Who else has gotten into a car accident?

Streetwiseguy said:

Where I come from, if the 180 doesn't wind up with you parked in the wall or another car, that's not an accident.  That's just a bit of a learning experience.

I resemble that remark. I didn't have an accident, I had an "off". No harm done, but the experience certainly stuck with me.

For the amusement and edification of others, I will point out that under certain lighting and weather conditions, a bunch of pea gravel around a curve looks an awful lot like a drying line on wet pavement.

In reply to bearmtnmartin :

I've found that when someone driving a semi is determined to cause an accident, they can be hard to avoid. The only serious accident that I've been in was when an oncoming semi took a sudden left turn in front of me on a rural highway. Not something I expected, since there was no intersection, driveway, or any other obvious reason for him to turn. On a raised levy. He blocked the whole highway in front of me. Luckily, I had presence of mind to aim for his trailer tires, which I firmly believe saved my life. Definitely changed my attitude towards driving though, as I had previously thought that all accidents could all be anticipated and avoided. 

This guy. 

Posted about an hour ago on DC CL.  If you know Rock Creek Pkwy you'll know it runs pretty close to the creek at times and occasionally cars do go in and people do drown especially after two days of torrential rain like today and yesterday.  Well kudos to this guy for wrecking and putting right up for sale on the list of craigs.  It does seem he wants the buyer to remove it from this federally owned pkwy however so that would be well over $100 on the price especially as wreckers are not allowed down there normally. 

z31maniac said:

Appleseed said:

You haven't lived until you've been in a motorcycle accident. The only greater level than that is airplane accident. As a pilot, this could happen to me.

Yep. 

Had two of those myself. Post-concussion syndrome is fun!

Does wrecking on a dirtbike because you are trying to ride way above your level count? Hit the inside of my helmet hard enough to put my bottom teeth through my lower lip, and was my best/worst concussion to date.

Had an 85 toyota 4x4 some years back. Guy made a left in front of me on a two lane 55mph road. In 85 there was no ABS. Totalled my truck, bent the frame good. Was still able to drive it home, though the steering wheel didn't point in the right direction.

I’ve had a few, for my first I was in a 1981 Plymouth Voyager at a gas station (in a parking space) and a guy in a brand new escort wagon had parked behind me; I came out checked my mirrors and reversed....he didn’t show up in my mirrors but him honking as I pushed him across the lot is a sound I can still hear. The cops let me go and wrote him a ticket which I found to be generous of them.

barefootskater said:

Does wrecking on a dirtbike because you are trying to ride way above your level count? 

If it does I've been in hundreds of accidents

I've hit 4 deer, 2 of which were on track, one was north of 130mph.

A wild turkey, on track at about 90 mph, it knocked the entire windshield in, the rest of the car was no worse for the wear.

A blackbear while towing a 25ft boat

A moose. Don't ever hit a moose

And a jetskier while piloting said 25ft boat at roughly 30 knots. 

I hit 3 deer within a span of 6 weeks in fall of 2012. All at summit point. 

I have had five over forty years of driving. Every one involved at least one semi truck. I feel lucky to be alive. I was driving one of the semis four out of five times. 

-T boned by a Kenworth hauling pipe when I was 16 in my pickup. Someone blew a yield sign and hit me and I spun into the path of the Kenworth. Had time to hear his air horn and watch him coming before the bang. 

-A car merged into the side of my Freightliner about ten years later. 

-Had a head on with a Peterbilt when I was about 35. I was hauling 140,000 pounds with my Western Star and he was hauling 80,000. I feel most lucky I walked away from that one. 

T boned a gravel truck and transfer trailer with my Louisville about 15 years ago. 

There is one more biggie I seem to have blocked from my mind. 

Two million miles though so E36 M3 is bound to happen.

Never. 40 years of driving so far. I've had two close calls but neither were my fault.

I love to drive. 

I pranged a 1.2 million dollar fire truck last week. It had 1900 miles on it. First one in my 48 years of living. 

Fortunately it's not too bad and the damage is estimated at 600 dollars.

I had one at 20. Blind corner with a one lane bridge in the middle, met a neon there. We both hit the brakes, I slid out almost to the culvert wall on my side, he slid towards center and we met. I pryed my fender out with my tire iron on my 89 Caprice 9C1 and drove it for another 2 years. The neon left on a flat bed, bumper was off, fender into the tire, radiator leaking. Sherrif's deputy labeled it a no-fault. Cost me $150 for a junkyard fender and bumper. Been 26 years since then, I'm about due.

