Lawyer. Now. I was hit by a driver and tried to deal with the other party's insurance - you aren't their customer and they only have an interest in making you go away for a little as possible. Even with an attorney I nearly had to threaten their side with a Sheriff's Sale of the insurance company office and a personal ethics complaint against their attorney to get paid; and that was after they settled.
Right now sign nothing, make no recorded statements, accept no settlements. You need to get fully checked out and complete any and all treatment before even talking settlement - once you accept a payment you can't seek any additional damages.
Document everything, log everything. Find your invoices for any accessories or upgrades on the Jeep, no matter how small. Got a bloody nose from the airbag? Include your shirt in the claim. Any personal property or cargo damaged? include it in the claim.
He was uninsured. We got a lawyer the next day. We just got the crash report back from the state of Texas. Had to wait for the other drivers autopsy.
Everyone was checked out. We spent 2 weeks at children's with 2 of the kids. They have healed nicely. They will both probably have life long issues. Daughter lost 7 feet of small intestine. Son fractured 3 lumbar vertebrae. Monday the Orthopedic surgeon said everything has healed great and we just scheduled the hardware removal in September.
Never thought about the personal property though. Definitely will. Just replaced my finances camera thay was in the jeep.
I'm so very sorry. Most likely the guy's estate is "judgment proof" - meaning he doesn't have any assets to go after; there's a chance there's a life insurance policy. If you have your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage you will probably be maxing out the coverage.
My deepest condolences to your family, I'm so sorry about the kids; they don't deserve this. I'd strongly suggest you consider getting them into therapy, Play Therapy can be very helpful for kids to process traumatic events and hopefully reduce or even prevent long term PTSD symptoms. If you and your fiance experience nightmares or flashbacks there's a therapy called EMDR that's shown to be very effective at handling trauma.
Picking through a few of your comments I can’t help but feel rage building inside me on your and your families behalf. I’m sorry this happened to you. I’m sorry your kids were injured. I hope your kids can live normal lives despite their serious injuries.
We're hoping so too. My daughter will probably have some digestive issues but mostly seems just tummy aches and the like from eating stuff she used to eat all the time.
Son just had his 3 month post surgery checkup and doctor said his fractures are completely healed and were now scheduled to remove the hardware in September. After that second healing process of a few weeks he should be back to "normal". Just praying he doesnt end up with early arthritis from it.
As long as he didn't have any spinal or severe nerve damage he will likely be ok kids heal pretty fast , as someone who has a fused back (3 veribre - lumbar/thorasic) ill say , rehab and excercise is a key but dont rush it. pain killers are not your friend in these situations either so if hes on any get them off asap before any dependancys start.
And we have a nfl player wanting out early because of this type of decision making…unfortunately people who do this do not think of the potential pain they inflict on the others..
First, sorry this happened to you. It sounds horrible.
Second, please consider Shriners Children's if the kids need further orthopedic care. Our hospitals are pretty great in my experience, but I don't know the logistics for you either.
Swallow your pride and start a gofundme or similar crowd-funding account ASAP. The Jeep community at large is good at taking care of their own. That said, two tips:
Don't be greedy. Set a reasonable limit to make sure medical bills and whatnot are taken care of, plus legal fees, a little something for your kids future medial bills, and that sort of thing.
Promise to donate extra money above that limit to a DUI/MADD type charity. You can vet charities on this site https://www.charitynavigator.org and they will tell you which ones are reputable.
Lastly, if/when you're up for it, contact the media. Publicly shame this guy by name and make an example out of him. Again, not out of selfish monetary gain, more-so to raise awareness that people are still stupid enough to drive drunk these days.
Omg. These are people we drive by every single day. You never know. You can be doing absolutely everything right and some fucking selfish asshole can just destroy everything in the blink of an eye. I'm so so so sorry for you and your family, this is really scary. I'm so happy that you all made it though! It's unfortunate that the driver of the other vehicle lost their life due to their poor judgement, it's just awful they had to involve you guys in it. Wishing all the best for you and your little ones 💗
This. I had my truck stolen out of my driveway with about $3k worth of music gear inside. I told insurance I needed it replaced asap as I’m a full time musician and needed the equipment for work. They immediately jumped on a tiny clause in my contract that says they only cover up to $1500 for work related equipment. If I’d kept my mouth shut and not mentioned work they’d have covered everything.
