Car accident stories

[KJ4VOV]

I was coming home one night, just after dark. It was a two lane city street with parking on both sides and a pretty fair sized hill I was starting down. It had snowed, and the road was slippery with packed snow. I was going slow, no more than 10-15 MPH, when about four cars ahead of me two kids on a sled suddenly popped out from between two parked cars. I knew better than to panic brake, but even lightly touching the pedal started me sliding and my only two choices came down to hitting the kids or getting the car to slide into the parked cars and stop. I, of course, chose the parked cars, and bashed in the side of an immaculately restored '62 Ford Falcon (this was in the early 80's).

It took the cops about 45 minutes to get there and start taking the report, and I was sitting in the back of the squad car filling out the paperwork when the owner of the Falcon showed up. From how perfectly restored the car was I expected him to blow his top, so I was pretty surprised when he shook my hand and told the cops to forget the accident report, he'd take care of the damages to both cars himself at the body shop he owned. It turns out the two kids on the sled were his, and he couldn't thank me enough for not hitting them. (He also called them complete idiots and grounded them for a month.)

[Gyrfalcon]

I witnessed one particularly memorable negligent ("accident" would be too kind a word for what happened) while driving down a major highway. It was light traffic, so of course, there was a punk weaving in and out beween and past the other cars, he being one of the many people who consider other human beings to be nothing more than pilons in their personal slalom course. Said punk clipped a small white car, which immediately turned and slammed perfectly squarely backward into a guardrail, probably moving at about 50 MPH. The two female passengers were completely unhurt, a testament to modern vehicles. And their seat belts.

Weavers. Jayne Cobb would probably have something to say about them.

[skelco]

In the late 80s, I was driving around with a few friends on a typical Friday night, no destination, just looking for stuff to do. I was in a bad mood, after nearly being arrested over a minor traffic infraction earlier in the day (a warrant due to a fix-it ticket I'd neglected), and my friends were trying to cheer me up.

My SoCal home town still had a lot of orange groves back then, with long empty roads between that were good for driving and partying. The groves were being torn out and replaced with tract houses and we were near the part of town where this was happening, rolling up to a four way stop with a 240Z a couple of car lengths in front of us. As the Z moved through the intersection (without stopping), a Camaro barreled through from the side (grove) road, moving pretty good, totally blowing the stop sign. The Camaro hit the Z and sent it twirling and itself wound up lodged in the front yard or a house with the motor racing and the rear wheels spinning a hole and spitting dirt.

As my friend stopped in shock, I jumped out of the back seat and ran to the Camaro, it had an open T-top and I could see the driver slumped forward with his hysterical girlfriend shaking and pushing him. I reached in and shut off the motor, ran to the other side and pulled her out "your gonna break his neck I said". As i pulled her out, the drunk, belligerent, rear seat passenger got out and said "we'll handle this!". "Just don't touch that guy anymore!" I said, but "Fine, fuck you" I thought, and ran to the front door of the house (no cell phones back then and banged on the door, no answer.. so ran to the house next to it and did the same, this time getting a response. "DIAL 911!" I said and ran off to check on the other car.

By this time both passengers of the Z had got themselves out. The woman who was driving was crawling slowly across the street on her hands and knees and I ran around her to see where she had been injured, it looked like a pretty bad head injury with blood and loose scalp skin. I was trying to get her to stop crawling when the other passenger (her boyfriend?) ran over and started freaking out crawling all over her sobbing "oh baby, I'm sorry... I pulled him off and pretty much had to sit on him as the first fire truck rolled up. A fireman came up to me and I yelled and pointed "head injury, unconscious, and everyones drunk!". Then, as more lights rolled up, I ran back over to my friends car (none of whom had got out to help) and said "let's get out of here" and proceeded to tell them about my stupid fix it ticket warrant.

[jamoni]

I have stopped to help at a BUNCH of accidents, and I've never had a cop run my name, or even ask for it. Unless you were obviously drunk or high, I'm pretty sure that would be considered a dick move among EMS workers. Also, imagine the scene when your lawyer asks the cop what his probable cause was.
Would any LEO care to comment?

[Murgatroy]

I have stopped to help at a BUNCH of accidents, and I've never had a cop run my name, or even ask for it. Unless you were obviously drunk or high, I'm pretty sure that would be considered a dick move among EMS workers. Also, imagine the scene when your lawyer asks the cop what his probable cause was.
Would any LEO care to comment?

If you are a witness to the accident, they will ask your name for the report. I don't think they will run you, but they will ask for ID for the report if available.

[airballrad]

I have stopped to help at a BUNCH of accidents, and I've never had a cop run my name, or even ask for it. Unless you were obviously drunk or high, I'm pretty sure that would be considered a dick move among EMS workers. Also, imagine the scene when your lawyer asks the cop what his probable cause was.
Would any LEO care to comment?

I have had my name taken once, and that was only because I actually saw the wreck happen and the driver was drunk and underage. Incidentally, I assisted at the scene of a jetski accident that involved injury and was never asked for ID, even though I then operated one of the involved jetskis from the scene to shore and I was not legal to operate a jetski in that state (boaters' safety certificates not reciprocal). So my experience is that if you're on the scene helping and not obviously impaired they're not going to give you trouble.

