AARoads Forum

So my car at the time was the little white piece of shit Mercury Mystique (aka Ford Mondeo/Contour) on the right. On the left is a girl's jeep. Notice how I'm parallel to the line, and she's skewed.  :spin:

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Randomly in the middle of senior year of high school, she decides to park as close as possible to my car to make it inconvenient for me to get out. (We had this little mini-prank war going on.   :pan:) Anywho, one day, I got back from lunch with a friend. After I parked, my friend and I go into the trunk to retrieve our backpacks. As I retrieved my backpack, the car shakes...   :ded:

The funny thing is, the people in her car were well aware of what happened, and she was oblivious.   :clap:

Fortunately, it didn't do noticeable damage, and the car I was driving at the time was pretty much worthless as it is, so I didn't bother to file a claim.

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I've never been in one officially behind the wheel. I'm relatively good at accident avoidance, and I've avoided a few would-be accidents in my time, but there were a couple times a Portland bicyclist almost forced me into one when I was volunteering down there.  Bicycle laws aren't enforced in Portland from my experiences.   

Once, I was driving back from a friend's zoo (he has 2 dogs that shed and I'm allergic) at 5:30 AM due on an early Sunday morning.  While I was able to breathe after a couple of minutes of being outside and in my car, I also got relaxed with the car's heater, and I almost fell asleep on SR-500 just east of I-205 in Vancouver. I did drift through the rumble bars, but all of the roads were empty fortunately, and I corrected myself before I would go off the shoulder.  About 500ms after I drove over the rumble strips, I was blasting classic rock/metal with the air conditioning and windows down.  :sombrero:

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As a kid, my parents were involved in a few where I was in the car. 

One was on CA-85 in South San Jose.  We were in the family van, and some woman with her brick cell phone (this was the late 90s) crashed into us almost orthogonal to our car.   :pan:  Because we were in a van, the damage wasn't too noticeable.  I was roughly 6-8. 

On the way back from a vacation to Yosemite on CA-120, we approached a stop light in Oakley.  The guy behind us wasn't paying attention, and hit us at 40 MPH.   :pan:  Fortunately, damage was relatively minimal.  I believe I was 7-10 at the time. 

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So I guess, share any experiences you had or maybe even witnessed.  I honestly don't remember witnessing a major wreck. 

I've totalled 3 cars in my life, though ironically never caused an accident that wasn't an "act of God".  Hit (and killed) a deer in 1997.  Drove the car home 40 miles.  Mom fixed it and then totalled it again 8 months later, for good.  Car #2, some idiot made a right turn from the left lane and totalled my car in 2003.  Drove mine home but he had a flat and couldn't drive away.  Totalled yet fixed that one too, drove it til 2009 when it died.  6 months ago some guy rearended me at a T-intersection, totalled the car, fixed it, though I had to fix the transmission 6 weeks later, and the trunk, finally today, won't close. 

Define "accident". Police reports exist with me named for four accidents, two of which were my fault (all of them were minor with no injury resulting and damage measured only in hundreds). Though, I've been in a few other minor scrapes which weren't reported. You know how easy it is to clip someone's mirror on a narrow street in New York? All it takes is someone being double parked and leaving you basically no room to squeeze by.

And, if you want to stretch the technical definition, I've been in too many "accidents" to count: when parallel parking in NYC, it is normal and acceptable to slowly back up until you hear "thud", and then pull forward a bit. Legally, each instance of doing this or having this done to your car counts as an "accident". :spin:

In elementary school about 20 years ago, on the way home my bus rear-ended someone. Nobody was hurt, fortunately.

Unfortunately yes.

1. Jan 27, 2002.  Driving north on Western Avenue on the border of Chicago and Evergreen Park, IL.  I'm slowing in the left turn lane to turn into Evergreen Plaza.  The signal is red, and the turn lane is empty, so I should have enough room to slow and stop safely from 30 mph.  All of the sudden, a Mazda 626 pops out from between two vehicle on the right.  I slow to 3 mph or so and hit it, removing part of the front bumper.  I stop, and both I and the other driver (an older black lady) get out.  She immediately accuses me: "You was speedin'!".  I try to assure her I was not, and it looked tense for a minute.  Both of us backed down when I backed away.  City of Chicago police arrive a few minutes later.  They ask me what happened; they ask her.  She says that the people waved her out.  The cop looks at her and says, "Lady, don't you know you're supposed to look first?".  She gets the ticket and I get my nearly new car fixed on  her insurance's dime.

2. Dec 8, 2009.  Driving south on Weber Road, between Division Street and Caton Farm Road (Crest Hill, IL) on a snowy, icy evening.  Now, I know this section can be icy due to the open fields on both sides.  Thus, I'm traveling with traffic at 25 mph, about 20 or more car lengths behind the next vehicle.  An asshole in a pickup truck speeds by, spinning out just in front of the vehicles in front of me.  He gets away cleanly, but causes both the cars near him to spin out.  I release the gas and apply the brake.  No ABS, and it wouldn't work on this ice anyway.  My only chance is to steer between oncoming traffic and the car spinning in my lane.Thus, I steer in that direction.  I get my vehicle slowed to under 5 mph and aimed where I want it.  However, by back end slides out just before reaching the still-spinning vehicle.  My right rear tire makes contact with his right headlight.  I have a bit of suspension damage; he has a broken headlight.  Crest Hill cop responds and has a hard time stopping himself.  He nearly spins out doing so and spooks a lady next to him when he turns on his lights.  The lady went over the curb into the ditch.  My car was towed to a body shop nearby (one I trust).  No one got a ticket due to the weather, but the road was closed until the county got its salt trucks out there (county yard is about a mile away on Caton Farm Road).  As it was, the insurance company even cut my deductible in half due to the weather.  The cop was amazed that I got my car to such a stop and nearly avoided the accident.

^^^^^

Why the talk of tickets? What was the offense for in the first instance above? And why would a ticket have been justified in the second instance, if not for the weather?

As for me, every vehicle I've ever owned has had an insurance claim.

79 Old Cutlass: Someone backed into me at the post office. Dented a fender.

84 Chevy Camaro Z28: Swerved to avoid an animal and went into the ditch and ended up on my roof. This was within sight of my home so I crawled out and walked across the field to the house.

88 Chevy S-10 Blazer: Slid on a snowy/icy road after braking and hit a guardrail.

94 Saturn SC2: Had to have a body shop repair damage from a break-in where the thieves tried using a concrete block to smash the windshield (didn't work but it dented the hood) and then then they threw it through the passenger's side window. Also, I rear-ended a boat and it caused some damage to the front end and also broke my windshield.

00 Toyota Tacoma: My wife backed into it, damaging a turn signal/parking light and a fender.

08 Saturn Vue: I hit a deer last month, causing some minor front end damage. I haven't gotten that fixed yet as I'm waiting on the insurance adjustor to do his thing.

The highway safety people don't like the term "accident" when used to describe a vehicle mishap. They prefer "crash."

HB, the offense in the first instance above (for mine) was a failure to yield to cross traffic coming out of a driveway.  She did not look first before proceeding, taking the waves from the two vehicles she went in front of as verification instead.

I don't understand the accident vs crash vs collision terminology debate.  Accident does not mean "random" like my driver's ed textbook would have you believe.  It means "not intentional".  I doubt very much that people involved in accidents intended to hit another car.

Quote from: Takumi on June 02, 2012, 09:49:48 PM
In elementary school about 20 years ago, on the way home my bus rear-ended someone. Nobody was hurt, fortunately.

Mine too, I think when I was in the first grade. It had to be prior to fourth grade because we were approaching the old one-lane bridge on Woodburn Road in Fairfax County (long since replaced with a two-lane bridge) and the only time the school bus took that route was when I went to Pine Ridge Elementary, which the county closed after my third-grade year. Anyway, we were coming down the hill on the way home from school and the bus driver rear-ended a VW Beetle. The Beetle, of course, is a rear-engine design, which does not bode well when a larger vehicle like a school bus hits it, but I do not remember how much damage there was. Another bus happened to be coming by in the other direction and its driver stopped and took us all home. The funny thing is that I remember one of my friends saying that the bus creamed that car's trunk and I said, "That's the engine. A Bug has the engine in the back." How I knew that at six years old, given that my parents had a Volvo 165 sedan back in the 1970s, I have no idea.


Since I've been driving I've been in four major accidents and two minor ones; two of the accidents (the first two) were my fault and the others were all the other drivers'. The two that stick out most in my mind were (1) the first one (my fault) when I was 16 years old because I was driving my dad's car and he was in London on business at the time, and then when he got home I was away on a school trip to Norfolk (from which I considered just disappearing and not coming home); and (2) in 2004 on Russell Road in Alexandria when an 18-year-old girl somehow failed to notice the long line of cars stopped in front of her for a red light and drove into the back of my 1997 Accord at 25 mph or more. I don't know if she was distracted by the speed humps or playing with a mobile phone or what, but I have never been able to figure out how she didn't notice the stopped traffic ahead of her. Thankfully I don't "block the box," which meant I didn't slam into the car in front of me when she hit me, but she did over $7000 worth of damage and the insurance carriers declared the car a total loss. (I still remember how it burned me up that the cop's accident report was more focused on the damage to City of Alexandria property than on the damage to my car. When she hit me I spun the steering wheel to try to avoid the car across the intersection and as a result my car jumped a curb and knocked over a stop sign.)

Got a new car to replace the Accord and three months later a woman illegally talking on a hand-held cell phone backed into it in traffic on New York Avenue in DC (despite my constant LOUD honking....dumb bitch was so focused on her phone that she was oblivious) and I had to have the front bumper replaced. Second car in a row that happened to: I bought the 1997 Accord in August of 1999 and less than a month later I was at the end of a line of cars at a red light that had JUST turned green (so not everyone had gotten to move yet) and this Pakistani woman in a minivan rear-ended me and then tried to blame me for not moving when the light was green. The cop obviously found her at fault; before he got there, she tried to leave the scene. We were in front of a 7-11 and all the employees had seen what happened and I said, "If you do that, I'll ask all these witnesses to testify against you when I ask the cops to charge you with a hit-and-run." She stayed. Her cheap fucking insurance company (GEICO) gave me a piece of crap Ford Escort rental car for the period while my Accord was in the shop.

