explorer full of hispanics ran off the road, over-corrected, spun out into my sister's lane as she was coming the opposite direction. she hit them in the right rear. explorer went airborne over my sister and flipped up into some trees. she parked it in the ditch. two passengers had some minor cuts and bruises. she busted up her knees. had a deep puncture wound on one knee from some dash plastic that broke. left arm had about a 8-10" cut to the bone from some door trim that broke. ER x-rays showed no broken bones, but she's going to an orthopaedic doc to make sure and to see what damage was done by the puncture on her knee. they were all very lucky. i was extremely impressed with the how that cobalt protected her. the A pillars weren't bent or anything and you could see the scrapes on them where the explorer slid across the roof.

all the people in the explorer walked away. one had a busted up face, but refused treatment. doesn't appear that any of them were drunk. no one in the explorer had an operator's license. surprisingly, it appears that there was insurance on the explorer. if not, she's got uninsured motorist.










the pics suck. it was still on the rollback and my aunt doesn't know how to back up apparently.

3/7/2009 8:27:21 PM

Was there no "knee plate" under the steering column? All those airbags make me think of the Stay-Puft marshmallow man. Hope your sister doesn't have any soft tissue damage, those injuries always seem persistent. Also, damn.

3/7/2009 8:36:19 PM

i don't know much about knee plates, but what was under the column was just hard plastic that shattered to hell. they should put that padded stuff like they put on top of the dash under there

also, that left end of the bumper was found about 50 feet in the woods


the cobalt pretty much acted like a wedge under that explorer and launched it

[Edited on March 7, 2009 at 8:39 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on March 7, 2009 at 8:40 PM. Reason : .]

3/7/2009 8:38:09 PM

what's relevent about the ethnicity of the people in the other car?

3/7/2009 8:49:38 PM

you've been in the soap box too much

[Edited on March 7, 2009 at 8:52 PM. Reason : and it was a fact]

[Edited on March 7, 2009 at 8:52 PM. Reason : i understand it could've been any ethnicity, but you must admit the % is much higher for unlicensed]

3/7/2009 8:51:58 PM

no doubt it's higher. i didn't see that part earlier.

still, it's pretty much irrelevent what color they were.

3/7/2009 8:57:45 PM

i agree. i hold no prejudice. i don't want this to turn into some kind of immigration argument.

but when you come from a rural farming area, you start to notice a trend. too many of my friends have had similar things happen. often the people have no insurance and it's not like you can get anything if you sue them.

3/7/2009 9:03:12 PM

Yeah, I'm from a rural farming area, too. Anyway, back to the thread.

3/7/2009 9:25:50 PM

Quote :

"if not, she's got uninsured motorist."

good luck with that. I was in a similar situation a year ago. 2 months of bitching to get what I was fucking owed as per my contract that all of the sudden they just couldn't read when it went into effect.

3/8/2009 10:43:54 AM

my aunt works in claims for our insurance company

3/8/2009 1:05:33 PM

so all the cops are allowed to do on something like this where the driver did not have a license and maybe have insurance is write them a citation and let them go?

wtf.

3/9/2009 10:54:14 PM

My question is what happens when you hit them if they don't have a license or insurance?

3/9/2009 11:13:25 PM

^^they can lock you up for no operator's license, but they rarely do. it's not worth their time to them. fucked up, huh?

^if you have uninsured motorist coverage of your own, then your insurance company will cover it. if not, you're SOL. or are you asking what happens if it's your fault? in that case, i have no idea.

3/9/2009 11:30:44 PM

yeah if you hit someone who isnt insured. does your insurance have to pay for it?

Seems like if you roll that way you shouldn't get nothing but positives. This would be a nice negative.

3/10/2009 6:11:50 PM

if the other person is at fault, they can get sued, but if they're riding around w/o insurance then chances are you can't get anything out of them.

3/10/2009 7:00:46 PM

this looks exactly like the rental car i had from my car getting hit (still not fixed btw, they might have to total it), minus the damage of course. very poor ergonomics in that car, but quite safe apparently.

glad your sister's ok

3/11/2009 9:14:02 AM

yeah, i hated it

she wants another one

3/11/2009 11:30:16 AM

why would you ever buy a cobalt.

