the Austrain car crash

x in the city

Right, It is a shame how this young man was allowed to leave a nite club and go driving home after drinking, but he was said to have crashed at 88mph...in a luxury Volkswagen phaeton. which had about 30 airbags one would assume.

The car rolled several times but I am a bit surprised he managed to get mangled so much in such a safe car as this...? does 88mph in a car like this seem not such a high speed... as say 88mph in an escort for instance.

Volvoboy

x in the city wrote: »

Right, It is a shame how this young man was allowed to leave a nite club and go driving home after drinking, but he was said to have crashed at 88mph...in a luxury Volkswagen phaeton. which had about 30 airbags one would assume.

The car rolled several times but I am a bit surprised he managed to get mangled so much in such a safe car as this...? does 88mph in a car like this seem not such a high speed... as say 88mph in an escort for instance.

I'm in a Escort once a week and i feel safe.


Wahhey!

True that your safer in a modern barge as apposed to a 90's bread and butter mobile.

Safest thing to do is not drive when your rat arsed.

BoardsRanger

I was also suprised tp hear the phaeton was so easily mangled but then again if you hit anything solid at 88mph regardless of the quality of car- your more than likely not going to survive it.

homer90

Any links ??

Mena

Er, what are we talking about? Any link to a story or something?

x in the city

Its all over the news sites, BBC etc..

BoardsRanger

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27196466/ or http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7671885.stm

Robbo

Mena wrote: »

Er, what are we talking about? Any link to a story or something?

The fatal car crash involving Austrian arch-fascist Jorg Haider.

Mena

Robbo wrote: »

The fatal car crash involving Austrian arch-fascist Jorg Haider.

Hmm, it appears I'm the only non mind reader here then

Alanstrainor

tbh, the forces involved in a crash at that speed are insane, no matter how many airbags or how big the car is, there was always going to be carnage.

mike65

heh! Glad his fat arsed car didn't save him.

Mike

dr.bollocko

Maybe he just hit 88 mph and that sent him back to 1955. If only he want back 12 or 13 years he might have had Hitler's backing to get the 1.21 gigawatts of power necessary to get him back here.

Alun

x in the city wrote: »

Right, It is a shame how this young man was allowed to leave a nite club and go driving home after drinking, ...

Young? He was 58! And not really a shame at all, considering who he was to be honest.

Anan1

Mena wrote: »

Hmm, it appears I'm the only non mind reader here then

Non newspaper reader, you mean.;)

From looking at the pics, the car appears to have suffered a heavy impact to the roof just above the driver. I don't usually have time for the whole gloating when people die thing, but I have to admit we're better off without him.

rabbitinlights

Its not a rally car, its a saloon that flipped in a city environment at 88mph. Not really surprising.

x in the city

hmmm 58 is old now is it...


:rolleyes:

Tipsy Mac

There's few people who survive crashes over 50mph, regardless of car.

dr.bollocko

x in the city wrote: »

hmmm 58 is old now is it...


:rolleyes:

Yeah. Yeah it is.
As opposed to young, for example.

peasant

Speed actually does kill !

Especially when you hit a solid object and/or flip the car few times.

Redpunto

I'd say he had a fair few enemies,,,,maybe it was set up for him to get drunk and drive fast and have a nasty accident :rolleyes:

(CH3)2CHOH

It was probably a plot by Mi5, using special flashguns on camera's or something.

Raiser

Crash was caused by drinking and driving - not sure what caused his championing of the policies and actions of the Third Reich...... [?]

Planet Earth is well rid of a creepy Nazi who collected votes from lots of creepy Nazis.

KTRIC

He was Nazi scum that deserved a horrific death

cantdecide

Euro ncap ratings are usually based on a 40mph collision AFAIK. The little 'uns are always prasied for their good result but I must say I think that any greater speeds than that, I'd prefer more substance- you can't tell me a Yaris would fare any better

DonJose

When there is a fatality on Irish roads do they take a blood sample to see if the driver was over the limit?

Alanstrainor

cantdecide wrote: »

Euro ncap ratings are usually based on a 40mph collision AFAIK. The little 'uns are always prasied for their good result but I must say I think that any greater speeds than that, I'd prefer more substance- you can't tell me a Yaris would fare any better

Always find this clip amazing.
Smart car.
+70mph
+brick wall
=

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJHpUO-S0i8

Not that you'd survive, the car might be alright, but you'd probably be dead...

dr.bollocko

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Smart car.
+70mph

Does not compute. Does not compute. Does not compute.

