The first car crash I was in was really anticlimactic. I was driving a beater VW bug in rush hour traffic and some guy rear-ended me at about 5 MPH. His car was fine, my engine (in the back) was fine and my bumper had been pretty screwed up before the accident so I couldn't tell what was new. I didn't want to make a big deal, but he insisted on getting my address and later sent me $30 in cash. It was a strange little adventure, and it made me realize how badly things could go with just a little miscalculation - he could have rear-ended a new car, driven by a high-strung person, and been out thousands of dollars. I increased my following distance a bit. My second and latest car crash, I was going south on a two-way street with a center turn lane that was being made into a rapid transit lane - there wasn't anything in there other than cones and dirt, but there were a lot of cones. A woman in a Jeep was going north on that same street, until she decided she was going to turn at the intersection, right into my path. I tried to brake and tried to steer, but that sound and that sudden stop will stick with me. My first thought was "I wish I could do that over," there was a feeling of just sick horror. I just kept hoping it wasn't my fault that I basically T-boned this woman. As it turned out, it wasn't; I had the right of way. My car was crunched badly and eventually totalled (doesn't take much to total a 1991 Honda) but drivable. Hers had some major part - the drive shaft? - dragging and I helped her push it to the curb. Waiting for the police was awkward. I didn't have a cell phone so she had to call them. She didn't have her proof of insurance, but she was a block from home. I think we were both thinking about the advice you get not to admit anything, but we were both mostly upset at ourselves. I had never ever gotten into an accident that bad, and neither had anyone in my family, so I didn't know what to do. When I finally got home I called my insurance company, and the next day I went to the DMV to fill out papers. I got an estimate and was floored that it'd cost $3000 to fix my car, maybe $1000 just to get it patched up. I called her - she'd mentioned something about my going through her rather than her insurance - but she had changed her mind. Probably a good idea! The weeks after that were an awful limbo. I worked evenings and nights so I had to keep my car (bus didn't run late). My car ran but was making me very nervous with strange noises and one light dangling. I had to find a new car, but they gave me way less money than I'd originally paid (less than the estimate to fix it). I would park two blocks away from used car lots so they couldn't see what I drove up in. I had to deal with car salesmen, which is basically awful. And for months after, I'd flinch whenever anyone backed out near me or was turning near me or was even a little close in the next lane. I think I hadn't really realized until then that there were falliable humans piloting 2 tons of deadly metal mere feet from me, who was doing the same thing. At any minute I could get into another crash! It was a miracle that the air wasn't full of fenders. I eventually got another car at an auction, which was its own fresh hell, but this car has airbags. My last car was the one I expected to have until I could afford/they started making a fuel cell/electric/fairy dust car; now this one is. I am still a little nervous at intersections and driveways and onramps, which I think makes me a safer driver. 1:31 The only crash I ever had that was my fault was scraping against a wall in a parking garage in my dad's car. I learnt not to go into parking garages. They're evil! Actually it kinda made me realize how much I still need to practise certain aspects of driving which were never taught. We didn't learn reversing, for example. There's a good ad campaign on this with a tagline I like - "You never stop learning". Drivers shouldn't assume that they're great and don't have to really pay attention. Other than numerous bike accidents (some my fault, others not) I've only hit something once in a car. My first car and not long had my licence, I was still at that cautious stage when, one day, I backed slowly and carefully into a concrete stump that I had totally not noticed was behind me. The lesson I learned that day was "Your rear view mirror doesn't show you everything, and it doesn't show you anything close in and lower than your back window" Well, I invested in tech-stokes, prior to the NASDAQ crashing. That was a pretty bad crash, but no, my driving style has been unaffected. Back when I was 19, I was in a hurry to get to my family's summer cabin one summer evening. I came to an intersection where I had a stop sign but the cross traffic did not. I looked first to the right, I then looked left and saw a motorcycle rapidly approaching the intersection. In an effort to beat the motorcycle I accellerated quickly. What I had forgotten was that there was a vehicle approaching from my right. I didn't realize anything was wrong until the other car had smashed into the passenger door of my car at about 55 mph. My car slid sideways off the road and into the ditch. I was unharmed (thank you Volvo) but the other driver had not been wearing a seatbelt and had smashed into his windshield. He sued me, but my insurance company refused to settle so we went to trial (the company didn't want to settle because they felt the guy was inflating his wage claims, he did not have a salary or steady wages because he was a mediorce actor and comedian). The trial was worse than the accident. The injured driver got a judgment of $20,000.00. I drive far more defensively now and haven't had an accident in the 14 years since. I was waiting in a red light next to a bus in the left lane. I knew that the road went from two lanes to one lane just a little while ahead, and didn't want to get stuck behind the bus. As soon as the light went green I stomped on the gas trying to overtake the bus. I started going to the right lane but I was too close to the bus. I smacked my side mirror in the bus and it broke. My lesson was that unless you know for certain that you can pass a car, don't get too close to its lane. Another crash was when I was in a traffic circle a bit too fast and lost control of the car. I smacked into a lamppost and did some serious damage on the front axle. I think there was something on the road that made me lose control, but maybe I'm just imagining it so I don't feel so bad about that. My lesson was that you should take turns slowly. I now take that specific traffic circle extremely slowly. Unfortunately this incident didn't change the way I drive until I had a near crash when I was driving too fast and had to turn and almost lost control of the car. Crash 1: I was 16, drove an early morning paper route in the country, fell asleep at the wheel, hit a light pole. Crash 2: I ws 18, driving on a 4-lane city street, and a 16 year old pulled off a stop sign into my path. I hit him broadside, totalling both cars. Crash 3: I was 35, driving in the country and yet another 16 year old pulled off away from a stop sign. I hit him broadside, totalled his car and did a couple tousand in damage to mine. Now I watch out for 16 year olds. I also stare intently at the front wheel of every car at every intersection I need to cross. I wasnt involved in the crash but I saw one that made realize something. Always look at the traffic light. Dont assume its green. I was the fourth car in line at a stop light. The first car turned right on red, the second car turned right on red and the third car a Mazda RX7 just went straight. First he was hit on the left side by a pickup and was pushed into a pickup going the other way. The second pickup was one that works on train tracks so it had this huge honkin steel thing on the front that destroyed the little mazda. Luckily the guy was all right and he was amazed when all the witnesses said he ran a red light. After 20 years if driving I was in my first accident last month. I guess I've just been lucky and the insurance company loves me (or at least they used to...they jacked up my rates by $800 after filing my frist claim ever. They have been happily taking my money all this time so this will teach me for wanting some of it back!) Traffic on the freeway always slows down near my usual exit to get home. I'm very careful to watch that people don't cut into the exit lane at the last minute as they decide that surface streets will be faster. Sure enough, some guy cut me off and I was able to stop in time but I looked in the mirror and the guy in the pickup behind me was barrelling towards me. The entire impact was on the left corner of my car. His pickup was unscathed but that's what you would expect in an F-150 vs Corrolla accident. Turns out the guy didn't have insurance. Arrrgh! The car got fixed ($4300 damage) but I had to pay the deductible until the insurance company can verify that he didn't have insurance. He won't take their calls so now they are sending someone to knock on his door. They'll keep trying for 6 months to contact him before I can get the deductible reimbursed. I rear-ended a girl while driving to my first college class. It turned out that she was late to class as it was - it gave her a better excuse. I've been in two accidents: One in high school, the first time I decided I felt comfortable enough to drive a friend in to school. It was a rainy morning, around dawn (Sun not up, but sky gray rather than black), I went to make a left-hand turn and didn't see a guy in a gray car with no headlights on, T-boned him. Luckily, as I had been at a full stop and just began speeding up, I only put a dent in his door and scraped up my bumper. He had no insurance, and I wasn't about to report it, so we both got off scott-free, but from that point on I always make sure to look for moving object rather than lights when driving in the dark or rain. Second time, I was a passenger: my boyfriend and I were moving to a different state, and in his pickup truck was the last of our boxes, so we were pretty thrilled to be going to our new home. It was December 29th, going through the mountains on Rte. 80 in Penna, and it had just begun to rain/slush when we came around a turn (listening to YMCA on the radio) and he lost control, we hit the median and spun 180 degrees. Ended up hitting 3 of the four corners on the median. Luckily traffic was light and no one hit us, and we could drive enough to get it to the side of the road. While we were waiting for the cops to show up, two other cars hit the same patch of ice and hit the same place on the median we did (we know 'cause we left a paint skid on it). Luckily we (and the other drivers) and our stuff was all undamaged. Car was totalled. The officer who showed up was very nice and understanding, but then two weeks later we got the ticket in the mail...what was the offense? "Driving at a safe speed". I don't know how to drive yet. Old people shouldn't be allowed to drive. I was highway driving on 64 in Virginia, going about 75mph. I hadn't had enough sleep the night before, and was a little drowsy. I reached down to change the radio station and when I looked back up an SUV about 4 cars ahead decided to slow way down. The car immediately behind him went left, the second car behind went to the right, the third car filled in the now empty space behind the SUV and I hit that one. Luckily we had all had enough time to really apply the brakes so the collision happened at a relative speed of only about 15 mph. However, it was enough to slightly scew the left-front of my car and damage the bumper of the other guy's. My lesson- if you're drowsy take the slow way or roll down the windows, but do something to wake up!so, you're speeding, almost hit a car, then flash your lights at him because it's your fault. you're now a fag in my book, mainly for assuming the dude FOLLOWING the law is stoned.I was driving down a major highway in Atlanta when Captain Planet ran out in front of my car! I slammed on the brakes and swerved into the left lane, which was occupied. I smashed a car into the wall on the left. We both came to a stop and the rear passenger's door on the other car opened. Donald Trump stepped out. He walked up to me and said "Your're Fired." I was stopped at a red light on top of a hill in my old 1974 Ford Pinto station wagon. The car behind me (who just happened to be my little sister's 2nd grade teacher) also stopped for the red light, although she did so very close to my rear bumper. The elderly lady in the car behind her reportedly dropped her glasses and began rummaging around for them while maintaining a speed of around 20 miles per hour. She slammed into my sister's teacher who slammed into me. Fortunately, besides minor damage to the bumper, my car was fine. The other cars, not so much. I've had two minor ones, neither of which were my fault, but I did learn something from them. First, I was turning left onto 15th street from W. I was in the #2 lane, which is a "left or freeway" lane. The one directly to my left was a "left only" lane. I was turning left, and the person to my left in the #1 lane was apparently trying to get onto the freeway. I turned left and she hit the driver's side of my car. Basically, I just learned not to expect that people would do what would make sense, and to ALWAYS watch out for others, especially looking at their heads to see if they're planning on turning or changing lanes -- you can tell a lot of the time. The other time, I was leaving a concert in Miller Park and heading east on Broadway. There was some road construction, so right at about 15th (again!), the eastbound lanes narrowed from two to one, and there were cones everywhere. Traffic was heavy and there were a number of cars also leaving the concert. Well, the light at 15th turned green and I had enough room to get across the intersection, but traffic was stopped ahead of me. I went, then watched in the rear-view as the truck behind me just kept on coming. What could I learn? Well, to stay out of driving situations like that as much as possible! I could have left Miller Park twenty minutes later when traffic had cleared, or turned down Riverside and avoided the whole situation. I was cruising south on I-23 near Airport Highway in Toledo, Ohio. December 26th traffic. My son and I were headed back to my apartment in my 2004 Honda Civic. Someone cut me off as I crested a hill and then slammed on their brakes. I hit my brakes hard and didn't hit the guy who cut me off, but the guy behind me hit me...hard. Hard enough that it spun me 270 degrees clockwise into the left lane, where I was hit hard again on the back door and quarter pannel. That driver skidded off to the side and I came to a rest in the left lane...Ended up having to gun my engine and drag my now smashed car into the snowy median to avoid getting hit AGAIN, this time by a semi. Car was totaled, $10,000 in damage. Lesson learned - never drive on December 26th, and ALWAYS, ALWAYS buy gap protection. Saved us nearly $8,000 Tom, Fort Riley, KS I was stuck in the EZ-pass lane on the NJ turnpike without an EZ-pass. It was bumper to bumper traffic and i went to change lanes the first chance i had. unfortunatly, the person i coming up in that lane saw the gap as an opportunity to speed up. He managed to slow enough to only clip my taillight. I didn't hear anything and figured there was no damage, so I didn't stop. That probably wasn't the best idea, but getting over six lanes to the side in heavy traffic would have set me up for an even worse collision. Later that night i saw that the was actual damage to my tail light. Three weeks later that car was traded in. It prolly brought down teh trade in value (nnot much to begin with) by $75 or so Sometimes, there's just nothing you can do. The only car accident I've ever been in (as a driver) minor or otherwise: I was stopped at a red light on a slight downhill slope. A distracted (perhaps stoned) teenager slammed into my rear bumper. (He later turned out to be wearing a toga). He hit fairly hard, but there was suprisingly no damage. I have been rear-ended twice since moving to the Sacramento area. In the first accident I learned that bike racks that are attached to the hitch of your car are cool. I came out of the accident with nothing but a bent bike rack. The bumper of the car that hit me was destroyed. (nice new truck too) The second time I was rear-ended I was in line at a red light behind close to 6 other cars when the kid ran into me. When we pulled over he quickly explained that he had run into me due to the fact that the breaks on his car had gone out the day before. Lesson #2, if your breaks go it is probably not a good idea to drive down a street with a lot of traffic lights. I was driving my girlfriend's '94 Dodge Dakota heading home. Approaching the road to I wished turn on, I signaled left and brake to stop to wait for a school bus to pass in the oncoming lane. A brand new '99 Ford Excessive (Tm) did not see me stop or assumed I would attempt to make the turn and risk getting slammed by the bus. The Ford didn't stop, he rear-ended me at full speed. 45 MPH. I was at a stand still. I drove away in the Dakota (It was tota\led due to the bed of my truck impacting the cab and crinkling it) but the Brand New Ford Excessive didn't! I learned that when slowing, keep an eye peeled for drivers who don't notice your actions, and if necessary continue traveling in the original direction to avoid just such a collision. I also learned to always drive a Dodge over a Ford as those things are built like tanks!! About three weeks ago, I was riding my bike (I'm 14, so I can't drive) on the sidewalk of a street. Since the sidewalk passes through business driveways on the street, I have always been extra careful that I looked into the driveway to see if anyone was pulling out before passng across it on the sidewalk. So I am about to pass across a driveway on a sidewalk, so i look and don't see anyone there. I kept riding through when all of a sudden some lunatic in a truck comes flying around from the back of the business going about 20 mph. he is flooring it because he did not see any cars on teh street, and before i can even react his truck smashes into my bike and i go flying about 5 feet into the street. The crazy guy apparently does not notice this and would have keep going and drove over me if I hadn't qucikly stood up in front of his truck. he got out and said "Huh, I didn't even realize I ran into you. My arm and legs were bleeding pretty bad, and my bike was completly wrecked, but his truck got by with only a dent and scrape on it's bumper. This guy obiously had some problems, and I didn't really want to stck around and since i wasn't hurt that bad find out what he was going to do next, so I asked for his name and phone number and walked my bike teh remaining half mile home. now I try not to ride along the sidewalks of busy streets and if i have to, I always go very slow and be extra careful that no lunatic is waiting behind a buliding in a truck about ready to kill me. Some idiot rear-ended me going fifty while I was stopped. It sucked, and smashed the vehicle. While living in the US, my Mom, me and my cousin were going to the mall, in Indianapolis - IN. It happened in this crossing point, the ones used to get inside the malls, those that take you from one lane to to cross 2 or 3 lanes. Well, it happened like this, there was a van in the opposite side of the crossing point that wanted to go to the video rental shop, the van blocked my mom's view on incoming cars. I remember that in a split second I saw this green car coming, it was coming fast so, I thought, for a split second "maybe it would stop", but that did not happen, what happened was that, my mom tried to cross and we ended crashing the driver's side of the green car. Man I was scared, but I remained so calm, I remember that the first thing I did was to turn off the car, put on the hazard light, that my mom, and my cousin out of the car and check the other car. Guess what I found, the female driver and a kid on the back, not harm but, the child was without his seatbelt on. Because we were on a trip in that time, I had no idea on what to do, and man, I saw a police cruise coming in, and then, I WAS SCARED, my english became sooo bad at a time, that I decided to sit on the floor and wait for God to help me. Luckily a friend passed by and saw the situation and helped us to clear the mess. Both cars were able to run, the front of my aunt's car (did I mention that it was my aunt's car? :P ) was shamed to pieces, there were no light, and the side door of the green car was pushed inwards. Since then, I decided that if I drive, I wanted to drive my own car, and also to take a defensive driving course. I keep myself watching car crashing videos, from time to time, just to keep my mind on reality. I don't have a license, but I drive my sister's car when I am with her, and in moments of danger is true what people say: "you see your whole life like in a movie, going by"... (9>50 pm.) I have had three accidents, none of which were my fault, luckily. 1. I was making a left turn into a Borders parking lot, and a kid driving a big SUV didn't see me and made a left turn from the parking lot into my car, T-boning me. He totalled me. I don't really think I learned anything, aside from how to deal with an insurance company. 2. I was driving home from work on a winding back road and after I came out of the curve, some kid in the oncoming lane decided to make a left turn in front of me. As he crossed my lane, I slammed on my brakes, but his car still clipped my front passenger side. This time I learned to pay better attention to potential hazards like people cutting in front of me. I also learned the value of carrying full tort, because I feel like his insurance company jerked me around knowing I waived my right to sue them for pain and suffering since I had limited tort on my insurance. 3. I was driving on a narrow residential street when I saw an SUV parked on the left side of the road. On the right was large lump in the middle of the road. I drive a small car and I wasn't sure what the lump was or if I could clear it, and I didn't have room to go around it on the narrow street, so I slowed to a stop and reached for my hazard lights. Just as I was reaching, an old man in an SUV plowed into the back of my car. He was a complete jerk, too. Turned out the lump was a cat, and the SUV belonged to a frantic woman who hit the cat, and was kind enough to pull over and knock on doors to try to find its owner. After the accident, someone called the police. Then, the old man, who was pig-biting mad because he had just bought his SUV a few weeks previous, tried to get the officer to cite me for stopping, at which point the officer yelled at him and said, "That could have been a child in the road. Would you have wanted him to run it over? You hit him from behind." Unfortunately, I couldn't get the officer to cite the old man, but the insurance company found that he was clearly at fault and paid my claim (and my medical bills and pain and suffering for my back injury). From this one, I learned to turn on my hazard lights before I come to a stop. haven't actually had a wreck, but the closest thing to an accident was about 4 years ago, driving from Vancouver Island to Edmonton AB, in FEBRUARY.... Ok, I had a choice in Hope BC, go the #5 through Kamloops, then loop back down to Vernon, (my mom lives there, and wanted me to stop overnight), with bare roads and no snowfall, and have the trip take an extra 2-3 hours, or shave that time off, be in Vernon in approx. 