Local Accident involving a W124
 

This was on the front page of our local news station page when I went on it just a few mins ago :eek:

Pic: http://woodtv.images.worldnow.com/images/4244492_SS.jpg

From the article:

Three people injured in accident on I-96 in Grand Rapids

(Update, Grand Rapids, December 14, 2005, 4:15 p.m.) Two Kenowa Hills High School students and a third person were rushed to a hospital after being involved in a two-vehicle accident on I-96 in Grand Rapids.

The crash occurred just before noon Wednesday near Leonard Street and shut the highway down for more than three hours.

A truck driver who witnessed the accident told 24 Hour News 8 the students were traveling west in a Mercedes Benz.

He says the vehicle crashed into a guardrail, spun around, crossed the median, and collided with an SUV that was traveling in the eastbound lanes.

"It was unbelievable. And the car, after the collision, the Mercedes Benz kept rolling down the highway. It was smoking pretty bad…and I pulled the truck up and grabbed the fire extinguisher, and tried to help as much as I could," Dave Lazoski adds.

He says he sat with the unconscious teens until emergency crews arrived.

The driver of the SUV was also taken to a hospital.

Authorities continue to investigate the incident.


I'm pretty sure in any other car they'd have been not so lucky.... :eek:

Several years ago I got spun into a guard rail with a Camry. It hit so hard that it spun around and the rear also hit the guard rail. I drove the thing home since no one stopped to even take a look what had happened. It was still drivable. It was totalled since it would have cost over 10K to fix.

Thats pretty amazing! From the pic it looks like the car did its job. The passenger compartment is still intact. Thats what matters.

It appears that anyone sitting in the rear would have been crushed. Front seat area looks pretty well intact.

There was a third person in the 124, I bet they were sitting on the drivers side rear though, the passenger side does look pretty smashed....lucky them... :eek:

:eek: ... keep in mind some of the damage in terms of doors being ripped off may have happened in the process of extracting the passengers.

But whoever wrote that article needs to know that it's Mercedes-Benz, not Mercedes Benz ... AP Stylebook no-no ...

Another thing to note is that the car DID NOT burst into flames/explode or anything, something that seems to be all too common when other non-MB gasser cars are involved in such accidents.

Further Update: This was again taken from the article, it was recently updated and they gave a pic of the SUV that hit the 124, it looks like it was an explorer or expedition (I can only tell by the ford hubcaps on the front wheels...)....and this was at 70+mph remember! :eek:

http://woodtv.images.worldnow.com/im...244492_BG3.jpg

New info:

Sixteen-year-old Megan Campbell, 16-year-old Raini Olson and 18-year-old Micah Smith were in the car. Forty-three-year-old Roger Wiedyk of Lowell was driving the SUV.

They were all taken to a hospital. Olsen and Wiedyk are in critical condition, Campbell is stable, and Smith suffered minor injuries.

The teens are students at the Kent Career Technical Center in the Kenowa Hills School District.

Authorities continue to investigate the incident.

I was walking through a junk yard today and specifically looked at the w124 doors and those on the Camry's to note differences in terms of side impact protection. I was surprised to find that the mid 90's Camry has the same size round interior door brace as on the Benz. Basically both doors have about a 2 inch round bar that runs horizontal across the door interior and it is attached on both ends with a lessor attachment in the middle area.

From the picture of the w124 it looks like either passenger side occupant would have suffered impact injuires. I've also examined a w126 that was T-boned and noted the "B" pilar was really caved into the occupant area - much more so than what I'd been led to believe if you listen to the MB faithful.

Based on the cars I've seen, a direct side impact is going to be bad news no mater what you are driving.

weird
 

so why is the driver of the SUV in critical condition when he was hit head on. the front of the car should have absorbed enough energy, and the airbag should ahve saved him. that is odd for the suv driver to be hurt that much. i would have thought that all three students would be in critical or something. well if its a ford, then i am not supprised.

Going from 70 mph to 0 mph in a snap isn't a great experience no matter what it is that stops you. Even with the airbag, internal organs are thrust forward and then backward, as is the spinal column. Obviously, airbags, seatbelts and the ability of the car's front to absorb shock makes a huge difference, but head-on at that speed is likely to cause internal damage to those aboard.

Black ice???
 

Is Black ice a possible cause???

I once saw a Pinto back into a guardrail at 90mph or so. I was riding my bicycle and he passed me going the other way with the engine fully wound out, and I don't recall hearing him lift throttle for the curve. Bowed the rail about 4' out of line. As I proceeded to the crash site to see if anybody was alive, I heard a starter motor. The car eventually restarted and drove off. I didn't get a good look at the back of the car, but the guardrail was quite a sight.

I wouldn't think it'd be a cause, the roads around here, especially the main roads/freeway have all been clear the past couple days up till this evening (it just started snowing again a short while ago...) Even the side streets don't really have all that much on them.

I pulled out of a michigan U-turn/turnaround tonight and went perfectly sideways across all three lanes to the turn lane I was intending to drive to with rear wheels a spinnin'. After a couple back and forth swerves/fishtailings I was going straight again. Wow. :eek: I am so used to correcting the swerving's of the o'l 126 that I did it without even thinking....

It must have looked mighty strange to the oncoming traffic! :eek: Hoping never to have to do THAT again. Especially with oncoming 40mph traffic. Stupid snow. :mad:

Whats needed are small rocket boosters on the back/sides/front of the car, so when a navigation computer detects slipping/sliding it fires the appropriate engines to correct/cancel out the momentum. "I cant stop!"...front engine fires....car comes to normal, assisted stop. :D That would be pretty sweet......

I'd bet the SUV driver wasn't wearing a seatbelt.