Man dies in fiery crash
A man died in a vehicle fire following a collision in Rivière‑des‑Prairies overnight. CTV’s description says “He was then hit head‑on by another vehicle travelling in the same direction” which doesn’t quite compute.
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Kate
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Blork 10:44 on 2022-12-04 Permalink
CTV story has been updated to say “rear-ended.”
Kate 11:09 on 2022-12-04 Permalink
I’ll send in an invoice : )
mare 11:24 on 2022-12-04 Permalink
Vehicles often spin after side collisions, so if he spun 90 or 180-ish degrees it could have been head-on. And maybe with already inflated airbags, so really bad. I hope he was unconscious because dying by fire trapped in a car would be pretty grim.
Blork 12:32 on 2022-12-04 Permalink
@mare, there was only one collision, so spinning isn’t a factor. The car was rear-ended and then burst into flames. That’s it. No second collision.
It sounds freakish, as you whouldn’t expect a car to burst into flames from a rear-end collision. Ford Pintos from the 1970s we’re notorious for that, but since then there are safety features and designs to prevent it. But I suppose nothing is completely foolproof. Grim story.
Blork 13:18 on 2022-12-04 Permalink
Update: after a bit of reading I’ve learned that while such fires are rare they are not unheard of. Apparently some car manufacturers still put the fuel tank in vulnerable places. Jeep was called out in one article, although it’s not clear if they have since changed the design. (Putting the gas tank BEHIND the rear axel is where the big danger is, as that means the tank can be ruptured in a rear-ender, and not even a catastrophic rear-ender is needed.)
Another study showed that most vehicle fires occur with head-on collisions, but those are from the fuel lines being broken and ignited, which is a slower fire than having then entire gas tank blow open and ignite.