local prius crash

Not well enough since the occupants died.

 

TWO people in the prius died; the driver and a passenger. I wonder if everyone was wearing their seatbelts? You can see the SUV got hit opposite the driver's side; though it was really torn up.

 

LoraJ,

Yes agreed was sad to see anyone died, but if you look at the link and look at the Tahoe....it's amazing to see that type of damage with that vehicle. The Tahoe turned into the Prius is what the newcaster said, they turn on green and not a green arrow and it happens all the time at that intersection. You would think they would correct that huh???

 

From a distance it looks like the driver should have survived. Elderly? It's a hard hit but survivable for someone with a reasonably resilient anatomy. That's a helluva hit on a Tahoe though.

This sort of accident is often a drunk turning in front of someone who is sober--at least when I've seen it before. A Tahoe in front of a Prius at 65 mph is a lot worse than my 18 year old friend in a full size car at 55 mph when a multiple repeat drunk in a small pickup turned in front of her at night.

Hope the Tahoe driver is charged with vehicular manslaughter. They sure deserve it, bastards.

 

That's the kind of crash that kills the most motorcyclists - someone turning left in front of you, failing to yield.

What is the speed limit on that road? It seems to me the Tahoe shouldn't have been going that fast making a left, unless it's a HUGE intersection, and the driver wasn't stopped at the light before making the left.

That driver's inattention killed two people. Sad.

 

Yep. One of the reasons I won't get on a motorcycle...that and knowing I would eventually push it too hard through the twisties (recovering in a car is easier/less painful even if you really screw the pooch.)

My father is still recovering from such an accident on a motorcyle. A van turned left right in front of him on the highway and he put it down to avoid a fatal collision.

 

Very bad and very sad. But I really wonder whether the guys in the Prius were using seatbelts? The car seems to be in good shape, especially the rear. I would have bet they survived from the look of it.

 

Yes, but this is because it was hit from the side (very unfavorable angle because of a lack of deformation zone) and also (and mainly) because it was traveling slowly relative to the Prius. The the car with the less momentum always takes the main brunt of the deformation, and in this case, the speed of the Prius greatly overweights the weight difference between both cars, that favors the SUV. The laws of physics work this way. It is always the body whose vector of motion turns backwards upon impact that takes the most deformation. So this event really cannot be interpreted as "Prius is more structurally stable than Tahoe".

I remember our professor of physics at the university used to tell us, only half-jokingly, that if we realize a head-on impact with other vehicle is inevitable, we should step on gas rather than brake. The other guy would most likely brake like hell and the more speed would give us momentum advantage upon impact...

The driver of the Tahoe was lucky the impact came from the other side than where he was sitting and that he had no passenger...

 

Other news report indicates that there were three nuns in the Prius.
The driver and the rear passenger were killed. The front passenger and the driver of the SUV are in hospital.

 

An updated article on that site says the driver is the one currently in the hospital and is 67 years old. The other two nuns were in their 80's. Very sad. Driver of the Tahoe was drunk apparently. Hope they throw him in jail.

 

The speed limits on US41 through that area vary between 45 and 55,
and that road is always a zoo. Light-to-light rat-race much of
the way.
.
_H*

 

Two nuns die in alcohol-related crash - ABC-7.com WZVN News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida

Just terrible.

 

That's criminal, stupid and more often then not wrong.

 

Looks like I guessed correctly. Even with proper restraint crashes like this tend to kill the elderly. And of course it was caused by a drunk in a truck (SUV.) Too bad they don't allow capital punishment for the offense.

 

Please don't take that remark too seriously . Of course, I would never do that, and I don't think the pro would either. He just wanted to stress the point he was explaining, that's all. That was what I meant by "half-jokingly". Of course, it is *never* that simple in real life and you are absolutely right that anybody doing that would be a criminal.

 

Very sad, indeed. Well, if they were in their 80's, they could have worn seatbelts properly and still not survive... The elderly people tend to be much more prone to injury. I hope the guy who caused this will be treated accordingly.

 

The car travelling faster is going to put the highest decelleration on its occupants. These nuns went from 60 to zero in 3 feet. Hard to survive that even when you're younger than 80. The Tahoe was slower... occupant probably went from 20, to 20 in a different direction... not too hard to survive with seat belts.Would not have wanted to have been a passenger in the Tahoe.... lots of intrusion by the Prius.

 

I wonder whether this Prius had the side curtain airbags.

PA P