So I am driving down the road...POW!!!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was driving my sick Mom home yesterday at lunch time, I was driving down the busy street, not a stop sign for block to come, and SMASH!!! a car rams my drivers side!

He says he stopped at his stop sign, and then pulled out without seeing me (in my 17 foot long car!) he built up alot of speed too, as he smashed the driver’s side front quarter panel, the drivers door, and then as I was still moving, his bumper tore the corner off the back door too!

I could see him coming out of the corner of my eye, and he was moving fast. I kept both hands on the wheel and braced for impact, hoping to avoid the car spinning out of control, I didnt want mom to end up slammed into something. She was squealing - “oh my god! look out!” I didnt even turn my head, just concentrated on the road… my last thought before he hit me was : “not my car!”

It was pouring rain, big fat droplets of cold cold rain…we stood for 45 minutes in it waiting for the cop, and the report. The young man was so sorry, I couldnt even get mad…
At one point he choked up and I was afraid he would cry. It scared him badly - he was sure we would be hurt.

In the silent few seconds after the noise of the car hitting, I took moms hand (my mom doesnt like to be touched at all) and she squeezed it. I told her calmly and firmly " I’m fine, its ok. Everyone is fine." She calmed right down. She told my sis in law later that she thought I handled things well (it doesnt sound like much, but that is really really big praise from my mom)

I got an estimate today for the damage to the car - almost $1800!!! We only paid $1000 for the car 7 months ago! From what I have been told, the insurance will want to write it off - over my dead body! I love that car!

After the accident I felt ok, for a while, I developed a pounding headache, and I felt really sick to my stomach. I didnt throw up though. I was dizzy all evening, and forgot my phone number and stuff for a while. I was pretty freaked out. In the afternoon, I had some stiffness & tingling in the back of my neck, and shoulder.

I went to the doc last night, and he said my trapesiod (sp?) was irritated, and gave me an anti inflammatory (which makes me nauseous) but today i feel pretty much ok. Kinda crunchy in my neck, but not too bad. People keep telling me that this could cause me trouble later, and the doc said to take it easy, so I will be extra careful for a few days.

While looking at my license, I realized than in January, I will have been driving for 15 years, and this is my first real accident. Not even my fault, pretty good eh?

I wish I wasnt so jumpy driving today though, I keep thinking people are going to run into me.

Anyone with car accident stories to share? It will make me feel better…:slight_smile:

2

Poor Kelli! That is so damned scary. Thank God you and your Mom are OK. I know what you mean about feeling bad for the guy who hit you- The guy that hit my husband when he was riding his motorcycle looked like he would have happily commited suicide if given the opportunity.

Be sure to follow up with your doctor, and feel better :slight_smile:

Zette

(I’d share the bike story again, but everyone is sick of it, I’m sure)

3

Crossing the street with a friend of mine five years ago after a night at the bar. Neither one of us was drunk, or knew that two cars were heading our way in a drag race. Despite my efforts at CPR and actually starting her heart again, my friend was declared brain dead from massive injuries the next morning. I was hit because my legs were longer and therefore made it to the curb sooner.

4

Correction - meant to say I wasn’t hit because my legs were longer.

Anyway - It took me three years to get past it.

5

Thats heart breaking… I hope the drivers were punished! Though I doubt the punishment would be enough. :frowning:

(thanks for the email Zette)

6

Kelli - in my case the driver (a very scared young male, who I actually felt sorry for. He just screwed up, right?) got house arrest for three years. That means he can only drive to work and church, nowhere else. There was a big fuss about it and the sentence may have been changed. I was a little angry because it seemed light for such heavy charges (“Vehicular Manslaughter” and “leaving the scene of an accident”).