3hours,(instead of 6-7) but take the #3 highway over the Coquihalla and the Okanagan Connector with blizzard conditions at the summit of the OK Connector. Only about 20-30 minutes of bad conditions to save nearly 3 hours driving time. I opted for the shorter drive. No problems,, until I hit the blizzard. This is usually a four lane split highway with a speed limit of 110km/hr. On this day it was one lane of only tire tracks, (the outside lane) in either direction, the inside lane was compact snow and ice, and about 8 feet of snowbanks on either side, probably more down the middle. And blowing snow. So I'm going to be smart, go nice and easy, about 60 km/hr, when the bozo behind me figures I'm going too slow. He tries to pass, but as soon as he hits the inside lane to pass me, he fishtails all over, and i'm thinking, I want some distance between me and this moron who doesn't understand winter driving conditions. by the way, he was driving a jeep, probably 4 wheel drive, So I gently hit the gas, just a bit, just to put a wee bit of distance between me and him. Well, ever drive an automatic that gets away from you? the kind you don't feel the speed? Well, a few minutes later I glance down at my speedometer and realize I am doing 140km/hr. in a BLIZZARD!!!!... OOPS! Well, I am not an idiot, I slowly ease off on the accelerator, not daring to hit the brakes. I slow down. At about 80km/hr, I guess one of my wheels caught an edge of the compact ice in the left lane, and wheeee... I was in for the ride. I fishtailed to the left, to the right, I'm off the gas and attempting to steer into the skid and stay off the brakes.. left, right, left, left, and fwump, 180 degree slide into the snowbank. The car stalls, I catch me breath and realize I am facing oncoming traffic that is nowhere to be seen, I hold my breath, pray to God that the car will start, turn the key, (yippee, it started!!) get turned around, and continue on my way at a steady 60km/hr. Oh, and get this, 10 minutes later I got low enough for all the snow to be gone, and hit rainy conditions vs. white out blowing snow. I just thank God my husband had just put top of the line studded winter tires on the car, and that I wasn't going much faster when I spun out. I was driving in front of my friend janelle when suddenly a guy we knew called out to us to ask if we'd seen his bag, I stopped (fairly slowely, too, and we were only going really slow anyway) but janelle who was behind me merely looked in his direction without stopping and brought her toyota paseo into my hyundai lantra. I got out, and she backed up a little. I saw a massive dent in her bumper and worried what my car would look like but there was just a black scratch and some red paint smeared on my car. Lesson learned? Don't drive in front of (or even near) janelle. Since she's a friend I told her not to worry about it, and got a nice story to tell! Another lesson learned? My bumper bar is really strong. When I first started driving my family decided it was too expensive to keep the collision coverage on our car. On my way home from the insurance office I stopped at a light and noticed a car coming up behind me pretty quickly. The speed limit was 40, so I assume he was going something around that. At the last moment before impact he slammed on his brakes, but still crashed into me. Our car was a '90 Buick and he had a late 90s Civic; my bumper was smashed a bit, but his car was totalled. A Harley Davidson dealership was just across the road and some bikers called the cops on their cell phone (which I thought was hilarious). Unfortunately he had no insurance at all, so we just took the bumper off. It actually looked better without it. The other driver ended up being arrested and sentenced to time in prison. I guess the lesson I learned was that old Buicks are tanks. -- Jerry32 years old. Never been in an accident, major or minor, where I was driving. I immediately assume everyone else is going to do the worst possible thing and drive accordingly. Sometimes they don't disappoint. While driving cross-country in my 1980 BMW 320i, I had the misfortune to encounter a freezing rainstorm in Missouri. I pulled over to clean the windshield (the defroster didn't work very well) and fishtailed a bit while getting back on the highway. I didn't learn my lesson well enough, I guess, so when I hit a patch of black ice further down the road I shouldn't have been too surprised. Fortunately, the weather was bad enough that traffic was very light. When I spun around before going off the road, I didn't hit anyone else. I not only was I lucky not to have hit anyone else, but also because the only damage done to the car was a small dent to the lower air dam. (1980 BMW parts don't exactly grow on trees - especially in the middle of Missouri!) Lesson learned - Not jamming on your brakes on an icy road is one thing. Carefully downshifting is another. My handful of friends in high school all lived in rural areas, with ditches by the side of the road. I got my license first (though I was youngest) and had carte blanche to drive my parent's various beater VWs. I backed up into at least eight different ditches, although only once did it require help beyond me and a friend pushing - I'd backed the VW camper, our heaviest car, into a larger than usual ditch. Luckily the owner of the property nearby saw us, got out his giant pickup truck and towed the camper van out in minutes, chuckling. I still don't know how I managed to back cars into ditches so frequently without learning, but these days I am very, very careful around ditches. Maybe it was because I would get lost now and then in unfamiliar rural roads, and try to turn around because it was so desolate and unfamiliar, then WHOOPS, ditch again. I’ve never gotten into any accidents personally, but I know a few people that have. My sister in law was once driving in Stamford after a snowstorm. There was a Cadillac in front of her that kept speeding up and slowing down near an intersection. Because there’s ice all over the road, and she can’t drive well in snow, she had a hard time trying to brake. The Cadillac tries to turn, and then brakes again, and BAM. She hits the Cadillac in the back with her driver-side back door. Cadillac driver acts superior to the authorities, and my sis-in-law’s insurance makes her par pay for the TINY dent in the Cadillac. Her driver-side back door was (and still is) WRECKED. It took a year of home-fixing to get the door to open from the outside, but there’s still a huge, rusted dent in her car. She also found out that International Driver’s Licenses are not acceptable and was fined. My sis-in-law was also driving in Fairfield one day, going about 20-30 miles an hour. Rainy weather and she had her daughter (then 1yr old) in the back seat. She hears her daughter gagging, and looks back to see her daughter start vomiting (she was sick at the time). Then she feels that she’s not on the road anymore, turns to face the windshield, starts to panic, and pounds the break, tearing up someone’s lawn and crashing into their bushes (and destroying a few brick decorations), and is only a few feet from crashing into the house. Nobody’s home, but the cops believe that her daughter was vomiting (there was proof) was a valid excuse. She ends up paying for the poor sap’s lawn, bush, and bricks, in a surprising amount. She was almost arrested for carrying only an International License again, but the cop’s saw her daughter and let her go. She was fined more than last time. Brother was driving me from the doctor. I had some stomach virus. He pulls over so I can vomit in front of some guy’s house (technically the gutter). Starts driving again, lots of traffic, in Bridgeport, on the way to another doctor. He is going about 10 miles an hour when the car is rear-ended. He is PISSED, and he jumps out of the car at the car behind them. What seems like 4 stoners had rear-ended him and cracked his bumper. They said they were going to pull onto a side street to do a u-turn and stop to assess damage (since we were in the middle of a 4 lane per side road.) We waited for 15 minutes before we realized they weren’t showing up (we even checked some of the side roads. We went to the doctor, got consulted, and borrowed the phone, explaining the situation to the cops. We wait 15 minutes in the car for a cop to show up, takes the story (luckily my bro wrote down the license plate number of the other car) and was told that they probably will be unable to locate the car. He ends up waiting for my uncle to buy him a new bumper (my uncle is a very generous mechanic.) We were driving, 2 cars together, from an amusement park on a highway in the middle of a valley. No cars for miles, just us. So we’re both in the left lane, going 60 miles per hour, when another, brownish car shows up, gets between us, and pulls out a little siren thing and motions to pull over. He came up to us first, showing us his WALLET (not a badge or anything, just his wallet) and says that he’s from Homeland Security. (We really doubted it.) He said we were going too slow in the left lane and not trying to pass anyone. Takes both of our documentations, and comes back to us saying “Well, you’re lucky that I’m also Polish. I’ll let you off this time, but remember what the left lane is for a” or something to that effect. He was the least Polish-appearing person I have ever seen (I’ve seen MANY Poles, particularly since we visit Polish Delis and Green Point VERY often) and all through this, we’re all terrified, but in the end, we decided that he was probably just some jerk with a siren. Same road as above, but we weren’t directly involved. Traffic for miles, and we come upon one of the most interesting crashes I’ve seen. Pickup smashed in the front, motorcycle lying on the ground, next to a helmeted man on the ground, his left arm a bloody stump. There’s blood all over the scene, and no apparent effort to help the man (I’m pretty sure he was dead). Another interesting accident we’ve seen, driving on the Merritt at night, there’s a lotta slow-moving traffic. We were just inching along. We finally see one pickup truck rolled onto its side in the divider next to another pickup truck with its front smashed. Police, firemen, and paramedics everywhere, particularly trying to extract what I expect is a man from the flipped pickup. Trees, bushes, and the wooden median are busted. The other side of the parkway is stopped for miles, people out of their cars, talking with each other and crowding the scene of the accident. It an interesting site, just miles of people talking with random people. On our return trip (minutes later, we were driving someone to work) we take an off ramp where the standstill ended, where police formed a pseudo-barricade. -Moike Rob....I am 48 and NEVER been in a car accident.....dude you need to stay away from booze... One time a toyota rear ended me at a stoplight, i guess she thought the light turned green when in fact it was still very red. Well she rear ended my neon and cracked up the front of her car! it broke into a ton of pieces like peanut brittle**! Anyway i got out to check the damages and i saw that my car didnt have a scratch on it but the front poor toyota was like gone HAHAHA. SO i said my car is fine late! and drove off to eat chicken wings. I have two crash stories to share. (There are others, but mostly involve very minor incidents where, as a new driver, backing up was not my strong suit.) The first occurred in fall of 1999, almost exactly 6 month after purchasing a new Dodge Stratus. Returning from the Pumpkin Show, I has traveling northbound on a four lane divided section of U.S. highway, in the far right (passing lane). A small blue four door was in the center lane just ahead of me on my right, when, without signal or other warning, it came into my lane. I swerved left to avoid it, into the burm and nearly into the guardrail. I then swerved back right to avoid the guardrail, and made contact with the blue car still coming into the left lane. What happened next was a scene from most of those televised cop car chases. The blue car lost traction and slid around the front of my car, careening directly into the guardrail. After hitting the guardrail, it bounced back out and spun around, hitting my car again (mostly in the rear driver side door.) Results: The blue four door, driven by a 16 year old female driver from out of state, was totalled. My virtually new Stratus had almost $6,000 of cosmetic damage. (Mostly just scratched paint and the dented door.) The other driver was found to be at fault, and was cited. She was taken taken to the hospital as a precaution but I believe was ok. Everyone else was fine. For months afterward, and still to this day, I spend as little time in someone else's blind spot as I possibly can, ususally speeding up or slowing down simply to get them out of the "danger zone." Lesson: Don't trust other drivers. My second accident occurred just last year. Coming home from a softball game in June after a brief but heavy rain, I was driving on a typically twisty southwestern Ohio road. After a series of sweeping curves, the road narrowed dramatically underneath a train bridge, accompanied by a VERY sharp turn to the left. In attempting to slow down for this turn, I apparently pressed too hard on the brakes. They locked up, and my car slid directly into the corner of the train bridge. No other vehicles were involved. The air bags deployed, which as many here will likely attest to, almost automatically means that the insurance company will total the car. The front end damage was fairly serious, but otherwise repairable, I think. (The headlights didn't even break, nor was the radiator damaged...just a v-shaped dent in the middle of the front bumper, which had promptly fallen off.) I had minor bruises and a boody nose from the air bag, but was otherwise fine. I was cited for failure to control. The rain slicked road had significantly decreased the traction on the road, and my car did not have ABS / traction control. Lesson: Know the limits of your vehicle and drive well within them, especially when road conditions are less than optimal. I was driving down the I-43 outside of Milwaukee where it was going from three lanes down to only two, and I seemed to be the only one to get the concept of lane lines. To avoid hitting what I could only describe a serrated concrete barrier that would have cut my car into shreds, I pulled hard-left at 85mph. I rolled my car 6 times across the median and 3 lanes of road and landed in a ditch. My hood was gone, all my Car Junk was scattered, and the poor Civic was about 8 inches shorter. The State Trooper almost arrested me because he refused to believe I was the driver. He radioed Fire, EMS, the whole deal, and they searched for about 45 minutes, all the while i'm in handcuffs. Finally he runs the registration and i'm let go. Aside from a little mishap with broken glass in my hair during my shower, I was fine. Moral of the story: People are idiots, Traffic is WORSE. Sixteen years old, driving my stepmother's 240SX without her permission. I was taking a drive up a scenic, winding road with an ocean view and I was really enjoying the curves. Suddenly, as I rounded another curve a little bit wide, I saw a Pepsi truck coming head on. He was in his lane, and I was in his lane, too. I panicked, slammed the brakes, and spun out of control on the sandy road. After the truck passed, I ended up doing a 180 into the guard rail. I was fine and drove off, but the car was wrecked and I had a lot of explaining to do. I learned two things: first, if driving is fun and exhilirating, you're doing it wrong. And second, people overestimate their skill and ability to control the car. You're better off feeling like you are going too slow. I've never been involved in an automobile accident. But I was very unexpectedly run over by a crack-head bicyclist as a pedestrian. A most unpleasant and life changing experience! I am already a very careful driver, no need to change anything :-) Once a woman backed up into my car twice. After he first time I honked and yelled. She drove forward again and then she just backed into me again me doing the same thing as the first time only this time my honk stoped working after the second hit. She drove forward again and before she even could put her car in reverse I jumped out and yelled and knocked her back window. I think at first she thought I would robb her or smth... Anyway! There was a car behind me and I had no chance to reverse. Turned out that the woman who crashed me thought I was the curb... Whats the lesson? Use your rear mirrow when you back up and pls if you THINK you hit the curb check before backing up again! Also always try to have as much space as possible between you and a stoping car infront of you... And ppl... Always look after the crash for witnesses (if it wasn't your fault) and don't be lazy and go to the cops or insurance asap! The other person can screw you over I used to fix photo processing equipment in Louisiana and Mississippi. One summer I was driving my company car (Dodge Caravan) up I-55, right at about the Louisiana state line. I was doing probably 70, in the fast lane, when I drove into one of those downpours you really only see in the deep South. Just about the time I turned off the cruse control (using the button on the wheel) the car started drifting to the right from the big downpour-caused crosswind. I corrected the steering, but nothing happened. I tapped the brakes--nothing there either. It was like the car was on ice all of a sudden. Looking ahead, I could see (of all things) a hot dog stand on a trailer parked under an overpass. And I was heading right for him. I continued to try steering corrections with no luck, and after what seemed like about 10 minutes I slammed into the back of the hot dog stand at about 45mph. My car wound up sideways in the middle of the interstate. My first thought was to get out of the car because it smelled like it was on fire (airbag) and I had passed an 18 wheeler a ways back and didn't want to get hit. So I jumped out, and ran up to the pickup pulling the hot dog stand to see if anyone was injured (they didn't even feel it). I wasn't badly injured--I put my hand through the windshield and the seatbelt cracked my sternum--but I found out how close I had come to dying when I went to the junkyard to get my stuff out of the car a few days later. I was getting my spare parts out of the back of the (now totalled) Caravan and noticed that a transformer was missing. Not a little wall wart, but a big, 120amp iron thing. Probably 10 pounds. It had been sitting on top of some boxes back there. Looking around the car I noticed that the hole in the windshield was considerably bigger than my hand. THEN I noticed a divot about a foot long in the headliner right above the driver's seat. We don't get rain like that in California where I live now, but I'm always careful about what I have in the back of the car.I was driving my work van into the yard and dropped one of the guys off at his car. A dump truck (that also shares the shop yard) peeled in behind and made half a Y turn. It appeared as though he had stopped. No lights on, and his truck didn't move for 20 or so seconds. I have witnessed these guys stop at the main building like this tons of times...so I begin driving back to the work truck parking area and I pass 50% of his truck just as this guy begins backing up...no reverse beeps on his truck. He slams into the work van and from the drivers side door to 2 feet from the end of the van he tears it open like a sardine can. He "didn't even see me" so much for checking yer farking mirrors dipshit. god damn some of these are way too long! A couple of years ago I waws in a wreck where two friend sof mine were killed. I spent a week or two in the hospital with injuries and I got some brand new fake teeth, guaranteed never to go bad. I dont remember anything about the crash or that day actually. And my memory to this day fades out during that month when the wreck happened. To this day bad drivers really piss me off. My building is located in a neighbourhood that used to get innundated with heavy rain, 20 years ago, so every building and house that has un underground parking space also have elevated ramps, that go up a couple of meters and then go down all the way to the basement, like this: ------------ | | | | | building | _____ | | / \ street ------------/-------\--------------- street level | / | parking /| ---------/--so that the water in the streets wouldnt go down to the parking spaces in case of rain. Last year I was going out from the parking space, climbing the long ramp, and another car (a neighbour's) was trying to enter. Neither of us paid attention to the fish-eye mirror at the "top of the hill", and we crashed head on right at the top of the ramp (my car stayed on top, but his car went back down to the street, and almost hit a pedestrian). Even when neither of us was going faster thatn maybe 30 km/h, the repairs in my car were pretty expensive, including replacing the hood that was ruined and half the headlights What did I learn: when climbing the ramp, always keep my eyes in the mirror on top (looking anywhere else is useless, since all I can see elsewhere is the sky) and climb reeeeeeeally slow, almost stoping when the car is almost at the top That's my only crash so far (except bumping into my own bike when parking, but tha's a whole other story :) ). Regards, from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Ricardo Stupid son-in-law... He had just got his license a couple of days before (First strike) and had borrowed a soon to be ex friends car. It was raining very hard and, of course he had not the sense to slow down (strike 2). And of course he was yakking on the cell phone (strike 3). Traffic ahead came to a stop and so did he quite suddenly when he slammed into the back of the nearest car. This was NOT an accident. It was just a crash caused by stupidity that could of been predicted by anyone with two neurons firing. Unfortunately he survived... Rob, this has been a fun experiment, but your readers aren't as funny as you. Stop posting everything they send. Hell, stop asking for it.Funny, I had the exact same accident only I was the truck and some kid ran into me after fiddling with his radio in stop and go traffic. The hood of his 626 was crunched up and the front end of his car was badly damaged. I got out and had a slight skuff and twist to my bumper. Of course I said "Hey! look what you did to my bumper" He was kinda freaked out and the cops came quickly because they were at an accident just up the street that was causing the stop and go traffic to begin with. ALWAYS call the cops, as the slight skuff and twist to my bumper was about an $800 repair which his insurance paid for. - Stu Padaso I did a "Hollywood" stop at a stop sign, the large tree to my right blocked my view of the Monte Carlo with the woman and two small children in the car. She t-boned me bad; I received the worst injuries and no one in the other car was hurt at all. This was in 1980, WAY before airbags in every car. I was skipping out of school during my senior year of high school independent study class. I didn't want to get caught cutting class by the video survelliance cameras, so I got in my Ford Escort w/o bothering to scrape the snow from the windshield. I cut out of the parking lot pretty quickly when I realized that I might have run into a snowbank... not so lucky. I hit another kid's car who was also skipping school. We both got busted and I had to resort to driving a mini van... not cool on many levels. I learned to ALWAYS clear snow off your windows, no matter how little time you think you have to get away from school. I took a left turn going 40 once. In an SUV. I'll let your imagination fill in the rest. I was at an intersection. It was a red light and I had stopped - perhaps a little too close to the car in front of me, but stopped never the less. I leaned down to pick up something from the floor in front of the passenger seat, and to keep my balance, I took my foot off the brake (without thinking about it). Well, the car moved forward (slowly) and hit the SUV in front of me. There really was no "real" damage, except there was a tiny panel on the SUV's bumper which popped off. And of course, the SUV was driven by a bitchy middle-aged woman. ------------ My favourite "almost" crash... Long, straight three-lane road (for those who are interested: the N7 in Dublin, Ireland, heading east from Newlands Cross towards the Red Cow). Lots of traffic, but moving well. Me in the middle lane, tootling along, keeping a good distance from the maniac in front of me who seemed determined to get every inch of value from the lane by using as much of it as possible. Then, simultaneously, a car on my left and one on my right both decided that they wanted to take advantage of the generous gap I'd left in front of me. Luckily for me, I saw this coming just in time, and slowed way down. Both of the other drivers saw it too, at the last second. They came within a couple of inches of a being involved in the rarely-seen and hard-to-explain-to-the-cops side-to-side collision. Mike C. ------------I was turning right at a traffic light at a pretty busy intersection. I had a red light, but turned on red. I had looked and thought there was no oncoming traffic to impede my turn, but there was - a woman in a green minivan. I turned into her, bouncing off the passenger side-rear area of her vehicle. We stop, get out, and look for damage. There wasn't any. I was driving my brother's car, which already had several dents and dings in it, but I was still pretty lucky. Now I make sure traffic is clear when turning right at a red light. My boyfriend and I had just bought a new bedroom suite and had it loaded in the back of his pickup. We were in an unfamiliar place and were trying to find our way back to the interstate from a busy six-lane route. We found the interstate entrance, and I pulled into the left hand turning lane at a stop light. As we were at the stop light, I realized we should be turning right, not left. I was looking around to see if we could get back with traffic (hindsight tells me I should have just gone left and turned around). So I didnt notice the left hand protected arrow turn green. All of a sudden, BAM, we are rear-ended. I put the truck in park and went out to find a woman with coffee spilt on her. She said she was talking to her husband on her cell phone, went to put down her coffee and didn't see us stopped. I was freaking out because I'd never been in an accident before. My boyfriend was trying to get me to shut up because I kept asking if she was okay, etc. She told us not to call the police, but I did anyway, when they came they yelled at us to get out of the road and call our insurance agents and that they weren't going to take statements (that was a lie but I didn't know). So we left, and a few hours later got a call from her husband saying they were suing us because WE BACKED INTO HER! So, we had to get a lawyer, etc, and ended up winning, got his truck fixed and all our new furniture paid for because it was damaged in the wreck. I just couldn't believe someone would insist that we backed into them, when they even admitted to having rear-ended us. I still spent sleepless nights wondering if I really did back into her, even though I know without a doubt that my foot was on the brake. I was distracted by Veronica Mars; no more multitasking. It was Christmas holidays and I was taking my inaugral road trip in my newly purchased dream car - a '79 firebird. Firebirds are pretty rare here in Australia and almost unheard of in New Zealand where I'm originally from, partly due to the high cost of converting them to right hand drive to make them road legal. So anyway, I'm flying along the highway, roof off, wind in my hair, thinking I'm pretty much king of the world when just as I come over a rise I see a large emu (a native Australian bird, similar to an ostrich) running straight at me, kamikaze style. It was all legs, feathers and neck as the bird tumbles over the car. My vegetarian girlfriend in the passenger seat is looking like she's going to cry and I'm thinking I might just have to join her. I had to laugh later though when my mate pointed out the irony of a kiwi hitting an emu in a firebird... It was Christmas holidays and I was taking my inaugral road trip in my newly purchased dream car - a '79 firebird. Firebirds are pretty rare here in Australia and almost unheard of in New Zealand where I'm originally from, partly due to the high cost of converting them to right hand drive to make them road legal. So anyway, I'm flying along the highway, roof off, wind in my hair, thinking I'm pretty much king of the world when just as I come over a rise I see a large emu (a native Australian bird, similar to an ostrich) running straight at me, kamikaze style. It was all legs, feathers and neck as the bird tumbles over the car. My vegetarian girlfriend in the passenger seat is looking like she's going to cry and I'm thinking I might just have to join her. I had to laugh later though when my mate pointed out the irony of a kiwi hitting an emu in a firebird... I have a lot of crash stories unfortunately, here are a few notable incidents: I had been liscensed about a year and driving my mom's minivan still. I was coming up on a series of two intersections - one about 150 feet after the other. The 2nd intersection was a stop light, both had left turn lanes. I intended to turn left at the first intersection. When I got to the first left turn lane I began to move into it, at which point I collided with another van that was in my blindspot. The other driver was moving into that left turn lane for the following intersection, thinking it was all one long turn lane. Just smashed up the quarter panel of my mom's van. I've been very good about checking my blindspots ever since. Skip to 2005. Just graduated from college and moved into my own apartment. I was driving on a two-way street in the middle of a one-way grid when I didn't notice that my street had, in fact, become a one-way. It was 3 lanes wide and I was in the center lane. I attempted to turn left into a driveway right when a pick-up in the left lane came up on my Honda and t-boned me. My window was open and I broke his headlamp with my skull - luckily it was just a minor concussion. I loved the car and it worked out to be financially easiest to pay $4000 to repair it (with a bank loan). Two months later I'm coming home and waiting to turn left into my apartments. I was behind a large truck also waiting to turn left. He went and I quickly checked on-coming traffic and there was one truck coming, but I figured I could slip by, cutting it close. I mis-calculated his speed however and he t-boned me in my passenger's side and completely totaled the vehicle. Sucks. Anyway, I've learned to be much more cautious with my left turns. As a side note - I minored in physics and went out the next day and took measurements and calculated that the driver was going at least 52 in a 35. When the insurance company ruled it 100% my fault they said that's the way it will be unless I could prove he was speeding. When I went over the math with the adjuster she wouldn't accept it, even after I explained that the people who work for her company would have used the same methods to figure it out. She claimed that I was not as credible as the other driver - whatever that means. Mike Portland, OR i was driving back from church and across from Arby's a WOMAN was leaving the place and while handing out food she pulled in front of me and i t-boned her. i had to sit a year out from college and have had a hard time adjusting to real life. wretched women drivers. i flipped 4 times and my friend who pulled up on the scene said "i bet _____ caused a wreck" and he was rightyou harm the earth mother I was out with my friend, we were coming up to a flashing yellow light. But thats not important. There was a fucking carnival over to our left! So we were looking at this carnival, and we didn't realize that some guy was STOPPED at the FLASHING YELLOW light, when no one was coming the other way. We realize, too late, and he slams the brakes on. So, we get in a 30 mph game of bumper cars. There wasn't any damage, cause of his rubber bumper. And my friend still drives crazy. The beginning of this article reminded of this video, which I saw posted on ImprovEverywhere forums: It's a documentary, about a group of people who, in order to make a point, decided to ALL drive the speed limit around the loop in their town. There is a very amusing shot from the overpass as they approach (it looks like the highway is closed... then you see this line of 55mph "speed cars" appear.) ------ Anyway, the two on-road collisions I've been in (I'm not counting pulling too sharply out of a parking spot and ripping off my girlfriends back bumper) both involved wet roads. The first one, I hydroplaned into someone's tail who was waiting to make a left turn. It was on a two lane road I drove on everyday and they were turning down an alley I didn't even know existed, and entirely my fault (I didn't know what hydroplaning was until after that experience). The second one, someone "slushplaned" into me while I was stopped at a red light. She had to have been going 20mph tops but it was the middle of a snow/rain storm. She apparently didn't have insurance or something because she got escorted away in the back of the police car. I was waiting in a queue of traffic when I noticed a number of other drivers pulling into the bus lane to my left to escape the queue (this is in England). After sitting stationary for a while longer I decided I'd do the same. Unfortunately a car waiting to turn left out of a joining side street didn't see me so he pulled out of the street straight into my path. I hit the front wing (fender) of the guy's car. Our insurance companies decided to split the blame 50/50 as I shouldn't have been in the bus lane and he should have looked right before he pulled out of the side road. Lessons learned were: 1. Bus lanes are for buses. 