Yesterday, I drove through the scene of the accident below, between the boat in the background and the car (in my Prius, which is the only reason this is Prius and Hybrid News). From the other side of the car, this looked a good bit worse. Back in the old days, I doubt anyone would have gotten out alive. But today, due to things like steel cage construction, the two people from the car are at least in "stable" condition. Thanks, all you safety engineers out there! Unhitched boat strikes vehicle; owner unidentified 9:37am Back | Next James and Dorothy Murray’s Kia Berrego lays upside down in the west bound lane of Interstate 40 just south of Dave Ward Drive on Monday after a boat and it’s trailer came unhitched from a vehicle driving eastbound and crossed the median into their vehicle’s path. The Murrays were transported to Conway Regional Medical Center, where they are listed in stable condition. LIBERTY PARKS PHOTO
From the report here (which is all we really have to go on), there are a few possible issues for the driver that was towing the boat: - failure to obtain and display proper tags on the trailer - failure to properly register the boat (although since the boat wasn't on the water at the time, this one probably won't stick) - possible drunk driving (based on the alcohol containers in the back, although at this point impossible to prove) - possible failure to properly secure the trailer (in addition to the hitch, you need safety chains to prevent situations like this. However, it's possible multiple failures occurred and additional safety restraints failed in addition to the hitch. This would be on for the CSI's to determine on the vehicle that was towing the boat) - fleeing the scene of an accident I'm not a lawyer, so there may be more... If nothing else, the driver would get slammed pretty hard for not stopping. But other than that and the tags on the trailer, we really don't know very much at this point. This is a great example of how safe cars are now... i can't imagine flipping a car like that and living through it. similar to the car/train accident that was posted here a few days ago.
You really haven't lived until you have had to swerve out of the way of a travel trailer that has become detached from the tow vehicle
Vehicles Sure Are Better than they Used to Be That happened to you too... I have also had the pleasure of dodging oncoming on Highway 80 that was going the wrong way, and decided to flip a U-turn towing a trailer at speed... I could almost read Maytag on the washing machine as I rolled past it going better than 55... the car behind me got to read it much better from the hood of their car.
It likely would have been a lot better if they didn't roll their SUV - in other words - if they had been in a sedan or wagon. From the report, it doesn't look like they actually struct the boat - a sedan would not have rolled under that situation. Anyone know what year the Borrego was? Looks like at least stability control is standard now which also may have helped prevent the rollover.
When I drove through there, the boat and trailer looked pretty much undamaged (you can almost sort of see that in the picture too), so I believe the report which indicated the SUV took evasive action. A wagon or sedan would have been less likely to roll over. However, the scene looked to me like the SUV went into the grassy median of the interstate and came back--so you can't say definitely what would have happened with another kind of vehicle.
Maybe so, but either way you paint it - a sedan handles emergency lane change maneuvers MUCH better than a SUV.
