One Customer's Story on the saftey of her Honda CR-V

"Fog, especially the white on white on white in the early morning driving to my job as a K-12 school counselor, makes for difficult driving and when that fog becomes so dense one loses her landmarks, isn't where she thought she was, and doesn't see it is the highway and not a gravel road and becomes very dangerous; and, BAM, spin and there you are in a snow covered field looking at another wrecked vehicle wondering what happened. On the morning of January 22, 2010, this happened to me as I drove our 2009 Honda CRV to school, 35 miles from Bloomfield. Every day I take the 12 mile road, 543 Ave., north to Highway 12 and then west to the Santee Spur.

This morning was typical except for the fog that would go from light to very dense. I definitely wasn't where I thought I was when I saw a vehicle coming from the west towards me on what I thought was a gravel road just south of the Kammer farm. It wasn't until after the accident when I asked where I was and was told I was on the northeast corner of the intersection of Highway 12 and 543 Avenue. The car I hoped would be able to slow down and stop was not on a gravel road, but coming rather fast on the highway. My thought process was, "why is that car going so fast on that gravel road, will it stop" and BAM I was spinning and then came to a stop. His front passenger side hit my front driver side causing both vehicles to slide off the road on the northeast corner of the intersection into a snow covered field. My Honda rolled for approximately 101 feet before coming to a stop. The other vehicle slid sideways for about 80 feet and then rolled at least once and traveled for approx 44 feet before stopping upright.

My door and front air bags deployed and I was using my seat belt. If the air bags and seat belt had not been used I most certainly would be dead or very seriously hurt. Both front doors were jammed and I could not get out of the Honda. The Bloomfield Fire Department had to use the jaws of life to get me out. They also used the jaws of life to get the other driver out of his vehicle. My injuries consisted of lots of bruising, mainly on my left side where it was hit by the air bag and on my chest where it was hit by the air bag and the seat belt restrained me. Many multi-colored bruises have adorned my body. Soreness and tenderness are still issues. I was taken via ambulance to the Yankton Hospital. The radiologist detected a hairline fracture of the C5 vertebra on the CT Scan; therefore I was sent to a neurologist in Sioux City via ambulance. The MRI did not show a fracture, but trauma to the cervical vertebrae. As for the other driver, a stint was put in his skull to relieve the pressure on his brain and a four inch cut was stitched up. He was in an induced coma from that Friday until the first part of this week when they started to wean him off the sedation. He has been in the ICU with a ventilator; but the ventilator was replaced by a trach at the beginning of last week. On the last report we received, the trach had been removed and he was being moved to a regular hospital room.

The purpose in writing this letter to you and the Honda company is that as my friends and family have seen my Honda they can not believe that I "walked" away from this accident. A few have told me, "If you can walk away from that wreck, I want a Honda for my next car." That's exactly what we did, we have replaced our 2009 Honda with a 2010 Honda. Our new Honda does not have the navigation system nor the back up camera I really liked and depended on. So far I am not driving until the neurologist releases me from wearing the neck brace. I'm not sure I want to drive just yet anyway.

I want to thank Honda for producing a great vehicle that protected me with God's and my Guardian Angel's help. Attached are pictures of both vehicles." Dawn S. 02/08/2010