Tragic accident in CT

I've had the door pop open on my 47 Chevy convert with bear claw latches at speed after hitting a bump in the road. Dad had a wheel come off on his '56 Olds. Even in the best built cars shit happens when you drive them. That's why they are called accidents.

My condolences to her family and friends.

 

I don't like to hear stuff like this. Not good from any angle.

 

Our Prayers go to the family and friends.... Very sad

 

Such a shame. My thoughts go out to all involved.
Even if it wasnt the cause of this accident, How about all of us take 5 minutes and go out tomorrow and check/retorque out lug nuts/bolts tomorrow. Could change/save your life or someone elses.

 

http://www.nbc30.com/news/17281125/detail.html

pix of the Buick.

 

All our prayers to the faimly.......

 

R.I.P that`s sad news, had a lot of wheels pass me, blow up ,and lock up .

 

This has happened to me twice!

First time someone took 4 of my lugs off leaving only the lock.
It gave way at low speed, thank god, I had 5 girls in my 1964 Impala SS.

I also had the axle shaft shear with the wheel and drum departing.
No injurys, again.
The luck I had growing up.

I used to be anti-seatbelt, but I won't get in the plane without the harness.
Same in a car. Use them!

I can't imagine the pain those involved are going through. :cry:

 

I was talking to my friend Ian tonight about the accident. Neither of us can recall seeing the car before but I'm sure our paths have crossed with the two people that were involved.

As a show of support for fellow CT car enthusiasts we are going to go to the wake and/or service for Jessica. I will post further details when they come out. I think a contingency of CT Hot Rodders coming to pay respect to the victm(s) and their family is the right thing to do.

 

Bumber...I hate reading this kinda stuff

 

My thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends.

How many times have I gotten lucky with stuff like this...

 

Prayers go out, it's a sad accident.

However nobody has commented that Connecticut does not have a safety inspection for vehicles. I'm not saying the car had issues, but everyone has a different idea of what is "ok" and what is not.

I don't think a yearly mandatory safety inspection on a vehicle is a bad idea.

 

I think yearly inspections are a horrible idea. What a horrible accident

 

An annual inspection is no big deal, we have them in New York. It only gets hairy on late model cars that need to pass emissions too. They look at your frame, brake hoses, brakes on one wheel, tires, lights, glass and some other things... most of it is pretty routine.

But from the looks of the picture, a seat belt is all that would have been needed to save her life, the car looks pretty well intact.

 

it always used to pissed me off when the government stepped in and forced us to wear seat belts, but as i have gotten older, i realized its a great idea! if that was me, and one of my babies, of wife were thrown out and killed, well, I'm really afraid of what i might do!
GOD SPEED TO BOTH FAMILY'S! and buckle up, if your car [like all mine] dont have belts, put them in!!! there really cheap compared to a funeral!!!!!

 

I'm beginning to rethink this. Inspections are a pain in the ass, but you can't tell me some of the shitty cars you see on the road in Connecticut shouldn't be taken off the road immediately. Ultimately, inspection keeps us safe.

Accidents like this are just the thing to bring bad press to old cars. People who know nothing about old cars will look at the pictures of this Buick and say "It's a piece of junk" mostly because it's not painted and shiny...and a lot of us fit under the "not painted or shiny category." And though 99% of us in the hobby keep our cars up to snuff, there are variables beyond our control. Things like this bring out Richard 'Super Dick' Blumenthal calling for more demanding standards.

I wasn't going to put seatbelts in my vehicle, but now I believe I will after picturing myself in this dude's predicament.

*Another point I'd like to make...always check other people's work. Who knows, maybe this guy just got new tires put on, and some dipshit at pep boys or whatever didn't fasten the lugs properly.

 

According to one of Jessica's brothers they were heading down to Brooklyn for the Rumblers show




Officials may learn more today about crash that killed Torrington woman

BY JIM MOORE | REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
<table id="phototable" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Jessica Robinson</td> </tr> <!-- <tr> <td>[component:image-photo-html]</td> </tr> <tr> <td>[component:image-cutline]</td> </tr> --> </tbody></table> TORRINGTON -- State police may learn more today why a vintage Buick crashed in Meriden on Saturday, killing a local woman known as a friend to many who worked hard to help others.

Jessica Robinson, 23, was riding in the passenger seat of her boyfriend Justin St. Pierre's 1954 Buick Special when its left rear wheel came off on Interstate 691 around 6 p.m., causing a spinout that flung Robinson from the car.

State police expect to conduct a detailed inspection of the car today, hoping to pinpoint the mechanical failure that caused the crash. They said the passenger door opened as the car went out of control, ejecting Robinson. The car was not equipped with seat belts.

St. Pierre, 27, who could not be reached for comment, was unhurt.

He had been working to restore the classic car, according to Scott Butcher, who described himself as a close friend of both St. Pierre and Robinson.

Butcher, who also works on classic cars and motorcycles, doubts the accident could have been prevented, or foreseen. "It's not his (St. Pierre) fault," Butcher said.

The chief state medical examiner in Farmington determined on Monday that Robinson died of multiple blunt force trauma and ruled her death an accident.

Robinson and St. Pierre met through mutual friends and had grown to love each other, Butcher said. They were on their way to a retirement party for a member of St. Pierre's family when the crash occurred.

Robinson, a nursing student, worked as a nurse's aide on the fourth floor at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital since September 2007. Hospital spokesman Timothy LeBouthillier said bereavement support services were available to Robinson's coworkers on Monday.