[skelco]

I have stopped to help at a BUNCH of accidents, and I've never had a cop run my name, or even ask for it. Unless you were obviously drunk or high, I'm pretty sure that would be considered a dick move among EMS workers. Also, imagine the scene when your lawyer asks the cop what his probable cause was.
Would any LEO care to comment?

I was neither drunk nor high in this situation and this was not the first time I was involved in an accident or first aid type situation. The LEOs in my town tended toward an almost stereotypical small-town cop mentality and it was not uncommon to be harassed for little or no reason. I was no troublemaker by any stretch, but I did do teenage things like drive around with carloads of friends and go to parties, and if you did this, you would encounter the RPD.

I was also pretty freaked out by an earlier incident: I had received a fix it ticket six months and one day before, the ticket cave me six months to take care of the infraction, but I had managed to lose it on my messy desk until exactly one day after the time limit expired. As soon as I realized this, I took my car down to out local PD/courthouse to hopefully get it signed off. I went up to the clerks window and she looked it up, then she whispered to me "since you didn't take care if this, there's a warrant for your arrest, you should get out of here right now and come back to the courthouse first thing Monday". Well I took her advice and took off, parked my car and walked to work. Later that afternoon I got a ride home from a friend and as we turned onto my block, I saw the marshall's car out front of my house, I ducked down and said "keep driving". We returned after the marshall had left, to my mom and sister freaking out "WHAT DID YOU DO!", as the marshall hadn't told them what I was to be arrested for. I resolved to lay low for the weekend, but that didn't last long with the right arm twisting. Then the story I told above happened.

I don't feel bad about splitting, the professionals were there and nobody was bleeding out or anything. The kids in the camaro actually turned out to be friends of my future sister in law (they were still pissed that I'd "meddled in their business").

[benja455]

December 30th/31st, 2010 - Phoenix, Arizona

The GF and I were in the Phoenix area visiting her parents and planned to go to a New Year's party hosted by friends of ours (we live in Seattle, so we don't see these people all that often). On the evening of the 30th, we went out to dinner and drinks with her cousin and his GF. His GF had just graduated from college and we were celebrating a bit. Because I was driving that evening, I had a sip of champagne at their house and that was it. My GF had a few drinks with her cousin's GF and they talked into the wee hours of the night. We didn't leave their house until 3 AM (December 31st). I knew I was tired but with the radio on and a cold bottle of water, I kept myself alert. I certainly did not want to damage her mother's new car (bought only two months early because a previous car had been totaled in an accident that was not her mother's fault).

To exit the highway, we needed to take an off ramp that was an incline that would bring us to the street roads and then the final 5 blocks to her parents house where we were staying. As we made our way up the ramp, the light turned green. I let off the gas and coasted up the ramp, so I would reach an appropriate speed for the left hand turn that I would need to make at the top of the ramp. By the mid-way point, I saw headlights to my left...a truck...moving too rapidly for the red light...I tracked the vehicle with my eyes...did the calculations and realized that the driver was not stopping. By this point, we were 3/4ths of the way up the ramp and I wasn't going to be able to stop fast enough. I know I slammed on the brakes from the rubber marks but I don't recall screaming (the GF told me later): "F*CK! He's not going to stop! He's going to run it!"

Let's keep in mind, she was sleeping in the front passenger seat.

So...a mid-2000s Toyota Tacoma smashed into my door (2009 Kia Spectra, 4 door) at 40 or 45 miles per hour. None of the side impact airbags deployed. Things got very hazy...I can recall bits of the collision...the impact...being pushed down the road. The first really coherent memory I have is my GF screaming/crying. I turned to my left and see a young man at the wheel of the truck trying to shake off the stars he was probably seeing. His truck was wedged into my door. I can see the radiator only a few inches from my face. I have glass all over my head and lap because my window has been blown out. At this point...my memory gets hazy again...I remember checking on my GF for injuries but I also know I started screaming at the other driver. Initially, I had no idea what I said to him but my GF remembered all of it. I cussed at him. I said he could have killed us. I asked him what his f*cking problem was. I can only image what I looked like. I scared the piss out of this guy. He apologized and asked if we were okay. I told him to shut up. After we got checked at the hospital, she thought what I said was hilarious and was proud of me for taking control of the situation so rapidly.

My memory is clear from the moment I called 911 forward. I reported an accident...that the other driver ran the red light...our location. His truck started making strange noises like he was trying to start it and run off. Given that Phoenix is the hit & run capitol of the country, I got suspicious and told him to cut his engine immediately. He did. At that point, I tried to open the door which was bent in 6 inches and had his engine smashed into it. At the time, I could not figure out why the door wouldn't open. After a few moments, I realized what was preventing the door from opening and climbed out on the otherside of the car. My GF called her mother and sat down on the curb when she realized she was bleeding from the back of her head and started crying even more. I informed 911 she was injured as the other driver came over to us to check on her. I was still very suspicious of him and barked at him to go to the other side of the street but to stay where I could see him. He nodded and continued to quietly pound the energy drink that instantly appeared in his hand after he got out of his truck (further raising my suspicions).

