Alexander Posted January 17, 2004 Report Share Posted January 17, 2004 I had a pretty bad one this morning, although nobody was hurt (thankfully). I was driving to work at about 8:30 this morning when I came upon a red light. I began to apply the breaks, when I realized that I was on a patch of black ice. Unable to slow down, I attempted to avoid a car stopped ahead of me by turning into the left-hand lane. It was too little, too late. The right-front of my car slammed into the left-rear of the car in front of me. I was dazed, but unhurt. The impact was hard enough to deploy my airbags (needless to say, both the airbags and seatbelt saved me from serious injury or death). The woman I rear-ended was hysterical (of the two cars, mine was far worse off. I haven't heard from the body shop yet, but I suspect that it's totaled. The woman lost her rear bumper and had a flat tire). At the time I was pretty calm. Two men behind me in a van (who had also slid, but manged to stop in time) called the police, and I called my insurance company on my cell to report the accident. I then called my wife who came and picked me up. I feel pretty stupid right now, although as Elvis Costello has noted "accidents will happen." Although I've been involved in some minor fender benders, this is the first time (at 33) that I've ever been in a major accident when I was behind the wheel. Just so I don't feel like such a tool, what was YOUR worst accident? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 Glad you're OK, Alexander (and the other person too)!!! Everything else is fixable. It's a pain to deal with the subsequent hassles, but at least everyone is OK. Hopefully all parties will deal with this with honesty and integrity. Sorry you had to go through that. I'll bet you're still a little shocky from it all. Tell me, what's it like having those airbags go off in your face? That's got to be a little insane. A lot of people get black eyes, etc., which is of course better than going through the windshield. Don't sweat it- these things happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maren Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 Glad you're OK, Alexander (and the other person too)!!! Same here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 Just so I don't feel like such a tool, what was YOUR worst accident? I fell asleep behind the wheel and plowed into someone's front yard and knocked over a small tree. There are still times I wonder how it would've been different had anyone (kids, f'rinstance) actually been in that yard at the time? Still scares me. Glad you're okay, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connoisseur series500 Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 Glad to hear you're okay, Alex and everyone else. I was involved in a terrible car accident at the age of 20. I was the helpless passenger in a car driven by a loon with a lead foot. He drove us off the road at some terrific rate of speed. I placed my hand on the dashboard to prevent my face from going through the windshield and dislocated the shoulder. My back was fractured as well. The driver was out like a light. He walked out of the hospital the next day, while I remained for nearly a week. Can't remember if we had seat belts on. That was 24 years ago. I am still afraid to drive at high speeds even today. I think I'm a pretty safe driver. I'm always looking ahead and concentrating, even if I've got some greasy music playing. It should be admitted, however, that I do have the habit of talking on my cellphone in the car. This is dangerous business and it definitely affects my driving. I'll have to watch that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris olivarez Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 Glad your ok Alexander. Just curious but what if anything were you cited for? I'll echo the sentiments that the other driver will deal with this in a fair and upfront matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christiern Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 Sounds like a close one, Alexander--along with you, we are all fortunate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 When I was 17 I watched four friends get into a car at a party (none of us were drinking, just hanging out) and head off into the dark to drop one of my best buddies off. I saw the taillights and than a set of headlights coming and then this dull crunch. A drunk classmate had plowed into them head on. Killed three right there. A big deal anywhere, but particularly in the little town I grew up in-- those three would have been 15% of my high school graduating class. Last winter my ex (whose brother has been paraplegic since he was a teen due to an accident) and both kids got in a serious accident when an SUV lost control and hit them head on-- fortunately they were only bruised and battered (friends who saw the accident called, I ran out the door and came to see what happened.. by the time I got there, they were all gone in the ambulance, but I will never forget that moment that I saw their car and was SURE they were all dead). My theory now is-- you have your health, and so does the person you hit. All the rest is just paperwork. A hassle, for sure, but accidents happen to the best drivers-- thank goodness you are insured and unhurt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 (edited) My worst accident was in a snowstorm before dawn in January 1980 driving to work . . . shortly after I rounded a curve my headlights hit a trash truck in the lane ahead of me, no lights on. I swerved into the other lane, where my headlights hit a man standing in the lane looking at me with two trash cans in his arms. I swerved back into the original lane and did my best to slow down but collided with the truck pretty hard. Luckily I have alway been fond of old cars; I was driving a 1964 Doge 440 four door, the engine was pushed partway into the driver's compartment, the roof of the car came down to meet the dash. Nothing caught fire. I kicked my way out of the car