Now, as all of you potential readers stumble across this thread, pls take my message to heart.

This evening at around 7pm I watched my sister flip her car. I was driving one way on a service road and she was driving the other way. She jokingly swirved towards me, overcorrected once to avoid hitting me, overcorrected once again to keep from hitting the ditch, hit the gaurdrail for the interstate right next to us, and once more she overcorrected and put the nose of her car into a ditch. As I was watching all of this in my rear view mirror, I proceeded to see her rear end flip around, lifting the entire vehicle off the ground and then she slides 120ft to a stop. In her skid, she missed a telephone pole by ~5ft. She completely sheared off the lower control arm on her passenger front. She also nearly ripped off the front fascia and the rear bumper cover along with mashing the entire passenger side of the vehicle. She wasn't wearing a seatbelt. She took the rear view mirror off with her head and cracked nearly the entire windshield from two blows with the head against the windshield. My guess is she lost control doing around 70mph in a 55mph zone. The airbags didn't inflate. I immediately turned around and found her unconcious in the passengers seat. After establishing her conciousness that she wasn't paralyzed, I tried to go around to the passenger side door and get her out. The door wouldn't open due to inflicted damage. I went back around to the driver's side and then I picked her up and I put her in my trusty Ranger and took her to the hospital. It was the most surreal thing I've ever seen in my entire life. With thanks to God, she is ok. She has minor bruises and a mild cut on her foot. No concussion. No internal bleeding. No seatbelt.

Now, the moral of the story is that not everyone is so lucky. Not every survives a Honda Civic rolling at 70mph. Especially those that don't wear seatbelts. Now as you read this message that I bring, pls, for your loved ones and for yourself, wear your seatbelts. Drive safely and carefully. Be mindful of road conditions. Thanks for taking time to read all of this. I know it's long, but I find the message worthwhile.

 

only GOD works miracles....HE certainly was watching over your sister....but for HIS Grace i survived my younger years

 

Thanks for the warning, and I'm glad your sister is going to be okay. When I first got our E-150 Club Wagon, I disabled the seatbelt reminder. You know, the one that irritates you every few minutes until you buckle up? But after thinking about it, I decided that it's worth the irritation to make me buckle.

Thanks

 

It's for reasons just like that one that I always wear my seatbelt. I won't even put my truck in drive if my passengers are not wearing theirs. I'm glad that your sister is OK nate.

 

Tuff way for her to learn that lesson, cars and crap can be replaced, we humans on the other hand can not. Glad to here she is ok with only minor injuries - wow that had to be tuff to witness, thank God man -

 

Been there..done that. At least.. similar. 30 mph in an aerostar rolled into a ditch with seatbelt on. Walked away without a bruise. Aerostar was toast. The roof was dented in about 2 1/2 feet, the wall just behind the seat was also dented in approx 2 foot. All doors stuck. Had to SHOVE my 300 pounds against the door to open.

I routinely **** people off by forcing them to wear their seatbelts or get out of my truck.

Glad your sister is okay.

 

Really sorry to hear. She was very lucky, and i bet she will use her seatbelt hopefully from now on...

 

She is very lucky.

A kid from my school died as the result of a car wreck Monday. He left school early to go visit his grandma before she died, but he died on the way up there. He went to pass a car on double yellows and hit a State van head-on. Not much left of his car... van was pretty messed up too.

http://www.nbc4i.com/news/9255516/detail.html#

Take a look at the slideshow and you'll see pictures of that van and car. Take a lesson from it folks. He was wearing his seatbelt by the way, but his seat was ejected from the car and he ended up in 3 pieces.

 

Although she was lucky, and especially given that she was navigating a coffin/beer can (ie, itty bitty jap can used by most people to only go buy groceries), I'm surprised at the deal.

*No seat belt
*Speeding
*Swerving @ oncomming vehicles (fun is fun, but.....)

I'm not sure if she realizes it, but wearing a seatblet keeps people IN vehicles that roll. Most deaths in a rollover are from the vehicle rolling onto a partially ejected occupant; beer can cars are no exception. Hopefully the potential consequences that were avoided are understood, and that she ups the bar.

 

The most important thing is that she is ok. Even better she made it out with only minor injuries. As said, the Honda...it's worth nothing in the long run. But you could never replace your sister.

It serves as a lesson, the worst kind, but perhaps the most influential.

RP
Zach

 

First of all:
Thanks to everyone for their concern. Sometimes during the days I find myself thinking about some of the conversations on here and think about the common individuals. At this point in my life, I've separated myself from everyone but my family, my GF, and my FTE family. Thanks guys.

She normally wears her seatbelt. She's normally a good driver. Like Waves said, it's tough to watch all that happen and not be able to stop it. She's my older sister, although I've always been her big brother. I always pick out her boyfriends, haha. It's been a rough and sleepless 30 hours. It keeps replaying in my head even though she's fine. Maybe eating a solid meal will heal me. I really am not enjoying this feeling like garbage thing.

 

My heart goes out to you buddy, that had to be a dramatic experience. We must remember what an awesome God we serve! Back in 79, I started drinking alot and totaled 4 cars that year, the last one broke my neck. Doctors said I would be lucky to walk again, but God gave me a second chance, and I haven't wasted it. It changed my life. On sept 11th, thousands of people also got a second chance, those buildings should of been full, but they weren't. Encourge your sister make the best of her second chance, because everybody doesn't get one, I'm thankful to God that she did. Good luck to both of you, you will be in my prayre's.

 

First off, I have to say that I'm glad nobody was killed... Luck of the draw in a roll over.

My second cousin is dead because he WORE his seatbelt. He rolled his 90's ranger, and the roof was pushed down enough to break the headrest... The doctors say his neck broke instantly, and he didnt suffer. The detective said his seatbelt kept him in place, as it was intended to... Too bad that place became smaller then intended.

I'll never know why hes gone, his blood was clear of everything, and it was an familer road...

I share Jakes story with all of the seatbelt *****, because allthough it might help you, it might kill you.

Luck of the draw, pray before you drive, and thank the lord for a safe trip once you get where your going

~Nate

 

Well although the seatbelt MIGHT cause the injuries or even death, more often than not it will save your life or atleast prevent worse injuries. I was in a head-on collision in my 2000 Ranger and was wearin my seat-belt. The other guy wasn't but we both survived. Ironicaly my only injuries were from the air-bag and my seat-belt which tore an artery. But nothing i couldn't recover from. The other guy has since had 4 surgeries to correct his leg which was badly injured when his airbag directed him under the dash since he wasn't buckled up. But yeah your sister is extremely luckey, and I hope she learns from it and buckles up from now on. Those experiances are definately enlightening and give you a completely new outlook on things. Good luck to the road for all of you!

 

Wow that's really too bad. Yep seatbelts are definately important, you never know what can happen and especially when it'll happen. That being said, I'm really glad to here your sister is going to be fine.
Ofcourse a seatbelt can only do so much, in certain situations seat belt or not unfortunate things can still happen, I just think in most cases the belts improve your odds. Not one crash is the same and anything can happen.

Madmike33