7

1 1/2 years ago, in Februrary, one day was really warm, like 60’s but the next day, it got cold again and snowed briefly and lightly. Result? black ice (for those of you in the southern areas, it is a thin coating of ice on the roads, difficult to see, very dangerous). we were heading home in my almost-paid-for-car, with Valentine gifts and groceries in the trunk. I was going maybe 25, knowing that it was icy out, saw a traffic light ahead/intersection, started slowing down (by downshifting - love a manual tranny :smiley: ) looked in my rear view mirror, saw a car bearing down on us in the same lane. I had exactly enough time to say “ohmygodohmygod” before impact. Unfortunately, when I said “Oh…” my son looked up and HE had a chance to ALSO see this car bearing down on us.

Neither of us could have swerved to avoid the colision. he hit us, square in the back, we spun and ended up on the median perpendicular to the road, he was off the road on the other side, facing the wrong way.

None of us were hurt (other than stiff sore necks and so on). Fortunately: [ul]
there were no other cars on that side of the road
it occured where there was a median
the median wasn’t full of trees and signs [/ul]

The front end of his car came all the way into the back seat of my car. we became a “trunk optional” vehicle. ruined the groceries and gifts in the trunk (grateful that was all), my car was considered a total loss (the undercarriage was buckled, repairs were estimated at $6000), so, now I have car payments again. On the day I bought my CURRENT car, I drove 1/4 mile away from the dealership, proceded through the intersection (on a green light) and nearly was sideswiped by some guy turning right on red. I wouldda had to have killed him. Justifiable homicide, in my book.

8

I have similar story. Driving home coming to a busy intersection where there are 3 roads that cross the blvd about a block apart. I had a green light and a van was stopped at the red light. As I entered the intersection, I noticed the car about a 1/1000th of a sec before he hit me. A 19 year old boy driving a huge buick skylark and going about 70 miles an hour had run 2 red lights and t-boned me in my corsica, right in the driver’s front wheel. It tore the whole front end off my car and the rest of it ended up about 40 feet away stradling the median. I had a broken hand, broken ribs, broken discs in my neck, whiplash, torn muscles in my neck,lacerations, a concussion, and my whole left side from shoulder to ankle was eggplant purple for about a month.

Wounded and broken, what made me the most angry was that this kid jumped out of his unhurt car and came up to me and said “I had the green light Ma’am.” Ma’m!!! can you believe it I was only 32 years old. I replied “bullshit, get back in your car before I tear your smart mouth off.” I was too mad over being ma’amed to notice how badly I ws hurt yet.

9

It was ten years ago and I was working at burger king. I was 15. Me and a buddy o mine, who was about 16 and newly licensed, closed the store and decided to go pick up a couple of girls we knew and see if they wanted to go for a ride in the middle of the night.

Much to our amazement, they did (!!) So off we go. But where do you go when you’ve got two couples in a ford festiva who’d like to get a little action each? why, down the dirt road, of course. so we’re on the dirt road, and wouldn’t you know it, my buddy starts screwing around a little and swerving some…and of course, loses control and puts the car in the ditch at 40+ mph.

But, see, being in the rear passenger seat, when the car stopped my face connected with the front passenger seat at 40+ mph. I lost a VERY large portion of my lower lip, four of my upper teeth were rearranged, two of them now lay flat up against the roof of my mouth…and here we were stuck in a ditch in the middle of nowhere.

We walked about 5 miles before finally managing to get a ride. I ended up with about 30 stitches in my lower lip, luckily all from the inside so you can’t tell these days. After some orthodontic surgery and braces and a couple of root canals, I actually didn’t lose any teeth. So I somehow managed to come away from it without too much scarring. You should’ve seen it at the time though…At 15 years old, at 5 in the morning, and you’re face has been rearranged, You tend to feel a little uncertain of the future…

