Facts about Vehicle Rollover Crashes

By: Jamil Estorninos
Submitted: 2008-07-01 13:12:03
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The streets of LA are one of the busiest in the United States, if not in the world. As engines roar and wheels roll, accidents can happen. One of which is rollover. The vehicle turns on its side, or brought upside down to its roof turning your world upside down. Literally and figuratively, that is.

The harder-than-your-car-roof truth are:

• there are about 28,000 cases of roll over accidents each year in the US
• 10,000 people die each year due to these accidents
• 24,000 people are ruinously injured each year

While this type of vehicular accident only constitutes 3% of passenger vehicle crashes, we cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that because of this, people suffer an untimely death or a catastrophic injury.

Although all cars are at risk, SUVs tend to roll over easily than any other type of vehicles. SUVs are higher and can go faster. Among the vehicles to have received recent publications on roll over are:

• Ford Bronco II
• Suzuki Samurai
• Jeep CJ
• Ford E-Series
• Isuzu Trooper

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigations however did not show the same evidence of excessive risk compared to other vehicles.

And as compared to 16% of passenger car accidents resulting from rollovers, an estimated 35% of fatal crashes are caused by a roll over crash. This only shows that indeed, SUVs are much more notorious to rollover and cause deaths and injuries.

Rollover crashes is directly connected to the vehicle’s stability in turns, to the interaction of the driver, road and the environment. The dynamics involved here is determined by the relationship between the center of gravity and the truck width.

The high center of gravity and its narrowness often make SUVs and other light trucks unstable in sudden turn or in changing directions. As a result, it will tip over if it skids sideways.

One thing that is being look into is the adequacy of roof strengths of our vehicles. Car manufacturers should provide us with stronger roofs. They knew that stronger roofs can save lives.

That is not the case. For over four decades now, car industries continue to manufacture cars with inferior roof structures causing it to collapse during roll over incidents that cost the lives of many.

In one tragic story, a woman who was wearing a seat belt is driving her Jeep with her 5-year old daughter in I-15 in the County of San Bernardino, California. In one avoidance maneuver, the Jeep exited the roadway and rolled over.

The roof of the vehicle collapsed and crushed into the woman. She was rendered quadriplegic - paralyzed from neck to down, for life.

Imagine this happening to several hundreds who just ended up being part of accident statistics. They are those who failed to get protection by having substandard roof structures and who were killed or injured, not knowing that someone is responsible. Someone has to answer; someone has to pay. And they should!

Roll over lawyers are always ready to help. In the meantime, drive safely!

Article source: Expert Articles