Wait, there was the idiot in an ice storm trying to drive around traffic on an off ramp lost control and hit my left rear door. I was parked, in neural, parking brake on because we hadn't moved in 10 minutes. That one paid for a season of auto-x.

Southbound at 40 mph, road enters at 30 degrees from the left; he had a Stop.

I lift, we make eye contact, I relax and he guns it.  He takes the ditch on the left, I take the right.

I get out, he gets out and says "What dahell was I thinking?"

Dunno, but I like the attitude.  

They hurt. They hurt more the next day. Concussions suck. Don't remember one. Came to and remember 15 minutes then nothing for four days.  That was a bad concussion.  I was hit broadside by a nurse than did not stop at a stop sign. I don't remember anything. It was like a light switch was flipped.  I got lots of $$$ for that one but I would have rather not had a concussion like that. I was not right for about 8 months. Bright lights and much weird ness with sound and light and headaches and balance issues.  Dark quiet places were my safe place. 

First one was no big deal, someone backed into me at a red light because they decided they were too far out in the intersection. Could have been bad on the monetary side of things, because we were both high school students, and all we did was exchange phone numbers. No police report, no insurance info. Luckily they followed through and their parents paid to have my car fixed.

Second one, I rear-ended someone in my dad's Taurus wagon. It was low speed, but went under the bumper of the Explorer I hit, so it was totaled. Air bag went off and burned one of my fingers, but I was ok otherwise. Probably a very avoidable accident, but I looked to my right toward a side street at just the wrong time and the angle of the sun made their brake lights less obvious, so I started braking just a few feet too late.

Same intersection as the first one, driving my first Miata this time, I went to turn left and got t-boned by a Tahoe driving on the wrong side of the road that was running from the cops after a robbery somewhere up the road. I got spun either 90 or 450 degrees, ending up on the opposite side of the road facing the direction of traffic. My car was hit in the fender/a-pillar, completely destroyed, but I got out of it unharmed, aside from a weird shaped bruise on my shoulder from one of the things that the soft top tonneau cover attaches to. The right front suspension on the Tahoe was obliterated, and they stopped 20ish feet from the impact point, narrowly avoiding crashing head on into a tree. I only had PLPD, and they weren't insured, so it was a total loss out of pocket.

2000 Dodge Dakota, got rear ended on the way to my brother's graduation, I was stopped at a red light, the road was wet, the person slid into me. My bumper was a little bent, the whole front of their car was pushed in, but still driveable, and apparently the radiator wasn't hit. We were actually both going to the same graduation, so we just exchanged insurance info. They ended up reporting it, and I actually got paid (probably more than the truck was worth). We fixed the bumper using a tree and a come-along.

Same truck, towing a 1969 Corvair for my dad, on a sketchy tow dolly he borrowed from my uncle. Even unloaded, it was wagging a little, but seemed fine once it was loaded. I kept it around 60mph just in case. Unfortunately, a hill pushed my speed up to 65, me and my dad were talking so I wasn't watching my speed as closely, and next thing we knew, the trailer is wagging at a 15-20 degree angle in each direction, and getting worse with each wag. I tried to get control of it, but couldn't, and gradually slowing down had no effect, so I tried braking very gradually, which led to a full loss of control. We went toward the median, and as soon as one of the tires caught, the whole thing rolled and flipped 180. We were upright, but facing the opposite direction in the median. Both vehicles were totalled, (the truck still ran, so we were able to drive it out of the median) and the tow dolly was partially in the bed of my truck. Only minor occupant injuries at least, but my dad hadn't insured the Corvair yet, so he was out $3500, and the tow company tried to get him to pay over $800, even though both vehicles were covered by AAA for 100 miles. He did get that mostly straightened out though.

