Who:
Marlo Teofila Bayot, 38 (the driver); Cheyenne Desire Patricia Gurney, 14; Gabriel Kalani Proctor, 13; and Cherish Lailani Gurney, 10; died between Wednesday, 4/16/14 at around 7 PM, and Friday (Marlo & Gabriel) 4/18/14, due to a 4/16/14 crash. Marlo had been driving a 2002 Nissan Sentra that contained 6 children. Three children are still alive, though injured–Jada Proctor, 12; Malulani Proctor, 12; and Alii Proctor, 8. They crashed into a 2013 Toyota Tacoma while northbound on Sandbridge Road in Virginia Beach, VA. In the Tacoma, the driver and passenger were not seriously injured. The father of 5 of the children, Glen Proctor, was not in the vehicle. Marlo was his fiancée.
How:
Per police reports, the Nissan was northbound on the road when the driver left the roadway, overcorrected, headed into incoming traffic, and was side impacted by the southbound Tacoma . The Nissan flew into the woods and landed on its side. One passenger was ejected. Police would not indicate whether the Nissan’s occupants had been belted. Cherish and Cheyenne died at the scene, while Marlo and Gabriel died two days later in the hospital.
Why:
This is another sad case of an overloaded vehicle filled with children. There were 8 occupants in a vehicle designed for 5. This should never have occurred. Although the full police report has not been released, it is clear that at least 3 children were unbelted, as there were 7 children and only 4 passenger seats. At least 5 of the children should have been in booster seats, while at least 1 should have been in a forward-facing child restraint.
Second, each unbelted child significantly increased the risk of death of every other occupant in the vehicle, as unbelted occupants increase the risk of injury or death of remaining occupants by 40%, and there were at least 3 in the Sentra.
Looking at the physics, the 2002 Sentra has a “poor” side score due to the life-ending forces the test vehicle imparted on the driver dummy and high head injury scores reported by the rear passenger dummy. It was impacted by a 2013 Tacoma that weighed ~3953 lbs, or 120% of the weight of the simulated vehicle in the IIHS side impact test.
Given the likely speeds of the collision (~55 mph), the collision likely imparted at least 542KJ of energy into the Sentra. The standard side impact test simulates 143KJ of energy (a 3300-lb sled impacting a vehicle at 31 mph). In other words, the Sentra’s occupants faced 379% of the force they’d have experienced in the types of crashes cars are side rated for, and this was after a failing side rating. Given the speed of the collision and the lack of airbags and structural integrity of the Sentra, their odds of survival were, sadly, quite small.
However, it is worthy noting that three children did survive the collision. I have to wonder if these children were either restrained in car seats or at the very least buckled in. It is a tragedy that too many children were packed into the vehicle to begin with.
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