It all really underscores to me how much you're at the mercy of the other idiots on the road because you can do everything right and drive defensively and watch out for yourself and still get run into because so many people are just morons. More and more I'm coming to believe that here in the DC area it's a matter of when you're in a crash, not if. (Just seeing the number of cars that are now driven at night without headlights underscores it to me.....if we drive back from a Capitals game around 10:00 at night I usually see a minimum of five cars being driven without headlights.)

I've been in several, all as a passenger, and all minor. In one that occurred when I was about 10 or 11, I was riding in the front seat and actually hit the windshield as I was not wearing my seatbelt. Fortunately, the car was traveling at a fairly slow rate of speed as it had just left a stoplight, so I only got a little bump on my head. It did leave a mark on the windshield though, which made it look worse than it was. To make it somewhat stranger, the accident occurred only a block from my house. I fortunately did learn a big lesson though-it scared me enough to make me sure to wear my seatbelt every time, which became second nature for me-it's the first thing I do after sitting down. Wearing my seatbelt likely saved me from injury on a few future accidents too.

One other side thing here on the use of the term "accident"-I don't know if anybody else has ever encountered this or maybe does it themselves, but I've noticed that some people(particularly in the South) use the term "wreck" for any kind of car accident regardless of damage incurred. To me, a "wreck" would imply that the car was wrecked and not just merely damaged, but I had a friend in college(from Tennessee) that used the term even for minor fender benders.

1. A woman backed into me in front of the student union at the University of Southern Mississippi
2. I rear-ended a woman in an Atlanta suburb. It was my fault
3. A driver made a sudden left turn in front of me on US 78 east of Atlanta
4. A woman rear-ended me at a traffic light, but there was no damage
5. Last month, someone backed into the driver side of my car, but drove off. I was at my cousin's house and when I was about to go home, I noticed damaged on my car. We didn't see or hear anything since we were in the back room of his house.

Quote from: texaskdog on June 02, 2012, 09:17:39 PM
I've totalled 3 cars in my life, though ironically never caused an accident that wasn't an "act of God".  Hit (and killed) a deer in 1997.  Drove the car home 40 miles.  Mom fixed it and then totalled it again 8 months later, for good.  Car #2, some idiot made a right turn from the left lane and totalled my car in 2003.  Drove mine home but he had a flat and couldn't drive away.  Totalled yet fixed that one too, drove it til 2009 when it died.  6 months ago some guy rearended me at a T-intersection, totalled the car, fixed it, though I had to fix the transmission 6 weeks later, and the trunk, finally today, won't close. 

If you fixed the car, it by definition wasn't totaled.

Quote from: realjd on June 03, 2012, 05:18:31 PM
If you fixed the car, it by definition wasn't totaled.

All "totalled" means is that the total cost to the insurance company for repairs to your vehicle is roughly greater than 70-80% of the car's current value. There is also an appeal process, for example, if a car requires paint/refinishing only, in which no/few mechanical repairs would otherwise hinder the car from functioning normally. (This happened to me after a hurricane pelted my car with tree branches and stones to my windows and paint.)

A title can also be "branded" as salvage, in which the car can be repaired after the insurance company sold the car after you agreed to settlement amount (typically to a third party), and then repurchase the same vehicle after all out-of-pocket repairs are performed to make it road-worthy.

I've crashed a few times, all but one mostly my fault. Haven't been in an accident since 2000. The "mostly" one involved me aquaplaning after hitting a puddle on I-95 in the rain, while going 55 mph. I had to turn the wheel because the road was curving to the right; when the car went into the next lane, I kind of had no choice but to turn the wheel, or hit the wall more or less head-on. The car did a perfect 180, and I hit the concrete barrier at probably 40 mph, enough to shatter the rear window, skew the right-rear wheel, and leave the trunklid in quite an open position.

Since my dad is a relatively safe driver, we never really got into an accident until December 31, 2011. It was in Pacific Grove when my uncle and his family came over to visit. We were on our way to Lovers' Point in PG after visiting Big Sur. We were stopped at an all way and a Mercedes Benz rammed into us from behind. Even worse there was a downhill slope. The Mercedes was totaled. Fortunately, our Honda Pilot only suffered bumper damage, but the Mercedes was undrivable. My aunt called 911 and less than 2 minutes later (we were near downtown), emergency responders came, and luckily, no one was hurt. The driver of the Mercedes was really nervous and even smoked a cigarette at the sidewalk. I was in the car while my dad and uncle talked with a lady from the emergency responders. There was also a jogger who witnessed the crash. A couple from a nearby house also came to see the commotion. A couple weeks later, my dad took our Pilot to a repair shop and we used a rental car for a couple days.

Knock on wood I haven't been in a serious accident yet, although I was involved in a hit and run when I was 16. I hit and she ran.

I was pulling out of my high school parking lot and bumped into the side of her Saturn driving down the road at low speed (I realized my mistake as I pulled out and managed to brake)- it caused no damage to my Jeep and put a small dent in the side of her car. She told me she was in a hurry and didn't have time for this and meet her at the Best Western at 3. She never showed up.

On an icy road once somebody pulled out of a parking lot right in front of me and I had the choice between rear ending them and going into the ditch- I drove safely into the ditch and didn't do any damage to my car, so they got lucky there.

Then in Tucson a couple months ago somebody did a u-turn right in front of me. I was in the inside lane, they u-turned into the outside lane and then changed into the inside lane at about 10 MPH with me about 10 feet behind them at about 45 MPH. There happened to be a curb cut there so I got one of my tires up onto the curb while braking hard, so I avoided any damage to either car, but we were inches away from a pretty significant wreck, so they got lucky there.

81 VW Rabbit - Got hit in a parking lot.

86 Chevy Celebrity - Hit a curb, broke the wheel and knocked the car out of line.  Hated that car.

92 Ford Tempo - Not paying attention and rear ended woman in drive thru. 

03 Toyota Camry - Stoner kid hit women behind me, knocking her into me (on December 23rd) at a stop light.  She was hurt and her car was totaled.  His insurance refused to total mine, spent 7 weeks in body shop.  Car was not the same, so I traded it off when I got it back.

1989: 1989 Chevy Beretta, dude in an F-350 with an iron flatbed changed lanes into me.
1991: The Beretta again, slid off an icy road and a dude in a Cavalier slid off after me and into my passenger-side rear wheel.  The damage was repaired but it twisted the undercarriage a little. There was forevermore a spot in the front passenger footwell that when you pressed your foot into it, it popped like the safety "button" on the lid of a baby-food jar.
2009: 2003 Toyota Matrix, I ran a red light while far away from home on a road trip. A Saturn hit me and it totaled the poor little car.
2012: 2003 Toyota Matrix (which I bought to replace the one I totaled), I got rear ended on the way home from work.

Quote from: Duke87 on June 02, 2012, 09:24:59 PM

And, if you want to stretch the technical definition, I've been in too many "accidents" to count: when parallel parking in NYC, it is normal and acceptable to slowly back up until you hear "thud", and then pull forward a bit. Legally, each instance of doing this or having this done to your car counts as an "accident". :spin:

I definitely use that method to parallel park on occasion.  at about 1mph, if not less, there isn't even a thud - you just see the car behind you move slightly.

I've had three cars totaled on me.  two red light runners (one T-boned my passenger side, and one I ran into and T-boned because I had no time to stop) and one idiot old lady making a left turn from the right lane of a divided expressway.

I have hit a deer once, and hit an embankment avoiding a deer once.  Both caused minor damage on rental cars, which my collision damage waiver took care of. 

I suppose walking into the path of a car backing out of a parking space counts :)

When I was thirteen, I managed to drive my mom's 2000 Kia Sephia through two ditches, across an old man's yard, and into a tree less than five feet from his house. That split the radiator, smashed the cooling fan against the engine block, increased the height of the hood by about a foot, all told, I did about $1500 worth of damage to it.

When I was seventeen, on my first journey to MEPS to process into the Navy, my recruiter and I were involved in a four-car accident on Interstate 20 just outside of West Monroe. It had begun to rain very heavily and a Ford F-150 headed eastbound spun out and ended up in the westbound lanes, hitting the government-issue Stratus and sending us into two other vehicles, one of which plowed through a BGS and ended up in the trees. I think all of the vehicles involved were totalled.

Quote from: 1995hoo on June 03, 2012, 02:29:43 PM
Since I've been driving I've been in four major accidents and two minor ones; two of the accidents (the first two) were my fault and the others were all the other drivers'. The two that stick out most in my mind were (1) the first one (my fault) when I was 16 years old because I was driving my dad's car and he was in London on business at the time, and then when he got home I was away on a school trip to Norfolk (from which I considered just disappearing and not coming home); and (2) in 2004 on Russell Road in Alexandria when an 18-year-old girl somehow failed to notice the long line of cars stopped in front of her for a red light and drove into the back of my 1997 Accord at 25 mph or more. I don't know if she was distracted by the speed humps or playing with a mobile phone or what, but I have never been able to figure out how she didn't notice the stopped traffic ahead of her. Thankfully I don't "block the box," which meant I didn't slam into the car in front of me when she hit me, but she did over $7000 worth of damage and the insurance carriers declared the car a total loss. (I still remember how it burned me up that the cop's accident report was more focused on the damage to City of Alexandria property than on the damage to my car. When she hit me I spun the steering wheel to try to avoid the car across the intersection and as a result my car jumped a curb and knocked over a stop sign.)

How is $7000 damage a total loss?  I'd much rather pay $7000 to fix a beloved car than $20000 for a whole new one.  Insurance companies are weird.

