Ever been involved in a Car Accident?

[Chrysler375Freeway]

I had a hydroplaning-related incident caused by worn tires in a 2001 GMC Yukon in 2019, but unlike the previous ones, mine did not have an insurance claim with it due to the damage being so minor on mine, while the damage was more pronounced on the other car (a 2009 Toyota Yaris 5-door hatchback), such as nearly $2,800 in damage to the Yaris due to the higher bumper height and impact point on what was then my truck causing mine to override the rear bumper, damaging bumper, taillights and hatch (which broke the rear window). I didn't bother reporting it because of the minor damage.

[golden eagle]

Back in January, I was driving down I-20 here in Jackson and suddenly, a car was speeding down the right shoulder and hit a grassy area. The driver lost a little bit of control and hit my car above the front right tire. He drove off, so I was left with a $200 deductible to pay for repairs.

[Road Hog]

Been in several fender-benders, all of them minor thank goodness.

Only time I was "injured" was after a concert where our driver decided to hot-rod in bumper-to-bumper exiting traffic. He rear-ended a dude in front of him at speed and I busted my lip on the back of the front seat.

[DSS5]

I have (knock on wood) never been in an accident involving two moving cars

The incidents I have been are:

-I hit a parked car when I was pretty young, doing minor damage. I was obviously at fault and my insurance rates were affected.

-My car, while parked, was hit, denting in one of the doors. Replaced by the driver's insurance.

-I hit a deer, wasn't going too fast so the only damage was to the headlight. The deer ran off so was maybe fine? But yes that is a tuft of deer fur that was left behind.

[LilianaUwU]

I was hit by a car 10 years ago, crossing the street to go back home after going to McDonald's.

[NWI_Irish96]

I was hit by a car 10 years ago, crossing the street to go back home after going to McDonald's.

See, McDonald's is bad for you.

[DSS5]

I was hit by a car 10 years ago, crossing the street to go back home after going to McDonald's.

See, McDonald's is bad for you.

My mother was once hit by a car (low speed, she was okay other than scrapes and bruises) while crossing the street on her way back from Dunkin Donuts. I suppose the lesson is the same.

[webny99]

Fortunately, it was not an accident, but it was very nearly one that I was involved in. Due to a major accident at NY 441 and Baird Rd, NY 441 EB was closed at Baird Rd and all traffic was forced to turn left or right on Baird. This created a massive backup that was barely moving, so as I was heading WB (coming away from the accident scene), EB vehicles, particularly those in the left lane, were pulling illegal U-turns/K-turns back onto NY 441 WB to get back to Five Mile Line Rd and detour around the accident. Being aware of the situation, I was staying in the right lane to avoid the traffic pulling out into the left lane at random intervals. First a Ram truck pulled out into the left lane and hesitated, but I kept going, so he waited for me to go past and pulled in behind me, then immediately beyond that a Chevy Equinox pulled out into the left lane, then backed up a bit to be in position to pull into the right lane, then stopped again. Well, at that point I had already slowed down but I wasn't going to stop (perhaps I should have, but this is a 35 mph arterial, I shouldn't be expected to stop in-lane for illegal U-turners!) so I kept going, but then the Equinox accelerated and wheeled out into my lane seemingly oblivious to the fact that I was there. We noticed each other at the exact same second so I hammered the brakes and narrowly avoided rear ending her. She made a hand motion like as if to express surprise that I had not stopped for her, but I did not respond. I was just surprised and very relieved to have avoided an accident. But it did make me wonder, who would be to blame for an accident in that situation? I would argue I was not at fault since she was attempting an illegal and dangerous maneuver into conflicting traffic, but perhaps I should have not been so aggressive in trying to maintain normal traffic flow (knowing that the situation was causing heavy U-turning traffic).

