Who:
Joyce Loomis, 63, from Aztec, NM, was killed at the scene on Sunday, 4/27/14, at around 11:20, in Coleman, TX, on the US 84 Bypass. She was a front passenger in a blue 2013 Honda Pilot driven by Tara Ritter, and was killed by a 2007 maroon Chevrolet Silverado driven by Ryan Schuessler, who was carrying Rebecca Schuesser as a front passenger. The Schuessers and Ritter were injured.How:
Per police reports, it was a clear day with a dry road, and all passengers were belted, with all frontal bags deploying. The Pilot was southbound. The Silverado was northbound and crossed into the southbound lane. The Pilot driver tried to cross to the northbound lane to avoid colliding, but the Silverado driver corrected back into his lane, leading to the collision.
Why:
This is another sad case of driver error leading to a preventable collision.
The 2013 Pilot weighs ~4610 lbs and had a “good” frontal score. It was impacted by a 2007 Silverado, a large pickup with a “good” frontal score that weighs ~5179 lbs, or 112% of the weight of the Avalon. As a result, the Pilot automatically faced 12% more force in the collision than it would have colliding with another Pilot, placing it at a slight disadvantage in the collision. Meanwhile, the Silverado experienced 11% less force.
Given the likely speeds of the collision (~75 mph), the collision likely imparted at least 1.32MJ of energy into the Pilot. The Pilot’s frontal impact test simulates 334KJ of energy (a Pilot impacting another at 40 mph). In other words, the Pilot faced 395% of the force it would have experienced in the type of crash the vehicle was rated for. Given the speed of the collision, it is sadly unsurprising that the passenger died, although the survival of the driver does suggest the collision was survivable.
The Silverado’s frontal test simulated 376KJ of energy (a Silverado impacting another at 40 mph), indicating that its occupants would have faced 314% of the forces the vehicle was rated to safely withstand, given that the Pilot imparted 1.18MJ of energy into the Silverado. While these were still tremendous forces, occupants odds of survival were still slightly better than those of the Pilot occupants, which was reflected in the survival of the Silverado’s occupants.
We may never know why Ryan crossed the center line. We do know that his momentary instance of distracted driving took the life of another individual.
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