Woke up at around 1:30AM last Friday morning after hearing a crash of what was thought to be thunder. I checked the inside of the house and looked outside (it's dark) and seemed all is well and went back to sleep. About 15 minutes later, heard sirens and knew it must have been an accident real close. My backyard wooden fence faces a divided suburban street where the speed limit is 35MPH.
Next I saw a policeman with a flashlight. I opened my garage door to find that my 05 Desert Sand SUT H2 had vanished from my driveway, and a Ford Explorer was on it's side, 10 feet from my garage door. The policeman indicated the driver was dead and my Hummer H2 was knocked 40 feet into my neighbors yard (right through a a wooden fence). He indicated the driver lost control after reaching 100 MPH bounced off the median and then straight into the fence, missing a gauntlet of large pine trees.
I ran over to inspect the damage and initially it looked fine from the front. I came around the drivers side and it looked like a bomb went off (it was totaled). The Explorer hit high enough to miss the step and frame (possible airborne after running over my basketball goal first) and hit at the post between driver side front and rear at 90 mph according to more detailed police analysis.
The cabin had total intrusion and the doors were blasted inward to the center console. The drivers seat was mangled and squeezed into the passengers side rear seat. The passengers side both front and rear looked OK. The roof was buckled. The locks still worked and the lights came on when I unlocked it.
I was amazed the H2 did not roll over even after the direct hit with all that energy. No other 4 wheeler would have stayed on it's wheels. I have attached a few shots at the scene.
Of course the real tragedy is the human one. The driver of the Explorer was only 17. The H2 and fence can be replaced but he can't be.
NA5RF
X owner of the best 4 wheel drive ever built
05 SUT Adventure Series