3/11/2009 11:34:15 AM

^what he said

3/11/2009 12:20:17 PM

that's what i asked my sister

3/11/2009 12:42:49 PM

Well at least you know its safe

3/11/2009 1:50:10 PM

at least get her upgraded to a malibu.

3/11/2009 1:50:27 PM

Quote :

"still, it's pretty much irrelevent what color they were."

maybe not totally relevant to a thread in the garage, but overall i'd say it's extremely relevant. the epedimic of unlicensed/uninsured/illegal hispanics causing traffic accidents in nc has skyrocketed in recent years since this is a popular destination for so many that immigrate. frequently, they're also found to be dui/dwi. it puts a huge strain on our emergency services, drives up insurance rates, causes innocent people to suffer, and a whole list of other things.

it's sort of like the whole more black people being in jail argument. you can debate all day about what the cause of it is and what the solution should be, but the facts of the math remain.

3/13/2009 3:14:07 PM

dp

[Edited on March 13, 2009 at 3:19 PM. Reason : .]

3/13/2009 3:18:55 PM

^ take it to the soap box

3/13/2009 4:24:38 PM

no thanks. maybe, when you become garage moderator, i will. probably not though.

3/13/2009 5:29:27 PM

well, my sister is doing really good. ortho doctor said the missing tissue from the puncture wound was muscle only and there should be no lasting effects. the cut on her arm didn't get any major nerves or anything. she's almost back to normal.

the other insurance company (GMAC) was a bunch of dicks, but my mom and sister were firm with them and she's gonna get what she deserves. they wanted to give her $10/day loss of use (she can't rent a car b/c she's under 21), and they got them to pay $15/day, which is still shitty. she already got the property damage money. just waiting on her final checkup when the doc will release her and then she'll get her bodily injury check.

they are some crooked motherfuckers though. the adjuster had her car towed from goldsboro to a salvage place in dunn before they had even accepted responsibility for the accident.

[Edited on March 18, 2009 at 6:08 PM. Reason : there's a good ass end of a cobalt in dunn if anyone's looking ]

3/18/2009 6:08:06 PM

Quote :

"why would you ever buy a cobalt."

more expensive than a neon? bragging rights? maybe they had some gm cash to use? you can get two cobalts for 1 obamabuck.

3/18/2009 6:29:08 PM

she got the piece of shit because she and my mother are ignorant about cars and they wouldn't listen to me

3/18/2009 6:59:57 PM

damn spicks and niggers

3/18/2009 10:17:26 PM

dumbass got another brand new cobalt

i just can't explain to them that reliable basic transportation is cheap

3/19/2009 10:12:03 PM

^my gf loves her cobalt I don't know what it is with women and that car

3/19/2009 11:09:45 PM

Quote :

"explorer went airborne over my sister"

if they crossed traffic and she hit them in the right rear how is that even possible

no offense

3/19/2009 11:36:45 PM

the cobalt acted like a little wedge and just scooted underneath the explorer

i thought it was kinda wild too, but there's red scrapes across the A pillars and roof of her car and there were no skid marks or anything leading to where the explorer landed. hell, it was laying over on some small trees and wasn't even touching the ground.

3/20/2009 8:14:32 AM

Send the back to Mexico....

My theory on illegals has always been a "come at your own risk" since it would be impossible to track down and deport all of them. If you break the law or fuck up than you better be ready to GTFO.

3/20/2009 8:20:46 AM

we're still dealing with the insurance company for my tiny little accident that totaled my car

car still sitting at the collision center yesterday and the insurance guys KNEW i was gonna keep it and get it fixed, and they sent someone down there to tell the repair guy that the car was being totaled, and to send back the parts

W T F

3/20/2009 8:44:12 AM

nvm, someone explained it to me

[Edited on March 20, 2009 at 4:11 PM. Reason : .]

3/20/2009 4:08:15 PM