Stretcher
Guest
That's one thing a lot of people seem to overlook: hidden trauma. These cars get better over the years at absorbing impact etc. But the human body is still built the same way, and your organs still hate being thrown against your rib cage/bones/other organs at high speed and expected to stop in an instant.A little background on me. I spent 25 years as a police officer/supervisor. One of my duties was investigating every officer involved vehicle accident, every fatality accident, and most of the accidents involving serious injury (if I wasn't called out, the officers got written up, so yes almost all of them!). I've seen fatalities at low speed (less then 15 mph), and worked accidents where the speeds were well in excess of 120 mph (one of those, the passenger actually survived with no long term disabilities!). I now work as an RN in the ER (I wanted a lower stress retirement job . . . Yes, I know I have no common sense!).
That said, your wife's Jeep looked like it did a good job of protecting the occupant. A cracked sternum, and significant bruising are relatively minor compared to what I'm used to seeing. No lacerated liver or spleen, no long bone fractures, no brain bleeding, and no spinal involvement. You said she should make a full recovery. I've seen similar accidents result in fatalities. Good luck to you and your family.
I would have estimated the speed at impact at approximately 40mph just based on the picture. I would never include a speed estimate in a report based on pictures alone. Roadway marks, roadway grade, roadway surface, temperature, and lots and lots of math go into these investigations. Your description of the accident is similar to many that I've worked.
Let us know how you like the Gladiator, I might have gotten one, but they came about just after I got my Wrangler.
Btw thank you for what you did and still do sir.
Eric
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