.
 
I spoke with the other driver's insurance company a little while ago. First she gave me grief about flying back rather than getting a one way car rental. I told her the price difference was $20 and if that was that important to them, just pay me the $325 that the one way rental would have cost. Then she dropped the real bombshell: In Florida, the minimum amount of property damage insurance is $10,000, and that's all the insured has, and we need to fix two vehicles with that, so it's likely I'll have to use my insurance. I assume they'll prorate the damages between the two of us, but our insurance companies are going to wind up paying most of this.

Man, this is the gift that keeps on giving.
 
Thats too bad.

Dealing with insurance companies is a game. Remember the are there to make money, not pay money.
 
Time to sue the idiot for any increase in your premiums.
 
OK, I get to brag just a bit. A cold winder day quite a few years back. I was driving Mrs. Steingar and my big now-deceased sister Joan north to see mama Steingar in our little Toyota Tercel. We come to a small bridge, and the white caddy ahead in the other lane starts spinning wildly. The car behind him can't stop and smashes into him. The car in front of me hits the brakes as do I. Problem is my brakes have temporarily gone on strike. I am about to rear end the guy in front of me. Not so for Steingar! I quickly downshift, hit the gas, swerve out to the side of the guy in front of me, thread the needle between the guy in front of me and the now crashed car in the other lane, gun it hard to get past the still spinning caddy (I swear I could still see stuff coming off that thing) and get clear of the whole mess. Mrs. Steingar is deeply impressed, sister Joan looks up and asks if something happened.

Big Brother says its motorcycle reflexes, and I think I agree. Sorry to the OP, but really it isn't so bad. You got stuck on the side of the road on someone else's nickel. No one got hurt, and they'll make more cars. Hope you have a good flight home. Sorry your story isn't as fun as mine.
 
I'd call my insurance company at this point and see what they say about this. It could get ugly pretty fast with some lawyers involved.

Out of curiosity, what's the expected value of your car?
 
You are obviously dealing with cheap idiots on the other side. Use your insurance, have them subrogate and collect your deductible. Sure it sucks, but that is what you pay premiums for.
 
and that if you are on the road never let your phone battery get less than half charged, and carry a fully charged USB battery in case your car charger isn't available.

Dear Lord YES. I found out the same thing. I was on the way to the ER with a possible detaching retina when my car's transmission failed catastrophically. I was on a lonely highway 30 minutes out from the hospital all by myself and my phone's charge was low. Not a good feeling. After that I bought USB backups for myself and also gave one to each of my kids.
 
Dear Lord YES. I found out the same thing. I was on the way to the ER with a possible detaching retina when my car's transmission failed catastrophically. I was on a lonely highway 30 minutes out from the hospital all by myself and my phone's charge was low. Not a good feeling. After that I bought USB backups for myself and also gave one to each of my kids.

If you were IN the car... why not just a car charger? We leave one in every vehicle, besides the couple that have USB ports on the cheap stereo upgrades from the local auto sound place... and we just plug in the phone(s) as soon as we get in. It's just habit, like putting on the seat belt. In car, phone on charge...
 
If you were IN the car... why not just a car charger? We leave one in every vehicle, besides the couple that have USB ports on the cheap stereo upgrades from the local auto sound place... and we just plug in the phone(s) as soon as we get in. It's just habit, like putting on the seat belt. In car, phone on charge...

Well not knowing exactly what had broken at the time, I was not willing to leave my car engine running, and my socket doesn't charge when the car's not running.
 
Time to sue the idiot for any increase in your premiums.

My premiums shouldn't increase, since the accident wasn't chargeable to me. This is more on the uninsured motorist side of things. There's no point in suing here, odds are the reason she has such minimal coverage is that she has no assets.

I'd call my insurance company at this point and see what they say about this. It could get ugly pretty fast with some lawyers involved.

Out of curiosity, what's the expected value of your car?

Geico is handling this. There's no point in getting any lawyers involved, she has $10,000 to spread over two damaged vehicles and I suspect the law is quite clear on who gets what. Besides, she's insured by Geico as well.