Quote from: deanej on June 04, 2012, 11:54:15 AM

Quote from: 1995hoo on June 03, 2012, 02:29:43 PM
Since I've been driving I've been in four major accidents and two minor ones; two of the accidents (the first two) were my fault and the others were all the other drivers'. The two that stick out most in my mind were (1) the first one (my fault) when I was 16 years old because I was driving my dad's car and he was in London on business at the time, and then when he got home I was away on a school trip to Norfolk (from which I considered just disappearing and not coming home); and (2) in 2004 on Russell Road in Alexandria when an 18-year-old girl somehow failed to notice the long line of cars stopped in front of her for a red light and drove into the back of my 1997 Accord at 25 mph or more. I don't know if she was distracted by the speed humps or playing with a mobile phone or what, but I have never been able to figure out how she didn't notice the stopped traffic ahead of her. Thankfully I don't "block the box," which meant I didn't slam into the car in front of me when she hit me, but she did over $7000 worth of damage and the insurance carriers declared the car a total loss. (I still remember how it burned me up that the cop's accident report was more focused on the damage to City of Alexandria property than on the damage to my car. When she hit me I spun the steering wheel to try to avoid the car across the intersection and as a result my car jumped a curb and knocked over a stop sign.)

How is $7000 damage a total loss?  I'd much rather pay $7000 to fix a beloved car than $20000 for a whole new one.  Insurance companies are weird.

If the damage to the car exceeds the value assigned to the car by their valuation tables, they declare it a total loss. I don't recall what the total amount of damage was, but it was something in excess of $7000. When the amount of damage isn't too much over the car's value, they'll sometimes work with you, but in this case they weren't willing to do that. With the amount of structural damage the car suffered, I was happy to take the insurance payout (which I received within five days) and use that as part of the down payment on the next car. The level of damage made me reluctant to try to fix it.

It pains me to look at these pictures again even eight years later. This was the morning after the accident. I had the car towed home since it happened in the evening, then the next day I had it towed to the auto body to begin the insurance process. There was damage to the front as well that isn't visible here, but you can see the back end of the car was basically crushed. While the Acura TL I bought to replace the Accord is a very nice car, I did really like that Accord. It seemed like it was cursed, though, since I got rear-ended less than a month after buying it (as described in my prior post) and then this accident happened when I had ONE MORE LOUSY PAYMENT to make!!!!

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I've only been involved in one car accident, back in October 1999, long before I learned how to drive. I was in my mom's minivan. We were stopped at a stoplight when a car behind us came barreling into the van at nearly 35 mph.

Luckily no one was hurt and neither car was very heavily damaged. Was pretty scary for me, though, since it was the first accident I was in and the whole car started to shake violently all of a sudden.

Quote from: Sanctimoniously on June 04, 2012, 11:42:55 AM
When I was thirteen, I managed to drive my mom's 2000 Kia Sephia through two ditches, across an old man's yard, and into a tree less than five feet from his house. That split the radiator, smashed the cooling fan against the engine block, increased the height of the hood by about a foot, all told, I did about $1500 worth of damage to it.

In my neighborhood we have those brick deals with a mailbox and a post light.  So I get up one morning and my neighbor is in my yard, picking up bricks.  Seems a kid, 14, up the street living with his grandfather, an Episcopal priest, stole his neighbors pickup, got it going fast enough to totally destroy the brick deal, spreading brick at least 30 feet.  Made it to the main road before the engine siezed because he had destroyed the radiator.  Walked home and went to bed.

When confronted, the good reverend told everybody to "just collect from their insurance".  So we explained to him that if we did that the insurance company would just collect back from him, and the boy (who was there because his family couldn't handle him) was going to the slam. 

I once had an accident in France in 2006, where I rear-ended a French car on an "Autoroute" (toll road). I had my license for only a few months and did not really have enough driving experience to undertake such a trip, but hey, you're 19 and you want to get around. Anyway, my car was a "total loss", i.e. an economic total loss, the damages where more than two-thirds of the value of the car. The car was repaired later, as I saw it driving around in my city. There were no injuries in my first and so far only accident.

By the way having an accident in southern Europe can be a major pain because most people do not speak much English (or any foreign language for that matter). My French is not much more than "bonjour, merci and au revoir" and the guy I drove into did not know a word of English (or German for that matter). Fortunately the police officer did speak some English and fined me for not keeping sufficient distance (the standard fine if you rear-ended someone).

Quote from: Chris on June 05, 2012, 07:03:55 AMBy the way having an accident in southern Europe can be a major pain because most people do not speak much English (or any foreign language for that matter).

Nonsense! Perhaps more of a problem in Britain and Ireland in terms of ability, but the French are often able, but not willing...



A Southern African neighbour of mine went round Paris, not knowing any French, and started with Afrikaans and perhaps try a few other languages before the snobby Parisians would converse in English - his mother tongue. And they all know it pretty well - about as well as the Germans do, so nowhere the Dutch - who speak it better than we do!

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My only Road Traffic Accident was when cycling, a crazy man ran into me (I saw him run out, accelerated so as to not cause him any damage by hitting him dead on, for I had not enough time to stop, but his erratic path meant he took out my back wheel rather than went behind it as planned) - I was lucky there wasn't anything coming the other way - for it would have been a bus, and I'd have been either under it, hit by the front of it, or through one of its side window, given how I ended up 6 ft into the other carriageway with some force - a trip in an ambulance for sure. Luckily I had the sense to use my arms as shock absorbers, meaning my head only touched the ground due to the crash helmet I was wearing making it both bigger and heavier (I'm pretty sure that wearing a helmet did more physical harm than good there). One rather grazed hand, one fairly grazed hand, two sore arms, a bit of discomfort on the leg that was on the ground and quite a bit of shock, plus some damage to bike accessories (eg rear light completely smashed all over the road) and the idiot having been completely unharmed nearly got run over by a bus a minute later.

I had some moron stop short to make a left turn in front of me without signalling.  I stopped in time.  The two cars behind me didn't.  It was a low speed collision fortunately and I got out of there with just a dented bumper.

My current vehicle also has a dented bumper from when I backed into another vehicle in the parking lot of my own building.  I felt like such an idiot.  It's amazing how much damage you can cause at less than idle speed when you've got a pick-up and you hit a normal car like that.

In college I had a close call with a university vehicle in the 35E/694 commons before it was rebuilt.  I nearly sideswiped a car with the Ram crew cab plus trailer I was driving while trying to stay on 694 EB.  The other guy made a good move to avoid a collision.  So glad that interchange was fixed.

And just this winter I was driving on US 41/45 in a snowstorm, I lost traction and started fish-tailing dramatically, but was able to steer out of it.  But I reckon most folks on here who live where it snows regularly has pulled at least one of those in their driving careers.  Every winter I'll do that a couple times on purpose on an empty road or parking lot for practice just in case.  And damned if it didn't work.

Not me but it happened at an office building I used to work at (now I telecommute)
http://failblog.org/2010/03/25/minivan-fail/
The guy who owned the minivan on the left was really pissed because he only had one payment left.

Quote from: triplemultiplex on June 05, 2012, 09:07:56 PM
I had some moron stop short to make a left turn in front of me without signalling.  I stopped in time.  The two cars behind me didn't.  It was a low speed collision fortunately and I got out of there with just a dented bumper.

My current vehicle also has a dented bumper from when I backed into another vehicle in the parking lot of my own building.  I felt like such an idiot.  It's amazing how much damage you can cause at less than idle speed when you've got a pick-up and you hit a normal car like that.

In college I had a close call with a university vehicle in the 35E/694 commons before it was rebuilt.  I nearly sideswiped a car with the Ram crew cab plus trailer I was driving while trying to stay on 694 EB.  The other guy made a good move to avoid a collision.  So glad that interchange was fixed.

And just this winter I was driving on US 41/45 in a snowstorm, I lost traction and started fish-tailing dramatically, but was able to steer out of it.  But I reckon most folks on here who live where it snows regularly has pulled at least one of those in their driving careers.  Every winter I'll do that a couple times on purpose on an empty road or parking lot for practice just in case.  And damned if it didn't work.

In my mind the idiot who doesn't use a blinker is always at fault.  I was on my bike and almost got hit by a car turning right with no blinker.  Already into his turn when he stopped.

2007, step grandpa was going way too fast, and a light turned yellow and the stupid woman ahead of us slams on her breaks, boom rear ended her. Bent her bumper down and cracked the front on the van we were in but other than that there wasn't any visible damage but the van was totaled due to a cracked radiator among other cracked things. It was a 98 Ford Windstar and the other a 97 Nissan Sentra. She was technically at fault because she stopped RIGHT when it turned yellow but he was going too fast and was too close. That's what you get when you let an immigrant from Africa and a 74 year old man drive in the same lane at the same time

Quote from: bulkyorled on June 07, 2012, 01:16:45 AM
2007, step grandpa was going way too fast, and a light turned yellow and the stupid woman ahead of us slams on her breaks, boom rear ended her. Bent her bumper down and cracked the front on the van we were in but other than that there wasn't any visible damage but the van was totaled due to a cracked radiator among other cracked things. It was a 98 Ford Windstar and the other a 97 Nissan Sentra. She was technically at fault because she stopped RIGHT when it turned yellow but he was going too fast and was too close. That's what you get when you let an immigrant from Africa and a 74 year old man drive in the same lane at the same time

Usually they hold the driver in back at fault

Quote from: texaskdog on June 07, 2012, 10:23:12 AM

Quote from: bulkyorled on June 07, 2012, 01:16:45 AM
2007, step grandpa was going way too fast, and a light turned yellow and the stupid woman ahead of us slams on her breaks, boom rear ended her. Bent her bumper down and cracked the front on the van we were in but other than that there wasn't any visible damage but the van was totaled due to a cracked radiator among other cracked things. It was a 98 Ford Windstar and the other a 97 Nissan Sentra. She was technically at fault because she stopped RIGHT when it turned yellow but he was going too fast and was too close. That's what you get when you let an immigrant from Africa and a 74 year old man drive in the same lane at the same time

Usually they hold the driver in back at fault

There was a witness who stayed which could have been the reason why. There was the police report and everything. Or its because I was a dumb kid and he told everyone it was her fault and I believed it. You can pick one of those solutions  :happy:

Guess why I'm necroing this thread!

