I’m looking for some information on roll-overs.
My wife was recently involved in a residential car collision in which a large Dodge pick-up truck smashed into the rear, passenger-side,quarter panel(to the rear of the rear wheel)of her Subaru outback. She was flipped onto the driver side of the car and would have rolled all the way over if it had not been for the yakima rack on top. The car came to rest about 60 feet from the point of impact.
The driver claims that he was only going 25 mph, but…really. I understand that weird physics can come into play, but I guess I want to know if this can really be true?
Any info or places to look would be much appreciated.
Yes, it is possible.
However without seeing the actual accident scene it’s impossible to guess if it’s probable.
What did the cops think?
Any 3rd year engineering student can tell you what happened if they know about the Subaru’s track width, weight, height of the truck’s bumper, etc. I think it’s possible to roll the Subaru over.
Also, how do we know if the truck was really doing 25 mph, without measuring skid marks at the accident scene?
The ECUs of a lot of cars act like black boxes storing a record of the last few seconds of vehicle speed, throttle opening, brake pressure etc before an air bag deployment. Maybe the court could subphoena the ECU of the pickup if it is one of the models where the ECU stores that info.
I think this feature was quietly introduced by car manufacturers because they were tired of defending themselves against people who claimed they were only going 25 miles per hour when they lost control, skidded 250 ft, and then rolled over three times.
To sort of add to the “weird physics” angle, I think since most people consider 25 mph “slow” they don’t appreciate how fast that really is in the greater scheme of things. An average sized car, let alone truck, going that fast has a lot of energy behind it. Usually at low speeds the collisions aren’t all the bad because people have time to react and you can usually slow down considerably, much reducing the severity of the crash. A collision at 25mph isn’t going to be life threatening in a modern car, but it’s a lot more than what I’d call a fender-bender.
Jump off of a platform that is 20 ft and 11 inches high and you will be going 25 mph when you hit the ground.
My wife put her Subaru on its top going down a dirt road at 30 MPH and never hit ANYTHING…She drifted off onto the shoulder, looked up, over-corrected and the car flipped over and came to rest in the middle of the road, upside down…She walked home and announced “you better go turn the Subaru over and bring it home…” So that’s what I did…
Haven’t you ever seen the video of the woman who rolled a Volvo station wagon pulling into a driveway.
Strange things can happen.
If you push something hard enough, it WILL fall over.
And the crown of the road, and the arc radius of the curve, and the speed of the struck vehicle, and the angle of the strike, and the point of impact, and the pressure of the tires, and the weather, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc…
We know almost zero about the physics of the accident, only that the car turned over.
Sounds kinda like my wife’s approach to car repairs.
“go drive my truck.”
Rear quarter collision can easily send a car out of control. The maneuver is taught at some police training seminars , at least in our state to quickly send a car being chased out of control. After that, anything is possible given road conditions. Rollovers have occurred at much slower speeds.
Did the police respond? If so, they will reconstruct the accident and determine the likely speed of the truck. I doubt that your car could be spun out of control, travel 60-feet, and flip at the end if the truck was going 25. Your insurance company will surely go to the scene and review any marks on the road. There must have been skid marks from one or both cars at the impact site and there must be some road or lawn damage as your car careened all over the road. You did report this to your insurer, didn’t you?
But it doesn’t matter how fast the truck was going. He hit your car and it was damaged severely. The only reason to be concerned about truck speed is that the other driver doesn’t want to lose his license for reckless driving. But he certainly might, anyway.
The one thing I’ve learned…don’t put this info on the net…Go to an attorney. I am NOT an attorney, but I do know that in every state there is a group that sponsor “ethical” attorney’s. And my sis is an attorney. Having experienced accidents caused by others…she suggests…do NOT go to those that advertise on TV. Some are ethical and excellent…but truth is they have much to support. Look for the smaller guy/gal. Hope this helps. Please ignore typos…due to disabilties I have tremor issues.
I’ve not seen that. Can can you direct me to that video (for the record, I’ve never been on YouTube (or Utube???).
This is not necessarily true. The truck that pulled out in front of me …at full speed while fastening a seat belt…not looking in my direction in heavy traffic…got the ticket but wanted to simply “trade info” after he pulled off the street so there was no way to measure whether or not he responded to crises. Much more info came out later…but…at least in KS…and probably in most states, an attorney cannot show that the plaintiff (i.e.) has insurance.
Attorney? What for? Are you trying to turn a run-of-the-mill non-injury accident into a profit center? (for the lawyer that is)…
It’s unlikely the “black box” still has the data if the truck has been driven since then. I’m assuming since it’s a pretty big truck that it was probably driven away from the scene. If it’s still in impound and you can keep it there, you might have a chance.