How did THIS happen?

[motai]

http://images.ibsys.com/2004/0914/3729025.jpg

WARLINGHAM, Great Britain -- The scene a car smashed into a house. Police said the car smashed into a garden, skimmed the wall of one house, damaging a bay window, and then came crashing into the neighbouring home. An elderly couple were upstairs at the time and were not hurt. The 23-year-old driver of the BMW suffered minor injuries and was taken to hospital, but later released. (09/13/04 AP photo)

Several months old, but.. wow. How did that car go into the house at a 90 degree angle?

 

[WaR]

lol... I don't know, I guess somebody integrated something wrong or forgot to carry a 1 in an addition somewhere when they were making that car.

 

[Smurf]

The funniest part is the driver only suffered minor injuries, he just went right thru a wall for christs sake!

 

[Moonbear]

Wow! How fast was that driver going before losing control? You'd think going through a garden and striking one house would slow the vehicle down a bit, and then skidding to the next house, on its side apparently, really should have slowed it down further, yet, somehow the car was still going fast enough when it hit a brick wall head-on to get ALL the way into the house! Were they drag-racing down the street or something? :

 

[motai]

Look in the trunk of the car.. is that a golf bag?

 

[Moonbear]

Look in the trunk of the car.. is that a golf bag?

Yep! Perhaps a few too many beers while playing a few holes?

 

[brewnog]

How did that car go into the house at a 90 degree angle?

23 year old BMW driver, that's how!

 

[Moonbear]

23 year old BMW driver, that's how!

Ah, yes, that explains a lot! :rofl:

 

[Smurf]

Aww man, a BMW too, what a waste.

 

[plover]

http://images.ibsys.com/2004/0914/3729025.jpg

How did that car go into the house at a 90 degree angle?

I don't think the car hit the house at that angle. It looks like the car plowed through a chunk of the front(?) wall of the house (i.e. the one parallel to the direction the car is facing) which killed the momentum, but left the car perched on that wall in an unbalanced fashion. The car then tipped and fell to the right taking out some more of the side wall (i.e. the one facing the camera). This description may be tidier than what actually happened, but a trajectory similar to this seems to me to explain the damage pattern better than the assumption that car impacted the side wall tilted 90 degrees, and also provides a rationale for how the car became tilted.

 

[Moonbear]

I don't think the car hit the house at that angle. It looks like the car plowed through a chunk of the front(?) wall of the house (i.e. the one parallel to the direction the car is facing) which killed the momentum, but left the car perched on that wall in an unbalanced fashion. The car then tipped and fell to the right taking out some more of the side wall (i.e. the one facing the camera). This description may be tidier than what actually happened, but a trajectory similar to this seems to me to explain the damage pattern better than the assumption that car impacted the side wall tilted 90 degrees, and also provides a rationale for how the car became tilted.

Well, if we go with your theory, the car was airborne when it hit the wall! See how high up that wider area of damage is? I think it's just the pattern of bricks falling out. The entire front wall of the house looks incredibly unstable. It may be where the front tires hit, but looking at the damage to the garden or hedges or whatever those scraggly plants used to be, it looks like a sideways skid to the wall (i.e., not a very wide swath of damage) leading to the house. It may have flipped sideways just at that part of its journey, as it hit that hedge or brush or whatever it is. (I think I watch too much CSI).

 

[matthyaouw]

How did that car go into the house at a 90 degree angle?

On its side, silly :P (probably wasn't the answer you were after...)

I remember seeing something similar to this a while back. There was an impressive picture of a car stuck through the front window of a house about a metre off the ground with the brickwork around it looking relatively unscated after it had misjudged a corner while traveling reasonably fast. The corner was on the crest of a small hill, and the house slightly lower down than that. I'd imagine something similar happened here, only perhaps the car glanced a speed bump as it left the ground.

 

[Gokul43201]

Some time ago, I saw this kid (he sure didn't look 16) get into a car - parked outside a Greyhound station - start it up, floor the gas, and fly off right across the street into the side of a building. All the people that dove out of the way dove well. The building was a bank, and its wall was built to keep people out. The car was smashed to a pancake. I have no idea what happened to the kid, but I can't imagine he got anywhere as lucky as the above guy.

 

[plover]

Well, if we go with your theory, the car was airborne when it hit the wall! See how high up that wider area of damage is?

I think any theory has to involve the car being at least a little in the air—there's more wall under the car even where it's sitting.

I think it's just the pattern of bricks falling out. The entire front wall of the house looks incredibly unstable. It may be where the front tires hit,

I'm not quite sure what you mean here. It seems like you read my version as saying the car was aimed at the front of the house when it hit, rather than at the side. This could easily be my fault as I didn't make this explicit.

Just to be clear: I think the car is still facing more or less in the direction it was going on impact. I am saying the point of impact of the centerline of the car would have been into the side wall (though probably not precisely perpendicular to it), close to the corner, and that the approach would have been approximately along the line from the photographer to the car's current position.

but looking at the damage to the garden or hedges or whatever those scraggly plants used to be, it looks like a sideways skid to the wall (i.e., not a very wide swath of damage) leading to the house.

