No offense meant, but "Wood slammed on the brakes and turned a sharp right so that the oncoming car would slam into the driver's side of the vehicle."
Are we sure that he did that "so that the car would slam into the driver's side" of the vehicle, or did he do that to try to avoid the accident? I think the guy is a hero, but there is no need to alter the events to make him a bigger hero. If a car was comming straight towards me, I'd hit the brakes and turn right also (aiming for the shoulder of the road), regardless of who was where in my car. I'd have zero time to think about how to mitigate the damage, hurt or protect specific people in the car etc. I certainly don't know if getting T'd is "safer" than head on collisions for anyone in the car.