August 2019, I t-boned an idiot, and it essentially totaled the car.  We still had no power from a hurricane earlier in the week.  Stop signs posted at a major intersection, 3 lanes outbound on each side of the 4 way.  We're all taking turns as it's a 4 way stop.  My turn comes around and I get across 5 lanes of traffic and this moron darts out from the right, straight into my path.  took 2 911 calls to get police on scene.  Lady tells the cop that I completely ignored the stop and came barreling thru the intersection.   I tell the cop what really happened, cop says It's he said she said.....Oh wait, did I forget to tell you I have a dash cam.  Cop sees the video of the accident.   takes my info, gives me her insurance info and says I'm free to leave.  Proceeds to ticket the other driver.  Damaged hood, bumper, crash bar, grille, headlight and other small bits, but A/C still working and no coolant leak.  Threaten their insurance company about lawyering up (they said the accident was my fault even after the police report) and they write a big ole fat check for the car, and dont total it.  Cashed their check, and sold the car for a decent amount to someone looking for a first car for their kid.  They were just going to go to the junkyard and patch it back up .

This summer, got sideswiped by a hit and run.  Someone in a obnoxiously loud crackle and tune MK5 GTI must have been weaving in and out of traffic, as he came literally out of nowhere. decides he can split lanes on a 2 lane highway. I hit the brakes and dove to the right as he decided to put his car where mine currently was.  Between the rumble strip and my lunchbox flying, I didnt realize he just clipped the bumper. No wonder he took off lane splitting, and using the shoulders faster than he was going when he hit me.  I get to work and see a big plastic scrape the whole driver front corner of the bumper.  Call 911, they say I have to drive to the nearest State Police barracks to report it as I'm no longer at the scene of the accident. Get home and luckily it all polished out except for a small scratch. 

Then about 8 weeks ago, wife is out shopping with her friend and her kids, and someone rear ends the Suburban. 17 year old slid into them on wet pavement at a stop light.  Call police.  A Connecticut driver was hit by a New Hampshire driver in Mass.  Made them pay for a rental while they put a new bumper on our Suburban.

Almost killed someone today.  At the very least the car would have flipped.

Driving on 75 North, just north of the bridge over the Alafia.  I'm in the second from the right lane, coming up on a truck, flip on the blinker to get over.  As I'm halfway in the lane I noticed a blue Chrysler, probably a 200?
At this point I legitimately can't remember if I properly checked my mirrors and such.  I am usually very good about watching the mirrors anyways to see if anyone around me is being an idiot.  For this I honestly can't remember, its all a weird stressful series of snapshots and sound clips.  I don't know if the accident would have been my fault or not.  I DO know that the little warning beeper didn't go off to alert me someone was in my blindspot (I was in the wife's car, not the truck) and I know that the guy must have been flying.  I noticed him when his front wheel was about even with the Mazda and he was swerving strong off to the left, at this point he must have been braking and I still wasn't.  When I started to brake he was completely past the car.  Less than a second easily so God knows how fast he was going.
So guy starts to fishtail and the rear end is high siding cause he swerved while going too fast and then started slamming on the brakes.  Gods bless the safety engineers at Chrysler is all I gotta say cause the traction E36 M3 was kicking in hard and trying to tame the thing.  He swerved back and forth across both left lanes and finally ended up in the median, all four wheels off and sliding.  I see that he's maintaining control and is about to come back across.  I know the Mazda doesn't have the acceleration necessary to get in front of it, so I slam on the brakes and feel the ABS kicking in.  He flies past me, maybe a foot and a half in front of the car, going almost perpendicular to the interstate.  He gets all the way over to the right two lanes and starts to fishtail and high-side it again, gets two or three wheels off that side and slides some more.  Finally he regains enough control that he can gently get back on the road.

No cars actually hit, but jeebus cripes.

In reply to Mr_Asa :

That sounds like he was going 30 or 40 mph over the speed limit/traffic speed. If so, I hope he E36 M3 his pants. The memory of sitting in that until he arrives at his destination will help to remind him.

In reply to Captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :

Were you in a legends car by chance?  If so, I was there when the intestines were being pulled out from around you. 

I've had a few...two motorcycle events as a young man left their marks. 40 years later I sometimes screw my back up when I sneeze. 

One was being run over at a red light (Honda cb550), one was a drunk driver pulled out directly in front of me. (Honda cb900)

I've  avoided a lot.

But, I had one that was horribly my fault as I was looking for my dropped ham sandwich on the floor. (My wife's brand new 2m6 Fiero). 
That one I am thankful for...I stopped playing music full time that day and started my career. 

In reply to flinnlarabell :

Thanks flinnlarabell. Wow you are a busy little canoe bot. Looks like you joined something like a few other forums just yesterday alone.

I have wrecked a few cars.  Not proud of it either.  I would like to think I learned from the experiences, but probably not.