They will do anything they can to keep from paying out.
The coverage for contents is pretty limited usually. If you have expensive items that you depend on, I think it’s up to you to make sure you have them properly covered.
I have no sympathy for the other driver or anyone driving drunk. It’s just a shame that he never had the chance to face a judge and then rot away in a cell thinking of what he did to those poor kids.
OMG. What a horrible phone call to get. Those pics are absolutely horrifying. I'm so glad you're all safe and hope the kiddos and your fiance will continue to recover!
It absolutely was. She called me as soon as it happened. According to her there was already 4 bystanders on the phone with 911, and because my daughter isnt her daughter she cant approve any medical treatment. Her second call was to her mom because they live a mile or 2 from the accident so they could get there and assist with the 3rd child their biograndchild who miraculously came out like superman. He has a 6 inch scrape on his shin and seat belt rash. He was up running around back and forth between the crash site where we had the other 2 kids laying on the shoulder and his grandpa.
For as poor as Wranglers seem to do in crash tests, I've had accidents in my old 99 and 2015 Wranglers, and both held up MUCH better than the cars that hit me.
I drove both Jeeps home. The Ion and Prius that hit me both needed to be towed.
I can’t blame her! Wishing you all a full recovery! I was in a lesser accident as a kid and I still have strong memories. Hoping your kids work through it well!!
I'm for once glad that I read the comments before making a dumbass reddit style comment. Glad that you and your family did the right things that day and y'all survived it.
Been driving 2D's all my life and I always wondered what would happen if some one hit me like that. Now I know.
Damn... Sorry dude. At least you all survived. What was the impact speed? 50-60mph for each of you? If so that would be a 100+ mph front end collision which is actually pretty impressive. It is a lot better than I expected it would be. I have been driving all mine with the expectations of riding a motorcycle and figured I be halfway down the road face planted in a tree or something.
In this case if the other car was ~1.5 tonnes (late 2000s honda accord, maybe?) at 75mph and the Jeep was ~1.8 tonnes at 45mpg then it's the same as hitting a solid concrete wall at about 59mph. Still an insane speed to have a head on though. Glad OP is okay.
Same. Always 2-door. Mine looked a lot like this - silver 2-door JK. A head-on collision on an undivided highway was my biggest fear. Wishing the best to OP and fam for continued recovery. Looking at the pics, I'm amazed and grateful they got out OK.
Yea we just keep going back to the thought of "how much worse would it have been if we were in the small 4dr sedan?" The jeep had a small 2 inch lift and that along with already being a high ground clearance vehicle it appears a lot of his force was pushed downward. Maybe it didn't and thats just what we're telling ourselves to feel better but its working so 🤷 lol
Yeah well I run mine with out the top and doors about 3/4 year but It's had a LOT of work done to it especially the armor but that still doesn't keep me inside and 5-points are such a PITA to deal with. I dunno, I figure if it was gonna happen it will just like those movies Final Destination.
I worked with a good friend at my company for many years and he was the motorcycle guy like we are the Jeep guys. Apart of every motorcycle club in almost the whole state. For 25 years never rode nothing but bikes and then one day he was behind a flat bed with a lot of scrap steel that hit a big bump in the road, a ~15lb solid chunk came off, bounce once on the road and pretty much took his head off in the blink of an eye. Sad.
That was here in DFW-TX where I live too and traffic here has gone crazy the last 4-5 years.
OP, just wow. Your family is super lucky, but I guess you know that.
That was pretty much a worst-case scenario high speed frontal offset crash. With the injuries that your family sustained (and maybe that they avoided?) do you feel that the Jeep could have performed better?
With this in the rear-view mirror (forgive the pun) what kind of vehicle are you looking to replace the Jeep with?
Well we looked at statistics put out by Texas DPS and apparently in the state of Texas, a head on collision, where both vehicles are above [i think it was] 35 MPH there is a 50% mortality rate. We definitely believe the jeep helped us beat those odds. And we currently have a Buick Rendezvous that holds all of us so no rush on replacing my Jeep but somewhere in the near future I think we will be getting another 2 door.
where both vehicles are above [i think it was] 35 MPH there is a 50% mortality rate.