Two Mesa, AZ LEOs arrived at the scene. The male interviewed me and the female interviewed the other driver. I told my side of the story and the other driver confirmed it. He was delivering newspapers, forgot something at home and was trying to get there ASAP...he knew it was a red light but "didn't see anyone coming," so he just plowed right through the intersection. I don't know why he said that - perhaps because he thought he'd get in less trouble than saying he fell asleep at the wheel (remember the energy drink). I'm unsure how he didn't see us. It was a silver car with the head lights on and I could certainly see him the entire time (and he was driving a dark green vehicle). Because my GF had a head injury, they put her on a board and immobilized her neck. As they loaded her into the ambulance, I was given the paperwork for the accident...I told the LEOs I had to go - as I wasn't about to let my GF go to the hospital alone. There was no room in the back, so I rode up front. My GF said she was worried I wasn't there, but then she overheard a conversation in the front seat about the Pittsburgh Steelers and knew I was with her.

We got to the hospital and both got checked out. I had cut my tongue and slightly chipped a tooth. She got 8 staples to the back of her head. I met the female cop at the door of the hospital. Both cars were totaled. The other guy's insurance had lapsed 3 days prior and once he realized that - he changed his story and said the light was red for me and green for him. The cops obviously didn't believe him and cited him for running the red light and no insurance.

I've never been in a fender bender (even as a passenger) - only two major collisions. The first one, I was a child and my mother was driving (another guy ran a red light). This was the first time I had been driving during an accident. Other than scaring the crap out of the other driver, I think I handled it pretty well...although, he sort of deserved it.

Everyone who saw the car - cops, family members, our attorney, our attorney's staff, the insurance adjuster - none of them could believe the driver (me) walked away from the crash. Perhaps I'll post a picture of the car...I think I've still got them.

Exactly a year later (around midnight, so we were 3 hours too early) - we drove through that same intersection. There was a silver mid-2000s Toyota Tacoma stopped at the redlight as we passed through. It was pretty eery.

[Smü]

1) Driving to work at my Dad's in the early hours in mid November years ago. I drove a little below the speed limit because it rained, was a bit foggy and was around 0°C, which means the roads were potentially icy. There was nearly no traffic short of a little black car behind me driving very close to me and the sight of headlamps coming at me in the distance. The driver behind me decided that she couldn't take the 5 km/h I was below speed limit anymore and wantedt to overtake, right in the moment when the aforementioned headlamps surprisingly turned out to gray car which was only 30m (or so) ahead of us. She steered back, oversteered, steered in the other direction and the two cars crashed head first.

I stopped my car as fast as I could, ran to the black car to find both the driver and her passenger unconscious. Then I ran back to get my car FAK and returned to the black car. Then I realized there was that other car, the gray one. There was a dude in jogging apparel yelling to me he'd ake care of that one and that he was a firefighter. While the two in "my" car were still knocked out, I realized I should get a phone to make an emergency call. So I ran back to my car to get my phone and ran back to the black car. Then I realized that I should put up the signaling so that no other car runs in us. So I ran to my car, got the triangle, ran down the road and set it up.

After all my running (which could have been reduced to a bare minimum of one set), I checked on the women in the black car. The driver had gotten back from blacking out and had started being hysterical, but I managed to calm her down. The passenger came out of unconsciousness a bit later but did not respond well for some time. I didn't even need the FAK because both ladies didn't even have a scratch, only one or two minor bruises.

Not so good for the other car. There was a 10 year boy in that car who's dad decided he wouldn't need to be seatbelted for that short distance. The little man gladly didn't die, but had facial and upper body fractures. I didn't see him in detail, but even from distance, it made my stomach turn a bit.

Lesson of that day: Had I remained a bare minimum of thinking, I wouldn't have had to run that much. Thanks to the other guy at the gray wreck, I didn't have to deal with a seriously injured person, in which case my not so perfect reaction to the situation might have worsen things.

Situation 2:
Soccer world championships in 2006, penalty decision for germany against some other random country. I couldn't care less for soccer, so after meeting a friend, I offered her to boltcut the chain of her bycicle as she had lost the keys. Walking towards my car, I heard the honking that implied germany had won that bout. Pulling up into the gas station to grab a beer and some cigs, I heard a loud "bang" and actually thought, some guy celebrated with discharging his gas gun or something. I has just paid my stuff, when a guy entered the station and yelled "someone call an ambulance". Dunno why, I immediately ran outside and saw a group of people standing around at the street maybe 80 meters away from me.

My car was right in front of the gas station's entrance, so I grabbed the FAK and made that 80 meters in what felt like less than 3 seconds (can't be, I know). On site, I found a little dark car with a badly smashed hood section and a young guy sitting in there. Some old man was kneeling in front of the driver's door trying to talk to him, but he wasn't really aware of his surroundings, albeit conscious. There were at least 20 people standing there and looking. Just looking. I opended my FAK, got some gloves and all the while started picking people out of the crowd yelling commands what I wanted them what to do. Block the street with the signal triangle. Block the streets from the other direction. (there where streetcar rails, blocked by the aciddent car, I sort of managed to think that I wouldn't want a bunch of people exiting a streetcar to join the spectators) Go to that corner, wait for the ambulance and wave them in. Make sure the other people don't stand in the way. Stuff like that. Much to my surprise, people obeyed.