10

Sorry to hear about your accident Kell’s. I don’t have much to say except one of the two accidents I was in (neither of which were my fault) the one that totalled my car was pretty fun. It was like a very expensive roller-coaster ride being rear ended into a car in front of me at a stop light. Woohoo. Pinging back and forth at least four times (she was going around 60 miles per hour in a 20 mile per hour school zone). My friend at the time, Jeff, and I both had sore necks but other than that we were ok. The cop who came to report the accident was a real bitch. She remembered me from the week before when she ticketed my younger sister for riding her scooter, the crappy motorbike thing, (she was 13 at that time) without a helmet or license. Anyway, my youngest sister who was ten went up to her and told her in no uncertain terms that she was the ugliest woman she had ever seen and I laughed when she said it. That was when I knew that my younger sister then had no way of getting out of that ticket. Anyway, that cop was the one who came to report my accident. She reported that I caused the accident (me sitting at a stop light behind a few other cars who were also stopped and getting rammed by a person going about 60 in a 20 zone, yeah right) but luckily the insurance companies weren’t as retarded as she was. It is yet another reason that I don’t trust cops and never will. I have had way too many bad experiences with them.

HUGS!
Sqrl

PS. I hope you feel better, Kells.

11

Kellibelli: glad you and your mom weren’t badly hurt.

There’s some sort of voodoo involving me and rental cars; I’ve been rear-ended three times in rentals, never in my own cars.

Back in '79, was coming back from a concert (the Who, Pittsburgh Civic Arena, the night before the Cincinnati tragedy) with my girlfriend of the time. We were in a small rented Chevy. We stopped at a red traffic light a couple of blocks from my place. A few seconds later, WHAM! from behind. After regaining my composure, I get out to find we’ve been nailed from behind by a kid in a gigantic old Chrysler sedan. His car has a bit of grill damage, while mine had the whole rear-end caved in. I say, “stay there while I get a pen”, turn around to grab one from my car, and nearly get run over as he hauls ass out of there.

I tried to give chase, but my car was too badly damaged to continue. We eventually got home and called the cops, but as I did not have the licence number of the other car, there wasn’t much they could do. We both had pretty sore necks for a few days, but fortunately no permanent injuries.

The next day, I went back to where the accident had happened, just to see if there was any way I could identify the other car. I found a few bits of the Chrysler’s eggcrate grille in the road, stuck one in my jacket pocket, and promptly forgot about it.

About a week later, I was downtown on an errand, and, as I’m driving down Main Street, I see the other car! Or at least I think it is, as I recalled the car as being red the night of the accident, while this one was blue, but there was a large hole in the grille. Strike one for accurate memory in times of stress. I then realized that I still had a piece of the grille. I parked, strolled over and tried it out; perfect fit. I copied the licence, called the cops again and let them do their stuff. The kid turned out to be the son of a local attorney and lived less than two blocks away from my place. He was prosecuted, and had to pay damages to the rental agency.

PS: still got screwed out of $200, the deductable for damage to the rental. Although the other driver was liable for the full damages, the agency refused to pay back the $200 until they had gotten the full amount from the other driver who was supposedly paying in installments. At the end of two years, they still hadn’t paid up, and by tat time I’d moved out of state. I realize now I could have gone to Small Claims to get it back, but at the time wrote it off to life experience.

12

I remember one time…

It was after a High school play, a friend of mine and I were in my dad’s fiero. We were doing about 65 when I decided to turn right down the next road. I knew the road pretty well and knew I should be able to take it. What really happened though was different. I took the turn a little to wide and the driverside rear tire got into the grass on the left hand side of the road. The fiero spun 180 degrees before I got to the other side of the road, crashed through a mailbox then chopped a “Slow, Children at Play” off at the post. The fiero’s engine wasn’t running when I came to a stop in these people’s front yard. I started it up and headed towards McDonald’s.

I arrived at McDonald’s and surveyed the damage. OH MY GOD my license plate is missing! The clutch went out in the fiero when I parked it, so I had to get a ride back to the house where the accident took place.

I arrived at the house and the sheriff had already been called but has not shown up. I wait. They show up, two sheriff’s and a drug dog. I fill out a report, then I head to McDonald’s with the sheriffs and look at the car. The sheriff threatens me with a reckless operation charge and 6 points which means instant suspension. After our conversations he charges me with failure to control which means 2 points and a 60 dollar ticket.

My dad ended up fixing the clutch cause it was about out already, we left the rearend the way it was, (the frontend was already crashed from when my dad hit that house)

13

Poor Kelli. I can totally sympathize, I was rear-ended myself yesterday.