I was on my way home from work tonight when I got sideswiped. I had a green light and cross traffic was stopped except for one guy. He says he had a green light and I ran it. I'm OK, but my car isn't.

Yikes...glad you're okay though. You're also fortune enough to have a second car.

Thanks. I'm a little sore, but that's partially from work. The tow truck driver said the damage looked like it could be fixed (I'll post a picture later) but it may cost more to fix than the car's worth. We'll see...

Quote from: Takumi on August 10, 2012, 12:03:54 AM
Guess why I'm necroing this thread!

I was on my way home from work tonight when I got sideswiped. I had a green light and cross traffic was stopped except for one guy. He says he had a green light and I ran it. I'm OK, but my car isn't.

yeccch.  I've had two cars shot out from under me with that exact same rationale.  I hope the police believed you! 

I hit a parked car in a parking lot on my second day of driving a delivery truck.  I cut it close, and turned the wheel before the back end had cleared the other vehicle.  My boss was known for two counties around as the biggest ______ that ever lived.  My coworkers all thought I was a goner.  He asked me who should pay for the claim.  I told him that's what the company has insurance for.  My coworkers really thought I was a goner.  They all stood up for me, saying I was a hard worker whom they didn't want to lose.  I kept my job.   :biggrin:

Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 10, 2012, 12:28:40 PM
yeccch.  I've had two cars shot out from under me with that exact same rationale.  I hope the police believed you! 

There were no witnesses or video, so he didn't have any evidence about who was telling the truth. Therefore, he couldn't cite anyone.

I'm pretty sure the car will be considered totaled. I remember the assessed tax value of the car being under $2000, and I doubt this (http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/405259_4362469621159_1463104418_n.jpg) will cost less than that to fix.

Edit: KBB private party value for the car is $2600. I still don't know if that'll get it fixed.

Quote from: Takumi on August 10, 2012, 03:30:45 PM

Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 10, 2012, 12:28:40 PM
yeccch.  I've had two cars shot out from under me with that exact same rationale.  I hope the police believed you! 

There were no witnesses or video, so he didn't have any evidence about who was telling the truth. Therefore, he couldn't cite anyone.

I'm pretty sure the car will be considered totaled. I remember the assessed tax value of the car being under $2000, and I doubt this (http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/405259_4362469621159_1463104418_n.jpg) will cost less than that to fix.

Edit: KBB private party value for the car is $2600. I still don't know if that'll get it fixed.

Does the car still drive with the metal crunched back? Doesn't look like any axle damage. If so, just drive it.

It's not drivable. Something came loose from the axle.

Update: the car was officially declared a total loss today.

Quote from: texaskdog on June 07, 2012, 10:23:12 AM

Quote from: bulkyorled on June 07, 2012, 01:16:45 AM
2007, step grandpa was going way too fast, and a light turned yellow and the stupid woman ahead of us slams on her breaks, boom rear ended her. Bent her bumper down and cracked the front on the van we were in but other than that there wasn't any visible damage but the van was totaled due to a cracked radiator among other cracked things. It was a 98 Ford Windstar and the other a 97 Nissan Sentra. She was technically at fault because she stopped RIGHT when it turned yellow but he was going too fast and was too close. That's what you get when you let an immigrant from Africa and a 74 year old man drive in the same lane at the same time

Usually they hold the driver in back at fault

Especially since he was speeding and following too close.

In HS, while heading home after swim practice, in a snow storm, guy runs a stop sign and stops in front of me.  Road was too slippery for stopping or evasive action, so I ended up hitting his front fender.  When police arrived, when asked for his DL, he handed the cop his Moose Lodge membership card.  Pretty sure he was intoxicated (my Dad knew the guy and thought that was a real possibility).  Was his fault, but the write up in the paper said only that I struck his car.

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Quote from: Takumi on August 10, 2012, 12:03:54 AM
Guess why I'm necroing this thread!

So today I was out stimulating the economic recovery (or whatever the hell) and I did this to an unfortunate lad who didn't do his left-right-left.



Looks bad, right?  This is mine, and it's my first accident in 21 years.



How those two compute I don't know and don't really care but it is somewhat amusing.  Both of us are fine, although I sure do know where my seat belt was sitting at the time. 

It's funny how your mind progresses.  I remember the anti lock kicking in, but I didn't stop in time.  But if you look at the damage, I was able to steer somewhat away from the impact (on my car) and not pop the airbags, so I think they did their job.  All in all it's pretty crazy and I think I'll find some new muscles I didn't know about tomorrow.

I've been in accidents in all cars I've owned, none where the car got totalled:

1986 Acura Integra RS:  In 1994, I was driving east to campus one morning with my windshield frosted over and didn't realize how bad it was when I felt the car jerk and I heard this loud crunching.  I hit another car that was stopped on the side of the road...the car had done the same thing I had.  The police faulted all of us for not clearing our windshield.  Luckily, only the bumper was damaged on my car.

1986 Toyota Cressida:  Thanksgiving weekend, 1996.  I was on US 25 heading towards Asheville when a logging truck made a U-turn.  My brakes were iffy anyway, and I slammed on the brakes.  Too late, one of the logs hanging off of the truck slammed into my windshield.  The replacement cost almost counted as totalling the vehicle, but we repaired it anyway.

1992 Volvo 240:  1998, after getting my car inspected to return to NC from DC, I backed out and hit a car pulling into the driveway.  Not sure, but I don't think I caused a lot of damage to the other car.

2000, pulling out of my work place, the company truck didn't see me in time and ripped my bumper all to hell.  My father was kind enough to repair the damage.

BUT GET THIS:  That same weekend, I came out to drive my car down to the car pad for the repair and found a note on my windshield.  It was the neighbor's kid.  He said he hit my car.  I didn't think much of it until I got out of my car and saw the door.  The driver's side rear door was crushed!!  They paid for it, thankfully, but what a time.

2002 Volvo S60:  I almost got away with no accidents for two years until Christmas 2006.  I was backing out of my friend's driveway when I didn't see another friend's SUV.  The damage?  A huge dent in the driver's side rear door.

Then in 2011, I was in the parking lot at work when I saw this car coming right towards me.  It didn't even stop as it slammed into my car broadside.  The driver's side door wouldn't even close after that.  Even worse, it was an uninsured driver.  Her husband offered to fix the door (and the rear one too) for free.  Unfortunately, he didn't get the paint even close, so the car looked like crap until I traded it in.

Next time, I'm calling the police.

Last but not least, and this made me absolutely sick.

2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid.  The day I drove the car off the lot, 5/17/12, I pulled into a Walgreens to take pictures to send to my friends and family.  I had a few problems adjusting to the engine, as I had only driven a hybrid once, so I pulled forward, and pulled back out.  I hear this loud snap and crunch.  I stop the car.  Another car, parked perpendicular to mine, had pulled out at the same time.  I looked in horror as I saw the damage:  the other car had ripped my rear bumper cover completely off at one side.  The police said the other driver was at fault, but the insurance company said otherwise and made me pay for my own repair.  The damage was heavy; $1000, half of which I had to pay as a deductible.  Even worse, the temporary repairs did not hold and I drove some distance with the cover dragging on the road.  Thankfully a local Toyota dealer did the repairs and it was like brand new again.

Quote from: OracleUsr on February 09, 2013, 10:45:59 PM
2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid.  The day I drove the car off the lot, 5/17/12, I pulled into a Walgreens to take pictures to send to my friends and family.  I had a few problems adjusting to the engine, as I had only driven a hybrid once, so I pulled forward, and pulled back out.  I hear this loud snap and crunch.  I stop the car.  Another car, parked perpendicular to mine, had pulled out at the same time.  I looked in horror as I saw the damage:  the other car had ripped my rear bumper cover completely off at one side.  The police said the other driver was at fault, but the insurance company said otherwise and made me pay for my own repair.  The damage was heavy; $1000, half of which I had to pay as a deductible.  Even worse, the temporary repairs did not hold and I drove some distance with the cover dragging on the road.  Thankfully a local Toyota dealer did the repairs and it was like brand new again.

Rule of thumb: if the other guy is deemed at fault by the police and gets the ticket, do not ever report it to your insurance company.  His/her insurance company is to pick it up 100%.  My agent was nice enough to give me this bit of advice.

I wrecked my old Chevy Cavalier on a rural road in NE Nebraska, basically going too fast when the road shifted from asphalt to gravel.  This was on the road that goes west from Herman, NE and occured at the Washington-Dodge Co line.  Apparently, Dodge Co didn't feel the need to warn anyone.  I've since learned to avoid gravel roads as much as possible, only using them when going to various relatives (they're farmers, naturally).  According to the NE highway map, this road is now all asphalt, so if I drove it today, I probably wouldn't have had that accident.

I hit deer with each of my Saturns.

When I worked for a courier outfit, basically driving a company van, I hit another deer making the overnight trip to Sioux City (this particular incident was the beginning of the end of my job there).  I also had another accident when I was driving the overnight route in town here in Omaha (thanks to the idiot regular driver getting himself suspended) and had an accident when a lady went through a blinking red light.  That one was deemed to be her fault, but I had a concussion and missed work for that.

Quote from: Brandon on February 09, 2013, 11:11:41 PM

Rule of thumb: if the other guy is deemed at fault by the police and gets the ticket, do not ever report it to your insurance company.  His/her insurance company is to pick it up 100%.  My agent was nice enough to give me this bit of advice.

My agent, the responding officer, and the towing company were kind enough to tell me the exact opposite of this today.  Since this is my first wreck I'll see how it goes.