I can't make much sense of the foreground of the picture. It does look like the ground where the photographer is standing is higher than the ground around the house, which goes at least some way to explaining why the car didn't hit at ground level.

It may have flipped sideways just at that part of its journey, as it hit that hedge or brush or whatever it is.

This is, of course, the other obvious possibility. I just didn't think it explained the damage to the front wall. It is hard to tell from the picture just how extensive that damage is, but it appears that it might extend several feet.

The real problem here is that the photographer didn't care that the picture was going to be shown to geeks on the net who would try to figure out the trajectory of the car. Bad photographer! :tongue2:

(I think I watch too much CSI).

I expect this is my problem too... :rofl:

 

[Moonbear]

I think any theory has to involve the car being at least a little in the air—there's more wall under the car even where it's sitting.

Oh, I didn't notice the wall under the car before. The bumper carnage strewn about the ground obscured that enough that I missed it.

I'm not quite sure what you mean here. It seems like you read my version as saying the car was aimed at the front of the house when it hit, rather than at the side. This could easily be my fault as I didn't make this explicit.

Just to be clear: I think the car is still facing more or less in the direction it was going on impact. I am saying the point of impact of the centerline of the car would have been into the side wall (though probably not precisely perpendicular to it), close to the corner, and that the approach would have been approximately along the line from the photographer to the car's current position.[/quote]

That's more or less what I understood. But, if you look inside the wall at where the passenger side tires are (it's Britain, up in the picture is passenger side, right?), it looks like they line up pretty well with where the wider damage is done to the front wall. But if it came in from an incline higher than the house, that could explain it too...I couldn't tell there was an incline to the property until you pointed it out, so I thought the car had to make about a 4 ft jump to fit with what your scenario was. Upon closer inspection, I think I agree the ground is inclined up away from the house, but it's kind of hard to tell...darn photographer!

This is, of course, the other obvious possibility. I just didn't think it explained the damage to the front wall. It is hard to tell from the picture just how extensive that damage is, but it appears that it might extend several feet.

I don't think it's several feet into the house, but that the front wall extended beyond the side wall of the house. That's a pretty common construction in older houses, sort of creates a facade that hides things like trash cans stored to the side of the house...I don't know if it provides any structural benefit or just aesthetics. My neighbors' house is like that, but they'd probably start thinking I was a freak if I went out and took pictures of the side of their house from an angle that better demonstrates what I mean.

The real problem here is that the photographer didn't care that the picture was going to be shown to geeks on the net who would try to figure out the trajectory of the car. Bad photographer! :tongue2:

Yep, that's definitely the problem. :rofl: I want to see the insurance photos!

 

[Smurf]

Some time ago, I saw this kid (he sure didn't look 16) get into a car - parked outside a Greyhound station - start it up, floor the gas, and fly off right across the street into the side of a building. All the people that dove out of the way dove well. The building was a bank, and its wall was built to keep people out. The car was smashed to a pancake. I have no idea what happened to the kid, but I can't imagine he got anywhere as lucky as the above guy.

This belongs in the stupidest criminal thread perhapse?

 

[Moonbear]

I take it nobody here golfs? Otherwise I'd have expected someone to comment along the lines of, "At least the golf clubs were okay."

 

[plover]

There's also a slightly odd thing about the house. The front wall appears to be of different construction than the side wall – the bricks appear to be newer and mortared differently. Maybe they had another car come through the front of the house a few years before... ?

 

[Moonbear]

There's also a slightly odd thing about the house. The front wall appears to be of different construction than the side wall – the bricks appear to be newer and mortared differently. Maybe they had another car come through the front of the house a few years before... ?

You're right, the front bricks look newer! Wow! Could have just been a new facade to update an old house, but maybe it's located by a really bad curve in the road?! One of my friends rolled his truck on a curve that was notoriously bad...the owners of the house there had boulders put near the edge of their property to stop the cars from skidding into their yard and house it was so bad! Maybe these people should consider that too!

 

[motai]

Nah, I think it would be in the owner's best interest to install a massive concrete and/or steel wall in front of the bricks. Or better yet, install a ramp, forcing the car to hurdle up and over the house entirely .

 

[Smurf]

Naw, the ramp wouldn't work, by the time it got up there all its kenetic energy would be diminished and it would just fall on the roof, MAYBE EVEN GO DOWN THE CHIMNEY!

 

[Moonbear]

Naw, the ramp wouldn't work, by the time it got up there all its kenetic energy would be diminished and it would just fall on the roof, MAYBE EVEN GO DOWN THE CHIMNEY!

So that's how Santa does it?!

 

[Artman]

http://images.ibsys.com/2004/0914/3729025.jpg



Several months old, but.. wow. How did that car go into the house at a 90 degree angle?

He obviously was driving the 19th hole.

Didn't he say, "If you don't like the way I drive, move your house." :rofl: