A 3- or 4-year-old toddler miraculously escaped a fatal rollover crash in Conroe with only bruises and scrapes. He was found walking near the crash site on Old Houston Road after the early morning/late night crash.
A woman who was also riding in the overturned car was thrown from it during the course of the crash. She was taken to the hospital in critical condition. The third person involved in the single-vehicle collision was fatally injured. He was trapped inside the rolled vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene by emergency responders.
Investigators are working to piece together what went wrong and caused the rollover crash. Skid marks on the highway indicate that something caused the driver to slam on the brakes. At some point, the car hit a culvert pipe. Investigators believe that this collision may have triggered the fatal rollover.
The sedan was a mangled shell of its former self after finally coming to rest in the ditch to the side of the highway.
According to Consumer Reports, vehicle rollovers are infrequent, occurring in only three percent of all serious auto accidents. Rollovers are, however, particularly dangerous. Approximately 30 percent of people who are killed in fatal car accidents are killed in rollover accidents. The particular type of rollover in the Conroe incident – a ‘trip’ rollover that is triggered by hitting or steering to avoid something in the roadway – accounts for 95 percent of all rollover accidents.
Perhaps the single most important step that anyone can take to prevent serious and fatal injuries in the event of a rollover crash is to wear a seatbelt. It is unlikely that you will be thrown clear of the crash in the event of a rollover; about three-fourths of people who are thrown from a car during a motor vehicle accident are fatally injured.
Source: KHOU, “Toddler found walking around after fatal crash near Conroe,” March 4, 2013