Some of you will recall that I recently got my five ton M54A2 out of the mud
where it had been stuck since December. This afternoon I took it to the
scales for a weigh-in and intended to go to the State Patrol for the
required title inspection. On the way up there, I ran into a big traffic
jam on I-5 so I exited and headed home.
About 1 mile from my house, while I was travelling 35 mph in a 45 zone and
holding up a big line of traffic, a car ran a stop sign in front of me. It
was a small Mercury Topaz with a family of five in it. I never even touched
my brakes. I drove right over the hood of their car. It broke the
windshield, the driver's window, and pushed the front of the car completely
sideways about a foot. The left front wheel was lying almost flat on the
ground. The steering wheel was pushed completely sideways. The driver was
in shock, and was bleeding, but refused treatment. Everyone else was fine.
I called 911 and reported it as an injury accident. The aid car was there
in less than 5 minutes.
Needless to say, the Topaz was totalled. They couldn't even roll it up onto
the tow truck, they had to drag it. By the time we left there, the family
seemed to be fine. My five ton has two broken spring hangers on the
passenger side. The bumper is bent, but can probably be easily repaired.
There is white paint on the bumper, the wheel, the front differential all
the way under it, and all over the axle itself. For those of you who are
unaware, tow trucks for this size of a vehicle run about $275 an hour.
Storage is going to be $40 a day.
The driver of the other car got a citation for "Negligent Driving" which is
much more serious than just running a stop sign. This happened because
there were witnesses who made statements to the police. He had an insurance
ID card, so I may be OK. I carry uninsured motorist insurance on my MV's
even though I don't carry collison.
Here is the punch line for this story, and why I am posting it. If the
other car had gotten there 1/2 a second earlier, I would have killed a
family of five. If I had driven over the passenger compartment instead of
the hood, those people would not be alive right now. I am still absorbing
what just happened but wanted to share what a five ton truck can do to a
passenger car.
Please, everybody, be careful driving your MV's. What just happened to me
was absolutely, completely unavoidable (for me, anyway). If I had killed
those people, though, this wouldn't matter one wit. I am very, very upset
about all of this, and wanted to share my concerns with all of you. I don't
know what good this will do, but I hope all of you will consider this when
you go out driving in your MV's.
Joe Garrett
cell 425-344-1402
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Sep 02 2001 - 11:15:42 PDT