[jeffandnicole]

Fortunately, it was not an accident, but it was very nearly one that I was involved in. Due to a major accident at NY 441 and Baird Rd, NY 441 EB was closed at Baird Rd and all traffic was forced to turn left or right on Baird. This created a massive backup that was barely moving, so as I was heading WB (coming away from the accident scene), EB vehicles, particularly those in the left lane, were pulling illegal U-turns/K-turns back onto NY 441 WB to get back to Five Mile Line Rd and detour around the accident. Being aware of the situation, I was staying in the right lane to avoid the traffic pulling out into the left lane at random intervals. First a Ram truck pulled out into the left lane and hesitated, but I kept going, so he waited for me to go past and pulled in behind me, then immediately beyond that a Chevy Equinox pulled out into the left lane, then backed up a bit to be in position to pull into the right lane, then stopped again. Well, at that point I had already slowed down but I wasn't going to stop (perhaps I should have, but this is a 35 mph arterial, I shouldn't be expected to stop in-lane for illegal U-turners!) so I kept going, but then the Equinox accelerated and wheeled out into my lane seemingly oblivious to the fact that I was there. We noticed each other at the exact same second so I hammered the brakes and narrowly avoided rear ending her. She made a hand motion like as if to express surprise that I had not stopped for her, but I did not respond. I was just surprised and very relieved to have avoided an accident. But it did make me wonder, who would be to blame for an accident in that situation? I would argue I was not at fault since she was attempting an illegal and dangerous maneuver into conflicting traffic, but perhaps I should have not been so aggressive in trying to maintain normal traffic flow (knowing that the situation was causing heavy U-turning traffic).

I struckthrough the unimportant parts.

If she was so close to you when she changed lanes that she barely left any room between you and her, she's at fault.  If she got in front of you then you both traveled a (short) distance without you backing off, then you're at fault. 

Everything else doesn't matter. Unless she was actively in the process of making the u-turn, she didn't hit you making a u-turn, so that's irrelevant.  The classification of roadway is unimportant.  When there's a jam and unexpected road closures, people make u-turns all the time.  Sometimes ill-advised, but they're frustrated, they're delayed, and now they're trying to figure out another way.  I've done it, but they're not really rememberable traffic incidents so really couldn't even tell you where I've done it.

So overall, based on the description, she probably was at fault.  But if I were you and it did happen, I wouldn't mention the speed you kept going because of the classification of the roadway and in your opinion you shouldn't need to stop for someone who is now in your lane due to a previous movement.  That's not going to go well in your favor.

[webny99]

^The Equinox wasn't really changing lanes, she had completed the first two phases of the U-turn and had stopped in the left lane at a ~right angle to me as I approached in the right lane. Then right at the point that I committed to going past her, she decided not to wait  and swung out into my lane to complete her U-turn. Fortunately I was going slow enough that it wouldn't have been a high speed accident, but I still had to brake hard enough that the stuff on my passenger seat went flying.

(I only mention the type of road as context: it's four lanes undivided and a primary route between I-490 and points east, so it's got a lot of medium-distance traffic and speeds of 50+ mph are routine despite the 35 mph limit.)

[vegas1962]

Let's see....been in three incidents involving other cars, once as a driver and twice as a passenger, none of them our fault. Also had two incidents involving deer.

1) When I was maybe 12-13 years old, our family went out for dinner one night. Rainy night, on our way home, dad was driving our late-'60s model Ford Galaxie 500. Stopped at a red light in the right lane of a five-lane road, a car in the left lane comes up fast and hydroplanes, spinning them right into the driver-side door. Dented the door and popped off the chrome strip. Nobody hurt.