2. Just because other people are doing something wrong doesn't make it OK for you to do so too. 3. Never assume that another driver has seen you. I've only had 2 collisions since I started driving 11 years ago. Just after I got my license a guy hit me running a red light at a relatively low speed. The light had just changed and I guess he thought he could beat the yellow. We were both driving very crappy old cars so we just went on our merry ways. When I got home my dad made me get in the car and go back to the accident scene. Sure enough, the guy had called the cops and tried to blame me for a hit and run. A-hole. Luckly I knew the officer and he knew I was a dumbass kid so he told us both to scram. My other accident was kindof like yours. I was trying to parallel park in a spot that I had driven too far past. So I popped it in reverse to back up to the space and slammed right into another car. Again, I was driving an antique so my damage was way worse than his. This time I actually waited for the cops! He said he would call me with the repair estimate but he never did. I've also had my share of near misses. I'm a manufacturing safety coordinator so I talk alot about the iceburg principle. How the top of the iceburg looks big but it hides its true enourmous bulk under the water where you don't see. In safety, the top of the iceburg is actual accidents and the bottom of the iceburg is all the near misses that nobody ever hears about. For every 300 near misses, about 10% will turn into actual accidents. I totally agree with you, I think most people learn to avoid certain situations only after they have had that kind of accident which is unfortunate really. That and I have learned to never underestimate the power of not taking your eyes off of what your doing! I fell asleep at the wheel while driving home. I went into the ditch and and hit a culvert doing 55mph. If I was not wearing my seatbelt I wouldn't be posting this right now. Funny thing is that I don't wear my seatbelt as much as I should nowadays. And this accident happened a mile before I got home. They say you are prone to get into an accident within like 5 miles of your house. My first accident was a police chase .... Uh, I should clarify, I was the chaser, not being chased. The guy was in a stolen van with an underage girl who herself was in possession of several bags of weed and had warrants for her arrest. We zipped all over town for 15 minutes or so and headed down an alley where I failed see wet leaves on the pavement right before a turn. I hit the brakes, but even anti-lock brakes couldn't save me. I wedged my squad in-between a tree and a parked car, but was not hurt. The bad guy (and girl) were arrested a block away after their van crashed into a dumpster. Did it change the way I drive? Yes, I respect wet leaves much more these days. The photo is not my car, not even my deparment but for illustrative purposes only. Reference #007 My crash? which one? I've been involved in one accident for approximately every year I've been driving. Statistically: 5 accidents involved objects but no other cars. 1 near-accident included a 180 across two lanes of traffic. I drove away, surreally unscathed. 5 accidents were my fault and caused damage 2 accidents were my fault and caused no damage 1 accident was not my fault and caused damage 3 accidents were not my fault and caused no damage 1 accident the cops called my fault, but I do not agree, and the missing witness who waved me into traffic could corroborate. 1 accident involved a pedestrian who literally walked into my car while I was exiting the highway. The cops believed he was on something and called it an incident, not an accident. In my experience, Foul weather causes approximately 21% of accidents Bad judgment causes approximately 47% of accidents Someone else causes approximately 32% of accidents For the record, the most recent three were not my fault, and coincide with the period of time during which I have been a parent. I have learned the following: 1) Full coverage is a good idea. 2) How to eyeball an angle while parking 3) Multitasking: how to watch out for curves in the road WHILE looking for a hidden turn in a strange neighborhood 4) To slow down more on a wet curve 5) Sometimes it is better to exit a parking space with several short turns rather than trying to do it in one fell swoop 6) Never park directly next to a support pillar in a parking garage, no matter how full it is. 7) Always look for a witness, especially if it wasn't your fault or the case is arguable. 8) Try not to get distracted at a stop light. 9) Gently brake when you feel a sneeze coming. Try not to allow your arms to jerk during the sneeze. 10) If a car looks like it is going to rear-end you, it probably is, but there may not be a darn thing you can do about it. 11) You will breathe a sigh of relief when you cause an accident and have not heard from any law firms three years later. 12) When you find out the other driver is pregnant after a minor accident you caused, you will be scared $#!+less. You will also thank heaven for the safety the womb provides. 13) Even though pedestrians always have the right of way, cops will not blame you if someone under-the-influence lurches into your car at 1:00 AM. A face striking your windshield a foot away from you will give you nightmares whether it is your fault or not. You can always check the paper to find out if the guy was seriously injured and you will feel better when you learn he wasn't. Even though you saw this happen in a fraction of a second, 15 years later you can still picture it in your head as clearly as a photograph. 14) Breeding breeds better driving in the breeders, but watch out for the brood 16 years later.In all of these accidents, other than my pride, only two people were hurt to my knowledge. I saw one person injured, the other claimed to have been injured but the private investigators my insurance company hired did not believe her. The suit settled out of court but I do not know the terms. I am either a good driver with exceptionally bad luck or a bad driver with extremely good luck. Either way I know mistakes are my downfall. So I never drink and drive and I rarely speed. One friend of mine always side "I drive better drunk than you drive sober" but I never had an accident or a ticket with him in the car, and never allowed him to test his theory. Rob - Your readers are the worst drivers ever. Remind me to avoid any gathering of them as it is likely I'll be rearended by the sleeping & speeding cockeyed fan driving their friends car that doesn't perform as well as their own. I got smacked into, head-on, by a speeding (and probably drunk) driver late one night in Hull (in the UK). I heard his tyres screeching as he tried to make it round a tight bend I was approaching, then he came flying into view and smashed right into my car. His car came to rest right next to mine, so i was pretty much eyeball to eyeball with the guy (as much as you can be in two separate cars), then he sped off down the road, clearly quite anxious to not be caught. I flagged down the rozzers/fuzz/filth/pigs and they summarily interviewed me in the back of their car, then proceeded to offer no help whatsoever and clearly didn’t give a shit (they probably would have given a shit about the quarter ounce of stinking weed hidden in my shoe though). About two weeks later I was stopped for speeding, and not long after that got rid of the car. I haven’t driven since - except for a brief spell driving round New Zealand on holiday, where someone tried to overtake me on a blind bend, not seeing the very large Mack type truck coming the other way. The truck swerved to avoid them, and it almost tipped as it pulled off the tarmac - and if they had hit it would have taken me out as well. I caught up with them at a petrol station for some "remonstration"- it was two teenage girls out for a drive. It was a very snowy night and for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to return some comics I borrowed from a friend. Despite the fact that he lived on the same street as me, its an 8 minute dirve to his house which includes a particularly trecherous stretch of 'S' turns. Things were going fine until I reached this series of curves. Despite the fact that I was only traveling 10-15 mph due to the drifts that had been collecting on the roadway and the snow blowing up over the windshield, the moment I tapped the brakes, the wheels locked up. In this situation, my 1990 Chevrolet Cavalier became nothing more than a sled, picking up speed as we flew down the hill directly into another car which was coming towards me up the hill. Both cars were totaled. The lesson I learned was to wait to return comics until Spring. In 1994 I had a 2 month old Duster and was heading east on a major street at 8pm. It was raining slightly. I had a green light at a major intersection. A huge "minivan" going west decided he wanted to turn left to go north and disregard the fact that I had the right of way. I slammed on my brakes. Since it was wet, I skidded head first right into the passenger side of his vehicle. The airbag activated but never inflated. The cops determined him to be 100% at fault and ticketed him. This was odd, because in Wisconsin, if you are in any accident, just by being on the road you are always deemed partly at fault. My insurance refused to work with me. I had mailed in my 3 month premium 3 weeks earlier, they never cashed it, and sent it back to me 3 days after the accident. It took 4 months of calling his insurance company daily then finally threatening to sue that I got anywhere. Got a check and my car back the next day. $5,500 worth of damage. And being car-less for 4 months. Since then, I always take my foot off the gas when cruising through an intersection, because there's always some idiot that can't wait 2 seconds for me to drive through, and will try to turn in front of me.Watch out if making a turn into a driveway that is just beyond an intersection! Back in college (Concordia, KS. 1982), I was going to make a right turn into a Sonic or A&W located just beyond an intersection. The driveway was probably no more than a car length past the intersection. Being the good driver, I had my right blinker on to indicate my intention to turn. Unfortunately, the driver to my right at the intersection was wanting to turn, too. She saw my blinker & took off, expecting me to turn at the intersection. When I didn't turn, she hit me on the driver side right behind the front wheel well. She got the ticket for not yielding the right of way, even though I had inadvertantly misrepresented my true turning intention. If your turn signals will cause more trouble, don't use them! And if you think you can proceed into traffic based on another driver's turn signals, be sure to judge if they are slowing for the turn, otherwise they may have forgotten to turn the blinker off and it'll be YOUR fault when they plow into you! no more sleeping at the wheel, now I drive with my eyes open. First time driving out by myself. Tunes cranked up. Cars stopped in centre lane, and I want to switch to right lane. Truck hits my front end from the right side, as I switch lanes without shoulder checking. I make sure I shoulder check all the time now. It's saved me more than once. It was the last day of winter finals at my high school. Finals days end at 12:00 noon, and it had been snowing really hard since about 10:30 or 11:00, and there was already about six inches of snow, which is a lot for around here. All of the kids were really excited for the snow, combined with the excitement of getting out early and finals being done. Our parking lot is not well-designed, and it actually has a 5-way intersection in the middle of it. The order got a bit messed up in the chaos (it was still snowing hard, making it difficult to see well), and I found myself having to break very quickly. Needless to say, this didn't work out well, and I rear-ended the car in front of me. It was a jeep so it came out of it okay, but I drive a yellow beetle and it didn't fare nearly so well. The snow covered the damage, but when it melted away you could see the huge dent, scratches, etc. I park on the street overnight, and my mom thought one of the snowplows had backed into my car. I was too much of a chicken to ever tell her that I hit another car, and we ended up only paying the $250 deductible to get the hood fixed. My only suggestion is that in snow, go SLOW SLOW SLOW and make sure that you have control of your car at ALL TIMES, do not rush no matter how much of a hurry you are in, miss the appointment, be late for the lunch date, people will understand. It takes so little to lose control in snow, there is absolutely no reason to risk it. I have been in several car accidents, boat accidents, train accidents, etc. and have also been stuck in elevators more than 25 times. I still take elevators (but avoid them whenever possible), drive and take trains, but have stopped doing the boat thing. One of my memorable car accidents was when I was driving by a very large catholic church on my way to work in the morning (about 7:30am). I was going across a 4 lane bridge over a highway with new sidewalks on both sides of it at about 25 mph. When I was about halfway across the bridge approaching a light at a 4 way intersection I noticed a car coming straight for me and I was in the far right lane! I didn’t see anyone driving it and it was a really old car. I swerved as far to the right as I could and scraped my rims on the passenger side of the car really badly, that was not the worse of it. The car kept coming towards me and scraped the entire driver’s side of my car with their car. Finally the car came to rest about 2 car lengths past me. I got out of my car furious and went over to the other stopped car to give the driver a piece of my mind! Then I saw who was driving. A little old lady about 100 (actually in her 80’s). She was so upset about hitting me, actually not hitting me, but “seeing the demons” that morning. She knew something awful was going to happen because she “saw the demon snake” that morning. She was all “praise the lording” and glad I was not hurt but she looked really shaken up. I suggested to the police and paramedics at the scene that she be retested as to whether or not she should have a driver’s license. Her insurance company paid for all of my damage. The epilogue to this story. When the body shop was fixing my car they accidentally dropped an engine hoist chain on the hood of my car. They had to fix that damage and had to repaint my entire car – at their expense. My car was in the shop for a while, but when I got it back, it was much nicer than when I dropped it off. Did this change the way I drive, No, but I am a bit more cautious around churches. Another accident that comes to mind was with that same car in the 80s. I was driving to work and that morning I swear someone touched my right shoulder when I was taking a shower that morning. It felt like a cold hand, ice cold. Of course there was no one there, just a figment of my imagination. I was at a 4 way intersection and a red light in a rather deserted (it was around 7:30am) part of town. There was black ice everywhere so I was being extra careful. The guy coming towards me trying to beat the same light was not as cautious. He went into a swerve and was coming head on towards me so I put on the breaks and I went into a skid myself. I saw a person trying to cross the road right in front of me and I realized I had three choices, hit the speeding jerk head on, hit the person trying to cross the street or aim for a light pole and hit that head on. I opted for the light pole and hit it with the front of my car. I felt myself come off the seat but since I had my seatbelt on I didn’t go very far. I was able to drive my car away from the accident, but I figured I would turn around and see the guy that caused the accident to get his license plate and when I looked over my right shoulder I got that same feeling again, like an icy hand and saw him look both ways and take off. I was worried that he had hit the pedestrian so I tried to find that person. Lucky, or maybe not, that person came over to my car as I was sitting at the pole. I was hoping to ask them if they got the license plate of the car, but they were severely retarded and I could barely understand them. So much for their help, but at least they were ok. Epilogue to this story, about 2 months later I got a bill from the City where I had the accident for the replacement of the curb I tore up when I went up on it and hit the light pole. I didn’t take the light pole down so I guess that saved me some bucks.My worse accident by far was in 1995. I had a brand new Dodge Daytona and it was only 2 weeks old. I was driving to work (is there a pattern here?) and I lived on a 1 way, 1 block long street. There was one way in and one way out. The way out was onto a pretty busy street that was a hill and you could only go left or right. I got to the end of the street and because 2 cars were illegally parked next to the exit from my street I could not really see the traffic from the left. I inched out little by little and then when I thought the coast was clear, BAM, a 1975 Nova hit my car on the driver’s side. He was going 55 mph. I am lucky to be alive. He hit the door pillar and that absorbed most of the impact. The impact flattened both of my tires on that side and the wheel cover from one of them flew up 60 ft and severed a power line. My head hit the driver’s side window (who had side impact air bags back then) and broke the window. My right leg hit the gear shifter and broke that. My left leg hit part of the steering column and broke that. My door was all smashed in and the engine had shifted in the engine compartment. The front and rear windshields were smashed as well, glass everywhere. I got out of the car (can you believe only severe bruising and scratches?) and ran down the block to call the police (no cell phones then either). I had to climb out of the passenger window. When I was getting out of the car I heard a guy up the hill in a cherry picker working on some power lines yell that he saw the whole thing and that the guy in the Nova was in the wrong and had just run a red light up on the hill. Well, the driver of the Nova tried to throw some pot out of the window, but there were quite alot of folks around since the crash was REALLY LOUD and they picked it up for the police. He also tried to leave the scene by running away, but again some good Samaritans grabbed him. My insurance company refused to total the car, so I had it fixed, even though that took weeks. I had not even made my first car payment when I had the accident. The bad part of this story is when I called the electric company to find out if the guy in the cherry picker would be willing to testify about what he told me, at first he said yes, then a union steward in the background told him he should not get involved. So he refused. Then I find out that the driver of the Nova didn’t have a license or insurance. He went to jail but that didn’t help me much. My insurance company quadrupled my insurance because they had to pay for all the damage to my car. One last accident. I was driving a 1988 black Thunderbird. I only mention the make of car so you can get a visual, BIG car. I was on the way north on 195 and had stopped at the McDonald’s restaurant off the turnpike in Branford. There were a lot of cars in the lot so I was waiting behind 3 of them for them to park so I could find a parking spot myself. While sitting there I looked to my left to see a car start up in one of the parking spots, no big deal right? Wrong, the driver (who I later found out only had her license a few weeks) put the car in reverse and I was directly behind her across her path. I blew the horn and waved my arm but she backed up directly into my side of the car. Bad enough, she put the car into drive and pulled back into her spot. I was about to get out of the car and ask her what she was thinking. Luckily I didn’t do that because she backed into my car AGAIN, this time even harder. I think she couldn’t figure out why she couldn’t go. It was pretty early in the morning and when she finally pulled forward and turned off her car I got out and told her to roll down the window, to my surprise there were empty booze bottles all over the inside of the car. I told her I was not moving my car until the police arrived (I was afraid she would try to leave). When I called the police they said they only come if someone is injured, I told them if they didn’t arrive pretty soon someone Might be injured. They came within a few minutes. The girl admitted fault in front of the officer and her insurance paid for all of the damage to my car. I guess I am pretty careful in McDonald’s parking lots now. Rob, a statistical survey of your experiences has lead me to believe that impatience is at the root of your troubles. After exhaustive research, I have concluded that this condition derives from your gender, which is male (as indicated by your status as "father"). The human male does have a tendancy to become impatient, which can lead to things like high blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks, ulcers, reduced life span, and of course traffic incidents, including speeding tickets. I suggest you seek the advice of a specialist, or "wife". I've only been in one accident while I was driving. It was an icy night, and I decided to throw caution to the wind and descend a fairly steep but short hill. I was driving my 1990 Nissan pickup, with the requisite 240 pounds of sand over the rear axle. The road goes downhill to a three-way stop, is level through the intersection, then climbs a less-steep hill on the other side. I thought I'd just point downhill, coast through the stop, and head up the far side, pretty as could be. Instead, I started down the hill, then started angling to the guardrail on the right. I did all the things you're supposed to do when sliding, which had worked well in the past. No luck. I knew I was going to hit the rail, but my truck was old and cheap, and I was calm. My right front corner contacted the guardrail, and physics happily restored me to my intended course. When I returned home, I found the smallest of dents (maybe the size of my thumb) in the metal bumper. I didn't learn much aside from the value of remaining calm, and that physics can be your friend. Near misses have created much more significant changes in the way I drive than that fun adventure on a cold Pittsburgh night. My dad crashed our minivan into a pipe (roof piping in an underground parking lot), when he was backing up into a parking lot. Moral: make sure to check what's IN the parking spot before you park! Another crash from my dad. He was backing out of a parking spot, but he had parked next to a light post with a concrete base. *BAM!