Dec. 23 was driving on a local main road (Yellowhead Trail in Edmonton) and had stopped at a light, surrounded by other cars. Pearl S is sleeping in the garage and I was driving the FJ Cruiser (Bruiser). Looked in the rear view mirror only to see an 18 wheeler approaching at a speed WAY to fast to stop on the icy road. All I could do was brace for the impact. What a feeling of dread seeing that monster coming at me. Bang and it was over. No injuries!! I always try to leave lots of space in front of me in those conditions "just in case" and it paid off - I was not driven into any other vehicle. The FJ weighs about 5000 lbs and the truck was moving about 20-30 km/hr when it hit me. What do those things weigh, 20,000 - 30,000 lbs loaded? I lost! The current estimate is $5000 damage. The truck was being driven by a woman from St. George Utah, who admitted she didn't know how to drive on ice and snow (and it showed!). That FJ is amazing! In a different way than Pearl S. If I had been in Pearl S, well I don't want to think about what would have happened to her! I'm sure she would have protected me though. So as the title says, a little good from the bad. Merry Christmas and happy New Year to all. Something to be thankful for in my case!
A little good? I would say a lot good! You are still vertical and breathing. Sorry to hear about the fj though
Glad to hear you are ok. Hopefully, everything turns out alright for your FJ as well. Every time I drive the Camry and sit in traffic I think to myself that the Prius would get twice as many mpgs. In your case, it must be close to triple the mpgs
Glad you are okay! That's odd, Utah is snow country too, maybe not as bad as Canada. I would be concerned with a truck driver from Mexico who has never seen snow in his native land...
We had a similar situation here last week involving (by all accounts) a speeding 18 wheeler where it plowed into the line of cars ahead of it that had stopped for a construction delay. One person dead, 37 vehicles damaged, multiple casualties and the LIE was closed in both directions for 15hrs. You came out of it exceptionally lucky/blessed, etc!
That would be lightly loaded. Full loads could be 80,000 lbs, maybe more in some jurisdictions. Don't sell your Prius short. When mine was hit is a chain reaction crash early this year, we were hit hard enough that the wife expected to see severe tail damage. But it had only license plate and grill impressions from the car behind. While I cannot extrapolate from this to your more severe incident, reports from other crashes indicate that it, like many of the latest car designs, protect the occupants very well.
I had a similar experience about 10 years ago, although it did not involve ice or snow and I didn't see it coming. The good part was how my truck, that was hit from behind while stopped at a red light, shielded the couple on a motorcycle, directly in front of me. Sometimes being in the way of an out of control driver is a good thing.
Glad you are safe, hope the FJ Cruiser gets repaired quickly and that Pearl S is safely tucked in the garage. I cannot imagine... I was face to face with an 18 wheeler that did not turn correctly and needed to cross into oncoming traffic stopped at a light. Everyone had to back up to let the big rig through...that is as close as I ever want to be near one again. I think I could have driven under it...
The avg unloaded semi weighs 40,000 lbs. If it was a aluminum flatbed trailer it could be as light as 30,000 lbs. They are allowed to go up to 80,000 legally but routinely they over load to 85,000 lbs to 100,000 lbs since the extra money in freight charges outweigh the fine costs when they go through weigh stations. Travis
