Car Accident

[Bryant5493]

Got in a car accident today. Here's video of it.

I'm alright, just a lot of property damage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpvEtNvcTJI


Be well,

Bryant

[mightyace]

I'm glad to hear you're alright.

One good thing of your roadgeek habits is that you have this video in case some insurance and/or legal action gets ugly.

I hope the woman was cited and not you!

[Bryant5493]

Thanks, mightyace!

I just bought some new tapes, so I wanted to test 'em out. Glad I did.

Yeah, she was cited. And a lady who'd driven eight hours from Florida witnessed the incident and stayed to tell what she saw.


Be well,

Bryant

[AZDude]

It definitely looked like she was trying to make a left turn.

[agentsteel53]

wow.  The old "no-look left turn from a right lane" trick.  I had someone do that to me once.  Except we were doing 75.  my car was an elegant pile of smoldering wreckage, but I walked away.

[signalman]

That's a great example of inattentiveness.  Fortunately no one was hurt, and she was cited for careless driving, I assume.  Property damage is not cool, but bodily injury is far worse.

Bill

[Chris]

Why would someone turn left from a right lane anyway? Is that common in the USA?

From my point of view; the woman was wrong. However, you could've seen that she would turn left, because she did put her signal on. I would've braked to be sure, but hey, it's all a split time decision...

[Scott5114]

I'm guessing the lady in the center lane thought she was in the left lane, and was thinking that Bryant's lane was a parking lane or bus lane.

[Bryant5493]

Why would someone turn left from a right lane anyway? Is that common in the USA?

From my point of view; the woman was wrong. However, you could've seen that she would turn left, because she did put her signal on. I would've braked to be sure, but hey, it's all a split time decision...

It's common for folks to turn from the wrong lane here. I saw her signal, but she started signaling once were borth we were both pretty much upon the intersection.

At that point, she just needed to wait.

I'm guessing the lady in the center lane thought she was in the left lane, and was thinking that Bryant's lane was a parking lane or bus lane.

She could've thought that, but there's no parking allowed on this portion of Piedmont.


Be well,

Bryant

[agentsteel53]

having a turn signal on is not generally indicative of anything.  I've been behind someone who has had their turn signal on for 62 miles.  Were doing about 80 down the freeway too, so I saw no reason to pass them.

[mightyace]

having a turn signal on is not generally indicative of anything.

Nor, is not having it on.  In Greater Nashville, people who actually use turn signals before they turn seem to be in the minority.

[golden eagle]

It definitely looked like she was trying to make a left turn.

About five years ago, I was driving down U.S. 78 east of Atlanta and a guy in a turning lane suddenly turned in front of me, causing me to run into him. The police determined it was 100% his fault.

[Bryant5493]

^^ Wow! That sucks. Were you hurt? Was your vehicle badly damaged?


Be well,

Bryant

[golden eagle]

^^ Wow! That sucks. Were you hurt? Was your vehicle badly damaged?


Be well,

Bryant

Front end took a pretty good hit, but it was driveable. I had to drive on one headlight though. It was my grandmother's car, actually. She wasn't mad. 

[PAHighways]

Why would someone turn left from a right lane anyway? Is that common in the USA?

They don't administer IQ tests with the driver's tests.

[rickmastfan67]

Why would someone turn left from a right lane anyway? Is that common in the USA?

They don't administer IQ tests with the driver's tests.

Well, trucks sometimes turn from the middle lane to go right. lol.

[PAHighways]

Well, trucks sometimes turn from the middle lane to go right. lol.

Truck drivers have a reason to make turns from a lane besides the closest one to the turn, and they will put their signals on to indicate their intentions.

[Bryant5493]

Front end took a pretty good hit, but it was driveable. I had to drive on one headlight though. It was my grandmother's car, actually. She wasn't mad.

Good to know you and the car didn't take too much damage.

They don't administer IQ tests with the driver's tests.

They should with as many dumb drivers as we have out here (lol).


Be well,

Bryant

[deathtopumpkins]

Well, trucks sometimes turn from the middle lane to go right. lol.

Truck drivers have a reason to make turns from a lane besides the closest one to the turn, and they will put their signals on to indicate their intentions.

That doesn't mean anything. I witnessed an accident a few months ago between a large semi and an SUV. The semi was in the left lane turning right into a parking lot, with its signal on, and the SUV passed it in the right lane right as it made the turn. The side of the SUV got pretty badly smushed into a telephone pole (right at the passenger door too... driver was fine though) and the semi was fine.



As for dumb drivers, I think that the tests should focus more on practical knowledge and less on statistics, and should be re administered every decade or so, to ensure that people still know how to drive. This would solve the problem of old ladies driving the wrong way down the interstate at least. 

[PAHighways]

Truck drivers have a reason to make turns from a lane besides the closest one to the turn, and they will put their signals on to indicate their intentions.

That doesn't mean anything. I witnessed an accident a few months ago between a large semi and an SUV. The semi was in the left lane turning right into a parking lot, with its signal on, and the SUV passed it in the right lane right as it made the turn. The side of the SUV got pretty badly smushed into a telephone pole (right at the passenger door too... driver was fine though) and the semi was fine.

If the person driving the SUV would have paid attention to the turn signal, they wouldn't have ended up with a telephone pole-shaped dent in the passenger door.

[agentsteel53]

whatever destroys SUVs is fine by me ...

[agentsteel53]

more on practical knowledge and less on statistics

and less on obscure math.  When I took my driver's test, one of the questions was how many feet in advance I should start coming to a stop, when coming to a railroad crossing on top of a hill, with no signal lights, in fog, in the daytime.  The answer choices were something like 200, 250, 300, and 350.  I was like "are you kidding me?  how fast am I going?  what kind of car?  European or African swallow?"

[mightyace]

As for dumb drivers, I think that the tests should focus more on practical knowledge and less on statistics, and should be re administered every decade or so, to ensure that people still know how to drive. This would solve the problem of old ladies driving the wrong way down the interstate at least. 

I agree, though my thought was every time you renew your license.  But, yes, if it was done this way older folks would have less grounds to claim discrimination.

[deathtopumpkins]

If the person driving the SUV would have paid attention to the turn signal, they wouldn't have ended up with a telephone pole-shaped dent in the passenger door.

That's my point. 

European or African swallow?

What!? I don't know that! *whooosh*
And I know just the kind of questions. The ones I found most ridiculous, however, have to be the statistics ones. I don't give a damn how many people are killed by drunk drivers every year in Virginia. The obscure math ones at least have some semblance of a practical application, though can almost always just be guessed on-the-spot.

[Alex]

Saw this yesterday at IH-20/635. No I was not driving, so I could rubberneck all I wanted!