Audi loses VS Explorer

[James Marriott <marriott@micron.net>]

Driving back from CA yesterday, we were about 20 seconds behind (saw the
huge dust cloud) a rollover collision. A meth-head (he actually told that
to the troopers, in addition to not being a diabetic but having two
syringes in his pocket) swerved left into the opposing guardrail (10 feet
up a 30-deg bank), then rolled over (leaving some _really_ cool skidmarks)
into the dirt bank on the right side of the road, ending up upside down and
buried in the dirt.

The guy had only minor external injuries (lacerations and such), but was
REALLY hurting. The Explorer is a total loss, including the left rear axle
assembly which came off in its entirety (tire, wheel, rotor, 25"-long inner
axle). Some poor sap in a spiffy new metallic-silver A4 had the misfortune
of hitting the wheel as it came off, which resulted in some pretty heavy
cosmetic damage, as well as ripping off the oil pan. He left a NASCAR-style
oil trail about 200 yards up the road to the shoulder.

Three troopers (10, 12 and 20 minutes) responded, along with an ambulance
(18 minutes) and a fire truck (25 minutes). And this was only 25 miles east
of Reno (I-80). The lesson--I guess--is, don't count on professional
medical care to save you after a crash.

We used our first aid kit to render assistance (and an EMT also stopped),
but I wish no one had been around so I could have thumped the dude a few
times with his mag light.