OPP have just uploaded the above photo on their Twitter account showing a taxi that was rear-ended, at an undisclosed location, by a pick-up truck. Given the extent of crush at the rear of the taxi, the difference is speed between the vehicles was likely “at highway speed”. Thus the crush does not indicate how fast each of the vehicles as travelling it just indicates the difference in speed between the vehicles. This is also referred to as change-in-speed, change-in-velocity or Delta-V.
Generally, vehicles are not tested for safety compliance in high-speed rear-end impacts therefore the safety performance of the struck vehicle cannot be guaranteed. What is known is that previous severities of impact in this range have led to fatalities for the rear occupants.
There is frontal damage to the taxi and that needs to be explained.
No word yet from the OPP as to what occurred, where or what injury consequences ensued.
The striking vehicle, shown below, does not show anywhere near the extent of crush as the taxi and this is common. Never-the-less it has sufficient crush that additional energy would have been dissipated by its structure. Undoubtedly OPP will download the crash data from the pick-up truck and its impact speed should be known.
The front end of the striking pick-up truck shows far less crush and this is typical for collisions like this. The stiffer front end of the truck generally over-rides the softer rear of the struck vehicle and there is this vast difference in crush between the two.The background of the photos suggests the collision site is in a rural area but on a higher volume highway which does not readily explain why a vehicle such as the taxi might be stopped or travelling slowly. In total there will need to be an explanation why there was such a large difference in speed between the vehicles that would lead to this extreme impact. Details from the OPP are likely to follow.
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