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4 <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
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5 <meta name="Author" content="Andrew DeFaria">
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6 <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Mozilla/4.72 [en] (Windows NT 5.0; I) [Netscape]">
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7 <title>Andrew's 1985 Vette: The Crash</title>
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9 <body text="#FFFFFF" bgcolor="#D70000" link="#FFFF99" vlink="#66FF99" alink="#FFCCFF">
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13 <font face="Comic Sans MS">The Crash</font></h2></center>
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15 <center><img SRC="CorvetteBar.gif" height=50 width=612></center>
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16 <font face="Comic Sans MS">Recently I got side swiped by an industrial
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17 garbage truck. Totally ruined the car. So far the estimate is $8200! Luckily
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18 the front bumper and hood have not be damaged. Remember those were replaced
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19 after <a href="#The Fender Bender">The Fender Bender</a>. The car appears
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20 to have held up internally, but ever other piece of the exterior body has
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21 been damaged and needs to be replaced! :-(. Details and pictures are <a href="TheCrash.html">here</a>.</font>
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23 <p><font face="Comic Sans MS">The accident occured on California Highway
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24 17. I was entering 17 from Interstate 280 going South. This entrance is
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25 rather large with 2 lanes coming from 280 North and 2 lanes coming in from
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26 280 South. That, plus 880 which changes names to 17 at this point. All
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27 totaled there are 6 lanes of traffic. The right 2 lanes exit to Hamilton
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28 Avenue and get pretty crowded. The left 2 lanes continue down 17 South
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29 toward Santa Cruz and also back up in traffic at rush hour as there are
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30 a lot of people who go over the hill to Santa Cruz.</font>
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31 <p><font face="Comic Sans MS">This is not an unknown section of road to
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32 me. In fact I travel it frequently. And I usually change into lane #4 (counting
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33 from the divider) which quickly collapses with lane #3. Lanes #3 and #4
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34 quickly merge to one lane. It's sometimes a difficult manuever because
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35 the angel is such that you cannot see people in lane #3 from your side
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36 view mirror. For this reason I always check by turning my head to see what
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37 the traffic situation is like in lane #3 when I enter lane #4 because soon
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38 I will have to merge with that lane.</font>
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39 <p><font face="Comic Sans MS">This day the coast was clear as far as I
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40 could tell so I got into lane #4 and proceeded to the merge point with
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41 lane #3. The next thing I knew my Vette accelerated about 5 or 10 MPH more
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42 without me giving it any more gas. It soon became apparent to me that I
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43 was being pushed and I was starting to turn sideways, sliding down 17 perpendicular
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44 to the flow of traffic.</font>
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45 <p><font face="Comic Sans MS">Then I continued in a counterclockwise spin,
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46 crossing lanes #2 and #1 and smashed into the concrete divider. Thank God
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47 there was nobody in those 2 lanes. I bounced off of the divider then, once
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48 again hit it about 40-50 feet down.</font>
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49 <p><font face="Comic Sans MS">I jumped out of the car to survey the damage
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50 but it was clear to me that the damage would be extensive. My right rear
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51 tire and bumper was smashed up against the divider so I went back to the
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52 car to drive it forward away from the divider. By this time traffic was
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53 stopped on the highway so there was no danger. I could not get the door
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54 open - it was smashed closed so I jumped in as the top was down.</font>
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55 <p><font face="Comic Sans MS">After looking at the rear wheel I saw it
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56 was going flat and the rim was bent beyond repair.</font>
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57 <p><font face="Comic Sans MS">As far as I can tell the garbage truck driver
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58 must have been in lane #2 and was in the process of changing lanes to lane
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59 #3 at about the point where lane #3 and #4 merge. He could not see me because
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60 his truck is so tall and my Vette is so low. The truck driver made the
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61 comment that he did not see me but was watching to insure he had enough
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62 room in front of the car behind him. I assume he meant to change lanes.
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63 He was probably fixated on his right side view mirror making sure his long
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64 truck would be able to change lanes. From this position he could have easily
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65 missed me being in the lane.</font>
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66 <p><font face="Comic Sans MS">As you can see by the following photos the
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67 initial impact was with my left rear tire causing me to start spinning
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68 where my driver door was next hit. By this time the garbage truck driver
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69 said he was applying his brakes furiously as he became aware that he had
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70 hit me and was pushing me. Luckily this allowed me to do a 270 degree turn
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71 in front of him heading for the divider. And luckily nobody was in the
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72 other two lanes as I spun past.</font>
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74 <center><table BORDER=3 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 COLS=1 WIDTH="1%" >
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76 <td><img SRC="MeltedRubber.jpg" BORDER=0 height=480 width=640></td>
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79 <caption ALIGN=BOTTOM><font face="Comic Sans MS">Notice that the tire's
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80 lettering has been stripped of and melted rubber has been deposited on
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81 the rim. Also the crack above the wheel well is probably from the garbage
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82 truck's bumper as his bumper was pretty high off the ground</font></caption>
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86 <center><table BORDER=3 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 COLS=1 WIDTH="1%" >
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88 <td><img SRC="MeltedRubberCloseup.jpg" height=480 width=640></td>
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91 <caption ALIGN=BOTTOM><font face="Comic Sans MS">Close up of the wheel.
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92 Notice the melted rubber from his tire and mine melted onto the rim and
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93 hardened</font></caption>
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98 <center><table BORDER=3 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 COLS=1 WIDTH="1%" >
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100 <td><img SRC="DriversSideDoor.jpg" height=480 width=640></td>
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103 <caption ALIGN=BOTTOM><font face="Comic Sans MS">This gash in the door
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104 was also probably caused by the bumper as I traveled in front of the garbage
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105 truck spinning and before the garbage truck's driver applied his brakes.
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106 Also note the side view mirror was crushed</font></caption>
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110 <center><table BORDER=3 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 COLS=1 WIDTH="1%" >
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112 <td><img SRC="DriversSideDoorCloseUp.jpg" height=480 width=640></td>
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115 <caption ALIGN=BOTTOM><font face="Comic Sans MS">Another close up shot
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116 of the damage to the driver's door</font></caption>
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120 <center><table BORDER=3 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 COLS=1 WIDTH="1%" >
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122 <td><img SRC="BentRimAndRearBumper.jpg" height=480 width=640></td>
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125 <caption ALIGN=BOTTOM><font face="Comic Sans MS">This shot shows the rear
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126 passenger's side. My back bumper did a fairly good job of absorbing the
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127 crash into the divider but as I traveled along the divider you can see
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128 how the rear quarter panel scraped up against the concrete. It could have
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129 been much worse I suppose. The bottom of the rim is actually flattened
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130 out a bit causing the flat.</font></caption>
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133 <p><img SRC="CorvetteBar.gif" height=50 width=612>
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135 <p><i><font face="EngraversGothic BT"><font size=-1>Copyright © 1997-2000<a href="/" target="_top">Andrew
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136 DeFaria</a></font></font></i></center>
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138 document.write ("<center><font face=\"EngraversGothic BT\" size=-1><i>Last updated: " +
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139 document.lastModified + "</i></font></center>")
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