I suspect they are cut out so they don't conceal entrapments or injuries. Sorry jammin012, don't know what I was thinking.
Dang, Good wreck indeed. Hope everyone is ok. Someone made a comment about brush guards. 99% of them out there don't really effect crumple zones. They're made out of light duty steel and offer no protection except from brush and or tree limbs.
I take this back. Looking at the paint lines around the skid marks the Prius actually pushed the ute (truck) backward! indicating the Prius was going much faster than the ute (truck) or was much heavier (I doubt that). See the second picture in the series. The Prius was not travelling straight in the wrong lane but turned into the path of the ute (truck). This I deduce from the angle of movement after impact for both vehicles.
I just wanted to update everyone on the prius vs dodge accident. The driver of the prius' name is Jack Kriz and he is the father of one of our developmentally disabled residents and he is in a serious coma with possible brain damage and a ruptured spleen He has a developmentally disabled son, two daughters and a wife. He was a military dentist, and is one of the kindest men I've met. Our community is at a loss for words and we are praying for a miracle. My mother was in a head on collision 19 years ago on wildcat canyon road and was in a tiny honda (b4 they decided to finally put airbags in them) and was in a coma for 3 weeks, she lost her memory from everything b4 the accident...I was 3 and my sister was 5 and she didnt remember us, nor did she remember marrying my father, high school....nothing b4 she woke up from the coma. She is a perfectly healthy beautiful woman who has two grandchildren now with some vision impairment, and her memory never came back. This proves there is hope though! So for those of you who pray....please pray for a miracle for this wonderful man and his family.
I think the liquid is water from the fire department, where they hosed down the road. If you check out the skid marks, they are from the rear tires of the truck. The left front of the truck struck the left front of the Prius - the truck was veering into the Prius's lane, head on. I'd guess the truck was going 55 MPH and the Prius was going 45 MPH, for an impact speed of 100 MPH. That impact shoved the Prius backwards, and up and over the guardrail, while the impact spun the truck around. The rear of the truck spun to its right, causing the skid marks (and knocking the truck's spare tire/wheel off of the truck's undercarriage). The truck ended up facing the direction it had come from. All in all, one heck of a collision - much more than the 40 MPH impacts that we see tested against an immobile barrier. I hope the Prius driver can make a complete recovery.
From the pictures and description in the news article, the Prius driver was an innocent victim. The driver of the Dodge truck crossed the centerline, the Prius driver moved as far to his right as he could to avoid the accident, but had nowhere to go because of the railing. The article also mentioned alcohol as a possible factor, which might explain why the driver of the truck caused the head-on wreck. This was a very serious accident, with very serious injuries, especially to the innocent victim, the Prius driver. Harry
Thank you for that information...hate that it was your first post, but as a community it's tough to see this.
News update on the dodge vs prius accident, My mother in law spoke with Jacks daughter and she was told the coma was induced but they are still waiting for Jacks condition to stabilize in order to perform surgery. He does though suffer as well from 2 broken arms and 2 broken legs, as well as the ruptured spleen and there was some fluid in the brain. They still do not to the complete extent of his injuries but they are keeping him in the coma for fears that when he wakes and finds out what happened he will thrash around and cause more injury. But please continue to pray for the Kriz family! Your warm thoughts are greatly appreciated.
I hope Jack and the Dodge driver both will fully recover (physically at least). It surprises me that the pick up truck driver was badly injured. Bigger vehicle, better protection argument fails a little bit here. I am glad the Prius handled it ok with a hit from this really heavy vehicle. Not a pretty sight to see, but at least the driver wasn't immeadiately killed. My condolences to his family and loved ones. I hope he will wake up, get better and drive a brand new Prius sometime soon.
Crumple-zones are more difficult to incorporate into vehicles of a body-on-frame construction, which is the design of virtually all pickup trucks and SUVs, than vehicles of a unitized construction. This means that the force of the impact is not dissipated, but continues on to the interior. It's one of the ironic things about many consumers buying large vehicles with the idea that they're safer because of their gargantuan size, when they're really not, due to the type of construction. George S. Patton was killed in a relatively low speed collision when he bonked his head on an interior clock, because the force of the impact was not absorbed by the vehicle, but transferred to the interior occupants.
I've heard Dodge trucks don't have the greatest safety ratings...and now have seen it first hand. The usual injury in larger vehicles is knees and legs from when they hit the dash/steering column. Now the ironic part of Jacks accident is this---- The airbags deployed, but they believe his head injury is from some paint cans that were in the back of the car hitting him in the head when the impact occurred.
I can see the error of my assessment, I was confusing this accident with another description I read where the car went into the path of the truck. Oops. I hope both parties make a good recovery. this explains the mess in the back of the car too. A reminder to secure stuff in the luggage area and don't put heavy stuff on the back seat unsecured. There are tie down points in the back but I'm willing to bet very few people use them, me included.