Saturday evening, my sister called in distress. While driving with our mother through construction traffic, she had to brake hard in slowing traffic. She stopped in time–the car behind them did not. My sister and mother walked away stiff and sore, but essentially unharmed. However, more than $10,000 in damage was done to Mom’s car, and it will be in the shop at least 3 1/2 weeks. The driver of the other car was unhurt, though his car was likely totalled.
Wednesday (yesterday), my other sister (2,000 miles away) was driving her 15yro son home, stopped at a red light to make a right turn. She was rear-ended, and as she had been looking over her shoulder to check oncoming traffic to make the turn, apparently separated her shoulder in the impact. Her son had to pull the van over, as she couldn’t move. We’re waiting to hear if there is a fracture, or if her rotator cuff was torn.
My sister joked I was next. I told my mom we were going to hide out inside all day, although that risked a car crashing into the house. :rolleyes:
This has the least personal connection to me, but it did have an impact–Monday evening, a friendly acquaintance from college named Wendy was driving a group of high school cross country kids. An SUV on the opposite side of the road drifted onto the shoulder, overcorrected, shot across the freeway, over the median, and on top of the van Wendy was driving. She was killed, as were at least two people in the SUV.
In all three of these accidents, none of the parties I was connected to were at fault, and none of them could have done anything about it. UGH.
Forget the clown…can’t sleep, cars will eat me…
), While one driver is usually definitely at fault, there is often something the other driver could have done differently that would have prevented an accident. Defensive driving is unsatisfying because if you do it right you seldom see it work for you, you simply are one of those people who don’t get into accidents.