* huge dent in the front quarter panel. Moral: don't park near light posts :P A tip for SUV/Trucks/buses--always stop ON or BEFORE the stop line at a red light when going straight. Cars attempting to make a right turn need to be able to see past your front end, and your stopping inches away from the edge of the intersection prevent them from doing so. I got into a near accident once when I made a left turn, I didn't see a pedestrian who was crossing, and nearly hit her. I always make it a point to clearly check the ped xing before I start my left turn. The most unusual accident I witnessed was when I was driving to FL with my husband and we were in heavy traffic on a 4 lane highway bridge in Jacksonville. My husband was asleep next to me so I was looking at all the cars in the oncoming traffic lanes while I was sitting there. There was a Jersey cement barrier between us, thank goodness. I guess a guy on the other side of the road thought my looking at him constituted flirting so he blew me a kiss and promptly smacked really hard into the rear end of a car stopped in the heavy traffic. I could only laugh and be on my way since my side of the road had started moving again. Moral of story, don’t flirt while driving or you could end up with more than you bargained for. An almost accident I was with my 2004 Jeep Liberty. I was going about 65 (over the legal limit) and was in the right lane of a 4 lane highway. All of a sudden I noticed an extended large blue van crossing over the lanes from left to right, evidently trying to get to the exit that was just about upon us. I guess they decided to get off the exit at the last minute and didn’t want to backtrack by getting off the next exit. I had to swerve very sharply and accelerate to get out of their way. The driver was not looking into the lanes he was crossing just proceeding like no one was there. I felt the Jeep go up on its 2 right wheels and I thought for sure I would roll it and go down a ravine, but I was able to keep it on the highway. I was so shaken up I had to pull over to compose myself. The weirdest almost accident involved a highway connector with 5 lanes. It was nighttime and the highway was very crowded but traffic was moving at a steady 50 mph clip. All of a sudden I saw cars skidding in every direction and going sideways and onto the shoulder and breakdown lane. Then I saw why. A truck must have lost its load of windows, doors, and the strangest of things a toilet. I called the local radio station and told them that a toilet was on the highway amongst other things and that they better call the State Police because there were numerous damaged cars all over the place. I saw no sign of the truck. There was glass everywhere. Luckily I had a Jeep so I was able to drive way off road to avoid most of the mess. Unfortunately there were at least 20 or 25 damaged cars all over the road in every direction. After about 100,000 miles of driving divided amongst three cars, the worst cash I've ever been in occurred after a heavy snow. I was driving at about five miles an hour down a four-lane street here in Champaign, IL, going perhaps slightly slower than traffic, but not significantly. The car in front of me had stopped to make a left turn, I didn't notice, and after mashing the brakes, I rear-ended the two ladies at about two miles an hour. The result was a profuse apology, an exchange of numbers, and a dented license plate. I cannot honestly say that this incident changed my driving. dur......no.I was driving back home from school at around 3AM on California State Highway 138 (aka Deathtrap Highway). If you've driven on this road before, you know that it is mostly composed of just two lanes, with a lot of small hills curves through mountainous regions. It's also known for the slow moving big rigs that like to hold up traffic. Luckily, it seems that it was just me (in an '84 Toyota Celica) and a big rig in front of me. I was growing impatient with the sub-50MPH speed the rig was crusing at, so I signaled and went to pass him on the left. Unfortunately, because of the little hill in the road, I did not see the oncoming car coming straight at me. My mind raced as I swung the car to the left, onto the shoulder. As soon as I hit the soft dirt, my car stated fishtailing (the car is RWD). Quick thinking and lots of Gran Turismo training (ha!) allowed me to take control of the situation and pull back onto the road... right behind the rig I was trying to pass in the first place. I wasn't actually the driver in this situation, but I was directly behind the car that did crash (a co-worker). This particular road is has three lanes. The leftmost lane was undergoing some construction, so the entire lane was coned off. Anybody who was in the rightmost lane had to merge to the center lane, as the rightmost lane turned into one of those "right lane must turn right" things. Anyways, I was following my co-worker in the center lane, when I notice a Chevy Avalanche coming up behind me fast. Since the left lane is coned off, the truck goes into the right lane (he must turn right up ahead, mind you) to pass me. Immediately after the right lane curves and goes to a different road is another road for traffic maerging onto the road I was travelling on. It does not have a stop sign, just a yield sign. There was a big brown UPS truck merging onto our road. The Chevy did not follow the lane to turn right. Rather, it kept going straight, and clipped the front end of the UPS truck. My co-worker swerved to the left to avoid the Chevy (which was still going forward), and in doing so, ran over a bunch of rubber traffic cones and also hit a small wooden "no left turn" sign. I slowed down, made sure the donuts in the back seat were safe, and continued on home. Reference #5941 for a diagram. My car in white, co-worker's car in blue, UPS truck in brown, and Chevy Avalance in teal. I was at a gas station at around 3:30AM filling up my tank. Besides me, there was only the owner of the station and a deliveryman (for foodstuffs, I guess) present. The devlieryman had a big truck (sort of like a U-Haul moving van). He pulled in under the overhead lights. Luckily, he only pulled in so that just the cab was underneath, with the rest of the cargo area sticking out (the clearance wasn't enough for it to fit anyways). The driver got out and conversed with the owner, and they seemed to be having a nice time just shooting the breeze. The deliveryman got back inside and the owner waved bye to him. Just then,everything went into slow motion. The truck proceeded to pull forward, and the cargo area of the truck just made this horrible crunching noise as it collided with the overhead lighting, sending a shower of deadly glass and metal over the entire area under the roof. The look on the owner's face was priceless: his mouth and eyes were wide open, and his hands were clasping the sides of his head. I dove for cover behind my car to avoid getting a glass shower. After all was said and done, I picked up a piece of (really thick!) glass as a souvenir, replaced the cap back on my fuel tank, then drove home. Like Rob's...I had visor down to block the sun. Approached an intersection that was backed up, but the light was green. Came to a stop two cars back from the intersection. The car in front of me started to move, so I accelerated thinking the light was still green. Because the visor was down, I couldn't see that the light had turned red while we had paused. The person in front of me was merely closing the gap to the intersection. Luckily, no damage. Smoking a Marlboro, it dropped between my legs and started burning a hole in my crotch. As I felt the pain, I focused on getting the cigg off of my pants. I was in 4th gear on a fairly large road, going about 40 mph. I must have been drifting towards the right side of the road when I hit a curb and then my car crashed into a metal street lamp post. I was ejected through the windshield and face-planted the pole. I crushed the steering wheel with my knee on the way out, and bent the shifter with my right elbow, which crumbled. The rear-view mirror lodged under my scalp and the windsheild sliced off about 40% of my forehead. I spent 4 years having reconstructive surgeries and a year of physical therapy. Lesson: If you drop something in the car, pull over and pick it up, no matter how painful it is. I had just gotten my motorcycle, and was about to go to the driving range with a couple of friends, but i was late, so I set out at a breakneck speed. I went around a sharp curve too fast. I looked at the side of the road and thought "my god, I'm going to crash". Then I crashed. Slid 50 metres with a motorcycle on top of me. I learned the following: 1. Look where you want to go, not where you are going to crash 2. Don't go to the driving range with people you don't really like, but who you hang out with because they are the only ones who go to driving ranges 3. Skin does grow back, but it's easier not to lose it in the first place 4. When a doctor says "holy shit! that looks broken!!" he's probably right. One time, just recently after breaking up with my girlfriend, I decided to be sweet and pick her up at the airport when she returned from her trip to 'figure things out'. We both knew that before she arrived home the relationship was done so needless to say, we both already knew the drive would be a little stressful. Anyway, as I'm reversing out of my parking spot at the airport, there is already one person blocking traffic for my spot and a ton of people stuck behind him. I start pulling out faster and turning my wheels to avoid the parked car to my right when BAM - I turn my front left end directly into the cement pillar on my poor little civic hatchback. Quite embarassing. What have I learned? I have learned to no longer be sweet to exes and offer them pick up rides from the airport. 2 days after passing my test, I drove halfway up the UK to visit a friend at college. Got nervous because people were watching me go into the carpark and drove straight into the gatepost. Burst into tears and couldnt move away, had to get my friend to come and park me. Lesson learnt.. i can't park! Car smashed in 1/2 way, 6" behind me (so seconds sooner and I'd be gone). Dudes in pickup w/o seatbelts speeding around corner. They were the locals, I was far from home, so I was blamed! Like 30 mph street & they left 40 foot skid marks, but they weren't speeding?! I was taking HWY 1 North to visit a friend in Arcadia. In a mountainous pass it began to hail. I slowed, but looking at the roadway, it appeared the hail was melting on impact with the ground. I was wrong; it was merely disguised. When the road curved, I crashed into a mountain. Luckily, it was an inside curve, else I would have crashed *down* the mountain. Now I know that large stones of hail are invisible on a roadway.I have had 4 crashes in my 15 year driving history all happening in the first 5 years of it. Before I tell them I need to point out 2 things. 1) I'm from Western Australia and over here we drive on the left. 2) Australia (esp. WA) has small turning lanes for most left turns at major intersections (just a small 2 car length branching but with an island seperating them from the main traffic and a give way sign rather than a stop sign or lights. First accident was a minor one similar to Rob's reversing back in the van all though with mine it was failure to notice the reversee. It was in my sister's car but she had a roo-bar (A metal bumper extension for if you hit a kangaroo so that only cosmetic damage is done to your car) so all the accident did was shunt the roo-bar back till it was just touching the bumper. Second one was in one of the turning lanes mentioned. I didn't notice the car in front of me had baulked at going into the traffic as I was intently watching the oncoming traffic myself wanting to make a swift and smooth turn (I was running late to something) End lesson was $500 new bumper and grille as I hit and old tank of a car with a tow hitch so no damage to them just me. Third one was minor also (again in my sisters car) but was comical none the less. Came around one of those turning lanes mentioned although this was at about 2am so no other traffic. Came around too fast and put it in the wrong gear such that I popped it up onto the centre island and took out a keep left sign. No tell tale damage and so of course my sister knows nothjing about this (so glad this is anonymous). Fourth one was again in my sister's car (I know I know!) although this was a different car. I had dropped her off at a conference and had gone driving to take some pictures (was at Uni studying Design Photography and so getting some stock photos). I was driving stupidly on gravel roads (like a teenage boy would - except I was 21 at that stage :) which I have to add is really stupid as Western Australia has a peculiar gravel that actually forms small balls and fine dust so at speed it is like ice (we have a world rally event here every couple of years and all the drivers say it is challenging terrain!). Anyway I was mucking around when of course I lost control and only regained control after smacking my sister's car into a tree. Ended up as about $5,000 in damages which the insurance covered except for $500 so of course I paid for that. Although my seeing sister's face as I pulled up out the front to pick her up after the conference was almost worth it. I actually hit a pedestrian once , while driving on a rainy night. I learned from this two things: 1) as a driver you should always hover the brake when driving through an unprotected intersection, 2) as a pedestrian you can't make any assumptions that the driver has seen you; if you haven't made eye contact it's a pretty hood bet that the driver has NOT seen you. DON'T CROSS UNLESS YOU KNOW! Hard lessons learned... My first accident was when I was still learning to drive. I was approaching a green light, and wasn't yet adroit enough to take the sirens I was hearing into consideration. I also wasn't used to braking hard, and so, slightly reear ended someone in an SUV. My first real accident was 4 months after I got my license. I was returning home from a visit to a friends house and was hit by a bus. I was coming down a hill to an awkward intersection, where the street did not continue through linearly and one had to veer over to continue on. I stopped at the stop sign, and the traffic passing in front of me did not have a stop. The driver to my right was ready to make a left turn onto my street, and I took the stop in traffic to accelerate into the intersection. As I pulled forwards however, I saw that a bus had passed him on the right. We collided at low speed, and my right side fender was stuck on the bus's big rubber bumper. The incident was technically my fault. I don't really have any advice about how to avoid such a collision, aside from not driving in Oakland. Now I live in Eugene Oregon, and most everyone drives 5 miles under the speed limit. How civilized! Always, ALWAYS make sure the car is in park when you stop. Not Neutral. Doubly so when you're on a hill. i hit a cow, only because it pulled out in front of me. it was ticketed, but upon investigation law enforcement officials noted his outstanding warrant, and hauled him off. or so i thought. The first accident I was in, I had a carload of friends headed to another friend's house. I was stopped because the truck in front of me was waiting for traffic to clear so he could turn left into a supermarket. I was already stopped for a few seconds when I was rear-ended into the truck in front of me. When I got out to inspect the damage, I went to talk to the driver of the car that had hit me. By shear coincidence, it was the dad of a friend of mine who just happened to be driving my freinds car. After the cops arrived, he was given a sobriety test and failed. I learned from my friend that he got a dui and had his licence taken away. My car was totaled and I ended up getting $1650 from insurance for a car that cost me $500 dollars so things turned out alright as far as I was concerned. My friend's car and the truck in front of my were both fine. Three accidents in my driving career, one moving violation, and a number of close calls have contributed to my current driving style after five years. Accident the first. My father and I had recently had an argument, and shortly after he and my mother left the house to deal with weekend errands. I've always been a rather emotionally sensitive person, and was somewhat upset. I decided that I would go for a drive around town to help calm myself down. There are several mistakes here. 1) Don't do any unneccessary driving; it's always a risk, and resources are scarce enough as is anyway. 2) Never drive while in any altered state of consciousness, including after a near-hysterical crying state. 3) Never drive down US321 southbound in downtown Gastonia, NC. Ever. I paid attention to the wrong traffic light, and thinking I had a green, ran a red, hitting an old lady. Completely destroyed my '88 Nissan Stanza. Being 16 years old, not able to contact my parents, and legally unable to refuse treatment, I was then held captive at the hospital for three hours until they returned home to get my message. Accident the second. Eighteen years old now. This was not my fault, thank goodness. Driving down a minor road at home, with a lane drop from 4-lane to 2. Black Expedition on my right, myself in the left lane and my front about 6 feet behind his front. He turns into an apartment complex, and a small coupe turns left out of it, directly into my driving path. Slam on breaks has no effect, and my poor '98 Civic gets to go to the shop. At least his allowed me to get some damage caused by my father repaired at no cost to me, as it was on the same body panel. Accident the third was about 10 months ago, at age 20. The parking lot in my college apartment constantly has cars illegally parked on the curb, reducing visibility and space in a crucial part of the lot. Backing out of a space, my poor Civic contacts a Maxima that's zipped around the corner a bit quickly, crushing his left rear door and cracking my bumper. Eventually ruled no fault, a great relief to me at a time when I needed all the breaks I could get. As bit of schadenfreude, the SUV illegally parked on the curb received a parking ticket; this was also a student car, so it would not be an idle threat. The moving violation was caused by a bit of erratic parking lot driving and having six people in a five-seat vehicle, plus a particularly anal police officer. I didn't appreciate the experience, especially when one of the officer's smartass buddies drove up beside me with a condescending comment. $110 ticket. I've had many a close call that only fast reflexes have saved; I've now taken to eating in the dining room for fast food when on the road, always getting a meal when getting tired, and having the girlfriend deal with the radio/iPod when possible. The last part also helps as relationship advice, ensuring that she doesn't have to listen to something distasteful to her. -Joshua Ok, so there I was obviously Drunk! , I jumped in my chevy impala, and attached my newly stolen JATO Rocket... (Jet Assisting Take Off) with duct tape, yup according to that wierd canadian guy - Red Green, it's the handymans secret weapon.... well, I jumped in my Impala, and drove up to about 60mph. Then fired off the rocket.... I immediately hit speeds of 150 mph, before I could reach the brake pedal because of the G forces. When I did lay on the brakes, they completely melted, all the tires blew out, and before I knew it, I had become airbone for the remainder of my experience. I reached aproximately 700 MPH, and impacted a cliff at a height of 125 feet, leaving a blackened crater 3 feet deep in the rock. Most of my remains were not recoverable; however, small fragments of bone, teeth and hair were extracted from the crater, and fingernail and bone shards were removed from a piece of debris believed to be a portion of the steering wheel. Incredibly, my intact bumper sticker was recovered as well. The text on the sticker was; "How do you like my driving? Dial 1-800-EATSHIT". Ok, Ok, well maybe it wasn't me, but hey I thought it was a pretty funny story, almost as funny as the guy who piloted his sears lawnchair to 16,000 feet... Yeah, look it up, his name was Larry Walters... Very funny!!! Maybe you should try it Rob! :) I'm thinking about doing it too! NYourHead@Gmail.Com - Josh My car Accident was last month. I had ordered a Brand new 2006 Mini Cooper S in Space blue out of Sacramento. I waited THREE MONTHS for it to show up. I drove it out of the dealership, and around town, before I made the drive back to Reno. I put about 100 miles on it in Sac, then my husband and I decided to drive home. Just outside Sacramento, my husband switches lanes to an empty lane. I follow suit, to stay with him. All of a sudden a car comes out of nowhere, and I rush back into my lane. My car goes out of control, my brakes won't work, and my steering won't either. I am forced off the right side of the road at 65 miles an hour into a tree, and slide under a fence. My Brand new Mini is totaled. Had it been only a few more miles up the road, I would have been in Donner Pass, I would have gone off a cliff, and been killed. Shortly after being towed to the mechanic for inspection, I found out that there was a defect in the brake shoe that caused it to shear off and cause my accident. The only thing that has changed as far as my driving, is now I'm terrified my brakes won't work. I was eating a breakfast burrito and while adding some hot sauce, rearended a boat, i've since decided to eat healthier. I was awake for 48 hours and fell asleep at the wheel a few years ago. I make sure I sleep now. I live in Minnesota, and we were driving to the "North Shore" (what locals call the Minnesota side of Lake Superior) on a busy freeway around 10:00 p.m. at night. We saw numerous police cars on the Southbound lanes of the freeway, and groups of people out with flashlights. We couldn't figure out what was going on and suddenly....BLAM. We hit a full grown cow going 55 mph. The cow died instantly, as did the Ford Ranger pickup truck we were driving. The impact was so great, that I had bruises from the seatbelt holding me back and the engine was driven backwards pushing the dashboard into the passenger cabin. Very scary, but other than the cow, no serious injuries. When the owner of the truck tried to figure out who should pay, it was declared an act of God. I figured I'd better get to church. -Scott, Minneapolis, MN Yesterday I was waiting at a red light to make a left turn. I was in the outer left turn lane and this red porsche was in the inner left turn lane. When the green arrow lit up, I began making my left turn, but the porsche thought it would be a smart idea to turn straight into the outer lane, forcing me to swerve right and hit a parked car! I am now stuck with the burden of fixing everything, but if I had to redo it again I think that I would have stopped or swerved left... or not. I was 18, and I had just gotten my first car, a 3 year old Pontiac Firebird, a month earlier. I approached a red light, in the right hand turn lane. I pulled up until I could see the oncoming traffic, and waited for a clear spot. The car behind me had stopped when I stopped, but I guess he got distracted and thought that I should have gone, because all of a sudden he slammed into me, and he was still accelerating. At first I was in shock, I couldn't believe it. Then I got mad, and I jumped out of the car, ready to bite his head off. But he got out of the car, and was so nice, he kept apologizing and saying that it was all his fault (duh!). He was so nice, that all my anger evaporated, and I started crying. I called the police, and then my dad. The police came, took a look at the scene, gave the guy a ticket and that was that. The impact rippled my driver's side rear fender, jammed the tailight assembly up into the car, and smashed the bumper. I had really bad whiplash, and missed 2 weeks of work. His insurance paid for everything, and by the time you figured up the doctor's bills, the repair bills, the rental car for an under 21 driver that I had for 2 weeks, and my missed wages compensation, it turned out to be a pretty expensive accident. I still have headaches because of my injuries, and the whole mess wasn't even my fault, but I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles. I don't know which of these facts is more disturbing: The fact that during the course of describing an astonishingly harrowing accident that narrowly missed snuffing out his very life, one of your readers would quote from Douglas Adams. Or the fact that I immediately recognized said quote and found it a mildly amusing non-sequitur. I was 3 months pregnant when I got into an accident in my New Grand Cherokee. The woman in front was talking on her phone and smoking at the same time- I could tell because I saw her flicking ashes out the window and she had the telltale head bend of soemone talking on the phone. She started swerving and I thought "what is this idiot doing" so, I slowed down and gave us some space. Good thing I did. Her car swerved out of control and ended up doing a 180 and headed right back in my direction. I swerved into the snow to avoid hitting her, and I ended up hitting a sign- which warned of "no shoulder ahead". When I came to a stop, I looked over my shoulder and the girl was in the breakdown lane...still on the phone. I made sure I was ok, and went to see what the heck happened. She said the glare made her swerve, ok, fine, I can give her that,but I had doubts because when I looked in her car there were so many distractions- phone, coffee, lit cigarette, GPS, Radar detector. Anyway- My car had minimal damage, the sign looked worse than my car. The baby is fine...he was born in May- healthy and beautiful. Since then I have become a less agressive driver. I stay far back from cars in front of me. I also get really nervous when I pass the spot of the accident. I think my driving habits changed when I became a parent too... there are far too many careless drivers out there. And, I hate to admit it... most of them are women. (Or elderly..."he got confused and hit the gas instead of the brakes") Kristen Kotrlik I was driving home from work one day when all of a sudden another car smashed into my front driver's side. I didn't even see it coming and it wasn't until later that I found at what happened. There was a hatchback coming from the other direction, but she was stopped in the left lane to turn left. There was no light, no stop sign, no left turn lane, so suicide lane. Another girl driving behind her didn't see her signal and stop and rammed right into her. The hatchback girl must have had her wheel turned, so her car was pushed into oncoming traffic and my car. My car and her car were totalled and it was amazing that I wasn't hurt. I was an extremely paranoid driver after that, but not necessarily safe as I would over-cautiously brake a lot. Mine happened just a couple of months ago, the morning right after I closed on my new house! Everything at closing went smooth, my husband and I went back to our temporary apertment to change clothes in anticipation of all the painting that needed to be done on the new place. We left the apartment and turned right (eastbound) onto a road called Stassney. For some reason, the city designed Stassney to have a freaking huge median as it gets close to I-35. The are trees and grass and landscaping between the divided 6 lane road. On the northwest corner of Stassney and 35, there is a strip center with a Lowe's and Albertson's, while on the southwest side across from said strip center there are a bunch or restaurants. As you can imagine, anyone coming out of the restaurants or strip centers who want to go to the side opposite tends to have a problem getting across 3 lanes of traffic, two turn lanes and a big honking median to turn. So, cars tend to go halfway across and sit in the median breaks to wait until they are clear (yes, this does impede cars trying to use the turn lanes on Stassney to turn into restaurants/stores parking lots). Well, the day of my crash, it had been raining, but was sprinkling and cloudy as I was travelling towards 35. I had my lights on and everything (I am normally a very cautious driver). As I approached the last of the median breaks, I saw two (TWO!) vehicles (a car and an SUV, take a guess which one caused my crash) sitting in the median who wanted to turn in the same direction I was currently travelling (I was in the lane closest to the median). The car managed to turn all the way across the 3 lanes, and I had slowed down to allow for this. The SUV, however, decided to go right after the car and turn into the closest lane, which just happened to be the one I was in. The dumb SOB didn't even look, just assumed that since the car made it he was clear. Not hardly! I managed to honk my horn as he started to pull out, but he didn't pay attention and just kept coming on. I slammed on my breaks, but because of the wet pavement, slid into his rear passenger door and panel (even with anti-lock brakes). There was no way I could've avoided the accident. I called 911 and made the dispatcher send an officer out, moved the cars to a parking lot nearby, and waited. The officer came out, gave the guy a ticket (failure to yield right of way) and arranged for my car to be towed. The accident threw our plans for the house out the window and put us behind. The lesson I learned is that SUV drivers are generally idiots, that I need to drive with my hand on the horn at all times, and that anti-lock brakes still won't work on wet pavement. Oh, and always call the cops to a scene of the accident if it isn't your fault. yo mama I was in my parents' huge conversion van, waiting at a red light. When it turned green, I looked, and then started to drive through. A 16 year old girl ran the red light coming off the freeway and plowed in to the side of my van, knocking me completely sideways, and taking out a minivan in the process. She got out the car, on her cell phone, (Yeah, it really is dangerous to talk and drive) and was asking her father if she should call the cops. They showed up not 2 minutes after the accident, and gave her a ticket, and I think she lost her license. I just got sent on my way with a big ass dent next to my headlight. My favorite part was when the cop told me if I had been in a smaller car, the force of the impact would have thrown me off the overpass and on to I-696. snaggletooth When I was 16 I was driving to my friend's house to our punk rock band practice. I pulled to a stop at the stop sign at a busy intersection, where the country road I was on crossed a 50 mph state highway. The view to the left (to check for oncoming traffic) was obscured by numerous signs for various political candidates (it was October). So I inched forward and before I knew it I hit a car speeding in front of me on the county highway! He was going about 60 or so. I did about $200 in damage to my mom's car and $2000 to his. The cop gave me a ticket for running the stop sign, even though I showed him how far back the stop sign was from the actual road and how many signs were blocking the view. He told me to take it to court. So I did. I returned the next day and took photos of the intersection, showing the oncoming traffic partically or completely obscured by the signs. I took them with me to court where the judge threw out the state's claim! I won! No ticket for me, and no huge insurance increase. Did I take this experience with me to law school where I now toil day and night for truth, justice and the American way? Nope. But I do contest EVERY speeding ticket I get and I have yet to have to pay for one. Cops don't show up, they lose paperwork, they otherwise screw up their case. They are just not prepared for a clean cut, well dressed and reasonable adversary. They are used to dealing with the people you see, well, on Cops. Where do I begin... 