30+ years of driving and I’ve never witnessed two cars hitting eachother from the side cruising down the interstate. It’s go to happen a lot right? Freeways packed more than ever, rude drivers no wanting to let anyone in, rude drivers trying to squeeze into too tight a space, all the distracted drivers, all the people that don’t look when changing lanes.
In NASCAR when cars are traveling in a pack going 200mph one gets nudged and you get a chain reaction of mayhem everywhere. I can’t imagine that’s the case with civilian vehicles packed together going 65.
So does the smack just jar both of them and mess up their bodywork?
In my case, yes for me, not so much for the person who sideswiped me. I saw her weaving and tried to move over as much as possible but was boxed in by other traffic (we were both going around the speed limit, 70 mph, and I was in the left lane and only going the speed limit because there was someone in front of me). I think she panicked and hit the accelerator when she realized she was weaving because I’m sure I was ahead of her when it happened. She hit right in front of my rear right wheel well, and that must have been the center of mass because I didn’t swerve, only bounced several inches to the left.
She, on the other hand, had her airbag deploy, and she swerved into the median divider and had a totally ruined front end. After exchanging insurance info I was able to limp my car back to home on surface roads. Thankfully she had valid insurance, in fact it had technically expired but her insurance was on autorenew and so they let it cover me even though she hadn’t technically paid the renewal. I did have to wait several days for the insurance to “attach” whatever that means, so I had to pay for car rental myself. I got the $5000 frame and axle repair for free, though.
Depends on the smack. The results could range anywhere from no noticeable damage to the death of dozens in a twisted smouldering heap.
That was my experience. A guy passing me (60-65mph) decided he needed to be where I was. Unfortunately, there was a truck parked on the berm directly ahead of me, so I steered into the jerk… No dramatic outcome other than the fact that he ran, leaving me with a 1500 repair in 1980's .
I, on the other hand, have witnessed two side swipes that resulted in complete loss of control. Both times sent one car into ever increasing fishtails until hitting the center divider head on. One spun rapidly at the end before hitting, the other went in at high speed.
Dennis
Perhaps there would have been a better way of handling this.
(Allow the pass)
I had a similar experience once. I was doing about 70 in the #2 lane, when another car suddenly swerved into the lane directly to my right. I glanced over and saw the driver flailing about with his steering wheel. He clearly didn’t have control of his car. My initial reaction was to punch it, to try to get clear. I almost made it… he swerved again, hitting my truck behind the rear wheel with his front end.
Like the above, it knocked me over a bit, but I was able to maintain control and pull over onto the right shoulder. I wasn’t paying any attention to what became of the other driver until then, when he was pulling onto the shoulder as well. Our cars were crunched up where they hit each other, but both of us were able to drive away after exchanging information.
Looking back on it, I wonder if hitting me turned out to be the best outcome for him. He might have continued to swerve if he’d missed, and plowed into the center divide. As strange as it sounds, hitting me might be what enabled him to regain control of this car.
There was no opportunity for “allowing” anything.
Four lanes divided by a concrete barrier, car ahead of me, car behind me, idiot directly flanking me already in my lane coming over FAST, truck stopped on the berm ahead. The only other option was for me to lock brakes and risk being rear-ended.
In a split second, I decided otherwise since there was no time to permit a courteous pass.:smack:
One of my guilty pleasures is to watch those car crash / road rage dashcam compilations on YouTube. It seems to me that in the majority of cases where one car fares much worse, it is the idiot: they try to cut in slightly ahead of the victim and manage to PIT themselves as they sideswipe, resulting in the idiot being sideways in front of the victim.
Assuming minimal injuries, the conversation at the side of the road between the participants must be lively.
Everybody enjoys watching a train wreck!
I’ve seen, but not been involved with, two examples. In one case a guy went from the slow lane two lanes over to the fast lane, sideswiped a car there, then went back to the slow lane and stopped on the shoulder. The poor woman who was hit stopped on the shoulder of the fast lane but was fortunately okay. I stopped since it happened right in front of me. The clown responsible seemed to tell the state trooper that the woman was responsible - it gave me great pleasure to contradict him. And tell the lawyer or investigator who called me as a witness the same thing.
Outside of Boston a car sideswiped a Cadillac who was in the slow lane. He hit the curb and flipped over the guardrail and landed on his roof. I stopped and ran over with some other people. The driver had been wearing his seat belt - he was upside down but otherwise fine. In case any one thinks wearing seat belts is stupid, a case in point of how they saved a life.
So, one minor impact, one major one.