Yes, Two, in the same car, a 1968 VW Bug, First, I was on my way to get my brakes fixed, they were so bad I had to pump them to stop (stupid teenager). I didnt get them pumped in time and hit the back of a car stopped at a red light. Girlfriend (current wife) hit the windshield, this was before(?) seatbelts were standard equipment in cars or worn regularity (1973). Didnt damage the windshield, small cut on gf head, large bruise on my right arm after she punched me. My rational was she knew the brakes were bad and she got in the car anyway so it was her fault too, didnt go over to well but we married exactly 3 years later.
Second wreck was on my 21st birthday the next year, heading home from the party with my best friend driving, (me passed out in the backseat  :pan:). He ran off the road onto the grass shoulder. overreacted and rolled the car, I remember waking up just as we rolled. It stopped on the roof and since it was a bug we got out and pushed it onto its wheels and drove away. Only damage was the left rear window broken (my hand went thru it during the roll and the right rear fender over the tire was pushed to the inside of the rear wheel.
While driving a taxi cab I jumped out of the merging lane too soon and right into the side of a passing Lincoln at 50mph, severe damage to both vehicles but I didnt lose my job. I was sorta the bosses pet, anytime he needed a driver I was available even if it was a double 12 hr shift. I wasnt a a$$ kisser, I loved to drive!probably had some $$ deducted from my paycheck, I dont remember.
In 20 yrs of driving a 18 wheeler the only "incidents" were hitting two deer  :clap:, one in a cabover truck at 62mph, no damage, the other in a Volvo cab @ 70mph. The hood, fenders and bumper of the truck were plastic so when we hit the front disinergrated (I mispelled that so bad spell check cant even figure it out, it offered incinerated  :-D), I spent a month at home while they replaced the front end. Wife has never had a ticket or accident in 40 yrs of driving :clap:

Quote from: Brandon on February 09, 2013, 11:11:41 PMRule of thumb: if the other guy is deemed at fault by the police and gets the ticket, do not ever report it to your insurance company.  His/her insurance company is to pick it up 100%.  My agent was nice enough to give me this bit of advice.

I find that really depends on who the carriers are. I've tendered claims where the other driver was at fault to my own carrier (State Farm) and asked them to subrogate. I've gotten excellent service every time, much better and faster than the time I tendered a claim to the other driver's carrier (GEICO). True, you do have to pay your deductible initially (that is part of your contract with your carrier), but you recover it when your carrier gets paid by the other driver's carrier because they include it in their demand. In terms of service, think of it this way–you pay premiums to your carrier and it's in their interest to keep your business. You don't pay anything to the other carrier. Their motivation to assist you is more or less nil.

Another reason I prefer to do it this way is that it makes dealing with a potential UIM situation a lot easier. The claims department has experience dealing with underinsured motorists (and there are an awful lot of them out there–all "underinsured" means is their policy's limits of liability aren't sufficient to cover all the damages–if you carry the statutory minimum coverage, you run a serious risk of being underinsured as a practical matter). I've never wound up in a situation where I had a UIM claim, but it's a lot easier to have the carrier handle it from the start as opposed to you learning from the other driver's carrier that his limits are too low and then you have to tender the excess claim to your carrier as a UIM claim, prove exhaustion of limits, etc....

As long as your insurance carrier recovers everything they pay you, your premium should not increase because from an actuarial standpoint an accident in which you're not at fault is one that does not represent an increased risk of loss to your insurance carrier because of the way you drive.

BTW, in the interest of full disclosure I should say that I am an attorney and I spent nine years doing insurance coverage work, so I have an easy time dealing with insurance carriers and they can instantly tell I know what I'm doing. The key thing for people who don't have insurance experience is to understand what subrogation is. You can find ample explanations online. All major insurance carriers have a subrogation unit that can handle the situation where the other driver is at fault. The one time someone at State Farm tried to tell me I should tender the claim to the other carrier, I simply replied, "I'd rather deal with State Farm, and I know the subrogation unit is quite capable of getting you reimbursed." End of discussion–they handled the claim immediately.

QuoteEver been involved in a Car Accident?

Nope. But I've deliberately crashed into cars many times.

Quote from: Brandon on February 09, 2013, 11:11:41 PM

Quote from: OracleUsr on February 09, 2013, 10:45:59 PM
2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid.  The day I drove the car off the lot, 5/17/12, I pulled into a Walgreens to take pictures to send to my friends and family.  I had a few problems adjusting to the engine, as I had only driven a hybrid once, so I pulled forward, and pulled back out.  I hear this loud snap and crunch.  I stop the car.  Another car, parked perpendicular to mine, had pulled out at the same time.  I looked in horror as I saw the damage:  the other car had ripped my rear bumper cover completely off at one side.  The police said the other driver was at fault, but the insurance company said otherwise and made me pay for my own repair.  The damage was heavy; $1000, half of which I had to pay as a deductible.  Even worse, the temporary repairs did not hold and I drove some distance with the cover dragging on the road.  Thankfully a local Toyota dealer did the repairs and it was like brand new again.

Rule of thumb: if the other guy is deemed at fault by the police and gets the ticket, do not ever report it to your insurance company.  His/her insurance company is to pick it up 100%.  My agent was nice enough to give me this bit of advice.

Would have loved to, but the police said it was not a reportable incident because it didn't do enough damage, so it was my word against the other drivers'

$1000 worth of damage wasn't sufficient damage? Geez, I'm never going to North Carolina in a car.

Quote from: deanej on June 03, 2012, 12:26:55 PM
I don't understand the accident vs crash vs collision terminology debate.  Accident does not mean "random" like my driver's ed textbook would have you believe.  It means "not intentional".  I doubt very much that people involved in accidents intended to hit another car.

"Accident" implies to some that the crash was a "random" "act of God." Most involve some degree of negligence on someone's part -- distraction, unsafe speed for conditions, following too closely, driving after having ingested substances, etc -- and were therefore preventable. "Crash" and "collision" describe what occurred without ascribing either blame or a lack of blame.

I had started working in Trenton, NJ in 1998.  Nearly on a daily basis I see some sort of accident along my route - sometimes minor stuff where info's exchanged, and sometimes way more major.  I said to myself, one of these days, I'll be one of those vehicles.  Having said that...

6/15/00 - 9 days before my wedding.  I'm on NJ 42 approaching the infamous 295/42/76 interchange.  It's raining.  Traffic's congested.  I slow to a stop.  Somehow the gal in the F-150 behind me left a large gap, sped up, then skidded on the wet roadway into my Nissan Sentra.  We both pull to the shoulder.  She's on her phone crying to her hubby or whomever.  I call the police.  Within literally 30 seconds, one of NJ's Emergency Service Patrol vehicles pulls up.  The cop pulls up a few moments later (the police barracks were literally on the other side of the sound barrier from the highway).  My car's rear end is seriously messed up, but I was able to drive it away, all the way up to Trenton.  Didn't have another person tailgate me that day! :-)  I was fine, although I had to spend much of my honeymoon dealing with insurance companies.  The car was declared totaled, but the repair shop said they'll fix it for the money the insurance company gave me.  Took them nearly a month, mostly because they had no reason to rush (grrr....).  She was obviously at fault.  I went to court and she was there with her entire family (young kids, etc).  I knew she wanted the sympathy vote.  Knowing how NJ courts work, I told the prosecutor that if she wants the ticket downgraded to a no-point violation, I'm fine with that as long as she got the maximum fine (which was like $200 or so).  Since there was no other reason for me to stick around, I left.  I never found out what her penalty was.

My wife's major accident, around 2003: On Rt. 42 again (you know, I never thought of the coincidence there, probably because it was on the Jersey freeway portion, not the limited access portion), a deer jumps in front of her.  She swerves to the right, gets on someone's front yard, swerves left, and slams into a telephone pole, splitting it a good 15' up.  The deer then runs back by her, and we're pretty sure it laughed at her.  She was in a Sebring Convertible, and is a die-hard animal lover.  Overall, emotionally wise, she was probably better off hitting that pole than the deer.

The what-could've-been-a-fatal-accident-that-wasn't: Shortly after we were married, I left home to go to work in the morning.  At the first major intersection, I have the right-of-way; the intersecting street has a stop sign.  The intersecting car stopped, then for whatever reason pulled out directly in front of me.  I SLAMMED on my brakes, and very quite possibly touched her driver's side door.  I backed up, she completed her left turn and pulled over.  I made a u-turn in the intersection.  She was going to the high school at that intersection, so I told her to go to the parking lot so we can exchange info, even though there wasn't any apparent damage.  She was scared shitless...I wasn't exactly very happy either. A few days later she called me to make sure I was OK, and that I wasn't going to report it. I'm of course a lot more calm by this point, and promised her it wasn't going to be reported.

I've been in a few accidents in my driving years:

4/13/05 - I was driving to work in the morning along eastbound I-196 in Grandville, Michigan ... in a spot that's notorious for backing up during the morning commute. I was in the left lane and had looked down at the radio for about 3 seconds. Out of the corner of my eye I saw traffic in the right lane moving a bit faster, and in those 3 seconds, I somehow decided it was safe enough for me to glance down at the radio. WRONG. The traffic ahead of me had stopped. I suddenly looked up and realized that it was too late for me to stop without rear-ending him, which ended up happening. The guy in front of me also hit the car in front of him. I got a ticket, and so did the guy in front of me. I was prepared to pay my fine (not to mention my insurance deductible) and be done with it. Well, the guy I rear-ended fought his ticket in court, so I had to go and testify what happened. I had the feeling his driving record wasn't very good.