1) First accident, 17, took out a gas pump. Was just learning to drive and was driving bro's VW bus (standard). Pulled in for gas, looked down to shift and pulled wheel to left too far..push pump off island. Lesson learned: Watch where I"m going. :) 2) Accident 2: Dropped friend off at mechanics to pick up his International Scout. He followed me on way back..I stopped for school bus, then waited for it to start again so I could wave to a friend on other side of bus...other friend comes around bend and rear ends me. :( Lesson learned? Don't stop in middle of road on a bend after school bus leaves. 3) Accident 3: Early morning, wet road, sharp left bend, too much speed. You do the math. Can we say hydroplaning? Ended up on driver side in ditch. Pushed car back to it's upright position, fixed battery, went on my merry way. LOL. Lesson learned: wet roads are dangerous and one should go slower. 4) Accident 4: 2 weeks after son was born, on way to work, daydreaming I guess. Followed car off highway to exit ramp. He had his right blinker on, didn't pay much attention as I just figured it didn't auto terminate (not a sharp turn). Well turned out he was actually going to attempt another sharp right onto a road that was not meant to be turned into..and to top it off there was a tractor trailer waithing to turn out. He stops in middle road..I nail him..hard. My first TOTALLED car. :( Lesson learned: don't follow too close and always asssume guy in front of you is a jackass. 5) Accident 5: Minding my own biz, driving down main 4 lane road in town. See guy facing me in turning lane into McD's. He suddenly decides he can make the turn from a dead stop with me coming on at 40mph ad maybe 75ft away. Guess what...he was wrong. Nailed him in rear quarterp panel. Damage was minimal (dent for him, messed up bumper skin and broken signal light for me). Lesson learned: (well two actually) Always assume the that anyone waiting to turn across lanes will before you get there, and two, don't trust insurance companies. Even though this guy was TOTALLY at fault, I was forced to bear some of the blame due to the NYS No Fault policy..grrr. I'm sure I've had at least 4 or 5 other minor ones (yea..the time I slid around a corner and nailed a park car..lesson there was that just because you turn the wheel in snow, does not mean the car will turn..lol). Oh, and there was the time I was goofing off and accidently ran into the back of my wifes car..lol. No damage other then having to listen to her tell me what an idiot I was. :) Hope you can use these. :) Never been in a crash. I am a perfect driver.In grade 11 my friends and I headed to McDs for lunch. I was in the pole position at a street light, and when the light went 'green' I started to go. A large cadilac continued through the intersection on my left, and smacked right in the the front end of my nissan stanza. They were going pretty slow (10-20 km/h) but still managed to do 2000$ work of damage. When I got out of my car I noticed that the cadi had a funny little sign on its hood. Turns out it was in a 'funeral procession'. Where I live cars in funeral processions are allowed to travel through red lights if the lead car passed through on a green. The lady driving the car was far back from the main body of the procession, and aside from the toblerone sized sign on her hood had no indicators that she was in a procession. I think she was too focused on the funeral procession rules, and was maintaining a slow speed and still going through lights. I was driving down Ashby in Berkeley and stopped for a stoplight at College. When the light changed and the last car cleared the intersection I started across. As I was accelerating into the intersection I noticed a motorcycle about 100 feet from the intersection, coming towards me fast and not slowing down. I slammed on the brakes instinctively and then couldn't get out of the way. He skidded along my front bumper and caught his leg on my license plate. His bike kept going and he slid along the pavement for another 100 feet on his own. He was alive, but barely conscious. Fortunately Alta Bates Hospital is nearby and they got to him quickly. There were lots of witnesses to say that it was not my fault - I was just sticking out further into the intersection than anyone else. But it definitely changed the way I drive. I always let someone else go first now. Pure stupidity on my part. A co-worker told me there was a cell tower disguised as a redwood tree along the route I take home and I was trying to find it. The traffic slowed down and I rear-ended the car in front of me. (Fortunately not at any great speed.) Like I said, stupid. Keep your eyes on the road! This wasn't an accident, but it taught me that my Dad knew what he was talking about...lol! I was driving back from Yosemite down Old Priest's Grade, which is about 10 miles of about 45 degree grade. I got to the bottom where there's a stop sign and my brakes had overheated. I sailed right thru without even slowing down. Fortunately no one was going by on the other road. The main thing is I now take the other route down that's not as steep. This was before ABS, I wonder if ABS brakes overheat with over use. I'll let someone else find out though... The only "real" accident I've had occurred when I was turning left out of a parking lot at my college dorm. Cars were parked along the curbs on both sides of the street, making it hard to see oncoming traffic in both directions. There was even a car parked illegally (against a yellow curb) directly next to the driveway I was pulling out of, giving me approximately 10 feet of visibility into the lane I'd have to cross when pulling out. I rolled down my window to listen for traffic, looked both ways and pulled out. My little Honda's driver side door was hit by a huge, speeding SUV that I never even saw, leaving the door unable to open but my legs thankfully intact. The driver and his car load of buddies were completely rude. The police actually came and I was told that what I SHOULD have done was stop my car in the driveway, GET OUT and look for oncoming traffic, get back in my car and pull out. There's a cross street about 30 feet down from the driveway, and I was familiar enough with the area to know that cars quickly come off that road and I suspect the other driver was going about 10 mph over the speed limit. However, I was not ticketed even though the driver pulling out is ALWAYS at fault legally. The other driver's insurance company actually wanted to take me to court because there was so much damage done ($4000 on my car, none on the SUV) yet no police defined guilty party. My car wasn't totalled and almost all the cost wound up being paid by insurance. Main lesson learned: When in doubt about a driving manuever, avoid it by going another way. A driver backed into my car in an Albertson's parking lot at night ($1000) and about two weeks later my parked car was hit in my apartment parking lot by another driver. When I pulled into my tenant only lot one night, it was completely full save for a spot along a curb by the dumpster. About 2 hrs later I went outside and moved my car into a spot. The next morning I found a note on my windshield from someone saying they'd hit my car, and left their info. Turns out it was a 16 year old girl who had actually hit my car before I moved it, and came back several hours later to leave the note. Her dad came with her to discuss how to deal with it, and he was like someone out of a bad drivers-ed movie. He tried every tactic possible to get out of paying for the damage ($550). He tried insisting the damage was obviously pre-existing. He tried insisting I'd been illegally parked when the car was hit (To which I told him the curb was not painted to imply one shouldn't park there, plus his daughter was using a tenant only lot). He tried appealing to my sympathies ("She'll have to give several weeks of flute lessons to pay for this..."). He tried to get me to go half and half. He told me I'd obviously taken my car to the most expensive repair shop. He even told me she'd backed over their mailbox the week before. This guy was shameless. I got my money, along with a classic letter telling me "next time you park your black car in a dark parking lot corner you won't be so lucky". I can only imagine the wrath his daughter must have experienced for being out at a college appartment complex after dark, no doubt giving "flute lessons." From now on I'll insisit on going through insurance, no questions asked. Speeding home on a hill road I'd traveled a thousand times, I stopped for a woman making a left turn. However, I didn't seem to stop. The road was covered with sand from repaving, and I slid a good distance and hit her car. Lesson? A familiar road is unfamiliar under changed conditions. I was driving to work one morning when I approached a traffic signal at the end of my street. As I pulled up to the red signal, it turned green. I waited for a second or two and began to pull forward when this idiot on a bicycle zoomed right past me: he very nearly became my hood ornament. I layed down the horn and proceeded to let him know how bicycles must follow the same rules of the road other vehicles do. (...in a very constructive and meaningful manner!) I still drive the same way I always have. Most bizarre crash: I was driving my ex-girlfriend's car to a school board meeting (I'm a reporter) and was stopped in a long line of cars in the righthand lane at a red light. To my right was the driveway of a gas station/carwash. I was bopping along to the stereo (my own car didn't have a CD player, so I was digging it) and minding my own business when I heard a crunch and the car started shuddering. Confused, I looked around. What I saw just didn't make any sense. Out the right window was a single gigantic headlight. Turns out a truck driver was pulling out of the gas station and simply didn't see me over the nose of his truck. He didn't notice the impact, and the Mazda Protege was like a styrofoam peanut in front of a push broom. He pushed me across two lanes of traffic before I thought to hit the horn and let him know what was up. The worst part of it was that because I was on the clock at the time, I had to go take a piss test. I was at the hospital until 1 a.m. just to pee in a cup. In 1998, I t-boned a car while test-riding a 1974 Rally 200 Vespa (the fastest stock Vespa ever made!) I was going to buy from my friend. I was driving on a fairly quiet street that is crossed by staggered streets. And guy drove across the street I was on without seeing me. Thankfully, he wasn't an ass and admitted fault. I was turning left at a light and the car three up suddenly turned left into a hotel, so I slammed on the brakes and skidded to a stop right behind him on the wet pavement. The car behind me slammed me into him and the suv behind me slammed me into him again. De La Soul on my tape deck (it was a while ago) asked, "has anyone in the audience ever been hit by a car." My three passengers screamed at me to turn off the stereo. Geez, what do you think I'm trying to do fumbling with these dials here. Everyone else drove off, but my bumper was on my rear tires, so be careful while making right turns at lights. At the show that night people painted blue came streaking through and I decided I would like college when I got there. When I was 18 I was doing deliveries for a medical supply company in an 18 foot moving truck. I had a 'co-pilot' whose job it was to help me load and unload stuff at each stop, help me navigate, etc. After a very late night and an early morning I was asked by my boss to do a 'quick' 6 hour delivery route. I was sick, but he assured me the time would fly by. Being sick I was a little sleepier than normal so I asked my normally sleeping co-pilot to help keep me awake. He responded by going right to sleep. For the first hour and a half I continued to wake him up and make small talk to keep myself from dozing. After the 432nd time I decided that if you can't beat them, join them. Aparently I forgot that I was driving 80 miles per hour on a 5 lane freeway but I got cozy very quickly. According to witnesses we made a hard right and went off of the freeway at full speed. I woke up when we anihilated a decently proportioned tree. The truck and cargo were all totalled, but the two of us escaped unscathed. Did it change the way I drive? Not really, I still stand by the fact that I am a spectacular driver as long as I am awake. :) Rob update your contact info, the pacbell addy doesn't work anymore so, I am going to post my message here.... :) Cheers! Rob, Hey just wanted to let you know that I am an avid fan and reader, and that I love what you guys do with the how much inside, pranks, and science club... I do have to note however, that in bold on the tampons science club article you put FACT: Menstrual Blood is Bright Blue.... Actually Rob, the idea that your blood is blue when not oxygenated or exposed to air Isn't correct. Blood is never blue, although common mythology says it is.. It also looks blue in your veins, which is partly misleading everyone toward that. Oxygenated blood is bright red, while De-oxygenated blood is deep red... So, maybe you were referring to the blue soap you used for the experiment, and I just read too far into it... Btw, I am by no means a blood expert, so maybe you know something that I don't, and If so please write back explaining what compound in Menstrual blood, makes it blue if that is perhaps the case :) Thanks, NYourHead@Gmail.com I learned to never get into an unlicensed Chinese cab. At Qiandaohu, we were going up a hill, flying around curves, with the driver laying on the horn (to warn people on the other side that they were going to die, I guess). On the way down we were on the correct side of the road and got hit by a driver coming up doing what we had done. Oddly, I had just started to tape with my digital camera, so I have it on a 6-second video. Fortunately, no serious injuries (except the cars). This might not be the lesson a person should learn from an accident, but it's the only lesson I can pull out of the situation. I was driving on I-44 from Lawton to Oklahoma City. It was rainy and I wasn't going particularly slow as I needed to make a meeting for work. You'd think the lesson I'd learn is drive carefully in bad weather. But no, I still drive like a moron in the rain. A black car had a couple of its tires pop and wound up sitting lengthwise in the middle of the highway. Instead of moving the car, these gentlemen continued sitting in the car that was right in the middle of the highway. I come up upon this black car and hit the brakes and swerve to the right. I wind up hitting a guard rail and I figure it's no big deal, just a little damage, could have been a lot worse. About the time this thought enters my head, I see a Cadilac Escalade that has pulled over to the side of the road to make sure everyone is okay. The driver is a paramedic and his pregnant wife is in the vechicle. So that's what I slam into. I do a 180 and wind up on the side of the road. I bang my knee up pretty bad but nothing I can't survive. Other than that the worst damage comes from the airbag bumping into my arm. At first I think, "The airbag deployed, I must be dead." I realize I'm not dead because clearly my brain is still processing information and I get out of my truck. The police and ambulance finally show up. They make black car get out of the middle of the road. When it's my turn to go talk to the cops, he gives me an accident report which mentions my truck and the Escalade. I ask why he didn't mention the black car as if it hadn't been sitting lengthwise in the middle of the damn highway I'd have never hit the Escalade. Cop tells me because I didn't hit the black car it isn't involved in the accident, and that in fact these were two seperate events. I said next time I should just hit the black car and he told me I shouldn't think about that. MORAL: If you can hit a vechicle and it will be their fault, go for it! The alternative might be you smacking a $50,000 SUV.Nine days after I got my probationary driver's license (one step up from a learner's permit but not a full license... Ontario has a weird system), I was driving two friends back to their place so that we could watch Mission: Impossible. We started relaying stories about a camp that one friend and I had both been to. From these stories came camp songs. One song had a harmony part. I sang the harmony while my camp friend sang the melody. I was paying more attention to my pitch than to the road, and I ran a red light. My other friend, in the passenger seat yelled "What are you doing?" I saw the light just as we got into the intersection and hit the brakes. Another car was coming at me from my right side, and I thought they came to a stop (stupid "slow motion" brain) so I pressed the accelerator to get out of the intersection, and that's when I broadsided them. I managed to hit them in just such a way as to damage every panel on that side of the car. What did I learn? First, pay more attention to driving than singing. Second, don't run red lights. Third, make sure traffic is actually stopped before you attempt to proceed through the intersection. Haven't had any accidents since (this was 7 years ago). I was driving on 6-lane divided section of 119th St in Overland Park KS, just E of Blue Valley Pkwy. I was in the left lane going approx. the 40 mph speed limit. While driving up a hill, two consecutive cars going faster than I made unsignaled lane changes all the way across 3 lanes to merge in front of me, so they could then take a left turn into Wal Mart. (There was zero traffic behind me and they could just as easily merged there.) First driver "A" cut me off... then driver "B" cut us both off. Driver A was completely oblivious to what he had just done to me, but furious with driver B for doing the same thing to him, and shook his fist at him. I wasn't too happy either, and as I passed him (he was in the turn lane) I gave driver A the the evil eye and a mocking fist-shake). Suddenly I looked up as I was cresting the hill to see that due to some road painting, and without any warning that was visible prior to the hill, traffic was restricted to a single lane and backed up almost to the hill's crest. I slammed on the brakes but couldn't stop in time, and struck a car in front of me. Did some fairly serious damage to my pickup and worse to the car I hit -- mine was at least drivable. The police ruled it a no-fault due to the circumstances, but it was a stressful situation and it sucked to be without my almost-new vehicle while it was in the body shop for over a week. What I learned was to pay more attention to what is in front of me, and not waste time gesturing or looking at other drivers even if they are being jerks. My crash involved a rainy morning drive to high school on the morning of my graduation, along the coastal stretches of Highway 1 in Northern California. I was in a recently purchased Metro and was fairly unfamiliar with the car. I took a bend too fast and started sliding to the right, towards the guard-rail and the cliff beyond. I turned the wheel to the right, over-corrected, and ended up spinning 180 degrees through the opposite lane, back through my lane, and off the road. I came to a sudden stop in the ditch, facing the wrong way, with a tree embedded in my driver's side rear. Thankfully, the tree prevented me from sliding off the cliff, and there was no one else on the road to be hit by my out-of-control auto. I was able to pull out of the ditch and continue on my way. The lesson is that despite all evidence to the contrary, the Metro is NOT a sports car, and when riding on 4 inch wide tires, slow down a little. -J never had one. Good driver, I guessOne Accident and One Near Miss- The accident happened when my friends and I were heading out for the afternoon in 3 cars. We were all young drivers, and we were driving in traffic in a 30 zone. A bus a few cars ahead had stopped, and the first car in our group stopped suddenly and I had to stand on the brakes but managed to stop behind him. Then a screech and bang, the 3rd car behind me bashed into me and pushed me into the one in front. Me and the guy in the first car got our cars fixed from the third guy's insurance. We all remained friends though. It made me paranoid for years that it would happen again and I fitted an additional rear window brakelight in the car. Come to think of it now I still flash the brakelights at cars behind and watch them in the mirror when I'm slowing down! The near miss happened when I was driving a friend in my girlfriends car, he is quite a nervous and inexperienced driver. We were barreling along at about 60, there was a guy stopped at a side road on our side to join the main road we were on. Then he suddenly pulled out in front of us. My friend later told me he was amazed how I managed to slam on the brakes, swerve into the opposite side of the road to go around him, then back onto our side to avoid another car, and still managed to hold the horn on throughout the whole manoevuer. Did it change the way I drive? Well I now horn or flash even more than I used to, beep beep beep let them know youre there. Also I still hold the horn on while passing the perpatrator, I like to imagine they're getting a lovely doppler effect as I pass. Mind you I rarely used the horn when I lived in the US for a few months, too many gun owners around y'all! CC The first accident I was in, my car stalled out sticking into an intersection and someone hit me with the side of their car. My bumper was ripped up and the whole side of his car was dented. It was my fault, but the other guy gave me false information. That accident taught me that if there's any damage to the cars, call the police. The second accident took place on a snowy road. There was only about 1" of snow, and I was going about 50 MPH. Suddenly my car started fishtailing, and smashed straight on into the guardrail. That taught me to be careful in bad weather, even if it means arriving a little later. The third accident wasn't my fault. I was rear-ended when the teenager behind me was looking at a police car that had someone pulled over. She hit me hard enough to push me into the car in front of me, and push them into the car in front of them. I suffered from terrible recurring back and neck pain after the accident, and still suffer from it today. I learned that you should ALWAYS choose "full tort" not "limited tort" on your insurance policy, because I couldn't sue her for all of this pain that I still go through. This isn't really my story but it is what happened to my sister when I was in the car. We (she 16, me 13)were riding along in her Pontiac Sunfire, having just gone out to eat after choir practice on a Wednesday night. It is probably 1.5 miles from the restaurant to our house. We made it most of the way home. 2.5 blocks from our house we had to make a turn and my sister proceeded to turn directly in front of a 90 year old man. We were going maybe 15 mph but he was going 35-40 and didn't slow down at all. It crumpled his front end and totaled my sister's POS and left nice seat belt bruises all around, otherwise, everyone was alright. She got a ticket, the old man probably should have gotten a ticket because he completely failed to slow down. Though his lights were on, it was just starting to get dark. I will never be able to figure out why my sister randomly decided to turn in front of another car. If I learned any lesson from this experience, it was to pay close attention to the road even if you are not driving. Look both ways and make sure it's clear, check the blindspot, etc. while in the passenger seat. Another lesson is to not ride with my sister. I grew up in Colorado used to driving in snow and freak storms. By the time I was of driving age we had moved to New Mexico. whether or not that has anything to do with how I got in a accident is dubious at most. Anyway, I was going to school in montana I think it was the first weekend back from thanksgiving in 2001. When I decided I would drive 8 hours to Alta Ski resort because they had gotten tons of snow. I left on a friday skied saturday, and left alta on sunday on the way back I made it to pocatello in about 8 hours because of the weather. The interstate