[The_AK]

The family of a Surrey, B.C., woman who died in a car accident last month is warning the public that everyday objects carried in the back of your car can be lethal.

Heather Storey, 25, was killed by a laptop hitting the back of her head during a traffic accident on March 16.

Storey was driving to work when her Volkswagen Golf was struck by a large tow truck in the intersection of 103A and Scott Road. She died at the scene.

A crash reconstruction team found that the death could have been preventable, according to RCMP Cpl. Roger Morrow.

"Despite considerable damage to the car, investigators looked at the driver and passenger compartment and believed this was a survivable accident," Morrow said.

Storey's brother Michael Pratt was told initially by police she was struck by something inside her car.

"I believe the laptop was in the backseat. She had luggage with her for a business trip."

The coroner's findings confirm Storey died from blunt force trauma to the back of the head.

"When the car came to an abrupt halt the laptop sitting on the back seat of her car became a projectile and took her life," Morrow said.

The force of the blow was so strong that it shattered the screen of the computer and bent the frame.

"A laptop is an everyday instrument that a multitude of people carry on a day-to-day basis that we think nothing of having it unsecured inside the car," Morrow said.

"It's a tragic and preventable death."

More here: http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090415/BC_surrey_laptop_accident_090415/20090415?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

http://www.simalexgroup.ro/SimalexComputer/Laptopuri_files/179_LAPTOP_DELL_INSPIRION_1501_CITGRUP.jpg

$10 family is going to sue laptop manufacturer, LoL

[Presto]

Shitty way to go. RIP.

[wouwou]

shouldnt the neck rest stop the laptop?

how tall is that girl ?

[LethalLaw]

Feel sorry for her family.
R.I.P.

[AzNightmare]

How are they going to sue for that? What do they expect? a Lighter laptop?
That would of been the only way to have weaken the impact.

Even if the laptop was like desgined as a ball, it would of still hit her head with enough force to kill her.

[The_AK]

^
LoL they COULD say the laptop manufacturer's negligence resulted in her death. If they provided a proper duty of care by placing labels saying "do not use in moving vehicle" then she would have been alive.

Jokes aside, it really sucks for this person. Keeping my laptop in my trunk now.

[KingDeeCee]

Lmfao, hit by a tow truck.

[JHuJHu]

oh wow...a laptop? really?!

[Spy228]

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/morning_show_host_starts_charity

[pandalove]

can i have that laptop ?

[shenmecar]

gosh and i thought death by snoo snoo was outrageous.

[Inaii]

RIP. Apparently she was a friend of my brother and a member of another forum.

[Razor Ramon HG]

shouldnt the neck rest stop the laptop?

how tall is that girl ?

Exactly what I was thinking

[tough]

RIP bad death..

[StaxBundlez]

10 dollars it wont fly


no pun intended lol

[GordonTse]

it coulda been preventable if her headrest was properly adjusted would it not?

[CanadaGoose]

This wouldn't happen if people actually used their trunk, instead of throwing things in their backseat...

This person would still be alive :(

I wanna turn some peoples cars upside down and show them how much shit falls out

[JSALES]

horrible way to die..

[Gh0stRider]

OUCH

http://rogersradiointernet.com/BC/CKWX/images/2007/laptopcaraccidentredo.JPG

[mos_skeeto]

sometimes i wonder if the ipod i have on my dash will fly and take someone's eye out in an accident. hmm

[Raid3n]

^more than likely... it's a stainless steel casing... they are heavy fuckers.

and as Inaii said, she was a friend of mine. hadn't talked to her in a while and then was totally shocked to see this on the news. =[

[Gridlock]

She was a member of BCRotary...apparently went by the name Vixen.

http://www.bcrotary.com/showthread.php?p=81040#post81040

[Raid3n]

that would be the thread i made on bcrotary haha.

not sure if she was on RS or not.

[slammer111]

And this, boys and girls, is why we put loose objects in the TRUNK of our car.

Call me paranoid, but I've been afraid of something like this happening for years. Guess this proves it IS possible to die this way.

RIP.

[hotjoint]

damn

[GLOW]

sometimes i wonder if the ipod i have on my dash will fly and take someone's eye out in an accident. hmm

imagine of it was some guy that keeps his front license plate on his dash instead of fastening it to the front of his car. could get messy.

