ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 29, 1996 TAG: 9608290089
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JON CAWLEY STAFF WRITER
A Roanoke man escaped life-threatening injury Wednesday after sliding out of control for 483 feet and totaling a 1974 Corvette Stingray on U.S. 220 shortly after rush hour.
Scott C. Engle, 23, was traveling north, in the leftlane between the Franklin Road overpass and Elm Avenue around 6:30 p.m. when the accident occurred.
Engle was driving "well in excess of the posted speed limit" when he encountered a car in the same lane, braked, and swerved to the right to avoid the vehicle, Roanoke Traffic Officer H.F. Wallick said.
Engle then lost control and slid for 192 feet before he hit the center median barrier. The car came off the barrier and slid 264 feet into the guardrail on the right shoulder and finally came to a stop after sliding another 27 feet, Wallick said.
The fiberglass car's back end was "shredded," a portion of the driver's side door was ripped apart and the gas tank was dislodged, Wallick said.
Engle was thrown from the car shortly before it came to a rest, but was able to walk, Wallick said.
"If he'd been thrown out earlier he probably wouldn't have walked away," Wallick said.
Engle suffered severe facial and head cuts. He was alert, oriented and in stable condition at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital's emergency room, a nursing supervisor said.
Engle's survival is "pretty damned incredible," Roanoke Fire EMS Captain David Pope said. "Fiberglass disintegrates on impact. It is not unusual to see cars like that in pieces and spread all over the road."
"It's almost like something you'd see in an Indy car race where they rip a car apart and the guy lives through it," Pope said.
Engle was charged with reckless driving and failure to wear a seat belt, Wallick said.
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