was closed so i had to stay the night. I left the next morning and everything was thawing out. I took my durango out of four wheel drive. About 20 miles later things started to get hairy again. the road was snow and ice packed so I slowed down to put my car back in 4-wheel when I let off the accelerator my vehicle's rear end begin to spin around on the v8/ pendulum front end. There was nothing i could do the shift from OD to fourth or third whatever you want to call car guy. was enough to send my car in to a spin around the engine I rotated a full 190 degrees slid of the road in the center median and flipped on over. Best part I finally got to the oh so cliche action film chase scene ender the part where the hero or villian releases there seatbelt and falls of thier head. Luckily I was not hurt at all. I had trouble getting out of my car however luckily someone on the frontage road saw what had happened and ran accross the interstate and helped me get out of my vehicle. There was so much snow my car wasn't totatled the roof was smashed and I was missing both rear-view mirrors. Other than that my CD player didn't even skip. However there is now a led zeppelin album I will never listen to again. Luckily it was one of the only shitty ones "coda". I think I am deffiantely more careful in the snow now. For a time it was really hard for me to drive on the interstate when it was snowing. Still freaks me out. I was lucky though. Almost 1 year ago I was speeding (only about 15 over) down a winding road while talking on a cell phone and trying to look up a phone number in my PDA. A dog ran out in front of me which I was able to avoid but I as I tried to recover from the swerve I over-compensated and nicked a piece of broken curb that was sticking out a few inches past the rest of the curb line. This caused me to start to fish tail and before I could straighten-out I hit a tree almost head on. Since I was not I bumped my head good against the windsheild. The glass didn't break and I wasn't bleeding but I had a big bump for days. The lesson I learned is not to drive on roads that have broken curbs. I was driving a co worker home from our job and it was late and dark. I was making a left hand turn and all I remember is my co worker curling up into a ball saying "that is car is coming pretty fast!" and WHAM! The truck hit the back end of my car, but didn't spin me or anything. I drove down the street, turned around and went back to a parking lot to met the other driver. The funny part is all that happened to my car is she tore my bumper off, which my roomate Dave then put back on with brackets (you gotta love the beauty of an '85 Mazda!) The sad part is her damage was more extensive and my insurance had to pay:-( Hit broadside by a drunk driver while going through an intersection. Shit my pants.I was sixteen and had been driving for two years (the system in my state lets you get a permit at fourteen), when I was on my way to school at night for a basketball game/pep band performance. I live in rural Iowa, and deer are absolutely EVERYWHERE near my home. I had always been lucky--- not this time! I hit the brakes and swerved simultaneously to avoid the deer. My movement was successful in that the deer wasn't even touched, and ran off into the woods, but it was unsuccessful in that I proceeded to fishtail at sixty miles an hour across the road, through the ditch, up the ditch, and finally glancing off a tree before coming to a stop. I was less than two minutes away from home. I called my mom and she picked me up. I drove their Explorer to the event--- shaking like crazy the whole way! And the insurance wound up going up, too. Moral of the story: Watch (and don't swerve!) for deer! Once, while driving in the Indy 500, my engine blew up, threw oil all over the racecourse and caused a 17 car pileup. I was killed. I had a brand-new Saturn sports model coupe and was going straight doing 45mph through an intersection when one truck turned left in front of me, no problem except for the fool behind the guy turning left riding his bumper could'nt see me. It was one of those things where you can see it coming but can't do a thing about it but hold on tight, I don't even remember having time to hit the brakes. He T-boned my car and I went on a wild ride through I would guess about a 360 degree turn, ending up facing about the same way I was heading. It's like an out-of-body experience as the scenery, your CD collection and millions of shards of glass spins around like Dorothy in a Kansas twister. I'll say this for Saturn, they build good cars for death rides. I just had a few small flying-glass type cuts. The other guy had one of those import Sport Assault Vehicles, never did see his truck after as the medicos had to cut the Saturn out from around me. Probably the worst part was that the car being so new I lost money on it from the insurance totalling it. So now I watch out a LOT more for the other clod. Well, we were out on a date in my daddy's car. We hadn't driven very far when out in the road (straight ahead) a car was stalled, the engine was dead. Well, I couldn't stop, so I swerved to the right. I'll never forget the sound that night. The crying tires, the busting glass... The painful scream that I heard last. When I woke up, the rain was pouring down; there were people standing all around. Something warm was running in my eyes, but I found my baby somehow that night. I raised her head and then she smiled and said, "Hold me darlin' for a little while." I held her close. I kissed her our last kiss. I'd found a love that I knew I would miss. Now she's gone (even though I hold her tight). I lost my love, my life, that night. I was sitting at a stop light and got rear-ended by a sixteen year old gilr who had just got her licence. She was changing the CD and wasn't watching the road, a mistake I thought everyone knows not to make. I mean she didn't look up for at least 20-30 seconds to see the red light and stopped traffic, and this was near her house so she knew about the light. Luckily the first words out of her mouth when the cops showed up were "It's all my fault, I wasn't looking", so her insurance bought me a new car no questions asked. I was learning to drive and was practicing in a cemetery. I was driving my boyfriend 1981 Subaru with a manual transmission. We were stopped on a hill. I had to start out on a hill and make a left at the same time. Challenging. I did the clutch and gas thing ok, but when I made the turn I didn't let the wheel come back and crashed into 3 or 4 tombstones, pulling them out of the ground and pulling off the exhaust system of the car while I was at it. My boyfriend made me go tell the attendants at the mausoleum. I went in and used the bathroom and didn't tell anyone. This is my confession. my story is just like your last crash. i rear-ended a pickup in my 1990 honda civic hatchback named mr. ames. i was looking for a lipstick in my purse about three cars back from a stop sign on my way to school. i misjudged my speed and thought i was slowing down more quickly that i really was. i hit the truck in front of me going really slowly. poor mr. ames' hood accordioned up to the windshield. the top of the radiator was ripped off and the frame was bent. the truck and i pulled around the corner and checked out the damage. he didn't have a scratch, not a ding, a chip, a dent, nothing. he took off, no harm done. i drove my wreck home in a panic and freaked out. i can't believe i made it home. had i hit a car the same size as mine, we would have bounced right off each other with no damage. i had to total mr. ames. i miss him. I was driving my mom's ford escort station wagon down a fairly busy two-lane road on a bright, sunny day. It was about 2 in the afternoon. I was going about 32, just barely under the speed limit in the area. A truck that had been in front of me pulled over to the lane that opened up on the right for entrance to a parking lot, blocking my view of the parking lot exit. Which is why I did not see the huge early 80's era car come tearing out of the parking lot. It hit my front quarter panel, sending me in a 3/4 circle and into the middle of the road, also knocking me out for at least a minute. When I came to I could not get the door open. They needed the Jaws of Life to get me out. I had two fractured wrists, a bruised rib, and sprained knee with major scrapes mostly from where I had broken off the key with my knee cap. We found out later that the guy in the other car was a) drunk, b) not wearing a seatbelt, c) had no insurance and d) had his 7 year old kid in the car, also not wearing a seatbelt. But they were both fine. Things I learned: 1. Wear a seatbelt. I would quite possibly have been dead had I /not/ been wearing a belt. 2. Have car insurance. At the time I was young and poor, and had no health insurance. Luckily my car insurance paid my hospital bills. 3. Leather jackets are good things. If I had not had my leather jacket on under the belt, I would definitely have broken some ribs. 4. Do not stand up and get out of the car when they go away to put the Jaws of Life back. It makes the EMT's testy, I tell you. I was waiting, first in line to make a left turn at an intersection. All of a sudden, I was hit pretty hard from behind. The other driver and I got out to inspect the damage which was just mangled section of bumper. We agreed to pull into a gas station and exchange info, but when I did, he took off! Thankfully the guy behind me got a look at his license plate #, so I reported it to the cops and they tracked him down. I think he anticipated the light change for a left turn, hit the gas, and drove right into me. Moral of the story: always make sure it's your time to go, and if you get hit ALWAYS memorize plates in case someone is a jerk and drives away. I was on a two-lane off ramp -- one of the ones where the left lane goes straight and stops at a light and the right lane veers off into a merge lane. I was in the right going about 45, preparing to merge into traffic when the semi that was going 15 mph in the left lane decided to jump into my lane. At this point I was maybe 30 feet behind him and approaching quickly. And it was raining. I hit the brakes and steered left in an attempt to go around him. But, alas, my Mazda didn't have anti-lock brakes so all four wheels locked up. I guess I was too scared of going under the semi to get off the brakes and regain steering control, so the car ended up sliding into the emergency lane on the right due to the crown in the road and hitting a guard rail. No serious damage, but I needed a new fender and side mirror. The trucker drove off and I didn't have a chance to get his tag number so my insurance ended up paying for it. It didn't change the way I drive, but now I have better equipment. Now I drive a car that has outstanding brakes ('03 Honda Civic Si with ABS and EBD) and buy the best tires I can afford. It really makes a difference ... the car will flat-out STOP. :) You guys are all crazy!!! I haven't been in a single accident, and I've been driving for over 20 years. Holy cow! I WAS DEREVING UP TEH FREEWAY WHEN THA CHICKAN TRUCK RAN ME OVER well this one is a sorta crash. I was headed back to LA from Santa Monica in heavy traffic on the leftmost lane going quite fast. Then all of a sudden across the divider, I saw this car that was just emitting humongous amounts of smoke through the back end. Thinking to myself how unlucky that guy was when his headgasket was gunna blow a few miles down the road, O shifted my gaze back to the traffic in front of me, and saw to my horror that the traffic was stopped. I slammed the brakes, but since I had a new brake pad ion my left, the car pulled to teh left towards the concrete barrier (this is LA...no shoulder). I over corrected to teh rigth, making the car do a 900 (thats 2.5 turns) on a crowded 5 lane LA freeway. While facing backwards I could see teh smoke coming fro m the tires of the traffic behind me slamming on their brakes. I ended up stalled across 4 lanes of LA freeway, facing teh wrong, way, but amazingly no scratch to my car and nop one else seemed to have crashed as a result. So I calmly started the car, put it in first and turned it around and kept going. Lesson:NEVER EVER EVR TAKE YOUR EYES OFF TEH ROAD AHEAD OF YOU.....and oh always change all 4 break pads to prevent the car from pulling to either side Alex Pulled up to a light that was *never* red after a curve (so that you can't see the light's color until you're almost on top of it). Managed to stop in time. 18-wheeler behind me didn't. BAM! Broken light, crumpled bumper, really fucking freaked out me. Only thing it taught me was that driving anywhere near a rig is a really shitty idea. Uh, the point of the "*never* red" statement was that, that time, it was red. Just in case that wasn't clear. One time me and my mother were at a red light. A minivan shot over the median, going straight at us in our lane, and on two wheels pulled an extreme turn to our right (we were at an innersection)and three cop cars did the same thing, right after it. Had the driver of the van not pulled off his wild turn, he would have plowed straight into us, head on, at speeds in excess of 30MPH while we were stationary. We did not get obliterated, but it gave me a strong reminder that you should be ready for any crazy stuff that comes by on the road (especally in California, the land of H2s and cellphones.) I took it in stride but my moter was pretty scared by it. One month after getting my license, I was on the freeway when someone getting on the freeway cut me off. I hit the brakes and the car (no ABS) swerved left. I hit aminivan next to me, which the driver overreacted and scraped a truck in a nearby lane. One at-fault accident and I've only had my license for one month. Now I don't drive in the right lane near on-ramps unless I'm about to merge or get off. Haven't been in any accidents since (knock on wood). My whole family was coming back from our relatives when we were rear-ended by an old couple in their tank-like Cadillac at a "stop" sign. They did about $20k worth of damage to our car (not totalled though) and totalled their car. So if you can imagine, it was a hard hit (about 30 MPH.) All we heard was tires screeching and BAM. We all went to the chiropractors for about 3 months to treat the whiplash. Now we check our mirrors at stops a bit more carefully. I've been in four accidents, two reportable, and only three worth telling here. In my first and first "Major" accident I hit the rear quarter-panel of a Chrysler Sebring that went through an intersection without looking for me. He turned left, I was going straight. According to the police report he failed to yield the right-of-way. He had been following his shrewish wife, who after the accident sped around the block and began berating me. I had called the rescue squad, who showed up and took him away as he had lower back injuries from a combination of previous soft tissue damage and not wearing his safety belt (Dumbass). His car went away on the flatbed with the rear axle snapped and the whole rear quarte stove in. I drove home. Moral: Don't follow people though intersections on the basis of "If they made it so can I"; and wear the safety belt, especially if you're "Fragile". The guy I hit was judged so much at fault I got my deductible back, and on top of it he had begun claiming I had been ticketed at the accident (I hadn't). Second accident of note was a rear-ending by another Buick LeSabre. He hit me so hard as to push me, against the break, into the car in front of me, and I took home some of that car's paint. The lady in that car got out, looked and saw no damage, and drove off quickly because she had about 10^24 un-restrained kids in her back seat and didn't want anything to do with the police at that moment in time. The impact sounded like a railway accident so I thought for sure my car was finished. I looked at the rear end only to find no damage, so I thought to myself "well, whoever hit me must be finished, and I look back only to find another Buick, its driver staring incredulously at our two immaculate cars. The exchange went somethign like this: ME:"Well, it looks like there's no damage" HIM: "Yeah, I guess not" ME:"Let's hear it for Buicks then" HIM: "Shit yeah. I gotta get a new windshield though" ME:"..." I looked at his car, and sure enough, his buddy's head had hit the front windscreen and spider-webbed it, and his buddy was sitting hunched over in the front seat clutching his forehead. We didnt' report it since it was his fault, my car had no damage, and I was pretty sure he'd rather pay $200 for a new windscreen than have his insurance go up. Moral of the story: Buicks are indestructible. And wear the stupid safety belt. My third accident was reportable but very cut-and-dry with only minor damage to both cars; no point in telling it here. Most recently I was rear-ended, while driving my ladyfriend's Toyota MR2; by a very stupid woman with her dog on her lap. The MR2's size belies its durability; and it wasn't damaged, but I'm just waiting for the day when she hits someone hard enough for her air-bag to be triggered; goodnight, Irene! Cheers! -Red October The one and only crash I was in and caused occured when I still had my learner's permit so I had my Dad in the car with me. I was driving in a notoriously traffic-jammed part of town and trying to make sure I made a left onto a bridge otherwise I'd be stuck with a horrendous detour. I get in the far left turning lane and suddenly my dad panics and says no you need to me in the other lane over. Obediently I oblige (eventhough both lanes were fine actually) and my front right bumper indents this guy's car right above the left front wheel. We manage to get out of traffic and my dad handles everything insurance wise. I learned two things: 1) when turning always check your blind spots. 2) if you're driving and know where you're going, don't listen to anyone else in the car. My most recent accident was driving through Gerlach on the way to Reno for the mid-week showerbreak from Burning Man. The year was 2002, and I was driving my mom's massive truck through the town going to speed limit (20MPH). Always a polite one, I waved at the police officers sitting at the side of the road in patrol cars, scouting for speeders. My husband didn't wave, and as I was chiding him for his lack of friendliness, the v. small truck in front of me stopped at a crosswalk for absolutely no reason. My husband (b/f at the time) was actually paying attention to the road, and when he shrieked, I slammed on the breaks. I hit the truck going maybe 10MPH, but it left a dent on the back bumper. The driver was some poor guy from Japan, just in the states to do Burning Man. The cops I had been waving to saw the whole thing, of course, and I got a ticket for inattentiveness. It was the only accident I have been in where I was the cause. I felt horrible about it. Since then, I have been really aware of what's going on around me. I am especially paranoid of cars backing up into the front of my car, bing hit twice that way in previous vehicles. And I now use my horn rather regularly. I had been driving less than a year, when I drove my dad's car to the grocery store to buy a gallon of milk. On the way back, I had the jug sitting on the front passenger seat. As I turned left onto our street, the jug started sliding off the seat. I leaned over and grabbed for it with my right hand, not realizing that I was still turning the wheel to the left with my left hand. I hopped the curb, drove through a bush, and ran into a tree on our neighbor's front lawn. Fortunately (?), my dad had gotten into an accident himself a couple weeks before, so he couldn't be too mad at me. I learned two things from this. First, put heavy things on the floor of the car, not the seat. Second, if you have something on the seat and it starts to slide off, *let it!* I was stuck behind one of those big dump trucks on the right-most lane on a 5 lane road. I checked behind me in the other lane to make sure it was clear... it was, so I went around as the truck was slowing down to turn right. As I was next to the truck, a lady in a van decided to bolt out into traffic, and I did not have enough time to stop. I slammed my Pathfinder into her Olds Silhouette, T-boning her, and knocking the van onto its side. The front end of the Pathfinder ended up being about half as long as it should have been, with the radiator jammed up into the engine block. Needless to say, both vehicles were totalled. What did I learn from this? Not much, other than it confirmed that it is right for me to trust NO one else other than myself when on the road. Chris S. Murfreesboro, TN I was driving my parent's 2001 Chevy Impala home from having dinner with my boyfriend, who was with me in the car. My parents were away for two weeks, and I had been enjoying their nice car, compared to my craptacular gas guzzling creaky rustbucket 1987 Nissan 4x4. I was trying to sell my boyfriend on how awesome the car was, how smooth it handled. Unfortunately, in my eagerness, I hit an exit ramp that was supposed to be 25mph at 45mph. My driver side tires touched gravel, and I swear to you, it felt like I was driving over ice. The car jumped left and went over the one of the reflector poles that are made of the stopsign posts. I was entirely in the grassy and gravel median triangle that seperated the on and off ramp, trying to keep control of the vehicle. I went over 2 more posts, and got it back onto the ramp. To this day I have no idea how I pulled it out, but I bet the car in front of me had quite the show. And the damage from my temporary lack of judgement? 3 thin black scrapes on the front bumper. I'm grateful for that, and for the fact that my parents didn't kill me. Needless to say, I will never take an offramp at high speeds again. On after another, all will fall. Repeat after me. On after another, all will fall. Repeat after me. A distraction such as a stereo can cause an accident. Everyone knows that. But I have a story of how being distracted probably saved my life or at least prevented me from sustaining severe injuries. I was the first car in the protected left lane of a fairly busy road near the campus of Western Michigan University. The intersecting street was one of the busiest stretches of road in Kalamazoo. As I was waiting for the light to change I "spaced". You know, one of those moments when you just leave your brain behind and stop comprehending anything thats going on around you. While I was in this state of diminished consciousness, the green arrow appeared. I didn't even notice. That is until the car behind me tapped the horn. Snapped back to reality I immediatly prepared to accelerate. Just then a sub-compact tore through the intersection in front of me at roughly the speed of light. I realized that had I been paying attention and proceeded as soon as the light changed, that car would have hit me square in the driver door. After that I made it a habit of looking down the intersection a long way before proceeding even at the risk of instigating a road rage incident with all the motorists waiting behind me. A near miss just a few days ago. I was driving an old Jeep Cherokee with bad brakes and not going too fast, about 45, down a country road. 2 cars stopped at an intersection crossing my road. They could clearly see me, both stopped and looked directly in my direction. I was close enough to see this. I did not slow down. The first car pulled out in front of me! I know he saw me. I laid on the horn and and brakes and whipped into the other lane, which luckily was empty, nothing coming, or I would have had to hit SOMETHING. I really pay attention when someone is stopped at a crossroad waiting for me to go past, now. A near miss just a few days ago. I was driving an old Jeep Cherokee with bad brakes and not going too fast, about 45, down a country road. 2 cars stopped at an intersection crossing my road. They could clearly see me, both stopped and looked directly at me. I was close enough to see this. I did not slow down. The first car pulled out in front of me! I know he saw me. I laid on the horn and and brakes and whipped into the other lane, which luckily was empty, nothing coming, or I would have had to hit SOMETHING. I really pay attention when someone is stopped at a crossroad waiting for me to go past, now. A near miss just a few days ago. I was driving an old Jeep Cherokee with bad brakes and not going too fast, about 45, down a country road. 2 cars stopped at an intersection crossing my road. They could clearly see me, both stopped and looked directly at me. I was close enough to see this. I did not slow down. The first car pulled out in front of me! I know he saw me. I laid on the horn and and brakes and whipped into the other lane, which luckily was empty, nothing coming, or I would have had to hit SOMETHING. I really pay attention when someone is stopped at a crossroad waiting for me to go past, now. Other drivers are crazy! I was waiting at a stop sign to turn left onto a 4 lane (with a middle turning lane, I think) almost-highway thing. I had to wait for the traffic from my left to clear. A van (not a mini-van) was turning right onto the road that I was on, and there was no car (or so I thought) in the further out of the 2 lanes from the right. As soon as I started to go, I realized my error, but it was too late. A pick-up had been hidden behind the turning van, and it was going very fast (probably close to 60 mph). Because of the size of the van, and the fact that the van was pretty close to me, the pick-up was able to hide behind it for long enough to fool me. Anyways, I was broadsided directly on my driver's door and spent a fun night in the hospital. Luckily, I was also driving a pick-up (which was totaled - sort of bent in half). If I was in a small car, the pick-up's bumper would have hit my head. The lesson I learned from this is that you should never assume that the way is clear if there is even a small possibility that it's not. Also, vans and trucks suck because they block the views of other drivers. Also, I try to avoid left turns onto major roads without a light. It's easier to turn right, go down a little ways, and turn around. (Sorry this is so long.) This is like your accident in the line of traffic waiting on a light. I was trying to pick up a toy or sippie cup for my boy and was moving <5 mph. I bumped a BRAND NEW VW bug. Still had the dealer tags. It broke the license plate lights and did a little paint damage to the bumper. I paid this out of pocket for <$500 rather than make a claim on insurance. Lesson: A crying child for a couple minutes is not worth $500.I backed into a lawn maintenance vehicle while pulling out of my neighbor's driveway. I've almost backed into it at least three times, it always parks in the same place, a place I can't happen to see when i turn around to the back. Anywho, i guess i'll never back out of my neighbor's driveway again, and I learned that in a honda civic versus bug chevy truck collisions, the truck will always win. I've been in two crashes in my short 3 years of driving. The first crash was not my fault but my Mustang is now inoperable. The second one was my fault but only damaged my car. It changed the way I drive due to the fact that iPods shouldn't be messed with unless you are in "Park". I do find myself at times driving along and changing it, but I always remeber my crash and start to drive instead of screw around with the iPod. I don't really have a crash story per se, but I just thought I'd share some information on what the most common types of crashes are. I learned the following information when I was an Auto Claims Adjuster paying and investigating auto accidents for 4 years at a big insurance company. (I processed thousands of claims during that period.) It would be wise to teach high school sophmores who are in drivers ed how common these types of accidents are so that they could be extra cautious about avoiding them. Anyway, the three most common types of accidents, not necessarily in order: (1) Rear ending person in front of you in traffic -- especially when traffic is creeping along in a stop-and-go fashion, or when the roads are slick, or when the person in front of you has just taken off from a stop but then stops abruptly. Moral: always assume that the car in front of you could stop for any reason at any time, and allow adequate following distance. (2) Backing accidents in parking lots -- chiefly, backing up into another parked car or two cars backing out at the same time and striking in the center of the aisle. (If the two cars are backing at the same time, each driver will claim the other was at fault!) Moral: be extra careful when you back up in a parking lot. (3) Making a left-hand turn across the path of oncoming traffic -- especially on a yellow light when the oncoming cars are speeding up trying to get through the intersection and the person making the left turn is trying to get through on the yellow light too. These accidents are often extremely serious and can cause extensive injury. Moral: be extra careful when making a left turn across oncoming traffic and NEVER make such a turn when the light is yellow and an oncoming vehicle is close enough you think they might try to gun it and get through on the yellow. -Wes The worse accident I've been was by myself and while sober. it was a fall evening in Vermont and I was driving home in my Saab (this was 10 years ago when they were safe). I was driving down a very steep hill that I have driven down dozens of times before. When I say steep hill I mean a *really* long mountain hill with a grade of about 7% that goes on for about three miles. Oh yes, and it's also a dirt road. I was about 3/4 of the way down and I had been showing off for myself a bit, coasting down the hill and trying to use my brakes as little as possible. Why? Not sure, perhaps boredom. It had been raining earlier that evening and I was coming close to the end of the hill when I noticed that I really had picked up too much speed, probably around 45 or 50 mph. So I tapped my brakes and understood immediately that I had screwed up because the car began to fishtail and I lost control. What they say about accidents happening in slow motion is true, I saw a large tree quickly approaching my windshield. I raised my hands to cover my face and BANG hit the tree nearly dead on. Well this was a Saab so I had plenty of protection, a seat belt and an airbag which went off. I was about a mile from my house and I walked home in the pitch dark slightly in shock. The car was totaled and since then I've realized to listen to my first instinct- when your gut tells you you're doing something stupid, you are and you should stop immediately. J. from Vermont The only real advice I could give, is drive extremely cautious when it starts to rain after a dry spell. 