1/24/06 - (Another accident in which I was at fault... and another accident in which I was rushing to get to work on time.) The company I worked at back then (in Walker, Michigan) is at a corner with a traffic light. When you turn north into the intersection, you are turning into the company's driveway. I was eastbound, approaching the traffic light, and getting to turn left (north) into the driveway. Well, the roads were kinda bad that morning and it was slick. I was in the center lane and the light turned yellow. There was a car coming westbound toward me, but I could have sworn he was slowing down to stop. Stupid me... I pulled out in front of him because I "assumed" he would stop. Well, I think he tried to stop but couldn't stop in time because of the ice. He clipped the driver-rear corner of my bumper. At first it looked like he was going to just drive away. After I pulled into the driveway, I turned around to follow him/chase him a little bit. I can't remember if we ended up connecting or if eventually drove away. There was no police report involved, but I had to pay my deductible again. My car was fixed in a few days.

10/30/07 - Driving home from work in downtown Grand Rapids on westbound I-196. We were in stop-and-go traffic, and a young girl rear-ended me. No major damage... just a few dents to the bumper. I called 911, but they told me the police would not go out there if the damage seemed like it would be less than $1,000. I decided to take it to the body shop to get fixed, and I don't think I had to pay my deductible.

2/25/12 - I was down in Kalamazoo MI after just visiting my partner's parents. He and I were driving separately because he was hauling some furniture in a U-Haul out of his deceased grandmother's house. Anyway, I was on a busy stretch of S. Westnedge Ave. near the mall (the main north-south thoroughfare in the Kalamazoo area). A young girl was driving what appeared to be her parents' sedan and had two or three of her teenage friends with her. She wasn't paying attention and rear-ended me. The damage to my bumper was very minimal, and I didn't even bother going to a repair shop. (I ended up buying a new vehicle 3 months later so I really didn't care anymore.)

Quote from: A.J. Bertin on March 21, 2013, 12:52:40 PM
I've been in a few accidents in my driving years:

4/13/05 - I was driving to work in the morning along eastbound I-196 in Grandville, Michigan ... in a spot that's notorious for backing up during the morning commute. I was in the left lane and had looked down at the radio for about 3 seconds. Out of the corner of my eye I saw traffic in the right lane moving a bit faster, and in those 3 seconds, I somehow decided it was safe enough for me to glance down at the radio. WRONG. The traffic ahead of me had stopped. I suddenly looked up and realized that it was too late for me to stop without rear-ending him, which ended up happening. The guy in front of me also hit the car in front of him. I got a ticket, and so did the guy in front of me. I was prepared to pay my fine (not to mention my insurance deductible) and be done with it. Well, the guy I rear-ended fought his ticket in court, so I had to go and testify what happened. I had the feeling his driving record wasn't very good.

....

So what happened in court when you went to testify?

Quote from: 1995hoo on March 21, 2013, 01:49:24 PM

Quote from: A.J. Bertin on March 21, 2013, 12:52:40 PM
I've been in a few accidents in my driving years:

4/13/05 - I was driving to work in the morning along eastbound I-196 in Grandville, Michigan ... in a spot that's notorious for backing up during the morning commute. I was in the left lane and had looked down at the radio for about 3 seconds. Out of the corner of my eye I saw traffic in the right lane moving a bit faster, and in those 3 seconds, I somehow decided it was safe enough for me to glance down at the radio. WRONG. The traffic ahead of me had stopped. I suddenly looked up and realized that it was too late for me to stop without rear-ending him, which ended up happening. The guy in front of me also hit the car in front of him. I got a ticket, and so did the guy in front of me. I was prepared to pay my fine (not to mention my insurance deductible) and be done with it. Well, the guy I rear-ended fought his ticket in court, so I had to go and testify what happened. I had the feeling his driving record wasn't very good.

....

So what happened in court when you went to testify?

The more I think about it, the more I remember that I was not called to the witness stand or anything. I was just there in case they needed to ask me questions, and I'm pretty sure they did not. I think the guy lost his fight and still had to pay the ticket (and maybe incur a couple points on his driving record). If I would have been called up front to answer questions, I would have just been honest and said, "Hey... the whole thing was my fault." But they didn't ask me anything.

I can't believe I forgot to mention the very first accident I was ever in!

8/4/00 - This was an exciting day because my brother and I drove down to the Cedar Point for the day from our home in the northern suburbs of Detroit. (In case anyone isn't familiar with it, Cedar Point is a huge amusement park with lots and lots of roller coasters. Being in the hot sun and walking all around the park can be very exhausting.) Well, it's about a 2- or 3-hour drive from Utica MI to Sandusky OH. I was driving my dad's car: a '93 Ford Taurus.

My brother and I left early in the morning, got to the park by around 10 a.m., stayed at the park until about 7:30 p.m. We stopped for dinner somewhere in Sandusky before continuing on home. It didn't occur to me how tired I really was. Well, around 10 p.m. we were headed northbound on I-275 near the Detroit suburb of Romulus. My brother had fallen asleep in the passenger seat, and then I fell asleep behind the wheel. All of a sudden, BAM! The side of the car slammed into a guard rail. We were definitely jolted awake. I stopped a moment later to regain my composure. A guy who witnessed it came up to make sure we were okay. I then got off at the next exit, pulled into a gas station, and called my dad. The passenger-side door was jammed shut and there was a huge dent all along the side of the car. After we told my parents what happened, they called the police, but the police never came. I was too shaken up to drive the rest of the way home, so my parents drove out about an hour to where we were to drive home. My dad was able to fix the door but didn't bother taking it to a body shop for the dents. That car eventually became the first car I had on my own while I was in Kalamazoo going to college, but my dad eventually got rid of it sometime in '03 or '04.

That was a scary experience for sure.

In my very early days of learning how to drive, I side-swiped a tree in a parking lot.  It was at a municipal park, and I was doing a U turn to get back to the street; I thought I had room enough to complete the turn, but hit the tree instead.

Also in high school, I hit a parked car in the school parking lot in the evening.  I don't even remember how I did it, but I ran right into the back of a perpendicular-parked car at very slow speed.  It dented the front bumper of the car (my mom's).  I never said anything about it, and they didn't notice the dent for a few days.  By that time, we had hit a deer on the highway in the same car, but had had the chance to slow down to about 20 mph first (the deer got up and we drove away).  Later, they noticed the dent in the bumper and attributed it to the deer; I didn't argue.

Reviving this thread after my unfortunate day.

I was on a highway clinching trip in Racine/Walworth Counties in Wisconsin. I was WB on WI 50 approaching Delavan. At the junction with CTH F, a very old pickup truck pulled out in front of me. I could have slammed on the breaks, but I mistakenly believed that he was going to hold in the left turn lane and then slot in behind me. That is not, in fact, what he did and he proceeded into my lane and sideswiped me. The exterior damage was not severe, but after the police came and took a report and I started on my way, I noticed that the alignment/suspension were definitely out of whack (out of whack is as technical as my car knowledge gets). I hobbled home, going 45 mph most of the way, worried that something would break at any moment but did eventually make it home.

I think my 2014 CX-5 is cursed. I got rear-ended while at a stoplight in 2017, got hit while parked in a garage in 2018, and now this. I doubt it's totaled, but I'm really hoping for it as I'm ready to move on.

Easter weekend 1998 on a Saturday night.  I was driving back home to Corpus Christi from Houston on US 59 and was almost killed by a drunk driver in the town of El Campo.  Thankfully I only suffered a fractured left arm (humerus) and fractured left knee (tibial area), and a burned left wrist; I was airlifted by helicopter back to Houston and resided at the Hermann Medical Center for surgeries and spent the next two months on a wheelchair while on physical therapy.  The four other relatives in my vehicle all escaped with minor scars and bruises and were taken to the nearby clinics and treated and released the next morning.  With my high school graduation coming up the next month at the end of May, I was home-schooled for the remainder of my senior year; my teachers and several students would visit me at home to go over the classes.  And being left-handed, I could not write anything so most of my assignments I typed in short answers on printing paper with my right hand, which remained undamaged.  On graduation night, I was wheeled across the stage by our class valedictorian to be handed my diploma.  I was finally able to walk independently again in mid-June; and I felt fully healed/normal again by my first semester in college that fall.

The other driver of the Ford Transit van was heavily intoxicated and without yielding/stopping, crossed the southbound US 59 lanes to get to a gas station and was slammed by my car.  From my point of view, it was nighttime and as I approached Divide Street in El Campo going the legal speed limit at that time (65 MPH), the large van pulled up right in front of me with no time to brake, then the next thing I knew when I regained consciousness there were emergency vehicles all around me informing me of what transpired.  I was told the drunk driver ran away on foot but was eventually found and apprehended hours later.

From that day onward, I never took anything for granted while driving.  I always approached each and every intersection carefully scanning both sides even when I have the right-of-way.  What still upsets me and even more so scares me to this day is that my state isn't tough enough on drunk drivers, especially repeat offenders.  I hear from a number of people with a DUI on their record that they were allowed to drive again in less than a year, which is very unsettling.

I've hit a deer and a chicken. The chicken actually caused more damage than the deer. Both left my car without much damage.

I didn't think I was going to have to post in this thread like this, but I guess with all the mileage I've been putting on, it was inevitable.

I was out yesterday in Grant County, Wisconsin, also doing some route clinching. My goal was to get the final remaining segments of US-61 and WI-80 to clinch the entire county as I was very close. I managed to do that, but shortly after heading into Iowa County to head back south, as dusk was setting in, I hit a deer. I braked slightly before impact which helped at least a bit, even if it was only to save me from potential injury. I was not physically harmed, but now I was about 40 miles away from my apartment, in the middle of rural Wisconsin as night was falling, unsure of whether my car would hold up. The front right area was well damaged.

Thankfully, despite some loose pieces, the car did make it, though I drove 10-20 mph slower than usual in case something went wrong or even that I had another deer encounter. Now we wait to see if the damage is too expensive to repair and it's written off. I really hope not, that car has been great even though I've done many stupid things driving in it. Another one to add to the list unfortunately.

I'm grateful to be here to type this though. If you ever have to be out on the road at dusk in the Midwest, just slow down. The 10 mph slower speed and higher awareness might just save yourself the hassle that I caused.

