Tiger Woods did not appear to be paying attention in the moments before his devastating accident – and may have fallen asleep behind the wheel of the luxury SUV he was driving, according to a report citing experts in forensic accidents.
The 45-year-old link legend was driving a Genesis GV80 2021 alone when he swerved from the central jobsite on Hawthorne Boulevard in Rancho Palos Verdes, got off the road and crashed into a tree – causing the car to overturn.
Woods broke several bones in his right leg, indicating he was pulling on the brake at the time of the impact, experts told USA Today, adding that the evidence indicates that he braked late in the aftermath of the collision.
“For me, it’s like a classic case of falling asleep behind the wheel, because the road curves and your vehicle goes in a straight line,” Jonathan Cherney, a consultant who acts as an expert witness in legal proceedings, told the media.
The former police detective personally examined the accident site.
“It’s a detour off the road, almost as if he were unconscious, suffering from a medical episode or falling asleep and not waking up before he left the road and that’s when the brake came on,” Cherney told USA Today.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said there were no skid marks to indicate braking – but the vehicle did have anti-lock brakes, so even if Woods put the brakes on, “you wouldn’t necessarily see tire tracks,” Felix Lee , a specialist reconstruction accident, he told the outlet.
Lee said an important clue is how the SUV did not change direction when entering the curve.
“My feeling is that speed was not a big problem. It was just some kind of inattention that caused the curb strike, ”said Lee, who is part of the Expert Institute, a network that provides expert witnesses in court cases.
Cherney also said that he saw no evidence of “any steering command” to show that the golfer tried to avoid the accident.
Rami Hashish, director of the National Biomechanics Institute, which investigates accidents, told USA Today that this suggests a “very slow response”.
“I was suggesting that he wasn’t paying attention,” said the expert, adding that he suspects the damage would have been much greater if Woods had been traveling at excessive speed.
The speed limit on this stretch is 45 mph.
“You can walk away with a broken leg at 45 to 50 mph,” said Hashish. “If you’re hitting 60, 65 and hitting a fixed object, your probability of death increases exponentially.”
If he was accelerating to 80 mph, “he wouldn’t have an open fracture in his leg – he would be dead,” he said.
The sheriff said investigators did not yet know the vehicle’s speed, but said it could have been a factor, in addition to the lack of attention.
“This stretch of the road is challenging, and if you’re not paying attention, you can see what happens,” said Villanueva on Wednesday, adding that the accident was “purely an accident” in a preliminary assessment.
There was no evidence of deficiency or medication involved, he added.
However, experts were surprised that Villanueva determined it was an accident without having yet examined the SUV’s “black box” computer, which could reveal steering, braking or acceleration actions before impact.
“There is no real accident unless it is a real medical emergency,” said Cherney. “There is always some level of neglect, be it simple neglect, like looking at the phone or changing the radio station that starts the entire collision sequence.
“So, when the sheriff is saying this is just an accident, I don’t know how you can state this so early in the game without completing an in-depth investigation and reconstruction analysis,” he added.
In 2017, police found Woods sleeping at the wheel in Florida. A toxicology report said he had Vicodin, Dilaudid, Xanax, Ambien – which is used to treat sleep problems – and THC in his system at the time.
Cherney also questioned whether the SUV actually overturned “several times”, as Villanueva indicated.
“I consider a rollover to be a complete revolution, not just falling sideways,” said Cherney. “I don’t think that vehicle has experienced as many revolutions or complete turns as they are portraying.”
In his first comments after the accident, Woods said on Sunday: “It is difficult to explain how exciting it was today when I turned on the TV and saw all the red shirts”, referring to his colleagues wearing their Sunday outfit in red shirt and black pants during the final round of the WCG-Workday Championship.
“For every golfer and every fan, you are really helping me to overcome this difficult time.”