This is the damage:
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Single vehicle accident me driving on a dirt road got caught on a corner and hit two trees head on.
I won't go into the reasons of what happened, I made an error of judgement that was not characteristic and one I had been almost practising never to make, but i did, will leave it at that. Though I might say as I slid uncontrollably toward the two trees I did think if I wrenched the wheel right I could expose my door to the impact, and if I went the other way I would expose my 5yr old daughter's door (behind front passenger
seat) to the damage, so head on it was to be and trusting that the engine would drop, it did. Thanks mr Toyota, the steering wheel was a good 6" closer to me after the accident but the engine never broke through the firewall. No airbags, just 10yr old seatbelts and they worked.
My 5yr old daughter had a ruptured liver and spent 5 days in intensive care with blood transfusions, oxygen, drugs, the works, fortunately no surgery, and she is now starting to eat and sitting up.
Why I posted this - don't skimp on booster seats. I did the research and got one with a crash rating of 4/5 stars, and oddly it was only $115.00 at the time, a fully tethered to the rear, Infa Vario. Hundreds less than other fancy ones with gadgets and 2 or 3 star crash ratings that my wife wanted me to buy. I also know I did not have the seatbelt 100% properly fitted at the time and cannot but help wonder if I could have saved her the hospitalization if I had got the seatbelt 100% correct. For big trips next time I'll go the cross harness.
A nurse told me today in a similar looking head on accident, and she doesn't know what seats the kids were in other than that they were booster seats, 5yr twin boys both had their spinal chords completely severed by their seatbelts. I can see now how this can happen.
so, please, keep you kids in the best seats you can find.
Police are not charging me or issuing any ticket, they told me this happens a lot, I wasn't speeding (though it must have been a factor in retrospect), I hadn't been drinking, and I thought I was being so careful.