delta448
DSM Wiseman
- 3,590
- 248
- Jan 13, 2006
-
Clarksburg,
West_Virginia
So here's the story:
I was traveling home to Morgantown WV from my in-laws farm on a rural road, -Rt 7 outside of Blacksville WV for anyone familiar with the area, with my almost 3 year old son in his car seat in the back. I was driving about 5 mph over the speed limit of 25, and began accelerating slowly as I exited the bridge just outside of town where the speed limit becomes 55 mph.
Here's a short video my wife took tonight of the location going in the same direction I was traveling at roughly the same speed I was going.
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In the video you can see towards the end that there is an intersection with Rt 218 to the right, and that there is a stop sign for traffic coming from that direction. You might also notice the gravel parking lot on the left side immediately after the intersection.
Here's what happened.
I came across the bridge in the video and saw a white SUV approaching the intersection and stop sign. I was slowly accelerating for the upcoming speed limit change and the little hill I was about to climb.
The white SUV coasted through the stop sign and onto Rt 7 (road I was on) with me about 50 or so feet away. In a split second I determined that there was not enough room for me to slow the car enough from the 35-40ish mph I was going, and avoid rear ending the SUV. So I swerved into the left lane since there were no cars approaching from the other direction and I was in a legal passing zone.
I paused briefly but then resumed my slow acceleration. Just as my front bumper became even with the rear of the white SUV, the other driver turned left towards the gravel parking lot of the local bar, without signaling, and I swerved further left putting two wheels into the gravel of the parking lot. The other driver did not slow and continued to turn directly into my only available path.
I collided with the driver's side headlight of their car and it shoved the other two wheels of my car into the gravel while under my now very heavy braking. I had enough time to correct the gravel throwing slide of my car only slightly. My doing so most likely saved my son's life as I brought the passenger side around enough to not hit the utility pole directly with the side of the car. I don't remember much after that other than the double barrel shotgun blast of the airbag in my face and chest. I had impacted the utility pole just inboard of the passenger side headlight, there was also a lighted sign that was pseudo-vaporized at the same instant that my life was being saved by the airbag.
The pole was sheared off and there was debris everywhere. I stumbled out of the car and sprinted to the passenger side of the car where my son was screaming and crying, reaching his tiny little arms out for me to pick him from his booster seat. I quickly inspected him for injury and then reached through the shattered passenger side window and pulled him free. There was gasoline and oil everywhere and the engine was hot, so I hurried to get the two of us away from the smoking, hissing and mortally wounded Talon.
If you watch the youtube video above once again, you can see that there is already a brand spankin' new telephone pole in place of the one I hit.
EMS arrived within a few minutes and checked us both out. No real injuries to speak of. My son was unscathed and I got away with a small cut on my neck, a nasty bruise over my waist from the lap belt and a numb tingling in my face and chest from the airbag.
My wife was following about 15 minutes behind us in her car with my daughter. I stood by the road so she would see me, and I became witness to a woman having an epic melt down. When she saw my son's blue car seat on the ground that one of the bar patrons had pulled from the heap that my Talon had become, she even tried to exit her vehicle while it was still moving to get to her little baby boy. She was as shaken as I was.
The state trooper was very polite and personable, and he decided to cite both drivers for "failure to use due care" which I believe I might have deserved since I had been about 10mph over the limit at the moment of the initial contact.
Now, on to the carnage:
My toolbox and all of my tools were in the hatch. After seeing how destroyed the toolbox was, I felt very lucky that it didn't find a way to hurdle the rear seat and hit my son. Here's the toolbox, and you can also see the remains of the K&N filter that I pulled out from underneath the battery tray when I removed the battery today.
I was traveling home to Morgantown WV from my in-laws farm on a rural road, -Rt 7 outside of Blacksville WV for anyone familiar with the area, with my almost 3 year old son in his car seat in the back. I was driving about 5 mph over the speed limit of 25, and began accelerating slowly as I exited the bridge just outside of town where the speed limit becomes 55 mph.
Here's a short video my wife took tonight of the location going in the same direction I was traveling at roughly the same speed I was going.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BFhq7IgrZEQ&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BFhq7IgrZEQ&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
In the video you can see towards the end that there is an intersection with Rt 218 to the right, and that there is a stop sign for traffic coming from that direction. You might also notice the gravel parking lot on the left side immediately after the intersection.
Here's what happened.
I came across the bridge in the video and saw a white SUV approaching the intersection and stop sign. I was slowly accelerating for the upcoming speed limit change and the little hill I was about to climb.
The white SUV coasted through the stop sign and onto Rt 7 (road I was on) with me about 50 or so feet away. In a split second I determined that there was not enough room for me to slow the car enough from the 35-40ish mph I was going, and avoid rear ending the SUV. So I swerved into the left lane since there were no cars approaching from the other direction and I was in a legal passing zone.
I paused briefly but then resumed my slow acceleration. Just as my front bumper became even with the rear of the white SUV, the other driver turned left towards the gravel parking lot of the local bar, without signaling, and I swerved further left putting two wheels into the gravel of the parking lot. The other driver did not slow and continued to turn directly into my only available path.
I collided with the driver's side headlight of their car and it shoved the other two wheels of my car into the gravel while under my now very heavy braking. I had enough time to correct the gravel throwing slide of my car only slightly. My doing so most likely saved my son's life as I brought the passenger side around enough to not hit the utility pole directly with the side of the car. I don't remember much after that other than the double barrel shotgun blast of the airbag in my face and chest. I had impacted the utility pole just inboard of the passenger side headlight, there was also a lighted sign that was pseudo-vaporized at the same instant that my life was being saved by the airbag.
The pole was sheared off and there was debris everywhere. I stumbled out of the car and sprinted to the passenger side of the car where my son was screaming and crying, reaching his tiny little arms out for me to pick him from his booster seat. I quickly inspected him for injury and then reached through the shattered passenger side window and pulled him free. There was gasoline and oil everywhere and the engine was hot, so I hurried to get the two of us away from the smoking, hissing and mortally wounded Talon.
If you watch the youtube video above once again, you can see that there is already a brand spankin' new telephone pole in place of the one I hit.
EMS arrived within a few minutes and checked us both out. No real injuries to speak of. My son was unscathed and I got away with a small cut on my neck, a nasty bruise over my waist from the lap belt and a numb tingling in my face and chest from the airbag.
My wife was following about 15 minutes behind us in her car with my daughter. I stood by the road so she would see me, and I became witness to a woman having an epic melt down. When she saw my son's blue car seat on the ground that one of the bar patrons had pulled from the heap that my Talon had become, she even tried to exit her vehicle while it was still moving to get to her little baby boy. She was as shaken as I was.
The state trooper was very polite and personable, and he decided to cite both drivers for "failure to use due care" which I believe I might have deserved since I had been about 10mph over the limit at the moment of the initial contact.
Now, on to the carnage:
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My toolbox and all of my tools were in the hatch. After seeing how destroyed the toolbox was, I felt very lucky that it didn't find a way to hurdle the rear seat and hit my son. Here's the toolbox, and you can also see the remains of the K&N filter that I pulled out from underneath the battery tray when I removed the battery today.
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Hope things get better for you bro, you know finding another car now and stuff.
happened. -Because the utility pole damage killed the electricity and phone in the bar, so naturally everyone walked outside.- But alas, the trooper did not ask her to take a field sobriety or breathalyzer, so we'll never know.
