Las Vegas Viper crash head trauma victim: what ended up happening?

[PhoenixGTS]

I am referring to the horrible story about a poster who delivered his sold Gen III to a buyer in Vegas who let his friend take the friend's young daughter for a ride, the friend flipped the car and the girl sustained a head injury. What was the ultimate outcome on that? The coverage/subrogation/defense attorneys must be circling the wagons around their respective camps on that sad deal.

[EDIT] Found the original post via search function:

Original Thread

 

[cstegall]

Both are out of the hospital and doing well. Father sustained neck injuries but no cord damage...daughter required a plate for the head trauma but word is that she is on the mend. Finally got pics of the side of the car that seemed to take most of the impact during the rolls...pretty bad. From insurance to police to occupants...they all say the same thing..."the aftermarket autoform rollbar saved their lives...period".

Sorry that the car is no longer what it was...but the outcome could have been so much worse that its hard to even focus on the car itself. Thanks to all that were concerned and sent there well wishes to the family.

Clark

 

[repiv]

Again, thanks to all for the well wishes to my daughter and myself. She is back in school, her third full week. She will miss the balance of her roller hockey season, but other than that, all is well.
Don't mean to hijack this thread, but wanted to speak a bit on the autoform rollbar. As was reported here the car rolled 2-3 times (no one is quite sure). When we got into the rocks the car got sideways and then reversed (rear end going first), and then flipped right about the time we got to the point where the slope downward began for the drainage culvert (putting us airborn for +/20'). After seeing the car (I'll attempt to post some of the pertinent pictures) it is apparent that we landed on the passenger side (my daughter's) going backwards, resulting in the rollbar being pushed forward about 10 inches on her side. I guess my point is that the first impact wasn't actually from a "roll" it was from a reverse momentum downward impact on the autoform bar and it still didn't completely fail. The weld of the cross member cracked about 60-70% at the contact point of the hoop on my side. My "hoop" was flattened from sliding down the concrete culvert before we rolled back upright. All in all, it seems that the autoform bar was definitely a factor in saving our lives. In any event, thought some of you might find that information useful.

 

[ledfoot]

Highjack the thread ! are you kidding (LOL)....glad to hear you guys are o.k.

 

[repiv]

thanks again for the well wishes........

 

[Shelby3]

Glad to hear all are doing ok. Hopefully there will be a reason to change your screen name in the future.

 

[quickysrt]

that bar should have come stock.

 

[repiv]

I have already changed the screen name, I guess it's just not approved yet....

 

[ERDOC]

thanks again for the well wishes........

I saw those pics and you and your daughter are some very lucky people. I am glad you are doing well. I unfortunately see the aftermath of rollovers way too often and the devastation caused by these types of accidents. Rollbars have got to be mandatory in covertibles.

 

[redsrt03]

vegas,

Glad everyone is mending and wish you both a full recovery.

I hope I'm not out of line, but do you have any idea how the Viper got away from you?

I know the cars will "bump steer", wheel hop, and get sideways in a flash, but I've been luck so far and was wondering if you have some additional insight.

If you don't wish to respond to the questions, that's cool, I understand.

 

[repiv]

vegas,

Glad everyone is mending and wish you both a full recovery.

I hope I'm not out of line, but do you have any idea how the Viper got away from you?

I know the cars will "bump steer", wheel hop, and get sideways in a flash, but I've been luck so far and was wondering if you have some additional insight.

If you don't wish to respond to the questions, that's cool, I understand.

I nor my daughter have no recollocation of the accident (or of ever being in the car for that matter). In speaking extensively to an driver who was 4 cars behind me on the entry ramp to the freeway, her and her husband say that we were entering the point where the ramp merges into the outside freeway lane (which also immediately turns into the offramp back to my house, where we were heading), at the same time a white vehicle entered the same the from the middle travel lane. It appears I saw this and accelerated and turned the wheel right at the same time (too far obviously). The white vehicle never stopped to see what happened. The rocks are about 8-10 feet or so from the lane I was at this point of the freeway. We (according to the NV Highway Patrol) were traveling at about 67MPH (or 28 ft. per second), so in less that 1/2 of a second we were off the road. At the point we went off the road, the NHP said there were no wheelspin marks or skid marks. That's about all I know

 

[Hirohawa]

Glad you and your daughter are doing well.

Thank God for the rollbar.

 

[GTS Dean]

We (according to the NV Highway Patrol) were traveling at about 67MPH (or 28 ft. per second),

More like 98fps. 88fps=60mph.

 

[Vipera Russelli]

Wow! I’m glad you and your daughter survived what was obviously a terrible wreck. By the look of your roll bar and what we can see of the rest of your car, you really lucked out. Looking at your roll bar, it’s not really clear that it helped very much on the passenger side, no doubt due to the unusual way in which it was impacted as you explained, but it looks pretty clear that it saved your life on the driver’s side. Good heavens. It’s easy to count you lucky stars Frank, one trashed Viper notwithstanding.

 

[repiv]

Wow! I’m glad you and your daughter survived what was obviously a terrible wreck. By the look of your roll bar and what we can see of the rest of your car, you really lucked out. Looking at your roll bar, it’s not really clear that it helped very much on the passenger side, no doubt due to the unusual way in which it was impacted as you explained, but it looks pretty clear that it saved your life on the driver’s side. Good heavens. It’s easy to count you lucky stars Frank, one trashed Viper notwithstanding.

I couldn't agree w/ you more, but i do believe the roll bar did save my daughter's life as well. Since you posted the picture, if you look closely at the top picture, in the corner of the passenger side of the windshield you can see hair from where my daughter's hair got caught between the windshield and the ground on th first impact, and her hair got pulled out and caught in the rubber and glass of the windshield. Seeing that really shook me up, you realize just how very close it was to going a completely different direction....

 

[dblankenbaker]

I believe the rollbar saved your daugther's life as well.

If you had to count on these, you would have been screwed...

 

[GTS Dean]

Were either of you wearing the TeamTech harnesses, or just the OEM belts?

 

[repiv]

we were both wearing the team techs, from what I understand from the lady who stopped to help, she said my daughter had been partially thrown loose from hers, but I don't know this for sure......

 

[agentf1]

What does it cost to add a GOOD roll bar to an SRT10. This is definetly a must if I ever purchase one. Glad to hear everybody is doing OK.

 

[MoparMan]

For those that are curious to see more photos, we've got a page with some on our club website: http://www.nevadavipers.com/viper215.htm

 

[GTS Bruce]

Thank god everyone is doing well.Is it me?Or is there anyone else that is not impressed by a "roll bar" without front/rear bracing and failures at welded seams?No doubt it sure beats the hell out of the oem mounted hoops made out of beer cans. GTS Bruce