Can anyone ID the car in this news story?

[bekker 7]

I've looked at it a couple of times and the grill and whats left of the lights makes me think it might be an E34.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Fatigue-blamed-for-...65/Default.aspx

What the hell happened here? Three people killed, straight head on crash at 40kmh and all wearing seatbelts!

They were all asleep but still, only 40 kmh!

This is tragic.

[danbullock 15]

Looks to me like a 98 Nissan Bluebird.

[greenday-rulz21 6]

Don't think for one second its any sort of bmw. Looks to me like a commodore or something along those lines.

[oscar90 0]

Guys from my work attended this fault/crash to sort the power pole/overhead lines, no one can understand how it happened, neither can the power network operators, they see people hit poles at 100+km/h with the cars smashed power poles snapped and all the rest and the driver etc is still walking around, it's crazy and doesn't make sense! really unfortunate for the family!

[lidistick 70]

Unfortunately, in this case, the power pole didn't snap so the entire force was transmitted through the car and onto the occupants. As they were sleeping, they had no time to brace for impact. Sudden deceleration from 40 - 0 is quite tough. While they might not have hit anything inside the car, the brain gets very violently jolted and can have small tears in the lining of the brain.

RIP.

[oscar90 0]

yeah this is it lidistick!, was a hardwood pole from memory aswell, but its still a shame, theres been alot worse crashes where people have hit poles, snapped or not and just walked away without a bruise or cut!

[my_e36 43]

From the photo, it seems to be a fairly late model car. I would put my money on being a Holden.

If it was really 40km/h, it should have fair a bit better. Could it be the car have had bad repair that the crash crumple structure has been compromised before the crash?

[Wom 0]

I don't mean to sound insensitive, but it goes to show that it's not speed that kills.

[lidistick 70]

This is not a speed issue. Its a driver issue. Any speed can kill as you have seen. Its very difficult to speculate on the cause of death without actually seeing the autopsy results. Did the child submarine under the belt? (slide under the belt). Were there any other internal injuries?

Usually when people hit a pole and walk away, the pole has broken or that the car has hit it sideways (minor factors but all cause a reduction in force to occupants).

If the damage to the car is minimal.... the outcome to the occupants can be disastrous as the whole sum of energy has not been dissipated. More damage to car = more energy taken by car = less to occupants. If he had hit that pole at an angle which would have skewed the car around... may have led to less lives being lost. Ultimately, we may never know and he will have to live with this for the rest of his life. Utterly tragic.