Greenville was the scene of a two car crash Wednesday morning as a minivan flipped on Memorial Avenue with two children among the 5 injured. Although traffic is now flowing again, the two car collision caused the minivan to land on its top. Memorial Drive traffic was stopped for a little while in Greenville, North Carolina (N.C.) after a mini-van flipped over and landed on it’s top.
According to authorities the wreck happened around 10:00 a.m. at the intersection of Whitley Drive and Memorial. As mentioned, two vehicles were involved in the crash and police tell us a total of five people were injured; including two children. Greenville Police did not know the extent of any of the injuries.
The traffic was delayed for northbound traffic on Memorial Drive, between Fire Tower Road and Whitley Drive and was shut down for more than an hour because of the crash. Initial investigations show that the passenger car struck the min-van on the passenger’s side, causing the mini-van to flip over.
At the start of most rollovers, the vehicle has a significant lateral velocity. The occupants become displaced from their seats and move towards and may impact the roof and may impose high loads on glazing and doors. From experimental rollovers in crash test dummies, neck loads were significantly lower in cars with strengthened roofs, than in cars or vans with standard roofs. The data clearly shows a direct relationship between roof crush and occupant injury with a large percentage showing enough force to cause moderate to severe spinal cord injury during a rollover accident.
BM