Guy:Incognito

cantdecide wrote: »

Euro ncap ratings are usually based on a 40mph collision AFAIK. The little 'uns are always prasied for their good result but I must say I think that any greater speeds than that, I'd prefer more substance- you can't tell me a Yaris would fare any better

It cant fare any worse than dead either though.

peasant

It doesn't really matter how well your car withstands the sudden deceleration from very fast to zero ...it's your body that crumbles

BoardsRanger

peasant wrote: »

It doesn't really matter how well your car withstands the sudden deceleration from very fast to zero ...it's your body that crumbles

Unless your exceptionally fit and your in a F1 car. i think there has been some 75mph-0 impacts. Schumacher's crash at silverstone in 99 was over 60mph-0 impact.

dr.bollocko

BoardsRanger wrote: »

Unless your exceptionally fit and your in a F1 car. i think there has been some 75mph-0 impacts. Schumacher's crash at silverstone in 99 was over 60mph-0 impact.

This is true. And those cars are built with a huge degree of safety in mind.
The cockpits are basically life capsules for the driver in the event of a high speed collision, they have to be strapped in. Think about the decades of tragedies that went before it and have a look at the safety regulations imposed on the cars too. Still hard to imagine Nigel Mansell at the end of his career being as safe as someone the build of Lewis Hamilton though:pac:

Matt Simis

There is a detailed thread on the Phaeton forum on VW Vortex, As one of the rare Phaeton crashes there is quite a bit of interest.
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4068524




Reconstruction:
http://news.orf.at/video/iptvpopup.html?zib_auto_EDIT.wmv

Summary (copied from a VWVortex poster):

"In general, car doors are build to withstand impacts from the outside (have a close look at the construction in your own car). This case the concrete pole did struck the roof/windshield/A-pillar from the top in an outside rotating way (about the weakest part of the car), and simply pushed the B-pillar to outwards, opening up the doors. Subsequent rotation did just throw off the doors as a result of centrifugal forces.

This does also match the drivers' injuries: severe head, breast and a nearly torn-off left arm. That's were the concrete pole came in. Airbags won't help for this kind of impacts/forces. Also broken neck as a result of extreme rotational acceleration.

I guess every other car would have been demolished significantly more with such an impact, maybe even break up the car in two pieces and a large debris field.

Current Austrian police investigation results say extreme speeding (142 vs 70 km/h allowed) as cause of the accident. Though the 142 km/h might not be realistic because the car did drive on slippery surface before the impact, which might have resulted in revving up the engine and as such much faster rotating wheels, without the actual car speed being that high."

The Phaeton had several audacious design goals, one of which was extreme rigidity (its rigidity is over 37,000 Nm) and safety. However, its also a 200MPH 2600kg saloon, loosing control, hitting a concrete wall then rolling was always going to be devastating.

Phaeton crash test (vs small car):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFMrx3BGXpQ

Guy:Incognito

He should have bought it in RHD, that side looks a lot better. (and not been a crazy nazi, maybe karma wouldn't have been chasing him)

delly

And just a reminder of the Phaeton itself and how it seems to have everything

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmGNRMOpg7E

Vertakill

I don't think there's many, if any, 2.5 tonne car in the world that would fair too good after an 90mph+ crash.

Think about the amount of force that much weight would be exerting on whatever it hits, and the knock-on effect on the body of the driver...

No chance.





- At least he went out in style though.

cabrwab

Middle age man?! (rather then young) i must say id didn't hear about this either i mustn't have being paying attention to the news properly!

2.2tonne car 88 to 0 in a couple of second plus look where that door pillar ended up in or around the head/neck. Car held up well but the forces involved are huge on the human body.

Matt Simis

I would suspect it was either the V10 or W12 which is a manly 2.5 - 2.6tons
Only the baby engined versions are 2.2ish tons.

RobAMerc

Does anyone else think that the way they deduced his speed to be 88 mph is a bit suspect. They say the speedo was stuck at 88mph - but if you flipped a car surely the speedo would jump as the driven wheels become unloaded no ?

Anan1

RobAMerc wrote: »

Does anyone else think that the way they deduced his speed to be 88 mph is a bit suspect. They say the speedo was stuck at 88mph - but if you flipped a car surely the speedo would jump as the driven wheels become unloaded no ?

Very fair point. Not exactly a snappy headline though, is it?;)