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The damage to the drivers side door on Weston’s car is hard to believe. (If you are coming to the CITR party this Saturday, this accident occurred on Speed Road, which many of you will travel. BE CAREFUL.) Speed Road is a one-lane, narrow, curvy, typical West Virginia back road. This was not a high-speed accident, but it was an accident in which the driver was going faster than his experience allowed.
Slow down, be careful–these are things we say over and over to teenagers, and they don’t get it until something bad happens. They don’t know what they don’t know, which is that in the blink of an eye, a seemingly innocent difficulty can become more than their driving experience can overcome.
If you have teenage drivers in your house, show them these pictures.
We stopped at the scene of the crash last night for Weston to describe to me what happened. The trouble started as he came out of a curve into a straight stretch. He skidded on some gravel and began a fishtail that lasted 30-40 feet until he slammed into a tree. He was going at a speed normal for most drivers on this road, but too fast for an inexperienced driver. He didn’t know how to regain control of the car.
Initial inspection of the Explorer at the tow yard.
Note that the two people in the car at the time of the accident are walking around. We like that.
Weston, retrieving a few things from the vehicle.
Blood and glass inside the car.
This was a really good car. I spent three days driving Weston and Morgan home from their summer in Texas in it after my mom’s funeral so Weston would have a car here. I also used this Explorer to drive to Ross’s boot camp graduation because it was in better shape than my current Explorer. The Explorer that Weston was driving was purchased in North Carolina in 2004 by my ex-husband. We bought two Explorers at the time. Ross totalled mine in 2007. Now, three years later, Weston has totalled the other. (I’m kinda partial to Explorers. I had another Explorer way back when, before the one Ross totalled, too. I bought my current Explorer in 2008, after I managed to total another car all by myself. See how here and here.)
It’s a miracle with the impact on the drivers side that Weston didn’t break an arm and a leg.
My cousin, steering from the passenger side as it goes up on the trailer.
Note the pristine condition of the passenger side. That’s where Morgan was sitting.
Weston must be trying to be really nice to me because he let me take his picture. Note the stitches to the right of his eye. The worst cut was very close to his eye. An inch over, and he might have lost his eye.
And then his car came home to die.
It’s a 99 Explorer. I have a 99 Explorer. I will harvest some pieces of it. It has good tires, for one thing. And many other good parts. It’s the frugal thing to do. I’m not interested in starting a junk yard, so I’m planning to get it hauled off by spring, sell it as is to a junker with whatever I haven’t taken off of it. Meanwhile, it’s living in Beulah Petunia’s former pasture. Anyone need a 99 Ford Explorer for parts? I can hook you up.
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Hugs Granny Trace
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Harvest the parts, sell for scrap, and buy a beater car!
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Beth aka oneoldgoat
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~Jenny~
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I’m an explorer person too, they rock!!
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Wish I could come to CITR Party, but will be there in spirit.
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As for the car…what you don’t need, parts it out on ebay..it’ll make some money to buy the next car!
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My sister had her own Ford Explorer – for safety reasons, she liked to say – but she wasn’t nearly so lucky when her accident happened in a snowstorm in 2003.
SUVs seem to be *the* vehicle that teens and single women like to drive to feel safer – at least here in the wilds of Minnesota.
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But I have to add:
I’ve been driving since I can remember; sitting on dads lap not even able to reach the petals, and at 22 have never, knock on wood, had an accident. Same with my sister.
Two years in not long enough to learn how to drive safely, make a game of it having your child sit in the passenger seat and tell them all you know of the road or quiz them what to do in what situations. They will love it and you’ll love it down the road.
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