So, yeah, this story started in the road racing forum, but want to share with all my friends here. I got married on Saturday, and went on our honeymoon. Tina and I were driving from Kingston to Niagara Falls on Monday afternoon when it happened.
Tina fell asleep on the highway, hit the rumble strips on the right side, freaked out and swerved the car, I woke up, felt the car was yawing, and I grabbed the wheel to try to straighten it out. It didn't work, and we hit the center devider head on at about 50mph. The steering wheel airbag broke my left wrist.
This was in Tina's stock ZTS, not my spin-miester.
Tina is ok, just seatbelt abraisions and sore neck. The Focus did well, it was a damn hard hit.
So, needless to say, the honeymoon is over early.
It's all very freaky, we could have died very easily. So I'm thankful for that. Hearing your wife scream in terror is not a pleasant thing.
I'm left wondering if I did the right thing, trying to steer. In my mind I know the car was already gone. But I don't know for sure. I think her father blames me.
I'm just very glad to be alive.
If anybody else gets married, don't listen to all the pressures of the things you HAVE to do. Bachellor party, wedding day, run off on a honeymoon etc... it's too much. We had insomnia before and after the wedding, from all the stress. I wanted to relax at our cottage, but there is the pressure to have a "romantic" wedding. So we went to Niagara Falls. Tina's brain just shut down with no warning at 3 in the afternoon, after drinking a coffee, and only drove 30 minutes.
Ultimately it's our fault, but I blame society for putting all this pressure on people getting married to do this, that and the other thing.
I've analzsed it pretty far with some friends here at work, that's how I deal with things. Analyze them, anyway, here's the in depth of what happened:
I was trying to sleep in the passenger seat, when I felt the rumble strip on the right side. And not a kiss but we went right over it. I said with my eyes closed "Tina's what's going on?" She says she doesn't remember the rumble strip, or pulling off it. She had blacked out, and I think acted instinctively. So she yanked it to the left too hard, and I think that's when her brain kicked on again, but she says she had tunnel vision. She couldn't see outside the car. We went too far to the left, and she yanked it back to the right. I *believe* but I can't remember clear, that that's when I felt the car start to yaw left, so I reached over and pushed the wheel a little to the center to straighten it out but it wasn't enough, and we went to the right side of the lane again, and she steered left again, and the back end yawed strongly right. I pushed the wheel to center again, but by that point the rear end was yawing too far right and I couldn't catch it without being in the drivers seat. We might have even fishtailed one more cycle, but I can't remember clearly.
So we headed off to the left, crossed both lanes at probably 30 degrees from straight ahead (quite steep across the lanes) and the tail was yawed out to the right. We impacted the wall at about a 45* angle, but probably only 30* velocity angle because we were yawed about 15 degrees right.
So it was quite hard, probably 50mph. We were doing 70 initially and scrubbed a little off, but I don't know if she even used the brakes. They say the brain captures frames like a camera, and the airbags are too fast to see, but I actually have an image in my head of the bags semi-deployed. Like a snapshot. Weird.
For me the whole thing happened slow, I remember most little details, Tina screaming, etc. It's horrifying for me being in a car that is out of control, helpless. Because normally I could control anything. I was sitting there in the passenger seat with my hand on the wheel, but I couldn't do anything. So I have a feeling of helplessness. But also guilt. I think her father blames me, and I have to wonder. Did I over-react and make it worse? I remember the car yawed before I started to intervene, but I can't remember the details. Or maybe she would have caught it if I wasn't trying to drive, I dunno... I doubt that. My engineering head says we were gone, but my heart asks if it's my fault.
She can't remember much. She just remembers me asking what's going on, then steering but had tunnel vision, and doesn't remember much about the events that happened.
The car impacted, bounced off, then hit again 15 feet later. And then I think we rode the wall for about 20-30 feet before stopping.
So, pretty major damage. The hood came up. The fluids all let go, rad and everthing is toast. Trans case is dented and the motor was pushed into the frame rail and tore all the accessory pulleys off. (pretty surprising to find the idler pulley on top of the valve cover). Frame rails are bent to the right, and the roof even has a tiny buckle right over the driver's door, and that door won't open a crack. The left strut buckled like a straw, and pulled out of the knuckle, the ball joint seperated, and the whole wheel basically came off tearing out the CV joint.
It's amazing how getting married changes you.
I'm thinking about the replacement car, and fun is very low down on the list. I'm thinking Volvo.
I'd get another Focus, it held up well, they're very safe. I'd love to get a nice Wagon with the 2.3. But I want side airbags, and stability control. I can't help but think that if we'd had IVD, we wouldn't have crashed at all. Or that we could have been Tboned and one of us would have died without side airbags.
But stability control isn't available anymore right?
I think it's a must. The next car will be the family car, and it has to be safe.
I'm thinking about waiting for a S40 or V50, when do they come out?
