Last January here in Denver we endured a miserable series of storms and much higher than usual snowfall.  About 45 miles north of Denver on a county road that’s half exurb/half country, high schoolers Tyler Carron and Nikko Landeros had the unfortunate luck of a flat tire on their Isuzu Trooper, and found themselves wrenching off lug nuts in the dark, cold night.  Tragically, classmate Michelle Berra then careens into the back of the Trooper.  All survived, but Carron and Landeros both lost their legs.

Today I read this headline in the Rocky Mountain News: “Teens who lost legs in accident sue Isuzu”

I immediately thought “poor distraught family needs someone to sue” and labeled them as wanting someone to blame and angrily searching for trivial design flaws.   You constantly hear stories of teens driving carelessly, distracted by other occupants, and injuring and killing each other, pedestrians, and cyclists.  To me, the many many teen driving accidents aren’t accidents, but logical extensions of the horrible teen driving rate and lack of experience.

I thought the same thing and mentally labeled Michelle Berra as such, until I read this: 

“The 1999 Trooper was defectively and unreasonably dangerous in its design and manufacture as it was designed in a manner that the rear lights, rear reflectors and rear emergency lights were obscured to approaching traffic when the rear doors were opened,” the lawsuit states.

I looked up a picture of an Isuzu Trooper, then looked at the rear.   From only examining the pictures, (and not wandering around a Safeway lot looking for a Trooper,) I change my opinion, and I easily see that their concern is reasonable and well justified.

Every time I see a driver on a busy interstate working on the right side of their car, or digging in the trunk for a spare tire, I immediately move left or slow down, and hope they get rolling again safely.   It’s a motorists worse nightmare to hit a stationary person or car at full speed.  And of course shattering for the person hit if not an instant death.  I’ve been the roadside mechanic a few times, and it’s frightening feeling cars and trucks whisking up gravel zooming by at freeway speeds.  Unfortunately these two guys were also pushed out into the road by a snowbank during a dark night.

From a cursory glance, The design of the Isuzu Trooper does not give ample visibility to the hazard lights when the rear doors are both opened.   Take a look at the photos below. When both doors are opened, the ONLY thing I see is a small round reflector.  The tail lights, rear lights, and hazard lights are completely obscured by the open doors.  Perhaps some roadside flares and little caution triangles would have prevented this horrible accident, but realistically how many of us carry those?  We all should, but we all don’t.

I frequently talk a libertarian point of view preaching “take care of yourself,” and “get rid of the nanny state.” However in this case I fully agree with the family’s assessment.   I don’t know what if any financial windfall it merits, and of course there’s the standard statement that “no amount of money will make their lives normal again,” but I agree with their view, and I hope it spurs some recognition and change in design by Izusu.
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Right photo from kustomkrates.com.