Santos Reyes, 26, in Etowah County, AL, Killed in Semi Crash

unsplash-austin-flowersWho:

Santos Reyes, 26, was killed at around 2:30 AM on 3/31/14 by the 178.7 mile marker on I-59 in Etowah County, AL, when he crashed his northbound 1999-era Volkswagen Jetta into a southbound tractor-trailer. He died at the scene, while the trailer driver was uninjured.

How:

Per reports, Reyes was driving northbound in the southbound lanes when the collision occurred. He was not wearing a seat belt, and investigators believe alcohol was a factor in the crash. His car ended in the median while the tractor-trailer ended in roadside brush.

Why:

This appears to be a textbook case of wrong way driving caused by alcohol impairment leading to a high speed head on collision. I’ve written about cases involving alcohol before, and fatal wrong way collisions almost always seem to involve impairment.

Looking at the forces, the 1999-era Jetta weighed ~2932 lbs and was received a “good” frontal score. It was impacted by a semi trailer, which can weigh at least 36,000 lbs. That’s at least 1228% of the simulated weight the Jetta would have experienced in an IIHS front impact test.

Given the likely speeds of the collision (~55 mph), the collision likely imparted at least 4.93MJ of energy into the Jetta. The standard front impact test for the Jetta simulates  213KJ of energy (a Jetta impacting its twin at 40 mph). In other words, the Jetta faced 2315% of the force it would have experienced in the types of crashes Jettas are front rated for. Given these forces, he had no chance of survival.

I rarely cover car vs. semi, bus, dump, or garbage truck head-on crashes because the survival rates are essentially zero. I added this case as a reference of both what to expect in such crashes and as one more data point regarding the dangers of driving intoxicated and driving the wrong way down undivided highways. Fortunately, Reyes did not collide with a regular vehicle, or there would almost certainly have been several innocent fatalities to accompany his death.

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