About the Wreck
An Armchair Accident Investigator's Assessment
I am no expert at this, so this is a wild guess. The Jeep hit a stretch of black ice on a country road in farm country. James recalls sliding for quite a ways at about 45°s to the left. He had his wheels turned to the right to try and gain traction. The right rear wheel eventually caught the dirt shoulder and brought the front of the car hard to the right. The front wheels, turned hard to the right, then caught aggressive traction on the soft dirt shoulder and spun the rear end around clockwise. The left rear wheel came around and dropped into a concrete irrigation ditch that was just a few feet from the paved road. This was where most of the energy was expended as the left end of the rear bumper and everything up to the left rear wheel was obliterated. The wheel then was sheared off at the axle. The right front of the car was already being pitched up due to the left rear dropping into the concrete ditch. This is the initial impact, and since it was from the rear the driver's seat padded James' impact inside the vehicle, instead of being slammed into the seat belt and shoulder harness, but the ride wasn't over.
This is when I believe that the car flipped almost end for end, or corner for corner, and landed on the front corner of the passenger side roof, caving it in, and wadding up the hood that had likely popped open with the rear impact with the ditch. The car the rolled up on the passenger side and came to a stop.
That is my arm chair quarterback/accident investigator assessment of what happened. It all really doesn't matter. God spared James and we are grateful.
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