and was alright---well, I had seventy stitches on my forehead and a few down by the side of one eye. . . but I was fine. I was kept in the hospital for two nights before the doctor finally decided I wasn't going to collapse in a coma, and told me I had a hard head. I had a vivid red scar down the center of my forhead for some time. . . I felt it was sort of a "Scarlet A" of some sort but I guess it wasn't as attention-grabbing as self-concious lil me thought. It faded away with time; it's there but hardly visible. I am sure the operator of the truck was glad I didn't just run him over; I've never been in contact with him. I had to appear in court and I was fined three dollars for hitting the truck from behind. The trash company was fined four thousand dollars for operating without the required lights. This really made me reassess my life in small town Ohio, and when the company I had worked for for six years closed its doors in the Reaganomic recession six months later, I started looking at other places to be, visited some University of Chicago friends living in Austin, and moved here that fall, scarred forehead and all. My whole forehead was soon sunburned red! Edited January 18, 2004 by jazzbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted January 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 (edited) Glad your ok Alexander. Just curious but what if anything were you cited for? I'll echo the sentiments that the other driver will deal with this in a fair and upfront matter. I wasn't cited for anything, to my knowledge anyway. Would think that I would have gotten a ticket on the spot if the police thought I was doing anything wrong. I guess I'll find out when I see the police report! Thanks to everyone for your thoughts. I feel much better now. I'm just glad no one was hurt... Edited January 18, 2004 by Alexander Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris olivarez Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 It's been my experience-er ahem! that the police will generally cite you on the spot and hopefully that will be one less nasty surprise. I will clarify something I omitted-I hope the other driver will not try to screw you over. I hope your chilling out this evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe G Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 Sure glad you're not badly hurt, Alexander. So far I've been fortunate, just some fender benders years ago, and a couple of near misses. My wife had a bad one two years ago in which she collided head-on with a pickup truck, totaling the car and getting a broken leg and wrist. When I saw the car afterwards, I couldn't believe how close the left foot rest area was to the driver's seat; just a couple of inches separated the two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 As I mentioned elsewhere, I recently bought my first new car. As we were shopping around I noticed an interesting new safety feature (in addition to side air bags) that I hadn't been aware of. It seems that all new vehicles have these collapsible motor mounts so when you (God forbid) get into a head-on the engine drops and goes down and back instead of straight back into the driver/passenger compartment. The problem that needs to be addressed (and I think it is) is these super high SUVs hitting a lower passenger car. The bumpers don't line up at all, and who do you think will lose that contest? I just love getting behind someone driving something like a Ford Exploder while on the phone. Now that's scary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 The worst accident I was involved in was in high school. A buddy of mine was driving and we were pulling out from a gas station after leaving school and filling up. He just completely ran a red light, for no reason. I was screaming at him too... RED LIGHT RED LIGHT! And he just plowed through. The scariest thing was seeing this poor lady in her station wagon about to be T-boned by us... with a small child in the rear seat. I'll never forget the look on that kids face or the fear that we were about to smash head-on into him. Luckily my buddy swerved at the last minute and we hit a telephone poll head on instead. We weren't going very fast... maybe 35, but it totaled the car. Everyone was ok, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 Good to hear you are alright, Alexander. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 Glad you're OK, Alex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 Tell me, what's it like having those airbags go off in your face? That's got to be a little insane. Yeah really. Alex, back in the late 70's I lost control of the car in a blinding snowstorm on the Southeast Expressway in Boston and rear ended a police cruiser that was idling away over on the shoulder. Ooops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphie_boy Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 Glad you're ok Alex! Black Ice - ugghhh! Two years ago this month, my wife and I were driving to work on a two lane local road above a reservior. It was dry out with no visible ice. All of a sudden around a curve, the guy in front of me starts skidding and hits the guard rail, I applied my breaks and hit the same patch of black ice that he must have hit. Unfortunately, my car plowed through the guard rail. Next thing I know, we're rolling down the embankment (seemed like slow motion). Fortunately, there were no trees in the way and quite a bit of snow to cusion the impact. We ended up up-side down at the bottom of the embankment, about 15 feet from the edge of the water. Thank God for seat belts - they kept us strapped in. We were hanging up-side down like a couple of bats. We were able to unbuckle the belts and crawl out the front since the windshield was gone. Neither of us was hurt. We got cut-up a little climbing up the embankment, but that was about it. Even though this one was probably unavoidable, I've since calmed my driving down quite a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2Lunch Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 