At the same time, I was pressing gauze into what had been the drivers mouth. He didn't have any front teeth left, his nose was broken and he started having a hematoma below both of his eyes. With a side look I saw a mid-sized piece of tongue in front of the shotgun seat. Once the ambulance was there, I cut through the seatbelt, held the IV and gave a short rep to the police what I had wittnessed ("Nothing Sir, just an image of what a face should not look like"). Then I was dismissed.

I asked around some EMTs I know what had happened: Obviously, the driver drove in a corso (common customs when the home team wins) and wanted to clamp a german flag to his sun roof, which was manually operated. By using both hads WHILE DRIVING, he didn't pay enough attention to the streets and his car smashed into a parked station wagon. He had loosened his seatbelt to maneuver better, so he didn't fly to through the window, but bit the all wood steering wheel. The pic of the teethmarks in that steering wheel made me break down a bit when I was back home.

Lesson: Don't be so effin stupid doing something else than driving while driving.

[greenear123]

Back in 2000 I was on my way to work one morning in my '85 K5 Blazer. The driver in front of me decided to make an unannounced left turn and just stopped in the lane of traffic. With oncoming traffic to the left and parked cars to the right I had no choice but to stomp on the breaks. I had left plenty of room and was going to stop with about 10' to spare when...crunch; the car behind me slams into the Blazer at about 20mph. We slide forward into the Explorer that had stopped. Because my tail end was in the air from breaking so hard the Camry rode under my rear bumper and was mangled on the hitch bar. My Smitty built grill guard chewed up the tailgate on the Ford. No injuries and no damage to the Blazer. We swap info, cops do their thing and I get chewed out for being late for work. End of story? Nope. On the way home that afternoon, just half a mile from the mornings going on, a lady in yet another Camry tries to make a u-turn on a one way two lane street right in front of me. Luckily for her I had seen her start the turn and was instantly on the breaks. The front bumper caved in the drivers door of the Camry. Again, no injuries and the only "damage" to the Blazer was some paint transfer. She hadn't realized that she was on a one way street
Moral: Chevy's are kept happy on a steady diet of raw crumpled Toyota. A little wasabe, some candied ginger, yummy.

[Steve74]

I was not the driver, so I just I fell asleep in the car. Then I woke up, because the car was shaking. I looked at the driver, and he was also sleeping, the can ran off the road, that's why I had that shaky feeling. I yelled at the driver and he just turned the wheel, while the car was running 95 miles / hour. The car turned backwards and almost flipped, I heard the tires screaming, It was a really long moment, I was thinking: "That's it, we are going to die. What a stupid way to go...". We left very long black burned skid marks on the road, and we went down on a hill backwards, leaving tire marks on the grass and in the mud. We just missed a concrete fence by 2 yards.

95 miles / hour, but no flipping, no hitting the concrete fence, no injuries, the car was not even wrecked.

Yes, I believe in God.

[Viper shtf]

A few years back I'm sitting at a red light. I look in the rearview mirror and notice this little Neon wobbling up behind me.
I see the drivers hand come out the window and wave around. I figured she was just trying to speed up her nail polish drying, or something similar. I go back to looking at the light, waiting for it to change so I can go home. CRUNCH!!!
The little Neon is trying to come in thru the rear door of my Grand Caravan, unfortunately the rather large and solid trailer hitch is preventing this. I hit the flashers, open the door and get out ready to put the fear of god into whatever moron has just capped off a really bad day.
It's this really, really cute little blonde. She is still waving her hand around. I ask her why? It seems a bee had gotten into her car and landed on her, she was trying to get rid of it without hurting it.
Totalled the Neon, scrathed the paint on the GC ( I still have it, daily driver ). No one ( including the bee ) was injured.
Police show up and do the paperwork, everyone is getting ready to leave for wherever when the little blonde starts crying, she can't get hold of anyone to come pick her up, and with her Neon on the flatbed headed for the impound yard she has no way to get to work. Against my better judgement I offer her a ride.
Been married 5 years now.

Well played sir.

[emtmark]

In ems more than 15 years now "fuck drunks" qft.

[JesterODX]

I have stopped to help at a BUNCH of accidents, and I've never had a cop run my name, or even ask for it. Unless you were obviously drunk or high, I'm pretty sure that would be considered a dick move among EMS workers. Also, imagine the scene when your lawyer asks the cop what his probable cause was.
Would any LEO care to comment?

Not sure if they need any probable cause to run your name or tag number. The tags and drivers license belong to the state. Not exactly sure how that works. I run tags and license for a living, as a terminal operator. But my stipulations is that is has to be requested by an officer in the commission of his duties. I mean lots of agencies have, and ours is getting those cameras on the front and back of the patrol cars that automaticly run every tag they see. Our CAD software is set up that when we add a persons name/DOB or Tag/VIN that it automaticly runs it for wants. We do it manually due to software issues, but still many places have these stuff where it just does it automaticly. Still I dont know exactly what the general statute says on it as far as requirements for the LEO.

