Some thoughts two weeks after the crash

Many of you know that I totaled my TJ two weeks ago on I-83. All three of us (my wife, my son, and I) ended up in the hospital for a short visit (my wife and I spent the night under observation), and some of you saw the picture in the link I posted elsewhere on this forum. Kind of ugly. Definitely some devine intervention going on that day. The reason I'm posting this message is that I wanted to be clear about a couple things.

1. My son and I were up front wearing our seat belts. When I rolled the jeep, the 13 year old roll bars, air bags and seat belts functioned as intended when needed. Hence the change in my signature line "2000 TJ (was there for me when I needed it most)." The safety items mentioned did function properly for me when needed, my son received some bruising from the belts and a few minor skin punctures from broken glass or gravel. He missed one week of football, and in fact practiced this week and played this weekend.

2. The back seat of the TJ, which is intended to be removable, came out during the roll. If you are familiar with the earlier models of TJ, you may know the seat is retained by 2 brackets, and is centered in these brackets, left-to-right, by 2 clips a little stronger than paper clips. It is my understanding that this seat was redesigned for TJ in 2003, but is still removable in the 2-door jeep.

We'll be looking to buy a new jeep this week, going into Adams tomorrow. We're looking at the 4-door JK Wrangler Unlimited. It has a fully integrated roll cage (as opposed to roll bars) that extends under the passenger compartment, and the rear seats are bolted into the jeep with full head rests for 2 of the rear passengers. I believe this is a safer configuration in JK than what was in TJ, expecially for the rear passengers in the 4-door versions IF THEY WEAR SEATBELTS! I am doubtful of my ever riding again in the back seat of any 2-door jeep at highway speed, since it probably has a removable rear seat, and regardless of how well that mechanism grabs onto the seat if it is intended to be removable, it may come out when you don't want it to. But I have no question that the people riding up front in one of the 2-door JK Wranglers would be as well protected in a roll-over situation as my son and I were on 22 Sep.

It was a little creepy driving past the area where I totaled my Jeep (PA I-83 north, MM17.5) - we had Tread Lightly! training this weekend. Apparently a lot of accidents happen in this stretch of road. For the 5 or so miles leading up to the location of my accident, there was lots of damage to the median divider evident, as well as lots of debris (especially tires) along the center shoulder.

My take-aways from all of this are: please wear your seat belts; and please be aware that the back seat on a 2-door jeep can come out when you don't expect it to so please think twice about riding in back if the jeep could end up traveling near highway speeds.

Good points.

Enjoy the 4 Door JK!



PS - It was great meeting you at the class over the weekend...its nice to put a face with your name.

any pictures of the new JK?

New JK is at Adams now getting a small lift, larger tires, winch and some armor. Maybe some pics this weekend.

Can't wait to see pic's

Posted some pics in the members rigs section. Under Green Bay TJ's JK.

Yesterday I had my day in traffic court in PA. Several people I know, including some LEOs, told me to show up to court and request a reduction in charges rather than just send in the guilty plea on the citations. If nothing else showing up shows I'm not indifferent about what I did. Since I don't live in PA, I decided to hire a PA attorney to represent me. Eventually I just had to hand things over to God, and be thankful for the outcome following Sep 22, regardless of what would happen in court. So it turns out the trooper who wrote up the citations did not hammer me as much as he nearly could have when he issued the tickets, and my attorney asked him to reduce one of the charges. The trooper did, and told me the only reason he did so was because I was honest with him when he interviewed me in the hospital - he told me he gets lied to all the time. So I ended up taking the 3 citations and was told I was getting 2 points total in PA. I will have to wait to see how these get assigned points in MD.

Mary wanted to come with and support me in this, and the trooper also had 2 witnesses show up. They told us they were glad they came just to find out that everyone was ok after the crash.

On the way home, I put on Sirius 63 - The Message. So I tuned in during the middle of the Peter Furler song "I'm Alive," right in the chorus:

"I'm alive, I'm on fire
And my spirit burns with desire
You set me alight, bright eyed
And with no way to hold it inside
I wanted to thank You
Thank You, thank You"

That about says it all.

Praise God! I am so happy he brought you and your family through this situation- we love you guys!