The last thing I remember before the crash was the grill of the SUV barely a car's length from my door and closing fast as I slid sideways on the ice and snow towards him.
Nice Asian Indian family, all OK. The young son was very impressed/upset by all the bent metal, I squatted down next to him and said something like 'It looks bad doesn't it?' A nod. 'Actually it's good.' 'huh?' "Yup. It's designed to do that, that's called a crumple zone. Every wrinkle and bend took energy, each of those folds and creases absorbed energy and kept it from making it to the passenger compartment. That's one of the things that protected you, your mom and dad!' a second nod and a smile of understanding...
The other driver managed to spin his SUV so we hit front fender to front fender then rear fender to rear fender.
Side airbags protected my skull, but I still managed to crack a rib.
It was a very cold 4 hours until the second tow truck showed up, my car was too bent for the first one.
Oh man, thank G-d you survived. That sounds horrifying.
Sliding sideways on ice and snow — one of the reasons why I left Massachusetts.
I coudn’t stand driving in the winter. I hit ONE patch of black ice (in my old Volvo which was one of the last of the Swedish tank mobiles made in Gothenburg.) and that was IT for me. I’d put the Swedemobile in dry dock during the snow months.
I moved back to Florida in 2002 and while the rain can get nasty, I prefer it over snow and (black) ice.
Interesting information on crumple zones.