[Qmx323]

imagine of it was some guy that keeps his front license plate on his dash instead of fastening it to the front of his car. could get messy.

lol... "BC man decapitated by loose license plate; Why car enthusiasts should protect themselves against this deadly mistake."

may she rest in peace though, pretty crappy way to die, survive a car crash but get smacked by a laptop

[InvisibleSoul]

imagine of it was some guy that keeps his front license plate on his dash instead of fastening it to the front of his car. could get messy.

No. The main danger is stuff at the back flying forward because of instant mass deceleration caused by a crash.

It's much less likely you'll have stuff from the front flying backwards, at least not with much velocity. I can only see this happening if you got rear ended really, really hard...

[HappyDorky]

thaaat's sad
=(

[TRD3000GT]

Killed by flying a laptop is like 1:1,000,000?
Anyhow, RIP...

[vapour_lock]

ROFL

[Iceman-19]

And on the next episode of 1000 ways to die...

[InvisibleSoul]

Original Air Date: August 3, 2005

Myth #1: Killer Tissue Box

Myth: A cardboard tissue box can become a lethal projectile in a car accident.



In US, 2001, approximately 13,000 people were injured by unrestrained objects in the back of their vehicles. Additionally, the Mythbuster'í researches found two cases in Australia where drivers were impaled through their seats by golf umbrellas and another case in the US where a woman was killed by the groceries in her back seat.



Memorable Moments/Quotes:

Jaime: "the only bad thing that can happen is all those [aluminum I-beams] rip and I don't see that happening."

Jaime (after cable rips I-beam): "I didn't do the engineering and I didn't do the math because I thought I understood what was going on and I thought I made a good rig. But I was wrong. I should have done it."

Adam: "This is your head. This is your head with an axe in it. Are we clear?"

Jamie: "Well, you know that's a good indication that this is really deadly though. It's the one thing in the car tough enough to survive an impact."



Test #1:

Setup: A repeatable test using different objects. Jamie and Adam build a crash test rig that can be towed and stop with the force needed for the test. The boys create a "crash sled" out of aluminum using I-beams and a 4/8 sheet of aluminum diamond plate. The deadliness of the objects will be gauged by ballistic gel "slabs" created by Adam.



They use three 4,000lb concrete barriers as an anchor for the crash test sled. The sled is attached to the barriers with 1,000 feet of cable. The rig has been outfitted with a meter in order to determine the velocity of the items and calculate the amount of force imparted to the ballistics gel. The first rig could not withstand the force of the hard stop which resulted in a rip in the I-beam. The construction of the rig had to be revisited.



Jamie reinforces the rig by using heavy nylon strapping (with a combined breaking force of 40,000lbs) to distribute the load. They also agreed to lower the towing speed down to 45 mph. The modifications are successful.

Test #1

Run #1: Einstein bobble head: Did not work as the bobble head got logged into the screw cage

Run #2: Subwoofer: Strikes the ballistics gel at 45mph.

Run #3: Hatchet: At 45mph the axe impaled itself through the ballistic gel and the box holding it.

Run #4: Fire Extinguisher: A 1kg fire extinguisher did not cut the gel deeply. But caused a dent in the extinguisher

Run #5: bowling ball: The bowling ball completely destroyed the front of the rig.

Run #6: Tissue box at 70mph: 323g it doesn't have enough mass to do much damage.



Result: BUSTED. However anything that weighs more than a couple pounds should be restrained in the back of the car as injury could result.



Test #2:

Setup: Using a full sized car (the Fury), they will tow the vehicle into a barrier. Grant builds a steering rig that will enable the car to be towed without steering. A box of tissue is placed on the shelf in the back seat. The pickup tows the fury which hits the barrier at more than 60mph.



Result: The box survived intact. The accelerometer in Buster's head measures 118.8 G's. An astronaut pulls only 8 G's during liftoff.

[azzurro32]

i got into a car accident and a flying laptop ended my life. fmylife

[Psykopathik]

laptop musta been on the rear window deck. kinda hard to make it fly up outta the seat. but anythings possible in a crash

[twitchyzero]

laptop musta been on the rear window deck. kinda hard to make it fly up outta the seat. but anythings possible in a crash

yeah that's what i was thinking?