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[Outline of the accident]
Car A (passenger car) was traveling on the expressway (three lanes in each direction; 11-m road width) at about 7:00 p.m. in clear weather.
The driver (male in his 30s) somehow mishandled the steering wheel and the left front of the car hit the guard cable installed on the left side of the road. The car, spinning counterclockwise, then crossed the lanes and collided with the guard cable on the right side of the road.
The driver of Car A was wearing a seat belt, and the air bag deployed upon collision. There were three passengers: a male in his 30s in the front, a female in her 60s in the back right, and a male child in the back left. The front passenger was wearing a seat belt, and the air bag deployed, but the two passengers in the rear seat were not wearing seat belts.
The speed at which the car smashed into the guard cable on the left was estimated to have been approximately 75 km/h.
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[Damage to the car]
Extensively damaged (maximum 36-cm deformation in the front)
Deformation extent of the car interior: maximum 2-cm deformation in the roof
Equivalent barrier speed *: approximately 30 km/h at the front
[Impact of collision; injury to occupants]
- Driver
Having worn a seat belt, he probably did not hit the steering wheel or other objects of the car's interior. However, when the car collided with the guard cable at a point near the driver's seat, the guard cable smashed through the car window and struck the driver's head, resulting in a fatal skull fracture and brain contusion.
- Front-seat passenger
He was not injured, as the seat belt and the deployed air bag effectively prevented him from hitting any objects of the car's interior.
- Rear-seat passenger on the right
She was ejected from the car, either through the right-side window or the rear window, in the impact of the collision with the guard cable on the left side of the road. She suffered heart rupture, skull fracture, brain contusion, etc. when she crashed onto the road surface, and died on the scene.
- Rear-seat passenger on the left
He suffered a brain concussion (minor injury) when he rammed into the back of the front passenger seat.
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[Comment]
The rear-seat passenger on the right, not wearing a seat belt, was jerked either rightward or backward in the impact of the collision, was ejected from the car through the right-side window or the rear window, and was killed when her body hit the road surface. Had she been wearing a seat belt, the chances of being ejected through the window and smashing onto the road would have been about nil, and she probably would have survived.
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