Iceland crash...

[moggy1968]

You said it was too many, in your previous post you said "I would argue that even in a 7 seater in that terrain that’s too many"

I’m sorry but I don’t understand your comment chas, I was referring to the comment ‘how is it ok to exceed gvm by several hundred kilos for an overlander......’

Which no one was suggesting it was, although there are caveats to that as I stated.

 

[moggy1968]

Well chances are it was either a Prado 150 or a 200 series LC, both are 7 seaters, even if it was an older model afaik since the 95series they have all been 7 seaters. I doubt a rental company would hire a car to 7 people if it didn't have enough seats

Sounds like your drawing conclusions from limited information there.
We don’t know what model it was, we don’t know how many seats it has, and we don’t know if the rental company was aware of how many people were going to be in the vehicle. They don’t rent the car to seven people, they rent it to the driver, so unless all 7 are in the office they may well not know, which is why I said I would want to know some additional information about those matters.

You may be right, you may not, that will no doubt be examined in the investigation. At this stage, as you said, we don’t have the information.

 

[GeekOKent]

Looks like a 150...

 

[StarCruiser]

I took Mark’s post to mean that overlanders get loaded up way beyond their GVM but a cruiser just with all seats full would be below that limit.

The thing is, Iceland’s roads are not especially challenging. As Dave says, they aren’t like roads on mainland Europe but with care should be perfectly drivable. There’s lots of scenery to distract but again this shouldn’t be an issue. I wouldn’t like to speculate on what the cause was but I’d like to think the cruiser may have prevented further loss of life. There’s a vid on YouTube that passes an upturned defender that’s totally crushed from doors up. That’s on a road, who knows what damage an 8m drop would have added to an aluminium body.

This is but one more reminder of how fragile life is.

 

[Iwan]

A very scary incident and it shows how you as a driver is fully responsible for the other occupants in the vehicle.

To go through a bridge barrier means that the vehicle was travelling at some speed. If the destination is only 10 minutes away I dont mind if it takes 15 minutes to get there.

Life is very fragile and it's easy to become complacent to that fact!

 

[moggy1968]

Looks like a 150...

I haven’t seen any pics of the actual vehicle yet.

As starxruiser says, it’s a strong vehicle that probably saved the other occupants, although it is a concern that one of the deceased was found outside the vehicle. The guy that reported that wasn’t first on scene though so it’s possible that victim had been removed from the vehicle by others.
The tin can like crushability of defenders is well known, I certainly wouldn’t want to roll one!

 

[moggy1968]

A very scary incident and it shows how you as a driver is fully responsible for the other occupants in the vehicle.

To go through a bridge barrier means that the vehicle was travelling at some speed. If the destination is only 10 minutes away I dont mind if it takes 15 minutes to get there.

Life is very fragile and it's easy to become complacent to that fact!

I was trying to work it out from the article but it sounds as though he has mounted the guard rail, slid along it for a way, then toppled off.
‘"The car was driven to the east, along the Sudurlandsvegur road, and seems to have turned on the bridge with the result that it went on top of the railing of the bridge, to the right, following it for a short distance and then turned over off the rail and the bridge.’

Life is indeed fragile and precious, it’s a very tragic event.

 

[Shayne]

The driver knows how and why he hit the barrier so there's nothing to be gained from speculating on that . The only thing that can be gained from a tragedy like this is pointers towards future prevention .

Looking at whatever pictures i can find on google i cannot work out from where the barrier gets its strength of resistance , I may be wrong but it looks to me like a wooden fence built on top of a steel girder .

A perfectly straight and narrow road , in my view your best effort to ram through that barrier at 100mph would result , at worst , in your rolling the car - if the barrier was solid prevention as it should be given the alternative is likely to prove fatal .

 

[Towpack]

Looks like Armco on steel posts in that pic. It’s hard to judge exactly how high the barrier is, looks about knee height to me which, if it is, could make it easier for a high riding vehicle to flip over the top?

 

[MarkW]

Armco gets its strength through tension from either end and like most barriers it is not designed to deal with someone driving straight into it, its designed to keep vehicles on the carriageway from a glancing blow (which is the most common type of incident). They also take out some of the force of the blow by flexing (similar to a crumple zone).

Here in the uk the standard height is 0.61m and designed to deal with a 20 degree strike from a 1.5t vehicle travelling at 70mph.

Different countries have slightly different standards and the design criteria will change depending on application (eg on the bridge in question they probably weren't worried about a 70mph strike)

 

[frank rabbets]

You need a helicopter's eye view to see the scene properly. Apart from mechanical failure it would have to be the drivers fault. It's easy to feel invincible when an unwary gets out of a common car and in to a 4x4. It might have been the speed of the car rather than the vertical drop that caused such damage.

 

[moggy1968]

I wonder if the kerb caused him to get some air. If you slide sideways into a kerb you can get airborne and roll, that would pitch him onto and then over the barrier.
I presume this is taken from the opposite direction to his direction of travel.

 

[moggy1968]

You need a helicopter's eye view to see the scene properly. Apart from mechanical failure it would have to be the drivers fault. It's easy to feel invincible when an unwary gets out of a common car and in to a 4x4. It might have been the speed of the car rather than the vertical drop that caused such damage.

I once managed to get a landrover on 2 wheels and to the tip point at 15 mph when I slid on ice off road, but I think that to clear that barrier speed must have been quite significant.
As you say, would be interesting to see an overhead shot and the barrier where it actually happened.

 

[Higgy]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...condition-after-fatal-iceland-crash-qbq7bccnd

 

[Shayne]

 

[moggy1968]

View attachment 152766

Blimey, he must have given that quite a smack unless there was something structurally wrong with the barrier.
The linked to article confirms it was a 7 seater.
One report I've seen says the baby was not strapped in.