Alex, back in the late 70's I lost control of the car in a blinding snowstorm on the Southeast Expressway in Boston and rear ended a police cruiser that was idling away over on the shoulder. Ooops. So how long have you been a PEDESTRIAN now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted January 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 Tell me, what's it like having those airbags go off in your face? That's got to be a little insane. A lot of people get black eyes, etc., which is of course better than going through the windshield. The first thing my wife said when I told her the airbags deployed was: "Really? Cool!" It's nice to have a wife with a sense of humor (although I'm sure I'll be hearing about this one for many years to come)... As to what it's like...I gotta say I really don't remember. I remember the sound of the impact (I can't stand that sound of crunching and griding metal, glass, and plastic), and I remember that I couldn't see anything at that moment, although I don't know if that was because of the airbag expanding in my face or if I had my eyes closed. I noticed that the airbags were opened when I looked around during the aftermath. I don't have any bruises or anything like that. In fact, I think I came off remarkably well, in terms of injury. I've been in some minor accidents (when other people were driving) and I've always ACHED the next day. I'm not at all achey today. It must be because the right corner of the car took the brunt of the impact and I was all the way over on the left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 I had an car accident a few years ago. The airbags scratched up my arms. The car in front of me got cut off and I plowed into the her trunk. Nobody got hurt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 Glad you and everyone else around you is OK, Alexander. Black ice!!!! NOT your fault. That stuff is deadly, no kidding. Every once in a while, you're reminded that driving is dangerous. A few weeks ago I was driving up highway 280 with my younger son in the back seat (my wife and older son were off somewhere else at the time). It was raining, then the rain got worse, one of those Bay Area typhoons we get in the winter sometimes. The wind kicked up (...and up...), the visibility went down, and I started getting nervous. Then up ahead I saw a car spinning out. It was sliding slowly across four lanes, while spinning end-to-end. It then bounced off the right-side retaining wall and came to a stop. This whole time I was trying move into the left lane while avoiding any cars coming up behind me (when it rains in the Bay Area, I slow down while everyone else doesn't). Luckily, there were very few cars on this stretch of highway at this particular time, otherwise I could just picture the horrible pileup that would have ensued. My son was oblivious in the back seat, but it was a white-knuckle moment for me. I almost get shaky just thinking about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted January 18, 2004 Report Share Posted January 18, 2004 As to what it's like...I gotta say I really don't remember. I remember seeing the other car rapidly approaching, standing on the brakes, both feet, full weight, making impact, airbags popping open, my car stopping.....the air bags deflating, the other car sitting on the other side of the intersection with it's rear bumper laying on the ground. I thought the car was full of smoke, I opened the windows and realised it was the propellant from the air bags. I don't think ever forget it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzypaul Posted January 19, 2004 Report Share Posted January 19, 2004 My last ugly one was a few months ago... I'm driving to the local Guitar Center, and it's a six lane road at this point, but about 100 feet west of where I was at, the far right lanes merge back into a standard four lane format. Anyway, I'm trying to turn in, and traffic is stopped going westbound, and the people in the westbound lanes are waving me in. So, I go, only to find a girl in a mustang going way too fast on the shoulder. WHAM!!! So, in my little VW, I kind of grunt and wait for the worst. And then the worst came. She hits, of all things, my my front right wheel, head on at 35 m.p.h. Strangely, the side air bags didn't go off. I let my car roll into the parking lot, and she pulls in and starts screaming, "oh my god! this is my fourth accident in two months!!" Yay, great for me... So, they get my car to the body shop, and beyond all of the body and frame damage, it turns out, she smacked the axle clear into the transmission. So, I was without my car for two months. Now, for the upside...I get to the car rental place, and it turns out, that day, they were clean out of cars. All they had left was a Saturn (and I refuse to drive Saturns, they scare me...), a Tahoe and a Jaguar. Well, the Saturn's out of the question, and they want $45/day above what the insurance is paying out for the Tahoe. So I'm left going, "what am I gonna do about a car, man!!" They make a few phone calls and tell me they can give me the Jaguar for $6/day. I say, "uhhh, okay..." I fill out the paperwork, and I get the Jaguar for the next two months. Driving wise, the best two months of my life. I can't wait to earn enough money to get into one of those full time. What a ride. Strangely, two days after I returned the Jaguar, I got my Mercedes, which has served capably as a second car when the VW's in the shop (and it's ALWAYS in the shop). Alexander...glad to hear you're doing okay. I hate car accidents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted January 19, 2004 Report Share Posted January 19, 2004 My sister has said that an airbag going off is like getting punched in the face... she looked like it, too... she had two black-eyes and a cracked lip! But I think that only happens to people who are small. The airbag hits them right in the kisser! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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