Had to go to Co-Part Salvage Auction today to look at a vehicle. While walking back from the yard to the office, I noticed this late model Dodge Cummins P/U.....hope the driver was OK..... I'd guess he hit the pole doing around 50........
My chest hurts just looking at it. Wow! Reminds my of a wreck that happened in front of my parents place when I was a kid. Ford Econoline was turning around in our driveway and just as he was backing out a utility truck, Chevy I think, came barreling over the hill and broadsided the back end of the van. I was ten or eleven. Scary stuff. The truck ended up crossing both lanes and the van ended in the ditch half tipped over. Whomever was in that silver pickup, I hope they made it out alive and with no injury to anyone else.
Well, they had to cut-out the center post, both doors, and the drivers seat - but no red marks! I gotta keep that in mind, as I'm driving the exact thing as a work truck! Sometimes pulling a 12000 lb. dump trailer!
DAAAYYYUUUUUMMM!!!! As bad as it looks... this is the reason why, in general, the larger the vehicle the better your survival odds.
K.K., The insurance industry needs to hook up with every High School in the country and park one like that at the enterance of every High School parking lot and rotate 'um every couple weeks. (Wreck of the week kinda thing)Theirs enough of 'um in the holding yards to accomplish that too as you well know. Might save a few of our kidz or at least make 'um think
There is a program (forget what it's called) at least down in So Cal and up here in Oregon where a 'scene' is staged for the HS students - crashed cars, paramedics, etc. Observers are told that one of the students was killed, others injured, etc. - all about the consequences of impaired driving.
I wish they had stuff like that every where. See what reality is like. I've seen enough crashes in my life and been through one. Avoided several because I knew what to look for.
Seen a lot of grizzly stuff in my time.... Probably the worst one was a mid 80's Nissan P/U, standard cab. Took a 2x4 or 4x4 piece of wood right through the driver's firewall area, then through the driver's seatback, then through the rear cab panel and out through the front of the P/U bed. Didn't take a lot of imagination to figure out what the driver looked like. Then there are the ones where you see a cracked windshield with a nice bulge in it, from the inside, out. Then there's just some stories...... Early in my career, got an assignment on a death case. Somewhat poor Mexican family living near downtown L.A. Family going out to lunch on a Saturday. Apparently, in a car-jacking gone wrong, the family vehicle got rear-ended. minor collision. As the dad got out of the car to exchange info, somebody in the other car shot him dead on the spot - in front of his wife and young son. Other vehicle then sped off...... Now get this.... Technically, auto insurance-wise, there was no extension of coverage for the death of the insured, since he wasn't killed from the collision. I had to present a report on the facts of the case to upper claims management about 2 months after the incident - as to whether we should cover as an 'uninsured motorist' claim, with about $15k in benefits to the spouse. Management decided to cover it.
Worst wreck I ever saw was a hydroplaning Nissan 240 that crossed the lanes and head on into the front of a loaded Kenworth. The largest piece left could be lifted by 2 guys. The debris field was a 110 feet across.
I shudder to thi nk of the crashes I have seen and/or stopped to help at. The worst one was here in Toronto at about 3 a.m. on a -30 degree night. This was on Highway 401 across the top of Toronto. The first sign of something amiss was a Pontiac Firebird sitting diagonally across 2 live lanes of traffic. The scary part was that it was a black car with no lights visible. Job one was get my 4-ways going and get a bunch of flares going fast! This was before cell phones, too. The lack of lights was because the back bumper was where the back seat should have been. Then I noticed a man walking around holding the back of his head, dripping blood. In shock, obviously. Into my car with him, bandage on his head, heater on high. Then start looking for the car that hit him. A 76 Cadillac had plowed into the back of the Pontiac, then gone airborne over the guard rail, landing on its roof which collapsed to the belt line. 2 people dead in the Caddy, which we found out after a tow truck arrived to secure the wreck, which was on the embankment beside the highway, and covered in ice. That was gruesome, long, cold, and sad night.