Had a friend of mine that had came to the scene where his girl friend had wrecked leaving his house. He got there before the trooper and parked behind her car off the side of the road. Trooper pulled in behind him. As he was leaving the trooper hollared at him and asked him to step back to his car. He did so and the trooper asked him if he knew his license was expired. My friend replied that no it wasnt. He told him, to scroll down futher and it would show active. The trooper was stunned and said , "Yeah your right. How did you know that?" We had already been through this when he got stopped on my motorcycle and I had to go pick it up and him. A system upgrade screwed stuff up for everyone back in 02 for a week or so until LEO and dispatchers figured out what was what. It had dual status lines and the top one was not the indate version.


As far as wrecks, I've had a few. Four on motorcycles. Flipped one over backwards on a bad wheelie. Wrecked twice in one month. High sided on the third of the month and then low sided on the 30th of the month. And then I T-Boned a Cadi doing 55. The last one was not my fault. An old lady in a Cadilac turned in front of me. I gave up motorcycles. I was acting a fool and got my ass busted. Physical therapy on the fractured shoulder from the Cadi did me in. I did find it amusing that the only one I really got hurt in was the one where it wasnt my fault.

[ZombieSoldier01]

From the time I was 13 to the time I was 23 I was a volunteer firefighter. While In high school, 1 accident remain in my mind until this day.

It was a warm September night. A Chrysler minivan was traveling a Side road. The driver leaned over and pulled out te little glovebox under te passenger seat to grab a cough drop. Why he didn't ask the passenger to get it for him, I do not know. The car veered off the road and smacked a great big old oak tree dead hea on. We response to find a dazed driver and an unresponsive passenger. We had to cut the passenger out. She died while we were cutting her out. She was a friends mother. The mother and father were on the way to their 20th wedding anniversary dinner.

There is one other but that accident won't be talked about on here since it is too near and dear to my heart.

[DJH]

Look back to check blind spot before lane change.

Hear "CRUNCH" ahead

Look back. Oh, how quaint. A Mazda and a Prelude mating. (asshat in P tried to beat the M thru the intersection on an unprotected left turn.)

Sheeeeeeeeeeit. Pump brakes (no ABS)

*Boop.*

Damn. almost made it.



Other than that most recent debacle (last thursday) I've been in a few. Mostly tards hitting my damned show truck.

Worst would have to be when I totalled my 1990 300ZX TT. I was headed to my finals, came up over a crest in the road and an old guy (well known around my area for this, I should have been aware.) was walking in the middle of my lane. Tried to dodge him, spun out and landed in a ditch with a mild concussion from hitting my head on the T-Top bar (tops were off) I walked away, but the whole time was thinking how much worse it could have been.

[RickOShea]

I've lost count on how many trouble-calls I've been on where a car hit a power pole. Most people walk away from them, a few had some serious injuries, and I've only personally witnessed one fatality (the car went another 100 feet then flipped over when it hit a curb, and caught fire).

As the need for electricity grows, the wire gets bigger and heavier, and that means there are more poles, closer together, to hold the weight of the conductor. So your chances of hitting one if you run off the road are getting greater.

Also, more and more steel-reinforced concrete pole are being used, even in rural distribution areas. You do not want to hit one of those, they don't break like a wood pole. We almost never have power outages from a car hitting a concrete pole. But we still get called out cause the tow-truck drivers want us to make sure it's safe for them to unpeel what's left of the vehicle from around the base.

[tookieblueeyes]

2/23/2012: I pick up a friend and her boyfriend to go see "The Grey" in theaters in Pueblo, Colorado. We make a quick stop at Walmart so that my friend can pick up a phone card and then head west on hwy 50.

When I reach Fowler I get stuck behind 2 cars. A white Impala in the lead and a Jeep Wrangler stuck behind it as well. The car was cruising along at 55mph, sometimes reaching 60mph but never did he reach the posted speed limit of 65mph.

There were no opportunities to pass him on the 2 lane highway until it opened up into 2 lanes in the west bound direction which lasts for about 5 miles.

I passed the two vehicles and had about 50 yards before the 2 lanes ended and merged. The east bound lane now opens into 2 lanes from one. I stayed in the passing lane for the remaining distance since it made no sense for me to merge right then immediately merge left again. There were no other cars behind me wanting to pass me so I felt that it would be all right if I stayed in the passing lane until the 2 lanes became one again.

With another 20 yards to go before the 2 lanes became 1 my friends boyfriend who was in the back seat exclaimed "holy shit that guy is passing you!"

I looked to my left and the white impala was in the east bound lane passing me. The driver of the car looked over at me and smiled and then sped forward and proceeded to cut me off in traffic.

I slammed on the breaks to avoid being clipped by his rear end and as he pulled in front of me the driver of the Impala turned around in his seat, looked back at me through his rear window, smiled and flipped me off. Then he slammed on his breaks!

I slammed on my breaks and had to veer to the left to escape rear ending him, but I clipped the left side of his bumper with the right side of my front bumper.

I thought that veering to the left into 2 lanes would be safer than turning right and into the ditch, but I was wrong!

As I clipped his bumper and the roads were slightly wet from a light mist that had gathered in the area and released moisture onto the blacktop I started to lose control of my car, fishtailing a little, but I remained inside the passing lane of the east bound lane never the less.