75% of all my accidents happend while it started to rain, so beware. When I was 16, my older brother told me that boys prefer girls who didn't drive. I believed him and he got to take my mom's old car to college. At 18 I got my license but lived in Gainesville, FL where it was great for biking everywhere. After that I did a short stint in Atlanta, where walking is considered gauche and people drive even if they're only going 3 blocks. I hated it. The I moved to Manhattan, sold my car, and have enjoyed a car-free carefree lifestyle ever since. Now, if I really need a car, I put out my arm and a taxi stops. Your car crash stories made me realize just how lucky I've been to escape all those possible crashes. Here's my near-crash story. I was 19, driving on a rural 2-lane highway in Indiana. My buddy and I were going to see his girlfriend at college, and the trip was taking longer than we planned. Lots of slow people were out that evening. The car in front of us was getting on our nerves, and when he slowed down even more, we had enough, so I pulled into the other lane to pass him. Soon as we got over, we noticed why he was slowing down: another vehicle in front of him was making a left turn into a field. I didn't have a chance to hit the brakes, so I swerved back into our lane just before we would have hit the turning car. Miraculously, we didn't hit him or the guy in front of us, who was probably either cussing our stupidity or wishing he'd packed another pair of underpants. I was freaked out enough to drive the speed limit for at least the next 5 minutes. What I learned: even if the guy in front of you doesn't have his turn signal on, don't pass him unless you know what's ahead of him. Every car accident I've been in I was not the driver. But my first car was totaled back in 2001 on a road trip a buddy and I were taking to Seattle from the Bay Area (Napa, actually). We were coming home from a great trip to see a concert, and at about 5 pm we were in Redding. My buddy Brandon was driving at the time, and we were tooling along I-5 south. Brandon was in the passing lane for a while, passing traffic, I guess (I don't know; I wasn't looking). At one point I adjusted my seat a little and sat up. Not but a few seconds later he and I both spot this trashcan smack in the middle of the lane. We were probably only about 200 feet away, which at 70 MPH is not far at all, and is way too short a stopping distance. Well, he cranks the wheel to the left, taking us out of the lane and partially onto the soft sholder to avoid hitting the trashcan. Now unfortunately he pulled a little too hard, and he ended up oversteering. He tried to correct, but oversteered again, and took us over into the outside lane. He swerved again, and this time the left rear tire made it all the way onto the gravel of the soft sholder. We broke free and spun across the highway. This is where the comedy kicks in. I was still looking out the windsheild and couldn't help but notice a semi barreling down on us. I said, quite matter-of-factly, "You know, that semi's gonna hit us," to which B nodded and said "yep." We spun a couple of times and finally came to rest at an angle to traffic, half in the outside lane, half on the hard sholder. Wouldn't you know it, that semi did indeed nail my poor car on the passenger side, just behind the rear passenger door, and slid all the way up the car to finally deflect off halfway up the front fender. When both vehicles stopped moving, I checked myself for any injury. When I found I was fine, I looked over and asked if B was all right. He looked about and confirmed that he too was OK, to which I replied, "well, you're done driving." The car was thankfully still driveable, but both passenger side doors never opened again. After about a month, the police report came back, declaring it a freak accident and a no-fault incident. My insurer was very generous and cut me a check that was well over the KBB value of my now officially totaled vehicle. ran into a ditch while masturbating in my vw van 10 years of driving, never crashed. I was driving down the road had to make a left turn at the next intersection. So I got into the intersection waited for traffic to finish, Light turned red, So i had to go. halfway into the turn this idiot ran the light and totaled my car. When the police arrived the guy got ticketed for running the red light and I got ticketed for failure to yield to him. What kind of crap is that. My lesson that i was taught is that if your turning left, u are always wrong if an accident acures. that's what the judge even told me. When I was about 16 0r 17, I was puling into a gas station, in which the pumps were very close to the building. It was mid january and the concrete was covered with ice. I guess that I was going a little to fast, because I lost grip in the front wheel and slowly slid right into the front door of the station. It was truely embarressing, but luckily no one was hurt, and it only cost $250 to replace the door. the owners were very very cool, and due to the Icey conditions of their gas station decided to pay for 3/4 of the repairs. I still go to that gas station, and it still has the same owners. they have never forgotten, and either shall I. My friend was driving me home to get the keys I had forgotten there to our work van. We were stopped behind a van waiting to turn right onto a major artery. He was looking to his left to watch for a break in traffic, and when one came, he started going. Unfortunately, the van in front of us did not, and we rear ended it. I watched all of this happen in slow motion and didn't yell stop fast enough. From then on, I always check in front when pulling into a street, and if I see an accident about to happen, I'll react faster. Woman driver didnt know how to merge into traffic, so she stopped in middle of lane while I glanced left and went for a hole in traffic and crunch goes my car. my first vehicle was a 1993 jeep wrangler that was built up to be a rock crawler. i loved it, i poured every spare cent i had from my burger flippin job at a local burger joint. i worked nearly 70 hours a week just because i wanted to have more money to get more stuff for my already stuffed jeep... and here comes the hard part to accept, i sacrificed stablility for ground clearance... on the way from work one very late night, i was cruising along and must have fallen asleep. i guess i was doing about 60 or 65. the jeep drifted into the grass on the side of the road and the passenger side tires followed into a ditch. as soon as i realized i was off the road the front tire hit a drain pipe that was covered by an asphault driveway, the front axle broke off and went flying into the yard, the front passenger tire sheared away, leaveing the axle able to impale it's self into the grass, leaving it half buried and standing straight up. the force of the impact broke 2 of the straps on my 5 point harness free from the roll cage, it also catapulted the jeep end over end turning sideways and rolling 3 times until it came to rest in a stand of trees on the opposite side of the road. all in all, from the impact point to where i came to rest, measured 375 feet and 4 complete rolls. i was able to walk away with only a broken arm, 2 ribs, and a hairline crack on the left side of my upper jaw... so i count myself lucky. the police officer that took the accident report said he'd never seen such a violent aftermath where someone was able to live afterwards, and being that as it were, i was never charged with any fault. I was once late for high school and in a hurry on an icy, snowy day. I didn't properly clean off my windshield, but then, I didn't have far to go to my destination. However, the impediment was enough to allow me to turn left in front of a big red truck which was oncoming. The crash spun me around and dented in the side of my car, but otherwise, things were okay with no consquences. (I used the crash to excuse myself from the first hour or so of school.) I've been teased about not seeing "big red trucks" ever since, and that was over 10 years ago. I didn't learn not to procrastinate in the morning, and still tend to defrost my car at the last minute using dubious, hasty efforts, but at least now it occurs me to as I drive off that this could potentially be a real problem for me. I've had two accidents so far. The first happened when I was seventeen, and had been driving for about a year. I was in my Dad's pickup truck, which was fairly light and had a powerful engine. I crossed a spillway where an inch or so of water flowed across the road, and made it to the far side of the water safely. I started speeding up right before I reached the end of the water. On the far side of the spillway, there was apparently some oil film on the road, and when my wet tires hit the asphalt, the truck started veering left. Fortunately, there was no oncoming traffic. The truck spun halfway around, going through the oncoming lane, and slammed into a huge rock on the left sid eof the road. The damage to the truck was significant. Lessons--you don't have to be going very fast to really bang up a vehicle. Be extremely careful on spillways. Pickup trucks are lighter than other vehicles in the back, and should be driven very carefully in rain/snow/slick road conditions. The second accident was more interesting. I was on my way to the Navy base to board the submarine of which I was a crewmember in preparation for going to sea. This was in Norfolk, VA. I drove through the Hampton Roads tunnel, and onto the bridge that crosses the bay, in heavy traffic. I was in the left lane, and my wife was in another car in the right lane, so witnessed the accident. Cars were pretty close together, as is typical on the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel...if you try to maintain a safe following distance, other cars will drive into the space between you and the car ahead of you. Very irritating... Anyway, someone about 4 cars ahead of me got irritated with someone behind them who was following too closely. This person hit their brakes (too hard) to warn off the car following them, and this caused a chain reaction of people slamming on their brakes. I stopped in time to not hit the car in front of me, and the person behind me stopped, but the guys behind her were driving an F-250 Supercab (a pretty big & heavy truck), and they didn't stop in time. They slammed into the lady behind me, and pushed her car into mine. The F-250 was undamaged. The Honda Civic between us was badly damaged in the front and rear. My small pickup truck (an Isuzu Hombre) had the rear bumper bent slightly down. The police came and took our info. The submarine left without me. I waved as I watched the submarine go over the tunnel, but I don't think they recognized me from that distance. Lessons--don't slam on your brakes to deter someone from following too closely as it can have far-reaching consequences. Don't be an idiot and pull into the gap between cars following at a safe distance. Keep the wieght and stopping distance of your vehicle in mind when deciding on a following distance. I honestly believe this will be the best story you've ever heard. It was around 9 AM and I was heading to work. I was still a little tired and I have a tendency to daze into who knows where. I was coming up on to an intersection the turned into three lanes from the two lane street I was on. There was traffic on the two original lanes so I decided to merge into the newly formed thrid lane. Well this is about the time I began my daze and continued to roll pass the stopped traffic. I didn't realize it was a red-light until a motorcycle zoomed right in front of me. I imediatly slam on my brakes and look of just in time to see a huge car barreling down on my tiny Chevy Aveo. The other car tried to turn out of the way but it was enevitable that our fenders collided. Now you would think that would be bad enough, running a red light and crashing into a bigger car, but you dont know my life and bad luck. You see it was no ordinary car it was one of the city's finest. Yep, I ran a red-light barely missing a police officer on his motorcyle only to wreck into the bigger cop car driving behind him. My driver side fender was pretty much destryed while his fender had a slight scratch. yours truely, Tim P. Racecartimmy85@yahoo.com We were on Rudy's motorcycle,a Triumph Speed Triple only three months new. It had been winter so he hadn't purchased insurance for his bike yet, but the weather cleared just enough for him to take me for a ride. We were less than two minutes from home. We took a right turn onto a street where people regularly park their "for sale" cars. One such car pulled out from the curb and proceeded to make an illegal U turn directly in front of us. We swerved to the left, which was the only open space on the road, to avoid it but the driver (a 16 year old illegal immigrant- unlicensed, uninsured with fake car tags)only braked, forcing us to take only one path- into his left fender and over the hood of his car. I flew about ten feet and landed on my ass, smacking my head on the pavement and getting some nice bruises, road rash and a sprained ankle. Rudy flew further, but since he was wearing leather and was the one who took the instructional course- tucked and rolled and got no bodily damage. The car trashed the forks and everything attached to them. We're sure the guy would have ran had it not been for a fire truck that just happened to pass by, and kinds down the street who saw the whole thing. We forced the guy to pay $800 in repairs before he moved out for town at the endo fthe harvest season. That accident taught me that Motorcycles, no matter their size, should be treated just like cars- they have rights of way, move just as fast and can take damage. I wasn't driving in this one, but it's a really good lesson on how passengers should behave. There was a big group of girls on our way to a club event and we were travelling in multiple cars. We were all excited about it, so everyone in the car I was riding in was all excited and laughing and the music was playing pretty loud; louder than someone can concentrate with. On top of that, one of the girls behind me insisted on poking, prodding and wet-willying me, riding shotgun, for fun. I tried to make myself heard over the noise and music to get her to stop. All this kept our driver from paying close attention. Her friend in the car ahead of us, who was leading the group, braked suddenly for someone who was turning right. Our driver was too distracted to react in time, and we smacked bumpers. No one was hurt, and both bumpers were damaged, but it was cool. Friends don't sue each other. This was the first accident our driver had ever had, and she was shaken, but fine. If you're going to hit someone you know, it could be good or bad, depending on how fast you're going. It's good if you aren't going fast and the damage is small, but it's bad if you're going fast and you injure someone. The lesson here is don't be a distraction. This happened back in march of 2003- march 5, to be exact. I was on my way to work one morning (at the time I worked in pleasant grove, about 15 miles from Sacramento proper), and I was driving a 1990 Mazda Miata (for those that don't know, it's a tiny 2-seater roadster). It was early, so I had the top up, and I was pretty sleepy from being out late the night before, so I was riding the slow lane and just enjoying the drive. As an aside, I had just finished adding a few nice addons to the car- I had big plans for that baby. Anyway, as I passed the Del Paso exit coming toward the place where 99 and I-5 plit, a Semi Hauling dual trailers pulled out, and I let him switch lanes past me, and then began accellerating up alongside. I even remeber looking over and thinking "You know, my car would fit under there." Things are a little fuzzy form there, but as best as I can tell, this is how it happened- his rea trailer swung over the line and clipped my rear quarter panel, which sent me into a spin- being tired and not thinking, I steered against the spin, which sent me spinning directly under the rear trailer. At some point in there, my car then wedged into his rear axle, making his trailers skid sideways. Thinking he had lost a tire, he puled over as quickly as he could- dragging my car about 500 yards in the process. Somehow, (though I don't remember it) I got out of my now destroyed car, and went to the side of the road to wait. I was pretty shaken up, and I had a few serious injuries, but for having just ended up completely underneath a semi, I was ok. Did it change my driving? You bet- I'm much more cautious about driving tired, and I watch semis much more conciously. Otherwise, though, it's just one of those stories that people never believe, even though I still have the scars Had moved from Cleveland to Nashville for job. Less than 1 week down here, during morning rush hour, my car (Ford Tempo, a real babe-magnet - NOT) was totaled in a 4-car bumper-to-bumper accident (I was car#3). The jerk in car#1 had decided to come to a near-stop because of a 2ft long 2x4 in the road. Grrrrr! The topper: His name was William Bumps, but all he got out of it was a minor dent in his rear fender! Would've loved to have bumped him on his melonhead! No physical injuries to me, I bought a sportier car, and it instilled my belief that all other drivers here in the south are morons who don't know common-sense rules of the road. Having a 3yr old and a 5 month old has changed the way I drive. Also has changed my vocabulary while driving with them in the car.......can you have an aneurysm from repressing an expletive tirade (when encountering a bonehead on the road) ? I was driving and looking for a street, Susan Street. As I was craning my neck to find what I thought was the street I slammed into the car in front of me. Apparently traffic had stopped, but I kept going. In a moment of pure irony, I hit a woman named Susan. Moral of the story: Don't crane your neck looking for Susan Street or you will hit a woman named Susan.Let's see, where to begin... Lady pulled out of a parallel parking space into my moving car. 11 year old Audi: Purchase price $2000. Insurance settlement for dented fender? $2000. Net result? Paid for my car. I nearly 360'd my new Passat avoiding a road rager, but no damage there. A few years later I totalled it. To this day I don't know what happened. I was probably drowsy, and hit an orange road barrel. As far as I know, the road cone tripped the airbags, because next thing I'm barreling towards the concrete with a bag in my face. Totalled. Bought a Saab. 3 days into owning it a something flies out of a pickup truck, bounces 20 feet in the air, and lands on my hood. Later that year, was unable to brake soon enough to avoid somebody who had stopped their van in the travel lane of the turnpike during a blizzard. Replaced with a volvo, which I promptly rear ended a Chrysler Sebring with, followed by a rather nasty spin out on a turnpike onramp during the rain that took out most of the passenger side mechanicals. Then after that was all fixed, a guy in a lexus backed into me in a gas station, then ran off as I took cameraphone shots of his license plate for the report. I really shouldn't drive anymore. At approx 3:00 am one Saturday morning a friend and I were traveling southbound on a particularly dark section of th 710 freeway towards Long Beach. We were going about 60 (the speed limit was 65 but it was dark and late so we were being extra careful). Suddenly the car in front of us hit something and jerked to the side, we swerved but before we knew what is going on a large chunk of metal formerly resembling a car rushed at us and unavoidable impact ensued. Apparently someone had ditched their car in the middle of the dark freeway with no lights or flashers on. Still not really sure what was happening, we were both screaming as we catapulted toward the shoulder, parked the car and got out only to watch at least 4 more cars strike the abandoned vehicle. I called 911 who said they were already responding and told them to get their sh*t together and get out here soon, that the accident was much worse than they were aware of. At this point there were between 8-10 cars involved who were scattered across the lanes and pulled off on the shoulder. The sound of crushing metal kept reverberating through the air as we watched vehicles dodging the minefield of accident debris, unable to stop any of it from happening. We watched as an oil tanker narrowly missed the original car and then semi trucks screeching to a halt in turn created a buffer between the accident site and other approaching vehicles. Emergency crews arrived and shut down the 710 freeway. there were about 7 fire trucks, 4 ambulances, and 15 police cruisers. My friend and I were in the least damaged vehicle and we had only sustained minor injuries from the shattered glass flying through the car (me: cut hands, feet, and legs; my friend: gash on face, scratched cornea and various scrapes). We sat on the shoulder for a few hours while cops took care of more serious victims. We were finally told by the cops to exit freeway and meet at gas station to give our statements. There the cops informed us that a drunk driver had struck the concrete median and was then struck by hit-and-run driver whose impact forced his car into center lanes. The drunk man abandoned his car in the middle of the freeway with no headlights or emergency blinkers or anything. A few cars hit it before we did and a few after. There were several injuries but no deaths. I would classify this as a freak accident, there isn't really anything you can change about the way you drive to avoid it other than tell your friends not to abandon their cars on the freeway if they ever get in an accident at night. That and I didnt feel comfortable driving a car for at least a week, and over a year later I still don't like to drive on that section of the 710. -Myste, Long Beach CAMy mother hit a cow once late at night in the middle of North Dakota. She was coming home from a party and several cows had escaped and were standing around in the middle of the road. She no longer drives in the middle of North Dakota at night anymore. Too many cows. i like to pork girls! and after i like to eat mexican food!driving way too fast showing off for a carload of people down a narrow side street. i slammed on the gas pedal in what would have been plenty of time to slow the car down completely. but... the brakes gave out. the force i hit the pedal with caused a failure in the braking system, leaving me staring at not much road with no brakes. i cut the wheel left and slid sideways into a curb. luckily nobody in the car was hurt and it was late at night on a secluded road, so there were no other cars around. never assume your brakes will stop you, they should, but weren't there when i needed them. My one and only car crash happened in high school, and it fit every stereotype you've ever heard: low-speed, residential street, less than a mile away from my house and on and on. Anyway, I was driving east on a residential street which had a lot of intersection from north-south streets, which all had stop signs. As I approached one street, I remember glancing down at my radio to change the station, when I looked up, there was a west-bound pick-up truck turning south right in front of me. I hadn't noticed him at all. There was nothing I could do. I hit him about mid-way back on the bed of the truck. He kept driving (this is what made it worse) and proceeded to tear out my headlight and damage the paneling with his bumper. The police showed up. Neither one of us was ticketed, but it was pretty obvious he was at fault. The great part of the story, it took about 3 months to get the car fixed since it was a Subaru and the parts had to come from Japan. Turns out thanks to a mis-calculation on the part of the insurance adjustor