Hey Jack!
I don't really follow this thread, but I clicked on it and there I was.
Just to clarify a couple of things, there was no sun glare or a rise, just an inept driver in a hurry. I saw that car for a while, as I got closer the blinker came on, blinked twice and she turned in front of me when I was about 15 or 20 ft away. Her accident report statement said she saw me and turned anyway.
As far as the chest protector vs pressure suit it's a toss up. I have a Alpinestars pressure suit and based on the road rash on the chest protector I was wearing I looks like it took alot of the hit in the shoulder area that my pressure suit would not have covered. It's all speculative, when you get in a head on with a car and do a superman over the car and land on the pavement bad things are going to happen. An elbow guard may have helped, the doctor said no, but that was not the cause of my extended stay in the hospital. My arm was the least of my injuries.
This is not to debate which offers better protection and clearly more is better. Look at what the top guys running enduros are wearing, I planned accordingly. In my naivety I didn't factor in the jersey drivers and I should have known better. I grew up riding in the sand and I like it which is why I went. I will not be returning to jersey EVER, but I may do this. It is sand and they close the roads, right?
For the record at the checkpoint right before I got taken out I was ahead by 5 min. Oh well, I got some new scars out of the deal.