I looked up as I fishtailed and saw that a Jeep Cherokee (I am in a Tiburon) coming right at me. The lady in the Jeep was riding in the passing lane which is against Colorado law, but I guess no one told her that. Had she been in the appropriate lane this may not have gotten any worse, but it did.

I hit the Jeep head on and the Jeep crushed my sports car like a tin can.

My passenger suffered a collapsed lung and several broken ribs and glass implanted in her hands and forehead. My backseat passenger received a cut to his right cheek. I suffered a broken right hip, 8 broken ribs, torn PCL and ACL in the left knee and damage to the right knee (of which I am still going to have to have another surgery to repair the left knee and I currently have titanium hardware implanted in my right hip to hold it all together, this titanium rod and screws and brace can be taken out in a year if I choose) I also broke the facial bone between my right upper jaw and my nasal passage. I also had cuts and lacerations and picked glass out of my skin for a couple months following the accident in my hands, legs, neck and face.

The lady driving the Jeep Cherokee died. Her passenger, her grandaughter, suffered emotional damages and a few cuts and bruises. Her great grandchildren who were in the back seat and appropriately restrained in their car seats and seat belts were ok except one broke their arm.

The man that ran me off the road and caused this accident drove away then returned to watch as they cleaned up the scene but when my passenger, sean, tried to point him out to troopers and other emergency workers who were on scene he was ignored.

The mans identity is known but he has not yet been arrested, my insurance company has not yet paid out, I have been unable to work and have nightmares quite often. I am skiddish behind the wheel and have a hard time dealing with other peoples driving. I take more backroads than highways now and cannot drive long distances myself.

That is the story of my accident!

This is what my hip looks like now minus 3 screws... I only have 1... this image shows 4


This is what my knee looks like


This is the article... I was all over the news from Colorado Springs to Lamar and I was on TV and in news papers and everywhere... I hated it!
http://www.chieftain.com/news/local/dead-in-head-on-crash-on-u-s/article_982ef43e-5e6a-11e1-af60-001871e3ce6c.html
http://www.chieftain.com/news/local/probe-into-deadly-crash-continues/article_d6a4dcd0-5f76-11e1-be44-001871e3ce6c.html

[ZombieSoldier01]

2/23/2012: I pick up a friend and her boyfriend to go see "The Grey" in theaters in Pueblo, Colorado. We make a quick stop at Walmart so that my friend can pick up a phone card and then head west on hwy 50.

When I reach Fowler I get stuck behind 2 cars. A white Impala in the lead and a Jeep Wrangler stuck behind it as well. The car was cruising along at 55mph, sometimes reaching 60mph but never did he reach the posted speed limit of 65mph.

There were no opportunities to pass him on the 2 lane highway until it opened up into 2 lanes in the west bound direction which lasts for about 5 miles.

I passed the two vehicles and had about 50 yards before the 2 lanes ended and merged. The east bound lane now opens into 2 lanes from one. I stayed in the passing lane for the remaining distance since it made no sense for me to merge right then immediately merge left again. There were no other cars behind me wanting to pass me so I felt that it would be all right if I stayed in the passing lane until the 2 lanes became one again.

With another 20 yards to go before the 2 lanes became 1 my friends boyfriend who was in the back seat exclaimed "holy shit that guy is passing you!"

I looked to my left and the white impala was in the east bound lane passing me. The driver of the car looked over at me and smiled and then sped forward and proceeded to cut me off in traffic.

I slammed on the breaks to avoid being clipped by his rear end and as he pulled in front of me the driver of the Impala turned around in his seat, looked back at me through his rear window, smiled and flipped me off. Then he slammed on his breaks!

I slammed on my breaks and had to veer to the left to escape rear ending him, but I clipped the left side of his bumper with the right side of my front bumper.

I thought that veering to the left into 2 lanes would be safer than turning right and into the ditch, but I was wrong!

As I clipped his bumper and the roads were slightly wet from a light mist that had gathered in the area and released moisture onto the blacktop I started to lose control of my car, fishtailing a little, but I remained inside the passing lane of the east bound lane never the less.

I looked up as I fishtailed and saw that a Jeep Cherokee (I am in a Tiburon) coming right at me. The lady in the Jeep was riding in the passing lane which is against Colorado law, but I guess no one told her that. Had she been in the appropriate lane this may not have gotten any worse, but it did.

I hit the Jeep head on and the Jeep crushed my sports car like a tin can.

My passenger suffered a collapsed lung and several broken ribs and glass implanted in her hands and forehead. My backseat passenger received a cut to his right cheek. I suffered a broken right hip, 8 broken ribs, torn PCL and ACL in the left knee and damage to the right knee (of which I am still going to have to have another surgery to repair the left knee and I currently have titanium hardware implanted in my right hip to hold it all together, this titanium rod and screws and brace can be taken out in a year if I choose) I also broke the facial bone between my right upper jaw and my nasal passage. I also had cuts and lacerations and picked glass out of my skin for a couple months following the accident in my hands, legs, neck and face.

The lady driving the Jeep Cherokee died. Her passenger, her grandaughter, suffered emotional damages and a few cuts and bruises. Her great grandchildren who were in the back seat and appropriately restrained in their car seats and seat belts were ok except one broke their arm.

