Posted by Michael Casey  Fri, September 3rd at 3:47 PM 1999

 (This was in the 12 August 1999 edition of The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, I have not yet heard
 whether the father and son were wearing seatbelts.)

 (Gwinnett County)- A 5-year-old Loganville boy and an 18-year-old Raleigh woman have died from
 injuries received this weekend in two separate traffic accidents.

 Connor Livsey was pronounced dead at Egleston Children's Hospital Tuesday afternoon from massive
 head injuries, said Jim Dempsey, an investigator for the Gwinnett Medical Examiner's office.

 Bystanders pulled the little boy from a burning Volvo that had been hit head-on by a minivan Sunday
 afternoon at Loganville Highway and Hope Hollow Road, said police Sgt. Roger Dewitt. The boy's
 father, Mark Livsey, 35, of Forest Falls Drive in Loganville also died from head injuries sustained in the
 crash, Dempsey said.

 Dewitt said Sheila Goff, 57, was driving the minivan that struck the Livseys auto in the 12:48 p.m.
 accident. Goff, headed eastbound on Loganville Highway, swerved her 1998 Pontiac Montana to avoid
 traffic that had slowed to turn right onto Hope Hollow Road, according to Dewitt. Goff ended up in the
 westbound lane, where she collided with the Livseys. The 1989 Volvo station wagon crashed down an
 embankment and caught fire.

 Investigators are testing seat belt buckles from the car's charred remains to determine whether Connor,
 who was in the passenger seat, and his father were wearing seat belts.

 --
 '89 740GL, 169K miles

 I don't think even air bags would have saved them... The problem here is that the Minivan (a Montana?)
 rides SO much higher than the Volvo (or any other normal car, for that matter). The bumper of the
 Minivan would impact the other car at approximately headlight height. That part of the car is designed to
 hold headlights, NOT be a part of impact protection. There was a discussion a while ago about this - a
 VW Vanagon did approximately the same thing in a static test against a Volvo 7/9xx series wagon. Add
 to the fact that the Volvo driver probably saw the Minivan cross the median and slammed on his brakes
 (thus lowering his front-end even MORE) and you have little to no impact protection - just some soft
 body matter, a hood and the windshield.

 These things seem to get blown out of proportion when a Volvo gets harmed, however nobody really
 takes note of the number of accidents that are exactly the same but with Toyotas or Hondas as the
 recieving party.
 --
 -Richard (Hillsboro, OR)