Or better yet, don't go route clinching at stupid hours, especially alone and without proper planning and awareness.

The most recent one (I think spring 2018) I was on I-95 south in Pennsylvania just before I-476, and an accident scene distracted me, so I didn't slow down in time and rear-ended someone.  My car was totaled.

I had two accidents in one week in December 2002.  The first one I was at fault - I was coming over a bridge kind of fast and made a right turn, not seeing that someone (a state senator's wife) was stopped, and waiting to merge.  Later that week (in the same car, I had it taped up waiting to get it fixed) I was coming out of a shopping center.  The light turned green, and the pickup truck in front of me hit the gas, but was in reverse and plowed into me.  The driver shifted into drive and took off.

In February 1997, I went exploring down a semi-paved road in NW Arizona, curious as to whether there was a connection across Lake Mohave to the other side in Arizona.  It got dark right about where the road ended at the entrance to Lake Mead NRA.  I went around in circles a little bit looking for the road back (the smart thing to do would have been to turn the keys off and spend the night) but I mistook a path for a wash and plowed into it.  It took me a day and a half to reach some semblance of civilization, but the first trailer I came to, the folks there took me in and towed the car in.  It was totaled - I'd put a piston through a valve.  (And the insurance wouldn't pay on it.)

I've had a few other scrapes along the way, but nothing recent.

Haven't been involved in one myself yet (and hopefully never), though been in one where my parents were involved. Most memorable part of this accident for me is that I found out about one way how enhanced mile markers are useful. Parents had 14 year old me do the 911 call for some reason, and because we were stopped on the left shoulder, the dispatcher had me look for the closest blue 0.1 mile marker in the median (varies by location, but that's what it's like here in Cincinnati), and tell them the number on it, so the cops can find our location more easily.

Sounds like the opening line to a lawyer commercial on radio or TV. :-D

Quote from: corco on February 10, 2013, 11:54:49 AM
$1000 worth of damage wasn't sufficient damage? Geez, I'm never going to North Carolina in a car.

My father only had to pay $500 for his $5000 damage to his slightly new 2014 Toyota Corolla. Got hit by a deer.
Bryce

Quote from: snowc on May 17, 2022, 11:22:12 AM
Got hit by a deer.

Huh, that doesn't happen often.

Quote from: Scott5114 on May 18, 2022, 01:01:22 AM

Quote from: snowc on May 17, 2022, 11:22:12 AM
Got hit by a deer.

Huh, that doesn't happen often.

I did, back in December 2020. I was on US 431 just north of Springfield, Tennessee and a lone deer stepped out onto the edge of the road. There was no shoulder, so I slowed down to 25-30, thinking I'd just stop for it or just verge slightly over the center line, if possible and necessary.

Just as I was in front of it, giving it a little room, the deer ran anyway! It butted up against the car between the passenger-side doors, giving it a good hollow crunch sound, which surprised the heck out of me! I slowed down, but without any shoulder to pull over for another 500 feet or so, I watched from the rear view as it sprang back up and limped back over to the shoulder. The car (a rental) suffered no damage, just a superficial mark or two.

Thus, the only time I've hit a deer was when it tried to T-bone me, or as some would say, "a racing incident".

Quote from: formulanone on May 18, 2022, 07:53:54 AM

Quote from: Scott5114 on May 18, 2022, 01:01:22 AM

Quote from: snowc on May 17, 2022, 11:22:12 AM
Got hit by a deer.

Huh, that doesn't happen often.

I did, back in December 2020. I was on US 431 just north of Springfield, Tennessee and a lone deer stepped out onto the edge of the road. There was no shoulder, so I slowed down to 25-30, thinking I'd just stop for it or just verge slightly over the center line, if possible and necessary.

Just as I was in front of it, giving it a little room, the deer ran anyway! It butted up against the car between the passenger-side doors, giving it a good hollow crunch sound, which surprised the heck out of me! I slowed down, but without any shoulder to pull over for another 500 feet or so, I watched from the rear view as it sprang back up and limped back over to the shoulder. The car (a rental) suffered no damage, just a superficial mark or two.

Thus, the only time I've hit a deer was when it tried to T-bone me, or as some would say, "a racing incident".

Yep, I knew someone that had a deer run into the side of their car as well in northern WI.  Did some damage, too.

I think Scott5114 was being sarcastic. At least, I assume he was.

Quote from: Rothman on May 18, 2022, 07:59:13 AM

Quote from: formulanone on May 18, 2022, 07:53:54 AM

Quote from: Scott5114 on May 18, 2022, 01:01:22 AM

Quote from: snowc on May 17, 2022, 11:22:12 AM
Got hit by a deer.

Huh, that doesn't happen often.

I did, back in December 2020. I was on US 431 just north of Springfield, Tennessee and a lone deer stepped out onto the edge of the road. There was no shoulder, so I slowed down to 25-30, thinking I'd just stop for it or just verge slightly over the center line, if possible and necessary.

Just as I was in front of it, giving it a little room, the deer ran anyway! It butted up against the car between the passenger-side doors, giving it a good hollow crunch sound, which surprised the heck out of me! I slowed down, but without any shoulder to pull over for another 500 feet or so, I watched from the rear view as it sprang back up and limped back over to the shoulder. The car (a rental) suffered no damage, just a superficial mark or two.

Thus, the only time I've hit a deer was when it tried to T-bone me, or as some would say, "a racing incident".

Yep, I knew someone that had a deer run into the side of their car as well in northern WI.  Did some damage, too.

Actually, when I did hit that deer I mentioned earlier, it technically hit me. I was on US 221 in Crossnore late at night and I saw a deer on the road. I slowed down, honked, and it ran off the road into the woods by the edge of the road, so I sped back up, then the dipshit ran into the side of my car.

I know that they get dazzled by headlights but I don't know if there's any explanation for deer being that stupid. How do you see something you successfully avoid, dodge it, watch it come for you, then run straight into the side of it?

Quote from: 1995hoo on May 18, 2022, 08:06:55 AM
I think Scott5114 was being sarcastic. At least, I assume he was.

That doesn't sound like something he'd do.

Quote from: index on May 18, 2022, 08:27:51 AM
I know that they get dazzled by headlights but I don't know if there's any explanation for deer being that stupid. How do you see something you successfully avoid, dodge it, watch it come for you, then run straight into the side of it?

I'm no zoologist, but whitetail deer's predators max out at around 40 mph, so my guess would be that they simply aren't able to accurately judge the motion of things traveling faster than that.

Quote from: index on May 18, 2022, 08:27:51 AM
I know that they get dazzled by headlights but I don't know if there's any explanation for deer being that stupid. How do you see something you successfully avoid, dodge it, watch it come for you, then run straight into the side of it?

They took lessons from squirrels?

I thought Scott5114 was distinguishing "hit a deer" vs. "got hit by a deer".

When a car hits a deer, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a deer hits a car, that is news.

I ran over a deer on UT 95 departing Blanding in October 2016 with my 2014 Chevy Sonic LT.  The deer ran out in front of me with maybe 200 feet of room to spare.  The options I had to were either of run over the deer or drive off a steep bank on the shoulder, the former was lesser of two evils.  I took some major cosmetic damage to the front clip and pushed my drive belt pulley slightly, but wasn't anything that rendered my car unusable.  I did get some weird looks from San Juan County Sheriff as I was descending the Moki Dugway with a partially pushed in hood.

I've hit a deer, some dirt, and the back of someone else's car.
I've also been hit by two other vehicles.
At this point in my life, I believe if you haven't been in a car accident, you're not a "real" roadgeek.

Quote from: Scott5114 on May 18, 2022, 05:44:11 PM
When a car hits a deer, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a deer hits a car, that is news.

We generally say, "the car hit a deer," but most of the time both objects are in motion so really the car and deer are hitting each other. I agree that a deer hitting a (stationary) car is pretty rare.

That's what I was thinking too.

In baseball, does the batter hit the ball, or does the pitcher hit the bat?

Quote from: Rothman on May 18, 2022, 07:59:13 AM

Quote from: formulanone on May 18, 2022, 07:53:54 AM

Quote from: Scott5114 on May 18, 2022, 01:01:22 AM

Quote from: snowc on May 17, 2022, 11:22:12 AM
Got hit by a deer.

Huh, that doesn't happen often.

I did, back in December 2020. I was on US 431 just north of Springfield, Tennessee and a lone deer stepped out onto the edge of the road. There was no shoulder, so I slowed down to 25-30, thinking I'd just stop for it or just verge slightly over the center line, if possible and necessary.

Just as I was in front of it, giving it a little room, the deer ran anyway! It butted up against the car between the passenger-side doors, giving it a good hollow crunch sound, which surprised the heck out of me! I slowed down, but without any shoulder to pull over for another 500 feet or so, I watched from the rear view as it sprang back up and limped back over to the shoulder. The car (a rental) suffered no damage, just a superficial mark or two.

Thus, the only time I've hit a deer was when it tried to T-bone me, or as some would say, "a racing incident".

Yep, I knew someone that had a deer run into the side of their car as well in northern WI.  Did some damage, too.

Happened to my parents in Door County.  When they filed a claim, the adjuster wanted to know if they knew who owned the deer.

People do own deer.  When I was a little kid in New Lenox (IL), I used to go across the railroad tracks, through the woods, and feed the deer that were kept in a pen by a man who bought and sold animals at auction.  I'd feed them apples and carrots through the fence.

Interestingly, that land was approximately where Deerfield Lane is now.

The Explorer incident back in 2001 was a reason why I decided to get rid of it. It was a typical rainy day in Seattle, and some moron in an Acura was hydroplaning through the intersection where I had the right-of-way. I swerved just to avoid hitting him, but flipped over when I tried to correct the turn. I saw my life flash before my eyes and wondered how the hell I got rid of a perfectly fine first car for this. Anyway, it ended up being a total loss, and after hearing of the Ford recalls, I made a promise never to buy another one of its products. So I ended up buying a Tahoe, and ended up enjoying it for several years afterwards.

