Unscientific Poll: What Were You Listening To During Your Last Memorable Car Accident

In My Humble Opinion
1

OK, Quick Poll.

One that doesn’t require much thought and should only take a second to respond to. (Provided the hampsters aren’t hungry or overtaxed).

With the number of people who’ve been cited for using their phone while driving continually rising, I started thinking about some of my past automobile accidents & the conditions in which they occured. I’m not posting here to debate the merits of “Driving While (Fill-In The Blank) Laws” - In fact, I’m more interested in knowing:

Who and What Was on the Car Radio (or CD Player) During Any Of Your Automobile Accidents?.

It’s one of those little details I’m not at all certain anyone will remember, but it can’t hurt to ask.

Sorry, not to be rude, but I don’t wanna hear about:[ul][li]The blood, guts, limbs and brains splattered all over the highway,[]Exploding Pintos & Corvairs, []The million of miles you clocked on your odometer without so much as a fender-bender on your flawless driving record,[]Your hatred of SUVs and how you can’t see over them in you car,[]Your gripes about other idiotic & inconsiderate drivers,[]That little old lady who cut you off last week,[]The hazards of sharing the road with tractor trailers,[]That big snowstorm in the Winter of 95,[]How Detroit could make safer vehicles, or A debate on speed limits…[/ul][/li]Unless you can remember what you were listening to during one (or more) of your highway crack-ups.

Why? you ask. Perhaps there’s a pattern here that no researcher has ever stumbled upon.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s not[ul][li]cell phone usage,[]eating a Big Mac,[]applying make-up,[]smoking a cigar,[]fiddling with the radio dial,[]drinking coffee or[]mastubating[/ul] [/li]while driving that contribute to the number of accidents we witness on an almost daily basis - But rather traces back to some type of aural stimulant. :rolleyes: I mean shit, this could provide ground-shaking information that even surpasses the raw data found in the Poll: How many times a day do you pee? thread running just south of here.

I myself can distinctly recall what was on the radio during 4 (of my half-dozen or so) accidents. Unfortunately, in my case, there’s no pattern to be found in such a small sample.[list=a][li]Accident #1 - Summer 1981. Wasn’t old enough to drive. Passenger in friends Trans-Am. He cut a Stop sign, got clipped hard we tumbled down the block and had to be cut out of the car by firemen with demo saws. No deaths or major injuries.[/li]
Song Playing: Black Sabbath’s "Sweet Leaf"
(During the Iommi guitar solo - On a Maxell UDXLII cassette tape).

[li]Accident #2 - Summer 1984. My first car. A smokin Merc Cyclone that I was too stupid and too inexperienced to handle. Playing chicken with a guy named Ray who I was in a bar fight with earlier that evening & turned out to be my brother in law years later. Ended up destoying my car and his 68 'Cuda. No deaths or major injuries, except for my passenger’s split lip.[/li]
Song Playing: ZZ Top’s "Got Me Under Pressure"
(I believe on WAPP’s commercial-free summer).

[li]Accident #3 - Autumn circa 1994. Jackie Robinson / Interboro Parkway. Coming home from Glendale and slid into a disabled P.O.S. with a dead alternator in the right lane around a blind curve. Fender Bender.[/li]
Playing: NPR Radio - An editorial by Daniel Schorr
(I always hated that man, his smug opinions & those adenoids that make his voice totally 'broadcast-unfriendly - I guess I let my distaste for his taxpayer subsidized paycheck distract me).

[li]Accident #4 - Thanksgiving 1999. My most recent. Cracked into the ass of an SUV on the Southern State Pkwy. No major damage or injuries.[/li]
Song Playing: Stone Temple Pilot’s "Sour Girl"
(Probably on K Rock - Maybe on the CD No. 4). [/list]

So that’s it…No pattern (Sabbath, ZZ Top, Shorr & STP) that I can see. Maybe with a broader sample a trend may surface. If it does, rest assured I’ll lobby my legislators to do something about it pronto.

2

First one: nothing.
Second one: Savage Garden.

3

I’ve only been in one accident, but there was something very wierd, music wise (oddly enough) about it.

When I was 17, I was driving in my POS home from work one night, in the rain, listening to the soundtrack to the musical Rent. I suddenly had this. . . i don’t know what it was, but I pictured myself crashing the car, being trapped in the car in the dark in a ditch, bleeding to death while Rent played in the background. It freaked me out so much, I ripped out the tape and threw it in the back, never to be listened to in a car again.

Fast-forward 7 years. I’m going through my CDs and come across Rent. , I decided that I no longer live in NJ, I no longer drive the POS, and i was no longer a paranoid kid. I put the CD in my car stereo on my way to work.

Eight hours later, firemen pulled me out of my crushed car and loaded me into an ambulance. Rent was playing when I got hit. I don’t remember much about the accident, but I do remember desperatly beating the stereo with my hands trying to get the music to stop.

I’m not making this up. This was five months ago and I’m mostly recovered, no permanent damage thank god. I’m good and superstitious now.

