there was an accident in winnipeg today. a 85 ford LTD was split in half. im not lying here. it was split in half from bumper to bumper. the polcie say speed was a factor. i never thought this was possible. and by the way they hit a street light pole

 

Yes it's possible i drive a wrecker part time on the weekends and have seen my share of strange accidents.They said speed was a factor you bet and most likely did'nt even hit the brakes:-X23

 

that's insane. they say booze might have been a factor too. for hanging around cars all my life, and goign to salvage auctions i didn't think that was possible

 

It's possible, it just takes a whole lot of speed. Especially on a 85 LTD. They had a accident a few years ago in Hutchinson, KS. The kids had a turbo Dodge and nailed a tree doing about a 100. It split that one right down the middle and killed the kids. The cops said they had never seen the cage of a car so destroyed. It looked like a bomb had gone off inside the cabin, etc.

There is also some other factors to consider: How thick was the pole? A thick pole will not knife through a car like a thin one. Angle of impact, etc.

 

You would think that at that kind of impact (100mph) that the pole was not strong enough to sheer a car in 1/2. It takes 80,000lbs of pressure to crush a car, all things considered, pretty amazing.


Primary rig is:
95' F-150 EB 300/6 5 spd with 4" Superlift, MSD, Ram Air, Gibson Exhaust, 32" BFG Muds
THERE ARE SOME PICS IN MY GALLERY!! :-)


Then theres:
88' F-250 Superduty 351 + c6
95' Mercury Cougar 4.6L V-8
80' E-350 300/6 and a
3 spd column shifter. Top speed, 65mph, Go Baby Go!

The newest addition to the Ford family is a 99' Mustang GT 4.6L

 

it was one of those street light poles we have up here. hig thinck ones. looks like theres no damage to the pole tho.

 

>Yes it's possible i drive a wrecker part time on the
>weekends and have seen my share of strange accidents.They
>said speed was a factor you bet and most likely did'nt even
>hit the brakes:-X23



Oh the stories i could tell ya i have seen to much of that i will never understand why anyone after drinking would drive a vehicle

 

Several good points brought up here. Remember that at a very high speed and with a small rigid pole, the pole is simply slicing the car, not crushing it. I have seen pictures and heard of a pine straw being driven into a tree during a hurricane. Also, here in the Dallas area a few years ago, a police car was cut in half when it spun out and broadsided a utility pole. Now it was one of those heavy cruisers with a frame, meaning the frame had to be severed on both sides. In the case here, only the crossmembers would have had to be severed (in the frame).

However, in the interest of fairness, lets not put all the blame on speed. Obviously if they were travelling ridiculously fast (say over 90) that was stupid. But deaths can occur at the speed limit or lower if other more critical factors are involved, such as alcohol or inattention, falling asleep, or just plain poor judgement.

Still a sad situation.


Winford

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 09-May-02 AT 11:03 PM (EST)]it is sad, but i still couldn't get over the car splitting in half. it was something i never thought was possible. but then a pine 2x4 in a hurrincane can do right through a cement wall like nothing

 

Good ol physics, my best class right now in high school. I wasn't thinking that the pole was crushing the car, i was just using the 80,000lbs thing to put things in perspective. There is still an incredible amount of force being put on the pole.


Primary rig is:
95' F-150 EB 300/6 5 spd with 4" Superlift, MSD, Ram Air, Gibson Exhaust, 32" BFG Muds
THERE ARE SOME PICS IN MY GALLERY!! :-)


Then theres:
88' F-250 Superduty 351 + c6
95' Mercury Cougar 4.6L V-8
80' E-350 300/6 and a
3 spd column shifter. Top speed, 65mph, Go Baby Go!

The newest addition to the Ford family is a 99' Mustang GT 4.6L

 

I remember a couple years ago, after committing a crime (I believe murder), a guy sped away in a mid-90's Explorer to escape the cops. He was driving really fast through the city streets (small city and at night) when he slammed into a utility pole slicing the X in two. He obviously died. Crime doesn't pay!

 

Since someone mentioned physics... :-)

In order to shear the pole, sufficient momentum must be transferred to it, the faster the moving body that hits it, the less time for momentum to transfer, and the more force it takes to shear the pole... in other words, the faster you want to get something moving ( overcome inertia and other forces that want it to sit still ) the more force you will have to apply in a shorter period of time. In this case, the force applied in such a short period of time was more than the car could withstand instantaneously.

If you go fast enough ( remember all the hurricane examples ) you can cut a car in half before enough momentum is transferred. If he'd hit it at half the speed, it very possibly could have pushed the pole over or bent it.

Still pretty darn amazing though.

Robert

 

I have seen video of a test the USAF was conducting. I can't remember what they were trying to proove. I think they just thought it would be cool. Anyway the strapped a rocke motor onto an F4 Phantom, mounted the Phantom on a rail sled and then fired it into a concrete wall. The high speed camera showed the F4 disintegrating as it hit the wall. Looked like water hitting the pavement. Think of pouring an airplane onto the sidewalk and seeing it splash. Pretty cool.

Tom

 

>I have seen video of a test the USAF was conducting. I
>can't remember what they were trying to proove. I think
>they just thought it would be cool. Anyway the strapped a
>rocke motor onto an F4 Phantom, mounted the Phantom on a
>rail sled and then fired it into a concrete wall. The high
>speed camera showed the F4 disintegrating as it hit the
>wall. Looked like water hitting the pavement. Think of
>pouring an airplane onto the sidewalk and seeing it splash.
>Pretty cool.
>
>Tom


i think they were testing new ejection seats and decided twords the end of the testing to smash the f-4 for scientific reasons ie: fun. i saw that video also and i think it was for ejection seats.

 

A lot of times when a car ends up in two parts is because of a poor body shop job at one time. Guys buy wrecks and build one car out of two all the time.Usually you put a front and back together , but I have seen people do cars side to side.When a car is a total loss it should not be allowed to be rebuilt and registered again.
I work in a body shop and see some pretty nasty stuff. There are a LOT of butchers out there. Buy the way, some of the worst stuff I have ever seen ( as far as damage done ) happens to Ford trucks. They really don't take that much of a hit.