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A summary:
Michael and Trudi Hardman were elementary school teachers were headed to Disney on Wednesday night with their 6 kids. The SUV rolled over after striking the median. The 16 year-old son, who was driving, said he fell asleep at the wheel. When he veered left onto the median, he tried to get back onto the highway but overcorrected which caused the 2005 Chevrolet Tahoe to roll over. He was charged with reckless operation of a vehicle. The crash was around 11pm and they left at around 7pm or 8pm. It's a 16-hour drive from their home in Terrell, TX and Orlando, FL.
His parents, and three of his siblings (ages 4, 7, and 15) were ejected from the vehicle. The 16 year-old was wearing a seatbelt.
Why why why?? Just horrible. The driver was the only person with his seat belt on and why oh why did the parents allow the 16 year old to be responsible for driving the family to their destination? Were they tired also and decided to let the teenager take his driving shift early? Minus the driver, were they all asleep at that time? Questions questions and bad decisions.
I feel this terrible tragedy could have been avoided if the parents were in control. Regardless, may they all rest in peace.
Suv's are prone to rollover. That's a fact. They are a danger to people in regular vehicles and to the occupants that are in them. Why they don't make them with lower ground clearance(you don't need high ground clearance to drive on pavement)is beyond me.
Suv's are prone to rollover. That's a fact. They are a danger to people in regular vehicles and to the occupants that are in them. Why they don't make them with lower ground clearance(you don't need high ground clearance to drive on pavement)is beyond me.
While SUVs are more prone to rolling over, cars will easily roll over as well given the situation; nothing in this situation shows that the lateral forces would have not been enough to roll a car over, going at that speed, I am almost certain a car would have rolled over as well. I do not know of any car where you can yank the steering wheel too much overcorrecting going 60mph and not flip the car over.
SUVs are design to drive on non-paved road surfaces as well, that is why they have the higher ground clearance and the better front/rear departure angles. If the family purchases something and did not use it correctly, that is not the fault of the car, that is the fault of the user.
Given that the number of SUVs on the road have increased over the last 40 years, yet the number of traffic accidents, injuries, and deaths have decreased, I would say that SUVs are not a sole contributor to accidents.
While SUVs are more prone to rolling over, cars will easily roll over as well given the situation; nothing in this situation shows that the lateral forces would have not been enough to roll a car over, going at that speed, I am almost certain a car would have rolled over as well. I do not know of any car where you can yank the steering wheel too much overcorrecting going 60mph and not flip the car over.
SUVs are design to drive on non-paved road surfaces as well, that is why they have the higher ground clearance and the better front/rear departure angles. If the family purchases something and did not use it correctly, that is not the fault of the car, that is the fault of the user.
Given that the number of SUVs on the road have increased over the last 40 years, yet the number of traffic accidents, injuries, and deaths have decreased, I would say that SUVs are not a sole contributor to accidents.
Actually majority of cars will not roll over by over simply bt correcting a steering wheel at 60mph. Skid yes...but not roll. They could roll when hitting a hard object. It's simple physics. A suv and pickup truck is top heavy and is way more likely to roll than a car. Period. There's no debate there.
Concluding that suv's are safe because number of deaths have decreased in last 40 years is nonsense. Deaths have decreased due to increased dui enforcement, huge advances in crash safety technology(air bags didn't exist 40 years ago), increases in Commercial driving license/safety enforcement, Increases in driver training requirements for young driver, seatbelt laws. All the things you'd probably be fighting against.
99% of people do not use suvs for off roading. They are glorified mini vans. Anyone who wants to do offroading in majority of suvs has to do major chances to the suspension. Majority of suv's are pure "image". I need something to carry my kids, but don't want a minivan because I don't want people to think I'm a soccer mom, even though that's exactly what I am! There should be a law regarding bumper height/ground clearance on suvs used on public highways. This would save countless lives. Any safety advantage given by extra size in an suv is given away by increased roll over risk. Anything can happen on a highway. You might have to make severe correction at 60mph if the driver next to you is drunk, not paying attention to their blind spot, falls asleep at the wheel, hits a patch of ice, swerves to avoid a deer, has a medical condition like heart attack, is texting on the wheel. Accidents can and DO happen.
Extra high bumper height of suv also means death to people in lower vehicles due to the suv overiding the lower car and missing the strong chassis points of the smaller car. 1 in 100 people die in car accidents. Number one cause of death in young people. Everything should be done possible to lower this risk.
Why why why?? Just horrible. The driver was the only person with his seat belt on and why oh why did the parents allow the 16 year old to be responsible for driving the family to their destination? Were they tired also and decided to let the teenager take his driving shift early? Minus the driver, were they all asleep at that time? Questions questions and bad decisions.
I feel this terrible tragedy could have been avoided if the parents were in control. Regardless, may they all rest in peace.
My parents did this with our family. I took the first leg on our way to Disney from Atlanta because I was familiar with the highways AND because I'm a teen. I was staying up late all the time, whereas, my parents went to bed from 9pm to 10pm.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert20170
Why does this topic headline seem very misleading to me? Sad situation, but definitely not the fault of Disney or their "dream trip". :/
They've always wanted to go, which is why the editor used the term "dream trip". Sad that they never got to go...
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