The man that ran me off the road and caused this accident drove away then returned to watch as they cleaned up the scene but when my passenger, sean, tried to point him out to troopers and other emergency workers who were on scene he was ignored.

The mans identity is known but he has not yet been arrested, my insurance company has not yet paid out, I have been unable to work and have nightmares quite often. I am skiddish behind the wheel and have a hard time dealing with other peoples driving. I take more backroads than highways now and cannot drive long distances myself.

That is the story of my accident!

I am sorry to hear about this accident man :/

[tookieblueeyes]

I am sorry to hear about this accident man :/

Eh... shit happens... Just pisses me off that they know who the guy is who ran me off the road and haven't done a damn thing about it!
I mean someone DIED! Sure my life was totally flipped upside down and now I have to fight with the insurance company just to get a new car but it's not all about me... someone died in that accident and there were 3 babies in that car! If I had been the one who ran someone off the road just to be a dick I would be locked up right now but since it's not me... he gets to run free and live his life like nothing ever happened and I am sure he doesn't feel one bit guilty about it.

[Tater Raider]

I am sorry to hear about this accident man :/

Eh... shit happens... Just pisses me off that they know who the guy is who ran me off the road and haven't done a damn thing about it!
I mean someone DIED! Sure my life was totally flipped upside down and now I have to fight with the insurance company just to get a new car but it's not all about me... someone died in that accident and there were 3 babies in that car! If I had been the one who ran someone off the road just to be a dick I would be locked up right now but since it's not me... he gets to run free and live his life like nothing ever happened and I am sure he doesn't feel one bit guilty about it.

Civil law is there for when the rest fails. You can sue the guy.

I'm saying you should or shouldn't, just that you shouldn't feel powerless about it.

Hoping you have a good recovery.

[tookieblueeyes]

I am sorry to hear about this accident man :/

Eh... shit happens... Just pisses me off that they know who the guy is who ran me off the road and haven't done a damn thing about it!
I mean someone DIED! Sure my life was totally flipped upside down and now I have to fight with the insurance company just to get a new car but it's not all about me... someone died in that accident and there were 3 babies in that car! If I had been the one who ran someone off the road just to be a dick I would be locked up right now but since it's not me... he gets to run free and live his life like nothing ever happened and I am sure he doesn't feel one bit guilty about it.

Civil law is there for when the rest fails. You can sue the guy.

I'm saying you should or shouldn't, just that you shouldn't feel powerless about it.

Hoping you have a good recovery.

That would be a capital idea but the troopers won't disclose his name and identity. All the will tell me is that they are investigating. Meanwhile, the lady that died, her friend is suing me for wrongful death. It just seems a little twisted up and wrong, but there doesn't seem like there is anything else I can do about it besides keep bugging the troopers to do something about the guy who ran me off the road. Hell, they even made me take a lie detector test to determine if I was lying about anything that had happened leading up to the accident because they were trying to insinuate that I had provoked the driver of the impala or was racing him... I passed the lie detector test of course but it just makes me angry that they would come after me like that! I mean... Like I really wanted to kill someone, almost kill my passengers and ruin my own life right? I guess some idiots out there would jeopardize others on the road like that but that just seems insane to me! Not saying I have never raced someone before, but always on a closed road, never on a busy highway or byway. And sure, haven't we all provoked someone who cut us off in traffic or something, well, I never did the road rage thing but I have flipped a few motorists off but still... I don't know what the troopers think but I certainly wasn't out for a thrill or a kill that day... I just wanted to go see a damn movie with a friend!

[Kiwi Bowhunter]

I've been in/witnessed a few.

When I was rather young, had some stupid woman drive into a carpark where my Mum and I had just parked, and drove straight into my door on my Mum's Nissan Sentra.
Tell ya what, my Mum's pretty protective and I've never seen her get that shitty, EVER!

When I was 11, Mum was dropping me off at Intermediate School, and a woman in a van infront of us decided not to check her rear-vision mirror, and reversed fast enough(despite Mum's tooting) to get the back of the van half way up our bonnet, and lift the van's back wheels off the ground.

My first crash, I was 17 and had just got my full license. The thing in my area at the time was all the young people in fast cars would go out 'Cruising' around town, around what was basically an un-official circuit. Being allowed to drive at all hours now, my friends told me I should drive. So, my best mate, my GF at the time, and the GF's friend were in my car. Getting late in the night, trying to meet up with some friends on the other side of town, where I wasn't too familiar with. Going around a 2-Lane round about(Ya know, the ones with 2 lanes all the way around. I was on the inside lane, going straight across, guy in a Nissan Skyline speeding up behind me in the outside lane, going straight ahead lost control on the round about and hit my passenger side, just behind the door(2-door car). I started to fish-tail but corrected, other guy bounced off me, hit the curb, ripped his front suspension assembly out and slid to a stop, sparks flying everywhere. Cops showed up, after the driver had tried to intimidate me into saying it was my fault(Neo-Nazi, but really little and not very scary haha). Cops made us exchange details and told us to let insurance companies sort it.
Basically the dick head was driving his brothers freshly restored car, after already crashing his own car earlier in the night. Didn't have insurance on either car.
Never paid for damage to mine, but meh, only panel damage, his brothers car was classed as a write-off

