In January 2003, an 18-year-old student gained a bit of fame for surviving—with only minor injuries—a remarkable traffic accident. The vehicle he was driving was “clipped” by another one, left the road, and rolled several times. He was thrown upward from the vehicle (he wasn’t wearing a seat belt) and ended up dangling from an overhead telephone cable and a ground wire about 8 meters above the ground. Rescuers got him down after 20 minutes. It is estimated that he reached a maximum height of about 10 meters.
(a) Estimate the driver’s vertical speed when he was thrown from the vehicle.
(b) If he had not landed in the wires, how fast would he have been going when he hit the ground?