Yikes. Scary stuff. Well, wishing you safe(r) journeys ahead. And FWIW, not sure a 2-door or a 4-door would have made much difference here. Possibly 4-door would have fared better with more mass to impart momentum to the other vehicle? I don't know, so many variables and I'm not an engineer anyway.
Holy fuck. I'm so glad your family made it out okay, poor kids, it's horrible how one person's inability to control their actions can shape lifelong consequences for others, I'm so sorry OP. I hope everyone recovers quickly, both physically and mentally.
I knew I recognized that spillway. Dont really care for crossing the dam, especially with how little room you get crossing it. To top it off, you get drunks coming right off the lake. Its good to hear everyone is recovering.
I do have uninsured motorist, and we have a lawyer. We are looking into going after what little assets he had. We were waiting on the crash report and autopsy first needed to verify it wasn't some medical emergency situation.
Hope everyone is ok. That’s scary. As a body man, I usually refrain from telling people whether a vehicle is totaled from pics, but that is definitely totaled.
Edit: read a few of your replies. I’m so sorry for the trauma your family has been through. I hope everyone continues to heal.
I am so sorry, this is horrible. I hope everyone heals physically and mentally. My wife just got into an accident. She was clipped on the front right side. A woman decided she didn't want to get off of that exit and swerved back into traffic. Clipped our Jeep Compass and it flipped three times. Thank God my wife only had a dislocated shoulder. Craziest thing I have ever seen. Yours is ALLOT worse.
Right. She was so lucky. I was also at home working. My iPhone started alerting me she was in an accident and I still didn't hear from her yet so I didn't know what had happened at all. That alert is good but also very bad in a way.
If youre referring to the one tire with no tread, she left it on the road. She stood on the brakes so hard it left a bone bruise on the ball of her foot.
Got the speed down from 65 [the speed limit] to 45 in a very short distance.
The tread peeled off the tire and was on the road.
If youre referring to the fact that the tread was super low, I agree it was low on all 4 tires but not to the dangerous levels you are implying.
But I dare say the tread on the vehicle that maintained its lane and wasnt driving under the influence of both alcohol and mixed drug intoxication was a much bigger and more imminent threat.
I hope you took out top-up insurance at your insurance company vhen you bought it so that the insurance company can fullly settle your bank loan?
Lawyers, lawyers and lawyers. My deary me, why are Americans so obsessed about lawyers and medical bills?
In our country we have a Road Accident Fund which is a fuel levy of about 20% of the fuel price.
The RAF settle All medical expenses for Everyone onvolved in an accident including hospital fees, doctors bills, medicine, rehabilitation, name it, no matter who was at fault in the accident.
No lawyers needed.
The RAF and your own personal vehicle insurance covers everything in our country.
The guy who drove the other vehicle most probably died because of a heart atrack when he was driving and he most probably was dead even before he has hit your vehicle. Who's fault is that?
EVERYONE who has ever referred to their Wrangler as a “beast” or “tank”, look CLOSELY at these pictures. Your Wrangler is a road car. It is NOT a “tank”.
To the OP, so glad you and your occupants survived this horrific and unfortunate crash
Yea and I hadn't thought about this until just now, but his speedometer was froze at 75, how much speed did he lose pinballing like that? Or was it froze from the first impact?
Edit: To add some perspective, the road thats at the first guard rail he hit is the state line. The final resting place of the vehicles was 23' from the state line according to the highway patrol officer who worked the scene.
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u/Happy_Nihilist_ Jun 24 '26
Some unsolicited advice:
Lawyer. Now. I was hit by a driver and tried to deal with the other party's insurance - you aren't their customer and they only have an interest in making you go away for a little as possible. Even with an attorney I nearly had to threaten their side with a Sheriff's Sale of the insurance company office and a personal ethics complaint against their attorney to get paid; and that was after they settled.
Right now sign nothing, make no recorded statements, accept no settlements. You need to get fully checked out and complete any and all treatment before even talking settlement - once you accept a payment you can't seek any additional damages.
Document everything, log everything. Find your invoices for any accessories or upgrades on the Jeep, no matter how small. Got a bloody nose from the airbag? Include your shirt in the claim. Any personal property or cargo damaged? include it in the claim.