Yesterday afternoon, my mom was in an accident (she's OK).  She was heading straight through a tight diamond interchange, on the cross-road under the highway, on a green light.  An oncoming vehicle turned left into the rear of my mom's car, smashing it in, then kept on going up the ramp and onto the highway.  My mom, sitting there in shock in the middle of the intersection, didn't know what to think or do next.  The driver next to her stopped, pulled the SD card out of her dashcam, and told her:  I got the whole thing on video, these things are only like twenty bucks, keep it.  Behind her was a police officer, who proceeded to swing out around her, head up the ramp, and pull the driver over on the highway.  No surprise:  they'd been drinking.

5 of them now. Some just bad luck. Some I'm just a lousy piece of shit driver who deserves to die in a 6th.

- Hit a deer on IL 116 in 2016
- flipped on an icy NY 41 on 11/28/18
- rear-ended a tow truck because I misinterpreted a light as being my lane in April 2021.
- hit a couple jaywalking pedestrians on 9/29/21 when I got blinded by the sun in East Aurora NY. (I still got blamed by insurance for that, even though the ones I hit told the cops they were jaywalking.) Also, rather than handle this like an adult, I pulled over immediately and started taking my car door and beating myself hard with the car door until they put me in handcuffs to stop hurting myself. Carted off to the psych ward for that. 
- Driving on US 250 approaching Cameron, WV, something broke in the undercarriage of my car, turned right and flipped over on 4/17/22.

Just a fucking loser am I.

Nope. 🤞

Quote from: Roadgeek Adam on January 13, 2023, 10:17:01 AM
- hit a couple jaywalking pedestrians on 9/29/21 when I got blinded by the sun in East Aurora NY. (I still got blamed by insurance for that, even though the ones I hit told the cops they were jaywalking.)

Well, yeah, drivers still aren't allowed to just run jaywalkers down.  But in all fairness, they should have only assigned partial fault.

Been driving since 2015 and nope, zero so far. I technically had a fender bender in a parking lot in Riverhead, but since I was completely stopped when it happened so I don't even know if you can count that. (The other guy bumped me when he was backing up into a spot). Speaking of fender benders, when will people learn to pull over to the shoulder on the highway to exchange info? Blocking traffic with that shit should be a major ticketable offense. Half the time you pass them you can't even spot where the damage is, and there standing there in the middle lane chatting. That's even worse than the left lane daydreamers. Move over!

Quote from: kphoger on January 13, 2023, 10:26:39 AM

Quote from: Roadgeek Adam on January 13, 2023, 10:17:01 AM
- hit a couple jaywalking pedestrians on 9/29/21 when I got blinded by the sun in East Aurora NY. (I still got blamed by insurance for that, even though the ones I hit told the cops they were jaywalking.)

Well, yeah, drivers still aren't allowed to just run jaywalkers down.  But in all fairness, they should have only assigned partial fault.

Cops were sympathetic to my view of things given it was freaking blinding sun in East Aurora. They couldn't see much either. Thankfully this jaywalking mess wasn't severe. I was making a right turn and they were trying to cross against the light. I only knocked them down.

My old car, a 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage, was totaled in August when someone in a Buick slammed into the back of me while I was waiting at a red light in South Carolina. I'm actually pretty glad that happened because it meant I wouldn't have to drive a dorky, lame, embarrassing shitbox anymore. Called the Highway Patrol, was declared not at fault, and in 14 days I had a less boring car that I can actually adjust the angle of the driver's seat in so I'm not straining my back, courtesy of Liberty Mutual. Oh, and I actually have a place to rest my arm now when I've got one hand on the wheel. And I have the latest advancements in modern technology such as cruise control, Bluetooth, power seats, and believe it or not, an engine with FOUR whole cylinders!

I will not miss that car.

A month after I got my driver's license, I had a Toyota Matrix which was my grandmother's car and I t-boned someone who pulled out in front of me. Since then, I now have a Toyota RAV4.

A minor one last summer. It happened in a parking lot as we were both pulling out at the same time. Strangely the driver was not the owner. I gave her my insurance information politely as she had asked. Then low and behold the owner shows up on facebook sending me threats that I had to either make the insurance company pay or I had to pay myself or else he would take it to court. After the insurance company wouldn't pay due to a 50-50 tie at least I never heard from him again but wow all that for a tiny dent. I hate to see how he would have reacted if it had been much worse. You learn the hard way the dangers of having a facebook account people will just misuse it for anything they want.

I got served papers, last week, for a traffic accident I had in Wisconsin, 3 years ago.

Twice, both times my fault.

Not too proud of my track record. some brushes with animals, some not my fault, several minor bumps because my head was up my ass but thankfully no one other than myself and a few animals have been hurt:

1999: a month after I got my license, a block from my house. I'm on the highway. A car pulls out from a stop sign in front of me and I slam on the brakes, avoid T-Boning her, and clip her rear quarter panel. Her son was in the back seat coming home from a camping trip and cushioned from impact by his rolled up sleeping bags and pads next to him in the back seat. Other driver got the ticket.

2006: motorcycle accident. Riding home late at night on a rural highway, at an intersection. pickup in the left turn lane, guardrail to my right. calf darted into my lane. Nowhere to swerve. 55-60 mph impact, I fly over the handlebars Animal died, bike was totaled, I got flown to L1 Trauma center for head injuries, evaluated, stitched up and sent home once my parents could get me. No ticket.

2007: waiting to turn left into my neighborhood, rush hour traffic, opposite direction in the #1 and #2 lanes leave a gap and wave me across. as I'm inching my way through, an SUV in lane #3 comes barreling down the road and tears off my front bumper. I got the ticket. I avoid uncontrolled lefts in heavy traffic to this day.

2008: Waiting at a stop light to turn left onto the freeway onramp, the car ahead of me (presumably driven by a drunk) backs into my bumper, puts it back in Drive and takes off when we get the green arrow. No police report, no interaction, no damage

2008: Turning right at a yield at a SPUI, I crane my neck over to the left to see that it's clear, roll ahead and bump the minivan ahead of me which was stopped for no reason and I failed to notice. No damage; no police. Pictures and insurance info exchanged, but no claims. She gave me a bible.

2011: coming home from work, road is freshly chip sealed with loose gravel. SUV ahead of me stops abruptly, 40 ft short of a stop sign. My wheels lock up and I bump her rear bumper. We get out, assess. she scolds me to pay attention and leaves.

2013: leaving a town, ascending into the hills, two deer dart in front of me. I brake, swerve and avoid one only to hit the other. Impact broke its neck and sent it flying to the shoulder of the road. I  pull it completely off the road and call local police to see if a report is needed. Dispatch advises me I'm good to go; unless I need a report number for my insurance, I don't need to stick around.

2017: My daughter is critically ill and gets flown to hospital in city two hours away, mom gets to ride in heli. Am told pilot will be battling winds of 50+ knots due to storm i follow in car, tired and a hot mess from several preceding 16 hour work days. For majority of trip I'm doing 100+ on interstate. Incidentally once I got news they landed, I calmed and slowed to speed limit (75). Ten minutes later a coyote darts onto the freeway in front of me and I hit it dead center in my front bumper, destroying the radiator and disabling the car. I limp to the next exit, call highway patrol. In my state I tell everyone who needs to know, that "I hit a wolf.(took many years to live that one down)" Trooper responds, super calming presence, helps me decide what to do with car. takes the accident report, calls the tow, and gives me a ride to the edge of the city. From there I take an Uber to the hospital, arriving almost 4 hours later than I originally would have.

2018: Late at night, jackrabbit darts into road, causes $2k in damage to the front of my car (same car in which I hit the coyote a year prior)

2018: Rush hour traffic, coming home from work, everyone's bumper to bumper. car in front of pack stops suddenly, with ripple effect of each car behind slamming progressively harder on their brakes, and unfortunately I bumped the car in front of me. We get out, verify we're ok and there's no damage, opt not to report, and go on our way.

I've only been in one as a passenger, a minor collision in Boston. No injuries except the car got scrapped. Could have been fixed but it would be too expensive. Unless you count another very minor fender bender in Newton.

Does rear ending someone count? 

Three vehicles I have had or owned had insurance claims on them.

2002 Ford Taurus: Rear ended a lifted Toyota Tundra while trying to come to a stop on a heavily-traveled street (in a lane shared by passing drivers and turning drivers) before reaching an intersection in heavy traffic, totaling my car. (May 9, 2023) Hit by a truck in a roundabout. (March 2022) Minor bumper impact with the tow hitch hole on a Dodge Ram. (April 11, 2023)

1995 Saab 900 Convertible: Car turned out in front of me, and I also braked before impact, but still hit the side of that Hyundai Accent at 30 mph, totaling both cars.. (August 1, 2020)

2002 Lexus ES330: Headed home on an afternoon, and a Chrysler PT Cruiser driver ran a stop sign, and my vehicle went into the PT Cruiser at 45 mph, knocking my car and hers away from each other, and totaled both cars. (October 4, 2021)

None of these were injury crashes for me, or the Tundra driver, but the PT Cruiser and Accent drivers weren't too lucky, having to be taken to a hospital, and their cars cut to free them. I replaced the Taurus with a 2016 Ford Escape, the Saab with a 2003 Chevrolet Tahoe, and the Lexus with a 2009 Lincoln Town Car.

Yes. But not a major one. And not with me as the driver.

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.

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.

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.

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.

(https://i.ibb.co/wdWrsYk/IMG-20160704-224246.jpg)

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

Quote from: LilianaUwU on November 17, 2023, 08:11:03 AM
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.

Quote from: NWI_Irish96 on November 17, 2023, 08:27:50 AM

Quote from: LilianaUwU on November 17, 2023, 08:11:03 AM
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.

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).

Quote from: webny99 on February 06, 2024, 06:31:14 PM
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.

^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.)

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).

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.