Pictures of my car accident

First off, I'm glad you and your family came out of that alive.

Secondly, that Vauxhall actually held up pretty well for a 120mph closing speed. If you look at the NCAP vid for my car (Fiat Seicento), it looks like that for a 30-40mph crash! Good thing I've fully accepted that the first crash I have in my 'cento (whether caused by someone else or myself) will be my last....
 
This happened to my dad back in 2003, he was in america though.

On the interstate doing 75mph, a mental patient had escaped from the local nut house, drove on the wrong side of the road at 70mph+ and hit my dad head on.

Thankfully he was ok, surviving with only a few broken ribs, but the other guy was killed on impact. Helps having a fuel hungry 4x4 thats built like a tank. In the pictures, the other car was mashed into a pulp, his car the front was caved in but the drivers cabin was relatively fine.
 
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I had it happen to me once as I was leaving a dual carriageway going up a sliproad.
I was driving a 12 tonne double decker bus at the time and as I approached the blind corner to go up over the carriage way a woman came around the corner coming the wrong way down the slip road at me.
You sort of have to do a double take - it doesn't immediatly register that some complete idiot is driving the wrong way towards you.
Fortunatly for her the slip road was quite wide and I hadn't quite reached the corner so I managed to swerve and avoid her.
You could imagine what would have happened if I hit her carrying around 85 people on a bus.
 
Amazing. I'm sure you don't need another person to say that you are lucky to be alive!

A testament to more modern car construction if there ever was one. People simply didn't walk away practically unscathed from accidents like that in Escorts or Cavaliers.
The_Abyss said:
Without any disrespect to the OP, that is not the result of a combined 160 mph crash. It would be far far worse.
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The "combined speed" of a crash doesn't really mean anything. There's a closing speed that's useful when thinking about reaction times - two objects heading towards each other at 80 mph a piece is like one object moving towards a stationary object at 160 mph. However, it doesn't mean much in terms of what happens when they collide - that is all down to the mass, shape and respective speeds of the colliding objects. If I am driving at 155 mph in a Mercedes S-Class and hit a Mini travelling at 5 mph, it's still a combined speed of 160 mph, but the S-Class will more or less drive through the Mini.
 
PMKeates said:
Amazing. I'm sure you don't need another person to say that you are lucky to be alive!

A testament to more modern car construction if there ever was one. People simply didn't walk away practically unscathed from accidents like that in Escorts or Cavaliers.The "combined speed" of a crash doesn't really mean anything. There's a closing speed that's useful when thinking about reaction times - two objects heading towards each other at 80 mph a piece is like one object moving towards a stationary object at 160 mph. However, it doesn't mean much in terms of what happens when they collide - that is all down to the mass, shape and respective speeds of the colliding objects. If I am driving at 155 mph in a Mercedes S-Class and hit a Mini travelling at 5 mph, it's still a combined speed of 160 mph, but the S-Class will more or less drive through the Mini.
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I understand that very well, however I was trying to approach this situation realistically.

They were of sufficiently equal mass to mean sufficiently equal momentum. In cases like this, the respective and combined speeds mean everything as you've suggested. 80 v 80 is going to be a mess. 155 v 5 is going to be nasty but probably less than 80 v 80.
 
well to really get a point of what they are up to the whole clip is what you want to watch but since you asked nicely :p

2:20 -> 6:40

2nd part watch from 7:30 -> end for the real crash.
 
OMFG look at how little tread you have left on your O/S front tyre!


In all seriousness wow I'm glad you and your family is all in one piece; that drunk driver should have been punished far worse. Hope you manage to retain full movement and that your partner overcomes her fears of driving, at least your little 'un was unharmed.
 
Psymonkee said:
well to really get a point of what they are up to the whole clip is what you want to watch but since you asked nicely :p

2:20 -> 6:40

2nd part watch from 7:30 -> end for the real crash.
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Fortunately the video proves my point - the closing speed is 100 mph.

Consider this:

A->B is 50 miles

B->C is 50 miles

Car 1 travels halfway from A to B at 50 mph taking 30 minutes

Car 2 travels halfway from C to B at 50 mph taking 30 minutes

After 30 minutes the distance between Car 1 and Car 2 has reduced from 100 miles to 50 miles. The speed at which the cars are closing in on each other is therefore 50 miles per 30 minutes aka 100 mph.
 
PMKeates said:
Fortunately the video proves my point - the closing speed is 100 mph.

Consider this:

A->B is 50 miles

B->C is 50 miles

Car 1 travels halfway from A to B at 50 mph taking 30 minutes

Car 2 travels halfway from C to B at 50 mph taking 30 minutes

After 30 minutes the distance between Car 1 and Car 2 has reduced from 100 miles to 50 miles. The speed at which the cars are closing in on each other is therefore 50 miles per 30 minutes aka 100 mph.
Click to expand...

I think the point is actually that the crash damage is not the same as one car travelling 100mph into a wall, the closing speed might be the same as two cars at 50, but the damage is so much worse.
If you watch the whole clip, the car that hits the wall at 100 is practically pancaked, the two cars at 50 have the same damage and g forces as one car and a wall at 50, and is much more intact.
 
That and a solid wall as in the video doesn't crumple or bounce back ;P


Good to hear OP that all is better now, If I was in your position I honestly would have hoped the drunk driver died. Yes, I'm a bitter, twisted man. But scum like that don't deserve to be around to inflict the pain they do.
 
Jesus, that's brutal. Looks like the car held up pretty well considering.

As for the the drunk driver - I wouldn't like to think what 8 months in prison is like. I know it's really enough but that guy's future is good and ****ed for a long while, plus this will follow him around in his head for along time.
 
Wow, if ever there was an advert NOT to drink drive then this is it.

The main thing is your family are alive, and on the mend :)

What a complete **** the DD is. :mad:
 
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