I was just trying to get to work on time and BAM! Some guy slammed into me from behind, which in turn sent me careening into the car ahead of me in traffic. Had to wait an hour and forty minutes for a cop to take the report because of another accident (the poor guy whom I hit was reduced to peeing in a coke bottle in his car while he waited for a tow truck). A miserable experience for everybody involved.

I can’t even bring myself to get mad at the kid who caused it. He admitted that he’d dozed off (this was about 5:30 am) on his way to work and careened into me, wrecking his fancy new sports car to the point where it wouldn’t run (I got off with a dented fender, say what you will about Ford trucks, their tough) and judging by the way his voice wavered his car was pretty important to him.

(Sigh)

Some days life just kicks you in the nuts.

14

KelliBelli - I’m glad you’re okay. Hang in there!

wring - I’ve got a comparable black ice story. I was driving to the train station in my dad’s Porsche about 3 years ago. There was a light snow falling, which made it very tough to see the thin coating of ice on the road. Everyone on the road was doing 25, just to play it safe. Everyone, that is, except some stupid 19-year-old daredevil in an old beat-up truck who came up in my rearview doing about 60. He came up behind me in the left lane. I was in the right. Suddenly, he cuts in front of me to avoid a slow car in the left lane. I tapped my brakes and started sliding. First, I slid to the right onto the shoulder, then I overcorrected and started sliding left. Thank God I missed all the cars in the right and left lane, but I ended up in the ditch in the median between the divided highway. The rear quarterpanel took a hit from a wooden stake that was on the side of the road, putting a nice-size dent in it, but I was fine. The 19-year-old daredevil kept moving - He obviously had other people to hit that day. Never found the guy.

15

I’m glad to hear you made out all right Kelli. Take care of your neck. Make sure you keep a detailed account of what is happening to you medically and so on.
I’m afraid I hold the record for most accidents. I’ve been involved in 12 in my 20 yrs of driving. I completely wrecked 6 of them. NONE of them were my fault.

I only got hurt a couple of times…I’m very lucky.

16

It seems that the eye exam they give you when you take your test should have little cars all over it. If you can see the cars, you can get your license.

My story began on a snow covered highway on my way to work. Traffic wasn’t too bad because the 8am rush had finally cleared (I don’t start work 'till 9am). I was cruising along in the second lane at 40 mph when I notice a blue van pass me on my left (it’s a 4 lane road). Just as the tail end pulled even with my door I noticed his right blinker was on.

He began to move over. There was a car in the lane to my right. I blared my horn. I hit my breaks. He cliped the front end of my car just in front of the wheel. I proceeded to spin into the right lane.

Lucky for us all, the driver in the right lane heard my horn, was paying attention, & hit his breaks too. As I spun in front of him, still moving with traffic as well as sideways, I actually saw him mouth the word “Shit!”. I regained control & pulled off to the shoulder.

It seems the van, upon hitting me, flipped over and continued rolling up the grassy incline next to the freeway for about 20 yards. It was stuck on it’s side, facing the wrong way, still running. Some good simaritans & I pulled the driver out of his window (which was now facing the sky). He was fine. He admitted he didn’t see me & it was his fault. He waited in my car until the police arrived.

The courier company he works for sent two cars. One to get him & one for the delivery he was making. They also paid my deductable.

17

I’m glad you’re okay Kelli

My story is also a black ice story.

About 12 years ago I lived in Seattle. It had snowed one night while I was at work. My girlfriend at the time picked me up in her dad’s Buick GS. We were heading down this road lined with trees doing about 40. All of a sudden I look up from my paycheck to notice the car in front of us do this weird shift to the right where it bounced off the curb, near a bend in the road.

I had enough time to say “oh, shit” when we hit the black ice. The car slid to the right just as the car in front of us did, but the buick being heavier (and Jana never having taken her foot off the gas) caused the car the rear of the car to slide into a snow bank along the curb.