Second crash, 2 years ago was driving my daily driver(1999 Ford Mondeo Wagon), was coming home on a Friday after a long week at Uni, just picked up some new tramping boots, got some good grades back for some assignments, was getting ready for a good weekend. After pulling away from the shopping complex where I got the boots, it was 4 O'Clock traffic. There was a wreckers across the road as I was driving pretty slowly, saw a Supercharged version of my project car, which had the series of LSD gearbox I was after, was thinking about pulling in and checking it out. Looked forward, traffic had stopped. I tried to brake but got my left foot stuck under the brake pedal and didn't quite manage it in time. Hit the poor girl(Final year of High School) doing a few k per hour. Only just did some bumper damage which wasn't too horrible. Ended up pulling over up the road infront of a panel shop, who did me a good deal out of sympathy lol.

Third crash, and most serious. Was getting ready for a high-country hunting trip, and my mate wanted to sight in his new rifle at 300m(Tikka T3 in 6.5x55 Swede), so we headed to my other friend's farm where there was plenty of room.
I was cruising nice an slowly, it had rained the night before. Coming up to a one lane bridge on a blind corner(yeah, it's a shit corner), I was only going 20kph, then my brakes locked up and I slid onto the other side of the road and see a 25 tonne sheep truck coming across the one lane bridge headed right for me. Car stopped, tried to get it going again but too late. BANG! Truck wheel comes over my bonnet and I put my hand infront of my face out of instinct, my right hand wore the airbag at point blank range and got mangled. Window was open and my car spun around hard enough my beanie flew off my head onto the road.

The truck broke it's steering assembly and ended up in the ditch, my car was all kinds of fucked up.
I was ok except for hand and bit of whiplash, truck driver hit his knee on his dashboard when he ended up in the ditch.

Turned out there was a diesel spill on the corner, causing my wheels to lock up.

Pics:

Car actually held up suprisingly well, good ol' German engineering




The bit of silver in the buggered bit of the truck is my front quarter panel that got peeled off hahaha.


Can kinda see the diesel in this one.

Also seen a few other crashes, mostly one of my friends(whose farm I was heading to in the crash pictured above), who seems to have no luck with Nissan 300ZX's hahaha. Been through 8 of them(We're 21 haha), and some Silvia's haha.

And a drunk dude rear ending my mate's RX7 S6 Batman when he stopped to pick me up from a bar on a Saturday night, who made the most ridiculous excuses about how his car wasn't that bad, even though the repair bill was $6 grand hahaha.

Cheers,
Sean.

[MaconCJ7]

The one I will never forget mainly due to the fact that I was looking the other driver in the eyes moments before I was 100% sure she was going to die by F150 decapitation.

So there I was, oh-dark-thirty, carpooling with the wife on our way to work. We're in my truck, which was a stock 2007 F150. Just dropped the babies off at the sitter and were getting on the freeway. The little Fiat sized car in front of us got on the freeway in good Oklahoman fashion (about 15mph slower than traffic). We were merging next to a semi, one that happened to be kind enough to move over for us. Best I can figure is he didn't rive in OK all that much since it's a rarity to meet someone that knows how to merge. Anyhow, I move in behind the semi, as we're going up a hill, and I know the car will be in front of him soon and he'll move back right and I'll pass with no issue. Well, the truck driver thought my headlights were hers since she was so small and stayed in his blindspot. Apparently she didn't believe in getting up to speed and out from beside a semi when she got on the freeway. He never saw her. He changed lanes, I started passing him. Suddenly he swerves back to the left, which makes me swerve to the left. I'm now on the median which is a bit of a valley, going 65 mph, trying to slow down without sliding into a tree. Out from in front of his truck comes flying that little car. She gets flung around so she's facing me, going a little slower than me but backwards at about 60 mph. I'm looking her dead in the eye, knowing she's fucked and there's nothing I can do about it. God was looking out for that lady. When we made contact it happened to be in the perfect spot, perfect timing to have her bumper come up, mine go down, and only our bumpers met.

We both got stopped, the truck got stopped, and everyone was okay. She was scared shitless, the truck driver was sure he launched her off the slope on the other side of the road, and my asshole was starting to unpucker. His bumper had actually locked on to her car and that's how she was flung out in front of me. OHP showed up, her husband showed up, and we all parted ways.

My bumper was bent just enough to rub the tire when turning so I tied off to a tree and straightened it out until I could schedule a drop off. The rig driver's insurance covered everybody's issues. That lady was just flat out lucky. Her car was totaled. It wasn't a hard hit, but her crumple points seemed very exacting in their tolerances.

I think the biggest thing to learn here is that when you get on a freeway, get the fuck up to speed on the on-ramp. That's what they're there for. Definitely don't linger next to semi's. They're huge, you can see them. They're huge with blind spots to match. I've always had an issue with people that don't merge at the speed of traffic. I've seen it cause too many accidents for it to not be an issue. Usually, the slow merger isn't part of the accident, as it's the people on the freeway with nowhere to go that get all bent up.