and additional damage the body shop discovered... the car was actually a total loss, but nobody realized it until after it was fixed. Doug from Overland Park, KSYeah I know this is kind of late but it bears mentioning. I was waiting to turn left...I was in a center turn lane. Two or three cars passed, and I thought it was clear. I turned out to cross the lane and felt a small impact on the side of my car. I hadn't seen a man on a Vespa who hit me. He was wearing a helmet and protective gear. He died in the hospital. My ineptitude cost someone their life. After I finally made my way back into the driving scene, I always ALWAYS watch for small two-wheeled vehicles that escape notice quite easily. I've only been driving about three weeks with my license, and just yesterday I was involved in my first car accident. I can easily say it's the most frightening experience of my life. I had decided to go to school 45 minutes early to study for a test that day (I had forgotten the text book at school). This meant leaving at 6AM, still dark, but I didn't mind. I figured it was only a ten minute ride to school, and I wouldn't even have to drive on the highway. Just as I was turning right at a stop sign, on the way out of my neighborhood, my car was sideswiped by a speeding van. In less than a second, the van had knocked off my rear view mirror, and dented the entire left side of my car. Shaking more uncontrollably than I ever, I quickly pulled over to a nearby gas station. I was physically unscathed, all thanks to my Civic, my seatbelt, and a good bit of luck. When the police came and sorted out the incident, I realized that the accident had been my fault as well. While the other car had been speeding and thus failed to brake in time to avoid me, I myself had cut across lanes, thinking I had enough time. I was cited for improper change of lanes, but neither car was faulted for the accident. Unfortunately, my car would need $6,000 worth of repairs--a fact that only angered my worried parents, who had both come rushing to the scene of the accident. For me, the accident was a case of poor judgment (my parents blame my inexperience) and some overconfidence on the road. My advice to other drivers, particularly new drivers, is to always maintain your guard. Though normally a cautious driver, in a matter of three seconds I had tried pushing my luck. I think we generally tend to forget how dangerous the road can be. We hear it all the time, but we never really comprehend it until that first accident. I learned my lesson the hard way, but hopefully you readers will take something from my story. It was a rainy morning and I was headed to my Dr. appointment. I had stoped because there was a red light and other vehicles were infront of me. I usually stop within a few feet of other vehicles because i always thought it was safer in case of an accident. So I was going on with my own business and looking foward waiting for the light to change and move foward. Well I moved foward alright but forcefully. I suddenly heard and felt a big crash from behind and then a second crash infront of me, i hit the person infront and the one infront hit the other person. It was a four car/truck crash. Smoke started comming out of the hood and some type of smoke comming out of the deployed airbags. I panic and tried to open the door. I got out ok but my legs were so shaken up that i fell and sudddenly I couln't move anything. I had a burned/scratch in my Lt arm because of the airbags. The ambulance came and got me. Anyway, I was so lucky to survive that crash because I saw my car and the truck that rear ended me almost hit the gas tank. I never saw him comming. Now my back and neck are hurting.. My car was a total loss. I am just happy to be alive. Now, I open my eyes wide and pay attention to every move around me when I am driving. I am still in pain since it just happen a few days ago. subzeroMy accident happened when I was 18, just a week before high school graduation. I was driving to school one morning in my 1992 Jeep Cherokee when a 1979 Cadillac drove through a stop sign at 70 mph. I was driving the speed limit, which was 50 mph, and found myself in the wrong place at the wrong second. The Cadillac hit the passenger side of my car, flipping my car 3 times into an apple field. The car was totaled, and they used the jaws-of-life to get my out of the mangled wreckage. Luckily I only suffered a broken collarbone and a beat up body. I was bruised from head to toe, two black eyes, a bloody red right eye, etc. It looked worse than it felt. I picked glass out of my scalp for weeks. The driver of the Cadillac fled the scene, leaving behind his three passengers. They were all drunk, and the driver had no license due to the three DUI’s on his record. There are two things I learned from this accident. The first is to have “uninsured drivers” insurance. I had this luckily, as the other driver was uninsured. This meant my insurance company would pay for the accident. Secondly, we need to toughen up our DUI laws in this country, or at least at the state level (I’m in Washington State). I was lucky, but the next person that this a**hole hit was not. The driver of the Cadillac hit another car a couple of years after my accident, killing the driver on impact.My first car accident, i had my license for about 3 weeks, a friend had asked me to give him a ride to school, technically his mom asked me because she wasnt feeling well, i was a hair legnths away form saying no because of the short time frame i had my license and wasnt allowed by the state to have passengers. well anyway on the way dropping him off home (his house was like a block from school but it was raining), it had jsut cleared up fromt he rains so the roads are still wet. im making a left and the accelerator on the mustang got stuck. the car begins to fishtail, i turn the other way to correct, i start to come out of it, but i slammed on the brakes and the car pulled to the right into a telephone pole. my tooth ended up going through my lip when i hit the steering wheel and my "friend" supposodly got a broken back. the car got saved from being crushed thankfully, and didnt get a ticket or anything nbut did lose a point on my license though. and now i try to be a little more careful on wet roads. i still dont know what happened, or why the accelerator got stuck. but im more of a cautious driver now I was driving down I88 in New Yorl when I had a sudden luch to the right and banging as I slid into and down a guard rail. When car stopped I had no right front wheel assembly stut, brakes, axle wheel tire etc. I learned that cars in weird situations can self distruct and manufacturers do not necessesarily stand behind products. Car has been of course totaled and even though a very experienced driver am still leary of driving. I have never been involved in an accident, but have had one near-experience. Last year, while driving my '67 Mustang, I was listening to some rock. I called it my "Dukes of Hazzard" mix. Apparently, it was too influential and I gassed it coming around a corner (a corner which I had taken thousands of times, I was about a mile from home.) Well, I gave it too much gas and the back end broke loose. Once I reached about 45 degrees from the parallel to the road, I slammed on the brakes, pitching the car back around to the right, and off the road. I immediately cut the engine and when my cursing stopped, I got out. I had chipped the paint on my hood and slightly dented the bumper. I was nose-to-nose with a metal fence. The mud, which was in the gutter on the side of the road, had become lodged in my suspension and had stopped me just in time to avoid having a quick fencing lesson. I learned that I am not a Hollywood stunt driver, and don't have 35 cars to bash up in case I make an "oops." i honked at a guy! this chink bitch was driving slow so i rammed her geo metro with my abrams tank. problem solved. I was just in a 4 car crash...the first car in the line up left the scene. The second car hit the first car, the third vehicle hit the second and finally I hit the last one...only after the third hit the second. I was traveling down a gravel road in the country. I was maybe going 40-45 mph. Suddenly the vehicle was "fish-tailing" and spun out of control. I assumed the back tire hit some gravel that was on the side of the road. I hit a group of pine trees on the opposite side of the road resluting in a totalled vehicle. I was scared to death to drive. It was slow and steady everywhere I drove from then on. OK I was driving home at 3am after dropping a friend home. I went the long way home because I missed my turn. I was driving along toward a fairly small intersection with a green light for me. I came through the intersection, a bit slower then the speed limit and saw a taxi appear from the corner of my eye. This taxi was flying and went straight through his red light. He smacked into the side of my truck and flipped it. I ended up on the roof in the next lane facing the opposite direction. I remember seeing the roof coming in and then hanging upside down. I let the seatbelt (always wear one kids) off and the taxi driver helped me crawl out of the passenger window. The car was destroyed but I was fine. Had a trip to the hospital and had some friends pick me up in the morning. I went and saw the car at the wrecking yard and took some photos. They had already pulled the wheels off. The taxi driver got a ticket for running a red light and the lesson I learned is I can't be killed by conventional means!Well, the first car accident happened in July of 2004. We were moving the last of our belongings (clothes in garbage bags) to our new home. My boyfriend was driving a Black Acura 1.6 EL Special Edition, I was in the back seat, and my roommate was in the front passenger. We were going a "bit" fast, and ended up veering to the left, spinning out, hitting a guard rail, and flipping the car four times. The boys were fine, but they found me 25 feet behind the car in a pool of my own blood. After 7 surgeries, 20 driving therapy sessions and 2 years recovery, I bought a boat and car with my settlement. I wanted to go away, since I hadn't been on a vacation since before the accident. We decided that we would go camping before the fishing season finished, so we carted the new boat (1998 Javelin Bass Boat with a 150HP engine on the back) on the new car to parry sound. Five gruelling hours of traffic congestion, and we finally arrived. As I was turning in to the driveway of our final destination, a RAM 3500 beast truck smashed into the back of my boat, which went into the back of my car, and then the boat flew 30 feet down the road. He tried to pass me for some stupid reason, and didn't realize that there was a BIG BOAT behind me! Both are a write off, and so is the idiot's car that hit me. How has this influenced my driving?...hmm....I don't think I want to anymore. I was driving in the inside lane, when a CAA truck from the outside lane - without any preamble whatsoever - jerked into my lane. He didn't hit me, but forced me into oncoming traffic and I had a head-on collision. I walked away, but the other gentleman was taken away by ambulance. Small service pickups still make me nervous... I was driving home from work when I saw a deer suddenly run in front of my car. I braked, and then felt something hit my car. "Oh no!" I thought, "my car is ruined because I hit that deer!" But, I was wrong! I didn't hit that deer, but instead ANOTHER deer hit me in the side of the car, which sent me into a spin and off the road. Luckily, nobody was hurt and the car was still drivable, but it put huge dents into the front and rear fenders, and tore off my driver's side mirror. It didn't change the way I drive really, since I've always been wary of deer, but just so you know, deer can be distinguished by a few unique features. One, they're big, so they can do lots of damage. Two, they travel in groups, and if you see one there's probably another one near by. Three, they're really stupid, and think nothing of running into your car. Even if, as my dad's friend told him, the car is stationary, they'll probably run into it.on the 29th of october,public holiday,the road was free, am going toward air port in nigeria, after decendind from alaka to National stadium lagos, there was a commercial vehicle ahead of me am at 80km ph, the commercial bus stop suddenly and there are wet road, when i realise the stopping i slam the break the wet road drag the vehicle to yhe sport and a lot thing has damage.since then i have been caution of my selt.Nothing happen to me due to the standard of nigeria ROAD SAFTY COMMISION,that make us of seat bet compusary, thanks, It chande the way i drove. I've seen more interesting crashes than I've been in. Snowy freeway in Dayton Ohio on I75. Notorious left angled turn downtown, there was State Trooper, my friend in his car, and I was behind him in my car. Come up to turn, trooper skids, my friend skids into trooper, I thankfully stop in time and avoid them both. Trooper is like "dont worry, dont worry" my friend is like freaked. Fortunately no damage other than to my friends blood pressure. My two at faults were the whole checking radio bit and saw dump truck stopped at a yellow caution and the tiny pinto behind it I rear ended slightly before I could come to a stop. Second, was same friend as before and coming down hill to a stop sign and slid into him. No damage fortunately. Now for the not my fault, would be in Arlington VA. Mix of high rise development that transitions into land of used car lots and then housing areas. Was with my friend in my 72 Mustang, in right lane of 4 lane city street with median. Doing normal speed and approaching intersection, car in lane to my right stopped to turn left, cross traffic with stop signs. Guy wanting to turn left motions to car coming from left at stop sign to go. He doesn't see me, I didn't see him in time, my friend gets out a "look out" noise and I get hit in the left qtr panel and fender. We all get out and it was me and my friend and 4 of them who all proceed to accuse me of speeding (curse of driving a Mustang). Police show up, write them the ticket, and me a summons. Call their insurance company and they say it's my fault according to their customer. So wait till court date, before the Judge can say anything, they start blabbering I was speeding, Judge just states I had right of way, found them guilty, and I proceeded to call their insurance company, and eventually got my $$$$. Now what I've seen. In car, wife driving late at night, car only weeks old, in left lane driving at speed, there appears a traffic cone, but tipped over so we can't see it until we are right on it and WHAM! No noticeable damage (until daylight and it cracked my bumper and then 2 years later and my condensor that got pushed in develops a leak). Another I observered was on I66, notorious sudden stop parking lot at rush hour. I was slowing down and saw in front me two cars not stop in time and hit each other. Once I stop, after a minute two cars behind me do the same thing. At that point I wen the back way to work. Also on same highway driving in left lane, sunday traffic of people heading back into town, and all of a sudden I see rear end of car about 4 car lengths in front go up in the air as they rear ended someone at speed. Thankful I don't take it to work anymore. As far as changing how I drive, from going from Ohio to the Outer D.C. area in N. Va you have to learn how to have 360 degree vision and looks more than two car lengths ahead. You also get lots of tourists which is also just as frightening. Also don't trust your NAV system in Richmond Indiana, as it took me down a one way street the wrong way. One of those "OH CRAP" moments. bork yeah well i was ddivning and i crashed! Yes, I died. i was driving on hwy 213 in oregon city on thanksgiving. i was going about 60 which is a little over the limit of 55 and it was raining. i hit a puddle, hydroplaned, and flipped my BRAND NEW car. it was totaled beyond repair and i got some nasty whiplash. the lesson this taught me is PAY ATTENTION TO WEATHER CONDITIONS. i feel so stupid. this is going to jack my insurance like you wouldn't believe. Well let me start off with i hate mexicans...well illiegal mexicans.I was just leaving work in my service station in a small historical town sorrounded by farm land so there was alot of mexicans.I just pulled out of the green light as a bus of mexicans ran the red light and borad sided me and ran i would have chased them but my tire blew and the bent the frame I was driving in a snow storm Dec 29 06 - Heading south on 89 toward West Leb - as Im going by the Queechee/Woodstock Exit (1) I signaled and went into the left lane as to allow the exit (1) cars to merge seemlessly in the left. That was when we hit the ice under the snow, and in my 20 years of driving VT winters I prefer small fwd cars as they are the best in ice an snow and easiest to sterr out of skids. I,v avoided a lot of accidents over the years and am proud of my driving record and skill in driving the right vehicles. This time it all meant squat, true I swerved out of the first 2 skids and almost had us pointed straight, but we still ended up in ditch, flipped slid on our roof like a sled on the side of the road for about a hundred feet, hit another ditch and came to be sitting on our tires with 2 broken back windows and a cracked windshield I am sure it could be worse, but what I really thinh is that if you travel 120 miles a day for 7 days of the week for 7 years thats at least on accident you cant steer out of we walked away, though I had to take the ambulance beacause my heart rate was like 100 and my blood pressure was way out of whack I did some deep breathing in the ambulance got my pulse down to 72 and my blood pressure a little closer to normal. The luck of the draw does not favor one who plays every day - the numbers are all wrong and yet I have been doing this for health reasons. To stay alive i need methadone as much as the diabetic needs insulin. Yet the diabetic doesn't drive two hours every day to get 50 cents worth of Methadone he could have shipped to his house every day. I have been on methadone 7 years have only screwed up on opiates 1 time in 7 years. The methadone keeps me alive by keeping me sober , but driving 2 hours every day for something they have at a local pharmacy and after seeing 4 people die driving back and forth from Vermont to Mass or Vermont to New Hampshire just to stay clean, and 1 of those people was my friend his accident killed 2 other people one a little girl. The other I just heard about. Enough is Enough It was the Roulette wheel that could have killed me and my wife. Why do I have to drive and drive. NIMBY - not in my backyard - tat is to blame a new clinic in Washington County with a capacity to treat 34 people is being approved, but 33 "trafficers" were just arrested in the same area - do I who have been clean for seven years because of methadone and my wife of the same get a spot or not? I do not know. I have been in a couple little mishaps. Oddly enough all within the same year. My first collision involved a deer, not enough sleep, and a 84 AMC Eagle station wagon going 65. I was driving home from work at 2 in the morning extremely tired. I must have dozed off for a while and then all of a sudden, WHAM! I woke up just in time to see a very large doe flying through the air into the woods. I pulled over to inspect the damage. A cracked grill and a slightlt pushed in bumper, plus my new 263 dollar radiator that I had just put in the day before was what the deer had wrought. After a few cuss words I continued onward home. I inspected it the next day and found if only I had tightened down the bolts that held in the radiator nothing would have happened to it. The next time I got in an accident was with a little 95 Suzuki Swift hatchback. The car is a rebaged little Geo Metro. I was driving to work at 4 o clock in the morning. It was foggy out and I was really tired. I fell a sleep and woke up to see a stop sign. I slammed on the brakes and completly blew through the T intersection. I hit the T intersection sign, a 4 inch steel pipe and finally a large wooden fence post. The airbags went off and I wasn't wearing a seat belt. But my face never hit the air bag. I towed the car out and it sat for a few months before I got around to yanking out the front end with my tractor. I did a few jury rig fixes and I am still driving that car. I am paralixed for the waist down. I was a pretty new driver and was entering a freeway after a light rain. As I accelerated my faiyly new 1971 Mustang (Varooom!!!!), I got a very quick lesson about rear wheel drive, light rear ends (the cars not mine) and horsepower (351 cleveland engine all decked out). Well in short order I spun out crossing 3 lanes of traffic (somehow missing them) and comming to rest against the guardrail on the opposite side. 3 things happend as a result. 1.) I damaged my rear quarterpanel (sniff). 2.) I went out and got positraction installed (thank's Mr. Persons) and 3.) I slow down when the road is wet. I just would like to say that after quite a few years of driving one of the best bits of advice I can give is before you turn the key, divest yourself of any expectations of what and how others are doing as they drive around you. Life is not a theoretical construct. I have been rear ended by drunks, a semi driver falling asleep, lady looking at a shoe store, people who were accelerating when they should have been looking, and even two cars that tried to involve me in a staged accident (it was an interesting maneuver I did to avoid it, but that is another story) man was I pissed. Nothing happens as you think it should, it only happens as it does. Do not presume the motives or thinking of anyone. Remember it is our expectations which we accept as fact that get us into trouble because nothing happens as it should, it only happens as it does.I just had one today. A guy in a Saab 9-3 ran a stoplight and I t-boned his passenger side. He was going so fast that his car actually did a full 360 barrel roll and landed back on its tires. I did not see this as my vision was obscured by the airbag, but that is what the bystanders said occurred. I estimate that I was going about 30 and he was going nearly double that. At any rate, his car suffered lots of superficial scrapes and dents but he was able to drive away. My 2-dr Honda Civic hatchback was pretty much crushed up front and it might be a total loss...need to meet with adjuster.One early morning I was driving to school, taking the same path I always do. I was driving my dad's mercedes benz 560 sel, which is basically a tank. As I go over the top of this steep hill, not going more than 35 mph, I noticed a stopped car directly past the top of the hill. I slammed on the brakes as soon as I saw her, but I could not stop in time, so I smashed into the back of her car at about 15 mph. My whole front end crumpled in because this bitch had her foot so tightly on the brakes that her car didn't even move an inch, even though my car weighed 2.5 tons and hers less than 2 tons (she had a subaru outback). Her car pretty much had no damage except a cracked bumper, while my benz got tottaled. These physics still baffle me today. Anyway, she had stopped to let someone pull out of their driveway. What bad judgement on her part. When the cops came, they said the accident was my fault, and gave me a tictket for driving too close, which is definitely not the case. She could've been stopped there for 5 minutes and I still would have hit her. It was impossible to aviod. The moral of this story is to always be carful when driving up hills, and never stop your car after you pass the top of a hill. well ur mom the whore came and sie swipped me and yea the end hello I haven't had a crash but I've just had a very very near miss about 1 hour ago from which I'm still shaken up from. It was my own fault. I learnt to drive about 8 months ago and got my car on the road about 2 months ago. Admittedly I've been driving quite fast and I was just going down the dual carriageway heading home and was doing 60MPH. The road was not very busy but then I went round a slight bend and all the traffic had built up there. I slammed on the brakes very hard and lots of smoke came from the back tyres and a huge screech sound but it wasn't enough to stop me. Fortunately the person in front of me had enough sense to quickly change lanes and my car stopped just where his car had been behind the other one. If he hadn't of changed lanes I'd of gone straight in to the back of him at quite high speed. He gave me alot of abuse out of the window and I just put my window down and apologised about 5 times. He didn't take an apology and drove on looking really angry. I don't blame him really as it was my own fault and I could have injured both myself and someone else just for been stupid. I carried on driving quite shaken and pulled in to the nearest shop and got a can of Coke, and just parked up and drank it and thought about what I'd nearly just done. From it I've promised myself to drive alot slower now and basically drive how I learnt to drive instead of being reckless. i was driving early with my mom around 6:40 in the morning becuase i had a zero period class in the morning in school. It was foggy and i had my headlight turned on, i was driving about 25 mile. The accident happen at newland and hazard because the traffic light doesn't have the green arrow <- to turn, i just have check and make sure. I seen a spec of headlight from far distance, i couldn't tell how far it was and how fast it was traveling. I thought i could of made it. Then bam a head on collusion and totaled my acura integra nothing really all that happened was we hit water and hydroplaned to a ditch. There was three of us and only one of us got hurt. But we were all ok in the end. I was going 80 mph on a very busy interstate highway and it started raining. I switched lanes and didn't see that the cars were at a dead stop infront of me. I slammed on my brakes, the brakes locked, and I skid into the person stopped ahead of me at 45 mph. This happened a few months ago when I had just turned 17 and man I am paying for it now. Stupid teenagers. Lesson learned because I completely totalled his crappy car and the car I was still paying off. Hello everybody! Our super party is being continue. Thanks all! I was driving home from my boyfriends at 6.30 in the morning, going the route I always took. I was driving at about 60mph down a national speed limit road when I had a blowout (on a brand new tire). Suddenly it felt like I was on two tires and completely off balance as the car started snaking across the road. I tried so hard to keep the car straight, but I must have overcorrected it and as I came to a bend I panicked and slammed my foot on the brakes. I then skidded off the road and went through a ditch, hit a tree and flipped across the other side of the road. My car was completely and utterly ruined. I was jammed in the car and totally petrified. Luckily, I got away with just superficial injuries - deep lacerations to the knee and deep bruising etc. I always drive cautiously down that road now. It hasn't affected the way I drive too much, but I am such a nervous passenger now!! I generally stuck to the speed limits before, but I do drive a bit more cautiously now.