The car is a 2014 Ford Fusion Energi Titanium, and would cost around $17,000 - $18,000 to replace.

You are obviously dealing with cheap idiots on the other side. Use your insurance, have them subrogate and collect your deductible. Sure it sucks, but that is what you pay premiums for.

That's exactly what I'm doing. We'll see how much out of pocket I wind up.

If you were IN the car... why not just a car charger? We leave one in every vehicle, besides the couple that have USB ports on the cheap stereo upgrades from the local auto sound place... and we just plug in the phone(s) as soon as we get in. It's just habit, like putting on the seat belt. In car, phone on charge...

The car was sitting on the left shoulder with cars whizzing by at 75+ mph. I wanted the phone in my hand, not in the car, and I wanted to be on the other side of the guardrail. Also, in my case, the car's electrical system was and still is intact. There are lots of crashes where that is not the case, plus once the car gets towed, you are without it and it may be a while before you can get to a place where you can charge. In may case it was only about 45 minutes, but if this had happened 75 miles up the road it could have been a few hours between the time the car gets towed and when you would get to a hotel.
 
That's exactly what I'm doing. We'll see how much out of pocket I wind up.

Considering that they are planning to stiff you on the damage to your car, I would consider putting in a claim for the 'medical payment' of the policy. I don't know how it works in FL these days, but that portion of the claim does not even require an adversarial process. You claim it, its yours. See your doctor, get some PT for that sore neck, claim your money. And yes, I know, its a gigantic scam.
 
Weike's idea seems like a good one, especially since you're sore.

I didn't realize everyone was on the same insurer, that does help.
 
Considering that they are planning to stiff you on the damage to your car, I would consider putting in a claim for the 'medical payment' of the policy. I don't know how it works in FL these days, but that portion of the claim does not even require an adversarial process. You claim it, its yours. See your doctor, get some PT for that sore neck, claim your money. And yes, I know, its a gigantic scam.

I'm not sure what is the point is of getting unneeded medical treatment, sounds like just another drain on my already limited time. My neck is a little sore but not enough to need PT.
 
The car was sitting on the left shoulder with cars whizzing by at 75+ mph. I wanted the phone in my hand, not in the car, and I wanted to be on the other side of the guardrail. Also, in my case, the car's electrical system was and still is intact. There are lots of crashes where that is not the case, plus once the car gets towed, you are without it and it may be a while before you can get to a place where you can charge. In may case it was only about 45 minutes, but if this had happened 75 miles up the road it could have been a few hours between the time the car gets towed and when you would get to a hotel.

Oops sorry. I thought you were a different person -- anyway -- I didn't sleep well last night. LOL.
 
Glad you are okay, and it definitely sucks this happened to you 400mi from home.

I have actually never been in a wreck. Come very close a few times, knock on wood. About three weeks ago I narrowly avoided being caught up in a similar accident. I was on I-85 between Charlotte and Atlanta in a construction zone with a concrete barrier on the left side of the highway (no shoulder). Moderate rain. Some no-talent assclown was tailgaiting someone in the left lane ahead of me (and laying on his horn), whipped the car into the right lane to pass, and lost control after trying to whip it back into the left lane after passing the car. He hit the wall, then hit other cars, who also hit the wall and were spinning around like a NASCAR crash. I was braking, dip duck dive and dodging and I ended up shooting off onto the soft right shoulder at about 40 mph. Everything came to a stop. I took a second to gather my thoughts, looked in my side mirror at all of the wrecked cars. It didn't appear there were any serious injuries. And then I threw some rooster tails and got the hell out of there.
 
Definitely get that sore neck checked out. My step-daughter was in a minor parking lot wreak, sore neck. A few years later, developed severe neck pain. Turned out to be a minor vertebra fracture that healed and pinched a nerve, required surgery to correct.
 
Definitely get that sore neck checked out. My step-daughter was in a minor parking lot wreak, sore neck. A few years later, developed severe neck pain. Turned out to be a minor vertebra fracture that healed and pinched a nerve, required surgery to correct.

^^^^^^This

Cheers
 
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