Hill Family Adventure

At 3:30pm on 8/4/04 the Hill van with Sarah, Daniel, Christopher, Timothy, Matthew, Jonathan, Samuel and Hannah Hill was hit in the back by an International brand Towtruck, (the big kind) while waiting for the car in front of them to turn left.

Thank the Lord for Quick thinking by Daniel, who watching the traffic around him, saw the accident comming and prepared the vehicle for impact by turning the wheel to the right.

This enabled the Van, on impact, to be launched at least 2 van lengths past the small Honda in front with just a clip to the passenger side rear bumper.

The damage to the rear of the van is obvious from the photos below; however, the damage to the front is yet to be determined. There is substantial cracking inside to the fan shroud, missing half an oil cap, and many clips broken and things loose. The engine clunks strangly when starting, but then runs ok. It seems that the AC (Air Conditioning) wasn't blowing cold air about 3 minutes after the accident. Doesn't sound good.

Both front seats are now perminatly reclined from the impact.

Timothy was in the very back of the van. If the tow truck had hit a foot deeper into the van Timothy would have been in critical condition, or worse.

Fortunately the Lord was with them and there are only stiff muscles and shaken bodies. At the moment all appear well, although under CLOSE observation and will be seeing the doctor in the morning for an evaluation.

Here are the pics:
(click to see closeup)





Note: This is not the wrecker that hit us, but it was similar to this one.