Sorry I’ve been pretty vacant for the last few days, but on Monday evening I got a call that my brother and his fiance were in a terrible car wreck down in Houston. My wife packed my stuff in about 20 minutes while I prepared and then headed out for the 4 hour drive.
It turns out that a woman ran a red light and plowed into the side of my brother’s Toyota 4Runner as he was crossing the intersection. She hit his SUV on the side in the rear, causing the vehicle to spin and then roll multiple times. The police officer later informed us that she admitted she was talking on her cell phone and not paying attention.
As I said, the collision caused the 4Runner to roll several times, and when it finally stopped it had come to rest on it’s hood. This left my brother and future sister-in-law hanging upside down by the seatbelts. Thankfully they were wearing them!
At this point Kirk was smelling gas and Jenny was hanging unconscious. He had to get himself unbuckled, then get her unbuckled and drag her to the back of the vehicle to go out through the rear door since none of the other doors could be opened.
When the fire department and EMS technicians arrived they put both of them on backboards and took them to the hospital where they remained for about 2 days undergoing every test under the sun. Amazingly the only broken bone was in Kirk’s nose, though there were plenty of other soft injuries.
I decided to share this story with you all because it seems like we need constant reminders of why we should drive safely and, at least for me, hearing about a friend or family member going through an ordeal like this usually serves as a wake up call.
So when you are driving around this week please remember to be extra careful, and if someone calls you on your cell phone tell them you will call them back when you aren’t driving.
Here is a video walk through of the vehicle’s remains to go along with the photos.
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
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Holy Hell! :-O
Hope they’re going be okay….
I have been doing more than trusting the green light for a while now. Where I can I am looking both ways if there isn’t a bunch of cross traffic cars already stopped. It was interesting to see all of those air bags deployed, wow!
Oh man, sorry to see this
Glad your okay John :)
My sentiments exactly Chuck.
Kirk and Jenny are doing fine. They are still in enough pain to warrant medication, but they are going to make a full recovery.
John
Yeah, the full contingent of airbags were deployed. We believe that they probably saved lives…
Actually, I might not have been clear enough, but I was not in any way involved in the accident. I just heard about it and then went down to Houston to help take care of Kirk and Jenny…
I am very sorry to hear about that. God bless them! Hopefully, they will be fine soon.
Oh, I swear the first time I read it, it said you where in the back seat..
Hope they had insurance ?
That is just crazy! I know that when I’m driving around I’ll get annoyed at people talking on their cell phones because they’re not really paying attention to what is going on around them. But this just goes to show how horrible it really can be. Thankfully this particular story turned out to be okay, but I don’t think that I’ll be even more unhappy when I see that people are talking on their cell phones now.
Another good thing is that here in California this practice will be somewhat outlawed in less than a year. I sure do hope that it will be heavily enforced!
The car looks in horrible condition, thankfully the travelers escaped with minor injury. This incident once again put the importance of putting the safety belts. One can imagine that the fearful results, had been Jhon’s brother and to be sister in law not wearing the safety belts.
I was also involved in a dreaded accident, which happened when the car was traveling with speed on highway and the driver’s attention was lost for few seconds, when he picked up the mobile phone, to read the incoming message. I feel trying to read the incoming message is more dangerous as it completely takes away one’s attention from the road. And few moments of inattention are enough when the car is speeding.
Wow, glad they’re ok but what a horrific crash!
Glad everyone’s ok John, I had someone hit me from behind, totally my car last year. It was months from being paid off as well, so now I have a brand new auto loan :( Not happy about that one.
I call it the “space” factor, but often when on the phone, you’ll hang up and realize you’re 15-20 minutes away from where you started, and yet you have no recollection of actually driving. You were preoccupied. That’s a frightening feeling – akin to falling asleep on the road and waking up a mile or more down the highway..
I never know the right words to day when I see things like this.
I wish everyone involved all the best for a speedy recovery. Sometimes I catch myself ‘not paying attention’ just lost in my own thoughts, but thankfully I hardly ever drive myself.
Oh my gosh, John – I’m so sorry! And I’m so glad that they were wearing their seat belts and had all those airbags deploy! My thoughts and prayers are with them for a speedy recovery!!
John … wow … I broke my neck diving when I was a kid. It really is the kind of thing where you learn: people tell you not to drive with cell phones or jump into shallow water for a reason :(
‘drive now, talk later’
oh, and slow down.
many blessings on your family.
It’s great to hear that they’re going to make a full recovery.
I was hit head on by a guy on a cell phone.
This is another reason to let it ring.
At this point I don’t think I’ll ever make a full recovery.
But I’m alive, so that’s alright.
It really made me and those around me think of the delusion some have that they’re SUCH good drivers that they can talk on a cell phone, smoke a cigarette, and browse through their iPod at 65mph. No problem.
They do the whole Click-It-Or-Ticket thing…why not the same for cell phones?
It’s unfortunate just how many stories like this are out there.
Even worse is the fact that not everyone is lucky enough to make it out alive.
Regard for human life is cool.
I am glad to hear everybody are ok.
Here in the Philippines we have a big issue with people TEXTING while driving, there are even signs on the freeway warning people that texting while driving causes a lot of accidents… I freak out every time we get a driver trying to pull that stunt.
Kim:)
It’s illegal to talk on a mobile phone here in Australia while driving unless it’s a hands-free set. Stops relatively few people from doing it, of course.
Glad your brother is OK, John.
One Man & Readers,
Jenny and I would like to thank you and your readers for your/their thoughts, prayers and comments here. We are recovering slowly and feel very fortunate to be alive. The good news is there should be little/no lasting damage to us (the vehicle is another story).
As you might expect, this accident has increased my awareness of others while driving and I see more and more people chatting away while driving. The sad news about this accident is it was completely avoidable (not by us).
I wish you and your readers the best. Drive safe, watch out for other drivers, and pay attention while driving!
Take care and thanks again,
Kirk P.
(One Man’s brother)
Holy crap, I’m glad your brother and future sister-in-law are okay. That crash really looks fatal.
thats awful.
The good thing is that they are ok. As for talking on cell phone while driving every now and then we hear things about this and here in my country there is always some campaign going on to discourage this but nobody seems to listen until they get into a tangle and not every body is as lucky.Hope after reading this article people stop talking on cell phone.
And this is exactly why I was so surprised to learn that talking on your cell phone while driving is perfectly legal in America (at least in Ohio).
In the UK we’ve had a ban on using a phone while driving for a very long time, and it is now a major traffic offence.
You wouldn’t answer the phone when you’re in the middle of a meeting with a client, would you? So why answer it while you’re driving? People really can wait, you know!
Hi. I am a person doing a report on why not to talk on cell phones while driving.
i was soo interested . well it was very good.
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