Two killed in wrong-way Prius collision

absolutely senseless. that guy's family is missing a husband, a father, a brother, because of some self-involved punkass with no regard for others. if that happened to someone i loved, i'd be so enraged.

that ranger was totally screwed.... but surprisingly the passenger compartment in the prius is in pretty good shape in comparison. the cars just couldn't absorb that much energy to protect their occupants.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JustLurkin @ Sep 7 2007, 11:54 AM) [snapback]508579[/snapback]</div>

The beep turns itself off in a short time. I've sometimes forgotten to fasten my seatbelt returning home from my local convenience store, about 1.3 road miles from my house. It starts beeping as I pull out onto the main road from the parking lot, and turns itself off before I've gone the first half mile.

 

I think this thread was to show that even Prius drivers aren't immune to the stupidity gene.

 

Stupidity of driver & tragic nature of this incident aside....

...if you look at the Chevy truck (9th picture) and the Prius (17th picture), the Prius looks like it survived way better than the truck. Unless that truck was travelling a rather low speed for highways they both probably had similar momentums. So much for bigger = safer, yes both died, but look at the structure of both cars. unless they hit at some funky angle that allowed the Prius to bounce off rather than crumple it's amazing at the lack of damage for a head on collision of that speed.

 

The other vehicle was a 1995 Chevy S-10 pickup. That's not a full-size pickup but a compact. Plus, the type of construction for that particular vehicle doesn't lend itself to passenger survivability. Nearly all pickups (a notable exception being the Honda Ridgeline) ride on body-on-frame construction which doesn't allow for the crumple zones of vehicles with unibody construction. Much more of the energy in an impact is transferred to the occupant(s). To this day, I believe the S-10 remains a body-on-frame construction. There has been an ongoing debate on this very subject regarding the safety of large, body-on-frame, truck-based SUVs when they're involved in collisions.

That's why today's survivable, relatively low-speed collisions resulted in severe injury (or even death) in old cars and the car itself suffered little damage. A famous example was how George S. Patton was killed in a low speed collision when he banged his head in the rear seat of his chauffered 1939 Cadillac while the car escaped virtually unscathed.

It's still curious, though, that the Prius remained so intact. At the estimated speeds, one would thing that both vehicles should have been completely destroyed, regardless of how well they were designed to absorb an impact. There are photos on the 'net of similiar high-speed crashes of Ferraris and the like, and those vehicles are shattered into many pieces spread out over a wide area.

That's why it would be interesting to know how the two collided - if it was, indeed, a direct head-on collision or there was some sort of glancing trajectory.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rudiger @ Sep 9 2007, 12:20 PM) [snapback]509656[/snapback]</div>

Yeah no kidding, it looked like a shockwave did pass through the car and exploded the back window out as I doubt that would be for rescuers.

But man that Chevy, upon closer inspection of pictures looks like the entire front end got bent 90 degrees? Or at least the wheel axle did

 

the frame of the prius is very strong, well not in the way chevrolet makes their frames, i owned a GMC Sierra 2500 heavy duty, and was in a crash at 20 mph into a brick wall ( barely grazed it ) the entire frame on the left side was pushed in drastically, the new prius which i bought salvage was in a 40 mph collision into a car, the frame barely was pushed in, not only that but the sidemembers were only bent slightly after the engine in the front, in my attempts to straighten it, i found it very hard to pull the frame, also it was extremely hard to hit the frame with a hammer in an attempt to move it, its a very springy type steel.

of course the driver of the prius is at fault, for technical sakes if that prius was traveling at 100 mph , the car looks to be very good in a collision

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hyo silver @ Sep 7 2007, 11:11 AM) [snapback]508542[/snapback]</div>

I'd more likely classify it as murder.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(statultra @ Sep 9 2007, 04:20 PM) [snapback]509725[/snapback]</div>

All of the pictures are of the right side of the Prius. Looks like an offset type of crash, could be the whole left side of the Prius was gone. But I agree, I think the Prius is a very safe car.

 

FYI

the seat belt warning beeper only beeps for about a minute.

i have had MANY items in the passenger seat that have set off the warning beeper, but it does stop

 

Hmm, fist on top of the steering wheel [very common but inherently
unstable], looks like the driver is half asleep ... where did that
pic really come from?
.
_H*

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hobbit @ Sep 11 2007, 11:25 AM) [snapback]510597[/snapback]</div>

www.isound.com/shayne_leatherwood

 

I have to say that I'm very impressed with how the Prius fared in this collision. Some were guessing that it was an offset crash, but looking at the damage to the truck and the front of the Prius in photos that are visible on several news sites, it was pretty square. Had she been wearing a seatbelt, the wrong-way driver may have actually survived (massive internal injuries aside) to simmer in the guilt of her mistake.

I'm perturbed by the claim that she was traveling in excess of 100 mph, though. This is a tough thing to do in the Prius...people were probably just responding to her perceived speed while moving in the opposite direction. Regardless, the forces of this collision are just horrendous.

She posted an ad looking for a house to rent just 3 days before this happened...kinda sobering reminder that we could go at any time...especially when traveling the wrong way on a freeway:

http://sandiego.backpage.com/rentals/class...es%20for%20rent

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(zenMachine @ Sep 14 2007, 01:20 PM) [snapback]512661[/snapback]</div>

Wow...it seems to be young drunk women doing this. Maybe I'm just too old, sober or manly to hit 100 in my Prius? Possible combo of all three?