I went back today, I felt a little stupid while on the ramp with cars going by, but I stayed several feet on top of the ice plants, and only moved when no cars were present. I also had a blinking red led I picked up at Home Depot today for this purpose, I am not sure if this helped or hurt, as several people flashed their high beams at me.
I arrived in San Clemente at 10:15PM, and setup a tripod across the street for a few pictures, to show the ramp:
Then I got in my car, and drove up the ramp, pulling over in the runoff area just over the crest of the hill, approx 30 feet away, and got out my flashlight, tripod w/camera, and blinking red light, which I clipped to my jacket. I noticed when I drove up the ramp, perhaps 30-40 feet from the sprinkler, there was a series of large pot holes; I don't remember these from Thursday night, but its possible they could have unsettled the car just before the water.
I was on the top of the ramp at 10:30PM, my accident occurred just before 10:35PM (I have the time stored in my phone from the 911 call, a few seconds afterwards), here is a picture from the runoff area down the onramp:
Not quite 'lit like a football field' - note, all of these pictures are at the same setting, F/2.8, with a 2 second shutter.
I waited around from 10:30PM to 10:45PM, the sprinklers never turned on tonight (Saturday), perhaps they only go on a few times per week, or perhaps, after my accident, the right people were called and they have at least been disabled prior to being fixed. I will swing by Thursday night with a video camera to be sure, I am not certain walking the on-ramp at night again is such a good idea.
These final two photos were from across the way, on an asphalt incline, approx 10 feet from the road surface. The camera in this case was set to f/2.8 with a 30 second shutter, to illuminate the hillside.
See the PVC piping leading down the hill towards the bushes? This is the approximate location of the sprinkler, note its position relative to the 'carpool' light, perhaps 30 feet South.
And here is a picture slightly to the left of the previous one, at the same camera settings:
Where the person is sitting is where my car ended up, there was broken curb and one of my plastic fender liners on the ice plants.
As you can see, total distance was very minimal, under 100 total feet from sprinkler to resting place. The car would have been going 40mph when it hit some deep pot holes, which may have been filled with water, then I was blinded by the sprinkler shooting water at me just before the light - the first indication of water was when it hit my windshield, and directly afterwards, as I was passing the light, is when I was in a spin. The car ended up perhaps 50 feet later, on the hill.