How about the Mazda 3, does it have stability control?
What else can I look at? The budget is under $25k.
Tina fell asleep on the highway, hit the rumble strips on the right side, freaked out and swerved the car, I woke up, felt the car was yawing, and I grabbed the wheel to try to straighten it out. It didn't work, and we hit the center devider head on at about 50mph. The steering wheel airbag broke my left wrist.
This was in Tina's stock ZTS, not my spin-miester.
Tina is ok, just seatbelt abraisions and sore neck. The Focus did well, it was a damn hard hit.
So, needless to say, the honeymoon is over early.
It's all very freaky, we could have died very easily. So I'm thankful for that. Hearing your wife scream in terror is not a pleasant thing.
I'm left wondering if I did the right thing, trying to steer. In my mind I know the car was already gone. But I don't know for sure. I think her father blames me.
I'm just very glad to be alive.
If anybody else gets married, don't listen to all the pressures of the things you HAVE to do. Bachellor party, wedding day, run off on a honeymoon etc... it's too much. We had insomnia before and after the wedding, from all the stress. I wanted to relax at our cottage, but there is the pressure to have a "romantic" wedding. So we went to Niagara Falls. Tina's brain just shut down with no warning at 3 in the afternoon, after drinking a coffee, and only drove 30 minutes.
Ultimately it's our fault, but I blame society for putting all this pressure on people getting married to do this, that and the other thing.
I've analzsed it pretty far with some friends here at work, that's how I deal with things. Analyze them, anyway, here's the in depth of what happened:
I was trying to sleep in the passenger seat, when I felt the rumble strip on the right side. And not a kiss but we went right over it. I said with my eyes closed "Tina's what's going on?" She says she doesn't remember the rumble strip, or pulling off it. She had blacked out, and I think acted instinctively. So she yanked it to the left too hard, and I think that's when her brain kicked on again, but she says she had tunnel vision. She couldn't see outside the car. We went too far to the left, and she yanked it back to the right. I *believe* but I can't remember clear, that that's when I felt the car start to yaw left, so I reached over and pushed the wheel a little to the center to straighten it out but it wasn't enough, and we went to the right side of the lane again, and she steered left again, and the back end yawed strongly right. I pushed the wheel to center again, but by that point the rear end was yawing too far right and I couldn't catch it without being in the drivers seat. We might have even fishtailed one more cycle, but I can't remember clearly.
So we headed off to the left, crossed both lanes at probably 30 degrees from straight ahead (quite steep across the lanes) and the tail was yawed out to the right. We impacted the wall at about a 45* angle, but probably only 30* velocity angle because we were yawed about 15 degrees right.
So it was quite hard, probably 50mph. We were doing 70 initially and scrubbed a little off, but I don't know if she even used the brakes. They say the brain captures frames like a camera, and the airbags are too fast to see, but I actually have an image in my head of the bags semi-deployed. Like a snapshot. Weird.
For me the whole thing happened slow, I remember most little details, Tina screaming, etc. It's horrifying for me being in a car that is out of control, helpless. Because normally I could control anything. I was sitting there in the passenger seat with my hand on the wheel, but I couldn't do anything. So I have a feeling of helplessness. But also guilt. I think her father blames me, and I have to wonder. Did I over-react and make it worse? I remember the car yawed before I started to intervene, but I can't remember the details. Or maybe she would have caught it if I wasn't trying to drive, I dunno... I doubt that. My engineering head says we were gone, but my heart asks if it's my fault.
She can't remember much. She just remembers me asking what's going on, then steering but had tunnel vision, and doesn't remember much about the events that happened.
The car impacted, bounced off, then hit again 15 feet later. And then I think we rode the wall for about 20-30 feet before stopping.
So, pretty major damage. The hood came up. The fluids all let go, rad and everthing is toast. Trans case is dented and the motor was pushed into the frame rail and tore all the accessory pulleys off. (pretty surprising to find the idler pulley on top of the valve cover). Frame rails are bent to the right, and the roof even has a tiny buckle right over the driver's door, and that door won't open a crack. The left strut buckled like a straw, and pulled out of the knuckle, the ball joint seperated, and the whole wheel basically came off tearing out the CV joint.
It's amazing how getting married changes you.
I'm thinking about the replacement car, and fun is very low down on the list. I'm thinking Volvo.
I'd get another Focus, it held up well, they're very safe. I'd love to get a nice Wagon with the 2.3. But I want side airbags, and stability control. I can't help but think that if we'd had IVD, we wouldn't have crashed at all. Or that we could have been Tboned and one of us would have died without side airbags.
But stability control isn't available anymore right?
I think it's a must. The next car will be the family car, and it has to be safe.
I'm thinking about waiting for a S40 or V50, when do they come out?
How about the Mazda 3, does it have stability control?
What else can I look at? The budget is under $25k.
