The Story of my IIHS visit
I am a 16 year old boy from Tennessee. I had the very special opportunity to see a 40 mile per hour frontal offset crash test at the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety on August 5, 2008. It was a nine hour drive to Ruckersville, Virginia, but it was well worth it. Here is how my day went.
I went to bed at a hotel near Charlottesville, Virginia on August 4 at around 10 pm, wild with anticipation to see the crash test, which my dad had informed me I was going to on the morning of August 4. I had been wanting to go to a crash test for three years.
Me and my mom and dad woke up at 6:47 am on August 5 because a fire alarm rang at the hotel. (There was no fire, just a poorly placed fire alarm in the kitchen of the hotel), quickly getting ready. At 9:30 am, we got to the IIHS, where a senior engineer showed us around the crash room. We talked for more than an hour about car safety and crash testing, and I learned a lot of interesting facts. I also spent some time in the break room, and, from 10:45 to 10:50, went to the crash hall and met the man who presses the button to launch the car down the runway.
At 11:15 am, however, I was in the IIHS break room (which was unoccupied except for me and my mother) when an IIHS worker came in and led us to the crash hall. Me, my mom and dad, and about fifty engineers and insurance workers stood on a "bridge" facing the barrier the car crashed into. The car raced under the bridge at 11:30 and smashed into the deformable barrier at 40 miles per hour.
Following the crash, workers cleaned up the scene and put signs on the car warning visitors not to touch the vehicle. For 20 minutes, I walked around near the wreck, photographing the car. In the "IIHS Actual Crash Test" section, you can see these photographs.
It was 77 degrees Fahrenheit outside when I typed this story on May 24, 2009 at 7:15 pm.
I went to bed at a hotel near Charlottesville, Virginia on August 4 at around 10 pm, wild with anticipation to see the crash test, which my dad had informed me I was going to on the morning of August 4. I had been wanting to go to a crash test for three years.
Me and my mom and dad woke up at 6:47 am on August 5 because a fire alarm rang at the hotel. (There was no fire, just a poorly placed fire alarm in the kitchen of the hotel), quickly getting ready. At 9:30 am, we got to the IIHS, where a senior engineer showed us around the crash room. We talked for more than an hour about car safety and crash testing, and I learned a lot of interesting facts. I also spent some time in the break room, and, from 10:45 to 10:50, went to the crash hall and met the man who presses the button to launch the car down the runway.
At 11:15 am, however, I was in the IIHS break room (which was unoccupied except for me and my mother) when an IIHS worker came in and led us to the crash hall. Me, my mom and dad, and about fifty engineers and insurance workers stood on a "bridge" facing the barrier the car crashed into. The car raced under the bridge at 11:30 and smashed into the deformable barrier at 40 miles per hour.
Following the crash, workers cleaned up the scene and put signs on the car warning visitors not to touch the vehicle. For 20 minutes, I walked around near the wreck, photographing the car. In the "IIHS Actual Crash Test" section, you can see these photographs.
It was 77 degrees Fahrenheit outside when I typed this story on May 24, 2009 at 7:15 pm.