Jana freaks, she’s yeeling about wrecking her dads car. I said it doesn’t look bad the engines running let me get out and see if I can push us off. The car is sitting perpendicular to the street, so we’r facing the opposite side of the street. I get out, and Jana does the same. At about the same time we here and engine appraoching (we’er at the bend in the road, but we can see the exhaust tubes of a rig.

This is the last clear memmory I had of this. The rest I learned form Jana.

We both ran for the curb. Either I was slow or slipped momentarily, but Jana said I jumped for the bank as the truck hit the car. The front of the truck ran over the cars front end and the rear wheels sent the car flying into a 360, slamming into my back and knocking me about 20yds into the tree line, as well as unconcious.

As it turned out other than me not being able to walk for a few days (swelling in my lower back) and the car being completey destroyed, there weren’t any permanent injuries. Jana by the way was completely unharmed.

18

A year and a half ago…

I was going to electronics class (the last class or two before exams). I was driving a 1976 Chevy Impala (one of the biggest darn production cars ever made). I was approaching I-95 on 150 south headed through construction zones. I remember smoking a ciggarette and listening to Alice in Chains on the radio. I was going about 55 MPH and was about a car length and a half from the car in front of me. It was rush hour. So what happens is: The person in front of me slams on their brakes and come to a complete stop, I slam on my brakes, and not having anti-lock brakes my wheels lock and I slide into the person in front of me at about 20 mph with my big ass tank. I sit there for about five seconds contemplating what just happened. Then I hear a screeeech!!! and some lady in a geo prizm rear ends me at about 40 mph. So I get out of the car and realize what all has happened. All cars in all three lanes southbound are at a halt there are 7 different multiple car pileups–40 cars involved. So then the idiot police show up. Give me the insurance info of the person I hit instead of the person that hit me and the fucker also gives me a ticket which I have to go to court for for driving too close–fucking asshole. Then they have a half dozen ambulances sent up north bound of the southbound lanes. They try to coherse me to go to the hospital. I sign a waiver not to go–I was a lil shaken up but ok. The lady who hit me literally has her engine sitting in her front seat and the airbag on her car broke her nose. Then in the midst of all of this there are traffic helicopers flying overhead–the accident made the news. Then a year later I get a bill from the people I hit for $500. I also had my car fixed from the person that totaled their car into me–costed about $300 which I billed to their insurance. Then to top it all off, after I get the repairs billed to their insurance. The rear end on the car starts to go crazy (about $500 to fix). Since then have given up the car and my dad sold me one of his luxury cars cheap.

19

Any damage to a car is just a temporary inconvenience (either you fix it, get rid of it, or live with it - still just inconvenience) compared to damage to a person.

I was in the passenger seat while a friend was driving (nice new beemer he borrowed from big brother). Went a bit fast around a turn, flipped, ladned on the roof, slid for ~40 yards. Wow, that was sumptin. We got out the window, shook it off, and took about 30 seconds to realize the engine ws still running and little drips of gasoline were visible. Backed away a bit, and watched it light up. It burned completely. No huge explosions, but a few little ones. And the sound of fire engines driving around trying to find the exact location (this was in a park, in the dark).

We realized a little bit later that we did not even get any spots on our nice clothes. Lucky, beyond words.

20

…we have the 4th worst drivers in all of the country. My wife will be starting her driver’s education classes in about two weeks, and then we will be buying a car. We have never “needed” one, but the intolerance over biking to work in bad weather (for me) and waiting for unreliable buses (for her) fueled our desire to get a 'mobile.

I just klow that when she starts driving, I am going to be a nervous wreck worrying about her. I see so many nut cases every day that should not be driving at all… People who race you to lights, who cut you off, turn without slowing down or signaling, racing with their friends, talking on the phone or reading, smoking and adjusting their radio… It’s hard work to drive in this city, with everyone having a “me first!” attitude.

I am an overly-cautious driver, and I make an effort when I am driving her somewhere (in a rental) to point out all of the mistakes and dangerous practices that the people around us are making… I hope she will remember those things when she is on the road.

Sorry for the tangent.
Hope you are feeling better soon. Godspeed on your recovery.