Ruggs and the car he hit were going in the same direction. You can estimate the speed of the car he hit by looking at the speed limit sign in the picture below.
Given most people tend to drive 5mph over the speed limit, that gives a speed of 50mph with the mitigating factor that the vehicle they hit was able to accelerate a bit during the milliseconds of impact, any little bit that extends the length of time of energy transfer makes a difference (look up crumple zones).
77 mph crash only has 36% of the kinetic energy of a 127mph crash. (1/2 m * v^2) (mass cancels out, so just square the velocity to re-calc) https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calcu...cs/kinetic.php
A lot of the energy also sort of went UNDER the car they impacted, further making it a bit less severe than hitting a stationary brick wall.
Sucks for the car they hit, because that is where the gas tank is, and I would guess that it almost certainly ruptured, hence the fire. Witnesses say they heard screaming from inside the vehicle.
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