2) Mid 1990's, on a clear Saturday afternoon, my wife and I were returning from visiting her uncle. My wife was driving, we were in her 1985 Olds Cutlass Supreme coupe. We were driving on a five lane road with a 45-mph speed limit with occasional intersections for residential areas. We approached an intersection where cross traffic had stop signs. One car was stopped at the stop sign on our right. Some knucklehead in a beater pickup truck blew the stop sign coming from the left, and we never saw him until he was in front of us. We T-boned him at 40 mph in his passenger door, which caused him to roll over and land across the hood of the car stopped at the other stop sign. Knucklehead was a handyman of some kind, because his cab was filled with tool boxes and other detritus that banged him up pretty good on the rollover. The dumbass must have thought we were going to hurt him worse because he ran about a block down the street and hid in some hedges until the cops found him. Woman in the third car had her kid in the backseat; neither one hurt. We were mostly okay; wife bit her lip on impact and drew a little blood, and we both had seat belt burns for about a week. This was before airbags, so thankfully the belts did their job. Our car suffered significant front-end damage but was deemed repairable and was in the shop for nearly a month. We traded it for a new Cutlass about three months after we got it back.

3) 2002: I was driving to work in my 1991 Honda Accord coupe on I-275 southbound at the M-14 interchange. Clear morning, not much traffic. I was in the middle lane when a woman in a minivan came up the ramp from EB I-96 to SB I-275. She never sees me and immediately cuts across all three lanes. I hit my horn and swerve to miss her, but my left tires drop off onto the shoulder and I scrape along the guardrail and the jersey barrier over the railroad tracks there. On impact, my head hit the top of the driver side window and popped it out of the door frame, but the glass didn't shatter. Even though the two cars never made contact, the woman pulled over to help me. She followed me as I limped my car to the next exit to call police and collect my thoughts.  My car was knocked out of alignment and had body damage from front to back on the left side. Got a concussion from hitting the window, and the car was in the shop for a month. A police report was taken but I never found out if the woman was ticketed or not.

Deer incidents:
In 2018, my wife and I are driving home from dinner in a 2006 Buick Lucerne that originally belonged to my in-laws. Weather was clear but it was quite dusky. Suddenly two deer dart out from the left; I hit the brakes but didn't swerve. The first one passes in front of us but the second one runs flush into the left front fender and spins sideways so that its butt makes impact with the driver's door. Fender and door are dented but the car was driveable. Car needed a week in the shop for repairs and paint. We saw the deer get up and run off the road, but we drove back through that same area the next day and there was a dead deer lying by the road.

Then in November 2022, driving my year-old Chevy Traverse, I hit a deer while driving home from work.  I was stopped at an intersection for a red light, and as soon as the light changed, three deer darted across in front of me. The first one ran around the front end, I hit the second one, and the third one ran around the rear end. It was maybe a 20-mph impact, tops, but the front ends of these cars is all plastic so all my grille work was damaged and the hood was buckled slightly. I was able to limp home with no trouble, but the next morning when I tried to start the car to take it to the body shop, all sorts of idiot lights and warnings lit up on the dashboard. I took it to my preferred service provider where it took them nearly three weeks to get an claim adjuster from my insurance to come out to look at the car. Once that finally happened, repairs took about a week. But I was without the car for nearly five weeks total. I paid my deductible only, but the total repair bill came to more than $5,000 (mostly labor, I assume).

[Rothman]

Oh.  Never answered this one, it seems:

Early 1990s: My father was fooling around with a gift certificate I had been gifted, distracting me as a newer driver.  Almost had a head-on and the driver sides of our vehicles swiped each other.

Mid-1990s:  Car slid into a little ditch on a muddy road.  Got out of it, though.  Engine mounts, already corroded, didn't help those out much.

Very late 1990s, some guy and I managed to back into each other in the parking lot.  Little damage to my car.  More damage to his girlfriend's car that he was driving.

Somewhere around 2010:  Hit an icy spot and slid into the opposite curb .  Thank my lucky stars no one was coming and the car was drivable to a shop.  Control arm quite bent.

October 2023: Deer hit my car.

November 2023: Hit a deer with my car while waiting for the collision shop appointment.

Total damage from the two deer hits = $12,000 combined.  Yay for insurance.  Can't wait to see what happens with my premium.  They didn't total the car, much to my amazement.

I figure a pool noodle would dent my Nissan Rogue, though.