General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSUV falls 60 ft over guard rail at Bronz Zoo - seven dead
including three children - off the Bronx River parkway. All passengers had on seat belts.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/several-killed-as-vehicle-plunges-into-bronx-zoo/
Seven people were killed on Sunday after a minivan that they were in lost control and fell several dozen feet from a Bronx River Parkway overpass, coming to rest in an area of the Bronx Zoo, law enforcement officials said.
Three of the dead in the one-vehicle accident were children, said a spokesman for the Fire Department, Jim Long. All of the dead were in the minivan; a city official said that the police believe the victims are from a single Bronx family.
The accident occurred around 12:30 p.m. on the southbound lanes of the parkway, just north of East 180th Street. A police spokesman said that the minivan was heading south in the passing lane when it lost control and struck the median; witnesses told the police that it appeared that a tire had blown.
------------------------
Word is that the bridge is functionally obsolete.
cali
(114,904 posts)cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)malaise
(269,328 posts)There's a photo at the link and they showed it on TV news as well
cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)They have toughened up SUV roofs some due to higher incidence of roll-overs, but there are practical limits.
A 30 foot drop is no joke but probably much less force than driving into a barrier at highway speed, and in such cases you wouldn't expect belted up kids in the back to all die.
Also, the air bags are all the wrong direction for a roof-impact. (Understandably)
Hence my (grim) guess.
Zalatix
(8,994 posts)cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)When SUVs became popular their higher center of gravity led to a lot of rollover accidents so they made the roofs (and posts between the windows) stronger, but there are limits.
Even if the structural integrity of the passenger compartment is not compromised, every bit of safety design is for impact from the front, side and rear, as it should be.
So there's no protection. Seatbelts and airbags aren't designed for it. The energy absorbing joints in cars aren't aligned that way.
There's probably no vehicle that would take a 30 foot drop onto the roof well.
flvegan
(64,426 posts)Zalatix
(8,994 posts)malaise
(269,328 posts)Damn - it's easy to die.
onehandle
(51,122 posts)PavePusher
(15,374 posts)Blowing a tire at 70 mph will cause almost any vehicle to crash, more likely if a front than a rear, but bad news either way.
Stinky The Clown
(67,846 posts)That parkway is one of them. No shoulders. Very low guardrails. No crushable barriers. Lanes narrower than standard by several feet. No accel/decell lanes. Quite simply, there is no margin for error, as this accident appears to demonstrate.
Very tragic.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)They said it crossed a couple lanes before going off. It probably hit the curb, which launched it enough to put it over the guardrail and flip it.
Coming down on the roof, I don't think that the seatbelt retractors will lock up.
They were better when seatbelts first came out and you adjusted the length to fit manually.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)So incredibly sad.
I like that folks are discussing ways to strengthen the positioning of airbags to prevent such tragedies. Ordinary people have been known to come up with ideas to help prevent injuries, and group brain power is an amazing thing when directed toward good causes.