Death Is Quick In A Speeding Car

Dear Ann Landers: I work for a group of attorneys whose specialty is personal injury and motor vehicle accident litigation. I’ve read and seen some terrible things in this business, and I am now an extremely cautious driver.

Will you please print the enclosed? I don’t know who wrote it, but it certainly made an impression on me. Maybe seeing it will wake up some of those speeding, drunk or drugged drivers. - Legal Secretary in Nebraska

Dear Nebraska: The essay you sent appeared in my column several years ago, but I am pleased to run it again. People have a tendency to forget the unpleasant stuff. Here it is:

Heaven Can Wait

It takes seven-tenths of a second to kill a person in an automobile crash. Studies at Yale and Cornell universities provided a dramatic split-second chronology of what happens when a car rams into a tree at 55 mph.

At 1/10th of a second, the front bumper and grille collapse.

At 2/10ths of a second, the hood crumbles, rises and smashes into the windshield, and the grillwork disintegrates.

At 3/10ths of a second, the driver is sprung upright from his seat, his broken knees pressed against the dashboard and the steering wheel bends under his grip.

At 4/10ths of a second, the front of his car is destroyed and dead still, but the rear end is still plunging forward at 55 mph. The half-ton motor crushes into the tree.

At 5/10ths of a second, the driver’s fear-frozen hands bend the steering column into an almost vertical position, and he is impaled on the steering wheel shaft. Jagged steel punctures his lungs and arteries.

At 6/10ths of a second, the impact rips the shoes off his feet. The chassis bends in the middle, and the driver’s head is slammed into the windshield. The car’s rear begins its downward fall as its spinning wheels churn into the ground.

At 7/10ths of a second, the entire body of the car is twisted grotesquely out of shape. In one final agonizing convulsion, the front seat rams foward, pinning the driver against the steering shaft. Blood spurts from his mouth. Shock has frozen his heart. But he doesn’t mind because he is already dead.

Dear Ann Landers: Our youngest daughter, “Jenny,” has been a financial drain and the source of much worry. She became pregnant at 15 and dropped out of high school. At 17, she married a very unstable guy and had a second child. She is now 21, with a third child on the way and a husband who is verbally and physically abusive. Both of them are irresponsible when it comes to money and business matters, and neither can complete anything. Jenny has quit every job she ever had.

Recently, Jenny told us she wanted to get a divorce, so my wife and I let her move back into our home while we were away. We gave her strict orders that her husband was not welcome. Guess what? We just learned that he has moved into our house with Jenny. Now what do we do? - Muddled in Memphis

Dear Memphis: You need outside help - a lot of it. You cannot throw your pregnant, abused daughter out on the street, but there’s no reason you must house her good-for-nothing husband. Ask your family doctor or lawyer to suggest a good therapist and go to work on Jenny. Without question, her husband must be banned from the premises. That’s for openers. Good luck. You’re going to need it.