Dean Daughter Among 5 in Conn. Accident

[TeddyKGB]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041108/ap_on_re_us/dean_s_daughter_accident

NORTH HAVEN, Conn. - The daughter of former Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean and four other young women were taken to a hospital Sunday after their sport utility vehicle rolled over on Interstate 91, state police said.

Anne Dean, 20, was treated and released from Yale-New Haven Hospital, said a hospital spokeswoman, who would not describe the nature of any of the women's injuries.

State police said Mona El Sayed, 17, of Tinton Falls, N.J., was the driver of the Ford SUV, which is owned by Howard Dean. The hospital spokeswoman said El Sayed was still being evaluated Sunday night.

The three other women — Betty Townsend, 18, Eliza Berman, 19, and Catherine Hillin, 19, were all treated and released.

Anne Dean is a junior at Yale University. Broadcast reports said the women were apparently returning to Yale from Vermont, where the Dean family lives...

[foo_bar]

1. ugh

I-91 is cursed, there's been a dozen accidents within my immediate family between Hartford and New Haven. Something about 18-wheelers full of ball bearings, or a fatal combination of NY and Boston drivers. My thoughts are with the Dean family.

[LosinIt]

2. almost had a heart attack

the good people don't need any more tragedy

[dorktv]

3. Thank God they are all okay!

[candy331]

4. Thak goodness they are allright, best wishes to the family today. n/t

[bklyncowgirl]

5. Thank God no one was seriously hurt.

Things have gotten so strange these days though, and I've got my tinfoil hat on so tight that I can't help wondering. Apparently this was Howard Dean's SUV. Maybe it's just a side product of living first in Brooklyn and then New Jersey, places where, shall we say, it's not unknown for certain people to make bad things happen to other people's vehicles to either get rid of them or as a warning.

Hopefully this was just an accident but I also hope they're having the truck checked for tampering.

[Atlant]

6. Maybe one shouldn't allow kids to drive SUVs

(given that the handling of the SUV sucks and probably reacts
synergistically with the dreadful inexperience of the young
drivers).

Atlant

[janx]

33. Especially someone *else's* kid.

Note that it was the 17-year-old, not Dean's 20-year-old daughter, who was driving the car...

[PaDUer]

15. Ford Explorers are known

to roll over. Remember all the lawsuits against Ford about this. They were poorly designed, and since all the accidents occurred, they changed the design to try to stop the rollovers because they were top heavy. Firestone Tires was also involved in these lawsuits. Thousands of Explorer lawsuits, and deaths, occurred. As you said, the Dean family should also check to see if it was tampered with because I don't trust the thugs since they're aware of the Explorer rollovers and would say it was an "accident".

[DinahMoeHum]

7. SUVs have that notorious habit of rolling over. . .

this kind of accident doesn't surprise me. Thank goodness this was not serious.


:shrug:

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Ford Exploders..I mean Explorers..are especially nororious

for rolling.

[PBX9501]

11. Any car will

roll if you run off the road and then over correct back onto the asphalt.

I'm not a suv fan but my brother in law rolled a chevy caprice trying to miss a squirrel, seriously. He was not hurt but the squirrel lost his life in the accident.

I pretty much assume any single vehicle accident involving a 17 year old driver is because of driver error.

Anyone charged with DUI?

[Atlant]

13. SUVs roll FAR MORE READILY than cars.

Sorry, but the physics simply aren't on the side of the SUVs.

Atlant

[PBX9501]

16. So do

minivans, passenger vans, any vehicle with a higher cg will roll if put in a position where its cg is outside of its wheelbase.

You can do this in a M3 or a suburban if you react incorrectly. It is easier to do in a heavy vehicle with higher placed cg. Generally it is better to hit something than to over correct and land on the roof of a car.

[Carni]

14. We rolled an Audi in order to avoid a Canadian goose

Worst thing I have ever gone through in my driving history...

The goose went on about his merry way -- I am still dealing with a pinched nerve from the whole ordeal and the car is no more.

I am sorry but I hope the goose is the one Kerry shot!
(That's a joke...sort of!)

[bendeminga]

23. Goose -1 Audi - 0

I'm glad you are mostly ok--but seriously, how big was that goose?!

;)

[Carni]

26. Fairly large as ridiculous as this sounds!

Over correction when going into a slide while braking started the rollover...(to avoid the damned bird who remained unscathed!)

You know those movies you see a car going into a roll and in the meantime the passengers are blasted all over the car in slow motion? (Mothman comes to mind!)

Well, Hollywood does a good job portraying that! UG! :(

It was at night and who the hell expects a goose to pop out at them at night! (or at all for that matter!)

[Carni]

9. Oh man! :(

My thoughts are with Anne Dean!

I was in a rollover accident two years ago and you want to talk about your life flashing before your eyes in slow mo...Glad she's OK!

[Lavender Brown]

10. Scary

I hope she and the other girls are OK.

