A rollover car accident in St. Joseph provides an opportunity to discuss the often-overlooked role of the tires in causing these dangerous crashes.
Rollover Car Accident in St. Joseph
The incident occurred on Wednesday morning, June 20, 2018, at the intersection of Cook Road and North Riverside Road.
While the police investigation was still ongoing, initial reports indicate that two vehicles hit each other at the rural intersection. One vehicle suffered significant damage to the front end of the driver’s side, while the other vehicle rolled over from the collision. While unconfirmed, this damage pattern is consistent with a head-on crash.
The accident was severe enough that the Fire Department was called to the scene, though the number and extent of the injuries is still unreported.
The Dangers of Rollover Crashes
Rollover accidents, as their name suggests, involve vehicles that do not stay on their wheels throughout the collision. Instead, at least one vehicle rolls onto its side, roof, or flips over completely during the crash.
These accidents are some of the most severe on the roads, today: Statistics showed that, despite accounting for only 2.1% of the crashes in 2010, rollover accidents accounted for 35% of the road fatalities.
How Tires Influence Rollover Collisions
Most of the blame for rollover accidents has fallen on tall vehicles, like SUVs. These have a higher center of gravity that tips a car over very quickly.
However, while the height of a vehicle is likely the most important factor in a rollover crash, the grip of the tires makes a difference, as well.
Many rollover crashes begin when a vehicle starts to skid to the side. As the backend of the vehicle catches up to the front end and the car becomes nearly sideways on the road, the grip of the tires becomes crucial. If the tires grip the road too tightly, they will slow the bottom part of the car too quickly. The weight of the top then roars forward and pulls the car down.
What This Means for Your Safety
Car manufacturers who want their vehicles to do well in crash inspections know this, and equip their rollover-prone SUVs with slippery tires. As a result, these vehicles score much better than they should in the rollover section of the safety tests.
Those impressive scores disappear when you put new tires on your car. This is dangerously true if the new tires that you choose are performance tires that are designed to get maximum grip on the road.
St. Joseph Car Accident Attorneys at the Smith Law Office
Rollover accidents are very dangerous. Avoiding them should be a priority, because of how often they turn fatal. While deliberately using tires with little to no grip at all would make your vehicle unsafe in other ways, sticking to the type of tires that you car came with can make a big difference on the road.
If you or someone you love has been in a crash, call the personal injury attorneys at the Smith Law Office in St. Joseph: (816) 875-9373 or contact us online.