"Jessica's personal and professional commitment to the health care field is an inspiration to the patients and caregivers she touched during her work at Charlotte," LeBouthillier said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends."

 

horrible, a fairly minor thing turns deadly.

 

my prayers to family and friends......almost happened to me on my 55' Buick the lug bolts tend to work there way out so you have to check them on a regular basis....was going up I 5 and the car started fish tailing doing about 70....talk about scary....left rear lost two lug bolts....since then I use blue thred lock on them and check them about every other month

 

I have a 52 Buick and had been driving it for a few months after buying it and while driving through the parking lot of a local show I heard the familiar tink of a lug bolt in the hub cap, I popped off the cap and found that all but 1 lug bolt had backed out. After checking all the wheels I found nearly all of them were loose. I have since checked lugs on all cars I buy, you never know how tight the last guy put them. Another couple of minutes I would have been on the highway.

 

I once had an axle shaft snap right at the bearing while driving. Luckilly no one was hurt nor was there any other damage.

I still have the axle shaft in the garage. From the cross section it LOOKS like something effected the heat treat......like sometime in the past the previous owner either used a torch to remove the bearing and race or the bearing burned up ruining the heat treat causing it to just snap off clean while driving.


SO...NEVER use a torch to remove or heat an axle shaft and if you burn up a bearing please be safe and find a new or non abuse used axle shaft.

 

Terrible news. I wonder if the owner of the Buick is a member here?

 

This is really sad, my thoughts go out to the familys. I tell all young rodders to at LEAST install seatbelts. And I always point out that the latches are the number one reason that you need to install and use them in an old car more than a newer one. Many young rodders just aren't even aware of it. I always tell them to watch some old gangster movies, the doors are always flying open in hard turns due to body flex. I remember it happening to some of the old cars we tore around in when I was young.

 

Brings back bad memories. A very good friend had an accident right after graduating high school and his girlfriend was ejected and killed.
Before that accident, he was hands down the funniest, most fun loving guy you'd ever meet.
He was beyond devastated and to this day - 30 years later - he is still never been the same, never able to get over it even though he wasn't really at fault for what happened - hadn't been drinking and was not doing anything dumb - just driving down the highway.

My thoughts go out to this guy and I don't think we should be making like his car was less than it should have been unless we know the facts. It's just not fair to kick a man who is down.

 

My wife lost 3 of 5 wheel studs on one wheel in her 51 Chevy on the way home from our wedding. We found 2 more cracked on the other wheel when she pulled over. This story reminds me how lucky we were. She was wearing a seat belt, but we were just over a rise in the interstate and it was raining. NO ONE would've been able to stop before hitting her if that wheel had fallen off. I'm not much of a religious man, but you bet I thanked God when I realized what had happened.

The Econoline got all brand new studs, and I will replace them in the 59. The 59 has belts and the Econoline will get them when it's drivable.

 

Why the pic ? Man this hurts I have kids this old. I cry for the familey and him. I dont have seat belts. I will have on Sat.

 

always sad----check your nuts!!

 

but an axle doesn't just snap while driving down the road.

-Brad[/quote]

Well they do sometimes! I have a ford nine inch rear in the suburban and had the right rear wheel cut loose at 45mph, catch the rear fender, roll over the top of the tire sending the ass end up in the air, then slamming down on the u bolts for the leaf spring. Mr. Toads wild ride! I managed to keep her straight and I did feel the vibration before it happened. I managed to get in a turning lane before she cut loose. I jumped out and grabbed the wheel before it struck any cars in traffic and looked at it. The drum and flange were still bolted to the wheel.

The axle broke right outside of the housing. I looked closer at it and could see half of it was a clean break and the other half was discolored. Either a hairline crack or manufacturing flaw. The lucky part was the week before I had drove 400 miles on the highway to an event and back with my 8 month pregnant wife. Didn't feel any vibrations the whole trip.

Now it has full race Moser axles with large screw in studs.

I feel sorry for the families of this tragedy and sympathy for the driver. I couldn't even imagine how he must feel.

 

Bummer, very sad when anyone is hurt much less dies. Gotta have seat belts and use them.

 

Hey guys, i happened across this forum while doing a search for jessica's name. My name is scott butcher and i was the one who helped write those articles that you are reading. Jess was a great person, she went out of her way to help anyone who needed her, she was like a sister to me and it hurts to know she is gone. She loved that car and was so excited to be going for a ride that day. Justin loves hot rods and had picked this car up not to long ago. The accident was not his fault, we all know how these old cars are we are talking about steel thats older than me. Who knows what was done to it before we got it. Sometimes no amount of saftey checks help. We all know that! It was just a bad combination of events. It could have been any one of us, and could be any time. Replace whatever you have to to keep em safe, but remember whos riding in that car! I was with alot of you guys on the how can they make us wear them thing, but my veiws have changed. Bolt em in and stap em on. You never know.
Anyhow, i saw someone posted that they would like to come to the wake and pay respects to a fellow car guy. That is admriable. As you can imagine justin is taking this hard (would any of us? i dont know what i would do). He would be thrilled to see a bunch of rods, rats, whatever pull up to pay respects. You have no idea. It might be enough to keep him going............... im worried, im not sure what i would do in his place. It would be a great gesture for a fellow car guy, we all work hard on everything we have and can all feel for him on this............ the wake is at the gleeson funeral home at 258 prospect street in torrington ct 06790. anyone that wants to come would be appreciated.......................... thanks