4

When I was less than five (I don’t know how old, I just know that I must’ve been four or younger because we hadn’t moved yet), my mom’s Toyota van overturned on the highway. She says that we were listening to a tape of “The Nutcracker”, but I swear that I remember “Snoopy’s Christmas” in connection with the event. I think that the accident had less to do with the music and more to do with my asking what all the signs on the highway ment. Everyone in the car was fine, a nice lady helped us get out and gave us a ride to an Exxon station (something I remember 'cause I remember thinking that my mom didn’t like Exxon - this was in the late 80’s).

I’ve had a couple accident myself, but I don’t remember what was on the radio at those times.

5

That is a great fucking story. Chilling, macabre and fodder for a Twilight Zone episode. Glad to hear you lived to tell (knock wood). To quote Willie Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf & Rod Stewart, I Ain’t Superstitious…but I know damn well I’d get rid of that CD and not give it away - whether I had to burn it or throw it in the garbage for fear it was the audio equivalent to the video in The Ring.

Not to make light of such a personlly harrowing experience - but I have to inquire

You OK? Thank goodness you lived to see Another Day. I Should Tell You, driving out there On The Street is frought with danger…the kind of stuff that makes Halloween tales tame by comparison. Will I have to be the one to tell you how lucky you were…No. You’ll See in your lifetime how many people don’t walk away from such accidents - instead ending up dead, or a vegetable on Life Support. If you go Out Tonight, be careful. Keep Your Eyes on the road. The last thing your family and friends want to do is go to your funeral saying Goodbye Love. If I don’t see any of your posts in the next month or so, have a Happy New Year.

Sorry, couldn’t resist, even though Imyself hate ‘puns’.

6

Winter 1989, corner of Montreal and Ogilvie roads in Gloucester, Ontario, Canada. Making a left turn. Was in the intersection waiting, light turned, I had to clear the intersection. Could not see oncoming lane because of large van in oncoming left turn lane. Cleared intersection. Idiot ran the red, smashed into side of my car.

Music: 1976 concept album of Evita.

7

I was listening to my colleague Everett bitch about his boss.

And we had XM Channel 44 (Fred) on in the car.

8

A couple of years back, driving north to visit family, hit a patch of black ice. My truck pirhouetted gracefully into the ditch. Luckily, no damage to either me or my vehicle due to the huge amount of soft fluffy white stuff lining the edges of the interstate and the lack of traffic.

Song? “Wiggle Stick” by Reverend Horton Heat.

9

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by the Eurythmics. I got carried away singing along, and forgot to put my foot on the brake while parking. I drove straight into a brick wall. And yes, it was in the charts at the time.

10

I’ve been in just one car accident when I was driving and I have absolutely no recollection what was on the radio when it happened. The accident wasn’t my fault; the other driver ran a red light. I don’t know what was playing in her car, either. In the future I’ll try to remember to ask.

11

Henryk Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3.

In fact, I rear-ended the guy in front of me because I was fiddling with the CD player and didn’t look up at the road in time to brake. My hood bent up, glass shattered, the music swelled…it was a cinematic moment.

12

I was listening to a voice mail from my wife on my cell phone. Damn cell phones.

13

Bohemian Rhapsody

14

I’m not sure of the song title, or the artist for that matter. But, I think it was “We are young” by Pat Benatar. The radio stopped right as we smashed sideways into a tree.

15

CD player, A.J. Croce (yes, Jim’s son), That’s Me in the Bar. I don’t remember what song was playing when the moron pulled out in front of me, but I do remember going to the towing yard to retrieve my stuff and get the CD out of the player.

sniff My fun fuchsia car, first new car and the first one I ever bought by myself, totaled when it was only a year old. I STILL miss that car, and it’s been 8 years . . .

16

Shaggarito: The title you are looking for is “Love Is a Battlefield.”

17

‘Revolver’ on my tape deck (spring 1984) – specifically, the song ‘I want to Tell You.’

The accident left me very afraid and nervous about driving (I was blindsided), and it was a long time before I got my confidence back – not helped by the fact the the car itself was repaired, and I was still driving it up until recently. I could listen to anything in the car except ‘Revolver’ which is a pity, as it is probably my favourite Beatles’ album. But even being a passenger in a car, I would become nervous and afraid hearing any of the songs from that album.

Last summer, after I bought my first new car, I made a specific trip to the place where I had been in the wreck, and yes, drove through there, playing ‘Revolver’ – I suppose sort of an exorcism! It’s funny, as it was a tremendous relief, and now I have no problems driving short or long distances with that cd as part of my playlist…

18

I was a passenger in a car that flipped on it’s side, on the radio Land of Confusion by Genesis was playing.

19

All I ever wanted
All I ever needed
Is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do ha-OH SHIT! SCREEEEEEEEE! BAMM!!!

20

September 2000. I ran into a tree while making an incomplete turn at about 35 mph.

Disciples of Annihilation - New York City Speedcore

I believe it was track #4 “NYC Speedcore”.