Florida Driver Survives Precision Strike in Structurally Cursed U-Body Minivan
A hulking piece of scrap metal was hurled from a Florida overpass by a flipped semi over the weekend, nearly crushing the driver of a second-generation U-body minivan. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the truck loaded with scrap was traveling westbound on Interstate 4 on Saturday morning when its driver lost control of the vehicle and struck the overpass guardrail. It tipped over, spilling its contents onto the street below.
A large pipe impacted roof of the minivan’s driver side but its operator, 36-year-old Jesus Armando Escobar, managed to survive — sustaining only minor injuries.
Escobar’s wife, Aricelli, told ABC News in an interview that her husband is “blessed to be alive.”
She called he husband’s survival a miracle, which is a fairly apt description considering the nature of the accident. General Motors was heavily criticized for the poor structural integrity of its U-body vans. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety even went so far as to call the 1997 Pontiac Trans Sport “structurally unsound” and the worst performing vehicle of that year. In frontal crash testing a major collapse of the occupant compartment left little survival space for the driver.
In fact, the death-from-above precision strike inflicted upon Escobar’s vehicle may have been just as risky as any head-on collision he could have incurred under “more normal” circumstances.
The driver of the overturned semi-truck, 33-year-old Antonio Santiago Wharton, only endured minor injuries and was issued a citation for careless driving.
[Image: Florida Highway Patrol]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
More by Matt Posky
Comments
Join the conversation
The OP apparently is low on understanding of impact forces. What the U body minivan structure has to do with anything is irrelevant, but what the heck, lets get a dig in at it anyway. May I suggest a headline for further harty-har-hars? "Man chokes to death on pancakes in restaurant with 1995 model gas oven" Take it, it's free.
As lucky as the man driving the minivan was, the a-hole driving the tractor trailer was almost as lucky...that he doesn't have the death of a fellow human being on his hands as a result of driving...like an a-hole.