Man killed when boulder rolls into highway

A man was killed when a 7-1/2 foot boulder rolled into the path of his gray Toyota Corolla on Highway 50 north of Cave Rock Friday night, according to Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Blair Harkleroad.

The man was not identified pending notification of next of kin. He was the only person in the four-door car, which had Nevada license plates.

The incident occurred just before 6:30 p.m. when the round rock dislodged from the hillside above the highway and tumbled down the slope.

According to witnesses, the rock came down just as the Corolla turned the corner and struck it head on in the slow lane.

The rock, about 4 feet tall, came down a 50-degree slope about 400 yards north of the pullout for Logan Shoals Vista Point.

After the sedan struck the rock a white, 1993 Chevy pickup came around the corner and swerved to avoid the Corolla. The front right of the pickup clipped the back left of the Corolla. The driver of the Chevy was not hurt.

The Corolla's front end was buckled and the windshield smashed. Glass, snow and rocky debris littered the highway. The orange plastic of a turn signal lay under the massive rock.

The victim was taken to a nearby fire station to await transportation to a funeral home. Harkleroad said the victim was wearing the shoulder strap of an automatic seat belt, but not the lap belt.

The smashed Toyota Corolla was placed on a flat-bed tow truck at about 8 p.m. and driven to a Carson City tow yard. Nevada Department of Transportation road crews used a front-end loader to remove the boulder. Though traffic was stopped for a short time, deputies routed the four lanes of traffic into two lanes allowing motorists to pass. Highway 50 was entirely reopened by 9 p.m.

Douglas County Sheriff's deputies, Tahoe-Douglas Fire and Paramedic units, and the Nevada Highway Patrol all responded to the accident.

I don't see why anyone would wear a shoulder belt but not a lap belt.

I had a 91 Tbird that had this system and I can't count the times I would get to a destination to find the lap belt wasn't buckled. When the shoulder belt comes across as you close the door and you put the key in the ignition you are fooled into thinking you are belted in. In a crash you would slide under the shoulder belt and under the dash.

Some restraints are automatic. When this is the case, it's a shoulder strap only, that rides on a track at the top of the door. The strap rolls forward when the door is open, and rolls back when the door is shut, automatically providing a shoulder restraint. I believe one would still have to manually attach the lap belt.

Often- one's first reaction is to brake. Unfortuneatly, this does little in avoiding an object directly in the path of said vehicle. The first priority is to miss the lethal object in the path, then deal with what comes next. ie: ditch, tree, embankment, cliff, another car, the open road ahead, etc.

A skydiver upon landing has to make this kind of choice in rare circumstances. Say a parachutist has a malfunction and deals with it correctly. Finding oneself off the proper course and in this example, heading for high voltage power lines, the jumper turns away from the power lines but in doing so, violently impacts with the ground as the canopy pilot has now increased the forward speed of the canopy by turning downwind in an effort to avoid electrocution. In doing so, the injuries from impact while severe, are less life threatening in this case than hitting the power lines at a moderate forward speed.

No mention of an airbag. As a previous poster stated; an SUV may have saved the day, as this is a small car with little protection compared to an SUV. Plus, an SUV is more than likely to have an airbag and a shoulder / lap restraint system on board.

I tool around in a 3/4 ton F-250 with the shoulder / lap combo restraints and dual airbags. I am not immune from injuries, but I am far more protected than if I travelled in a Corolla.

Reaction time is part learned skill, part intuition. The hand of fate, attached in this case, to the arm of the grim reaper, is a factor to be reckoned with.

PLAYBALL !

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