[PBX9501]

12. I read there were no serious injuries, thankfully(NT)

[DireStrike]

17. Why was she in that gas guzzler?

And someone said this is Howard's car?


...If you're not part of the solution...

anyway I'm still glad they're fine.

[bklyncowgirl]

18. In defense of the Deans

While I'm no fan of SUVs I do feel that in certain circumstances they are justifiable.

Howard Dean's wife Judy is a practicing physician working in Vermont--a heavy snow area if ever there was one. I think that four wheel drive would be essential under those circumstances.

It's the guy who feels he has to drive one of these monsters on his commute from the New Jersey suburbs to Manhattan just to show how cool he is or the soccar mom from Atlanta who's driving around in one because she thinks its safer that bother me.

[GemMom]

20. SUV's not necessarily "safer" in heavy snows

Their center of gravity is very high, compared to cars. They will slide just as easily if the roads are icy. I've seen more SUVs in ditches during snows as any other vehicle because people THINK they're safer in SUVs in snows and typically drive too fast... until they hit that patch of ice and spin out. Sounds like what these girls might have been doing.

[PBX9501]

24. Clearance

I have driven Subaru vehicles in snow and they do fine until they begin to drag. For where I live they are fine. I lost part of a car that way though. A truck or SUV has higher ground clearance. Less likely to drag.

Any vehicle on ice is worthless unless it has tracks. I parked my truck on my icy drive way, set the brake, got out, and it slid into the road. Luckily no one is on my road much.

[Shallah Kali]

28. The new subaru's have much higher ground clearance than before

I have a relative considering trading in her gas guzzler for a subaru outback because it has over 8 inches of ground clearance just like her current vehicle while having much better mileage, did better on rollover tests, and gets top marks for crash tests. I suggest everyone considering a SUV check out all the options out there including vehicles like subaru in case you can find what you want with better all around features.

[American Tragedy]

27. Trust me, SUVs do have their selling points

My mother has a Mercedes M-class. I don't like it all that much, but I have to admit that I have never seen a vehicle that handles better in rain and snow.

Moreover, I've been inside it in a wreck. My mother and I were headed home, and we were stopped at a red light. Despite the yellow caution lights that immediately preceded this intersection, a woman in a red Ford truck came flying over the hill at over 60 mph and smashed into our vehicle.

That truck was totalled. The woman was bleeding and hysterical and went away in an ambulance.

Aside from the worst headache I've ever had in my life, we were all fine. In fact, we drove away from the accident. There was a massive dent, but the airbags did not even deploy.

After that experience, I was forced to admit that I can see why somebody might want one of these.

[Piperay]

30. Me too

I would have been killed if I had been in anything less when I was hit and run at an excessive speed on the freeway.

[GemMom]

21. Ford Explorer notorious gas guzzler

Some SUVs are better at mpg than others. Even the newer Ford Explorer models are only getting 15-20mpg.

[ozone_man]

34. He was a hockey dad.

And coached hockey occasionally at BHS while governor. He needed it for his kid and friends and all. Don't know if it's the same vehicle. Now I hate SUVs, but there are times when you need one for kids and stuff. And then there is the Vermont winter.

Glad to hear that no one got hurt, assuming that the driver was OK.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

19. Oh thank GOD she's ok

Whew. I love the Deans.

[GemMom]

22. More from another AP Story

State police said the vehicle was traveling southbound on I-91 in North Haven when it drifted onto the grass median, moved back into the left lane and spun out of control before rolling over in the median.

[nebula]

25. They are very lucky

Vehicles that roll over usually crushes the occupants inside.


Edit: That they all walked away without serious injury has to be a small miracle!

[The Backlash Cometh]

29. People must be driving distracted these days. I almost got smacked

by a red SUV. Driven by a senior white male. Once I realized that he would have hit my daughter I yelled out, "Stupid right-wing bastard!" Not really a stretch because the windows were up.

There have already been two auto fatalities in the last two weeks that I've known about. Serious stuff.

[Earth_First]

31. "the Ford SUV, which is owned by Howard Dean."

ladies and gentlemen, the voice of reason of the Progressive Democrat, Howard Dean.

[Bucky]

32. Hey, hey! None of that!

You don't know that the car isn't a hybrid. Or maybe an SUV is safer for that kind of (obviously) dangerous driving in the winter. Or hell, I dunno, maybe Dean just believes that cars should be made more fuel efficient as a matter of public policy rather than expecting individuals to handle the conservation in a peicemeal fashion.

Anyhoo, the kids got hurt in an accident. This isn't the right time for cheap shots.

Oh my God! Did I just defend Howard Dean?

[bklyncowgirl]

35. Dude, the man and his wife are doctors. They live in Vermont

Doctors have to be able to get to the hospital in winter no matter what the weather.

Sure SUVs are Satan's vehicles but for a small minority of people they make sense. Doctors who live in the snow belt are among them.