Last night we got one of those phone calls parents hope to never get. Our younger son’s car hydroplaned in the rain, hit a rock embankment, spun around, flipped over and hit another embankment. He called us while stuck in the car waiting for emergency help to get him out. Another driver had stopped and called the police. I had a 45 minute drive to get to where the car was and another 15 minutes further to the hospital where the ambulance took him. I saw the car as they were flipping it over. It was frightening but I knew he was alright. At the hospital he checked out fine except for a couple of small cuts. The doctor, police and nurses kept telling him that had he not been wearing his seatbelt it would be a different scenario. We are thankful that he did not hit another car or have a passenger with him and of course thankful that he walked away from a mangled heap of metal. Interesting that the airbags did not deploy however if they had, his injuries probably would have been worse. I’ll try to get a picture of what’s left of the car and post later.
In the emergency room, all he and his brother were worried about was him missing a rugby tournament this weekend. Sheesh! I made him stay home this morning but as I type this he’s playing without my full approval.
Save your mom a lot of grief. Wear your seatbelts.
I worked on a case where a young woman just wore her seatbelt improperly with just the lap belt and not the shoulder harness. Her parents had to bury her and then live through more than 10 years of litigation as a result. I kept a copy of the rather horrendous accident scene photos to show my son and any siblings of his that arrive at our home why you always wear your seat belt and why you always wear it correctly.
Airbag sensors run across the front bumper and front corner of the car so unless he hit something head on the front airbags will not deploy. The sensors for side-impact airbags and side-curtain airbags, run along, you guessed it, the sides of the vehicle.
Hydroplaning is a specific condition that has to do with the millimeter depth of the water on the road, vehicle speed and tire pressure. The minimum formula is Speed being equal to 10.27 times the square root of the tire pressure. What does this mean? Simplified, the minimum speed you need to be going in order to hydroplane on tires at 36 psi is approximately 62 miles per hour. That is a minimum speed before it can occur. I’m glad your son is okay but it might be time to have a chat about reducing speed on slippery roads. People like to say their car “hydroplaned” because it removes responsibility from them and places it on an outside source but simply slowing down can cause a worried mom from getting those phone calls in the middle of the night that I’ve made many a time.
Time to descend from my soapbox and go for a canal run.
As it has been said before, the two best things you can do to extend your life expectancy is 1) don’t/quit smoke(ing) and 2) wear your seat belt every time.
The death rates from folks not doing either is horrific.