Your worst crash

[argatoga]

It's not a hard line to see either, it's clearly marked by two large double-yellow lines.

And a green British sports car on the other side.

 

[Atlantian]

And a green British sports car on the other side.

I don't cross lines... But if (the old me) saw a nice sports car coming the other way, I would turn into a drive way asap, and try to go the other way and chase after it like a dog and a mailman.

 

[argatoga]

I don't cross lines... But if (the old me) saw a nice sports car coming the other way, I would turn into a drive way asap, and try to go the other way and chase after it like a dog and a mailman.

Rolling off that cliff didn't teach you much did it?

 

[Atlantian]

I said the old me. My new Merc is too precious to me to do that shit. I am saving up for a project car for Autox, though.

 

[Jon]

Crashing sucks.

 

[ninjacoco]

Worst accident: last March. I ran out of toilet paper late at night, so I decided to go to the nicer grocery store across Waco and pick up some other things, too.

Bad idea.

I ended up totalling my baby--my first car that I'd gotten in HS.

Got the TP and started heading home. All was fine and well 'til some moron high school kid in an F150 didn't signal and then pulled in front of my car--not leaving enough room for me behind him--and then hit the brakes. That did this:

His truck had a little pushed-in bit on his bumper, but not much damage. My front end went under his truck, so I was the one in full panic mode. The driver and his companion weren't the most coherent pair and smelled to high heaven of weed when we went to exchange information, and then bolted before any cops could show up. Cops showed up, all right--three cars, IIRC. And none of them could be bothered to write a report. Aughhhh.

The guy's mom made him call me the next morning to see if I was okay and everything, so yay for mom. Not so yay to hear "well, we were out partying and..." when I wasn't taping the conversation, though. Insurance (and parents, for that matter) ruled me at fault, even though it definitely wasn't.

I'd like to meet whoever came up with the nonsense idea that "rear-ending = your fault." I would like to eviscerate them with my bare hands.

I walked away from it and the airbags didn't even go off, but I did end up with a knee sprain from holding the brake while plowing into the back end of that dude's truck (and no car).

 

[Blind_Io]

In this state, and others, if a car pulls out at an intersection and gets rear-ended it's that driver's fault, not the driver behind. If you are down the street from where the first car pulled out, then it's your fault.

 

[ninjacoco]

No intersection, though. Guy pulled in front of me from the other lane.

 

[Blind_Io]

If he cut you off without checking and you hit him as a direct result of that - then in this state it's still his fault.

When I got rear-ended the cop specifically asked "how long had you been in this lane?" I told him that I had been in that lane for 6 blocks before I got hit. He then came back and asked again, "Did you change lanes before the crash?"

I'd double check the laws in your state.

 

[MadCow809]

I'd like to meet whoever came up with the nonsense idea that "rear-ending = your fault." I would like to eviscerate them with my bare hands.

Sounds like you didn't leave enough room/braking distance for yourself, hence the insurance company ruled it as your fault. Even if someone cuts me off without signalling, I would still have more than enough room to apply brakes or swerve to the next lane. You should always leave yourself enough room for the unexpected emergency stop.

 

[Blind_Io]

And how do you judge braking distance for a car that wasn't there a moment before the crash?

Seriously. Does your car have clarvoiant braking as well as ABS?

 

[ninjacoco]

Sounds like you didn't leave enough room/braking distance for yourself, hence the insurance company ruled it as your fault. Even if someone cuts me off without signalling, I would still have more than enough room to apply brakes or swerve to the next lane. You should always leave yourself enough room for the unexpected emergency stop.

He pulled in front of me a couple seconds before slamming on the brakes, though. The time I was supposed to be giving myself more room was spent going "oh $&@!, he's slammed on the brakes."

 

[Buktu]

Yeah, you can't always leave distance to a car in another lane.. It doesn't really makes sense. What if, by chance, you were trying to overtake him?

If a guy pulls out in front of you and slams on the brakes it has to be his fault.. That'd be the only reasonable conclusion. I don't actually know how the rules are here, besides the usual "if you rearend someone, it's your fault".. I don't know about the greyzones.

Might have to check that out actually..

 

[Blind_Io]

I had a ton of people tell me "Don't ride in the blind spot!" when I had my crash.

I got tired of explaining that I was passing in my own lane. Finally I got fed up with one guy and said, "Yeah, and I suppose when you want to pass fireworks and fairy dust shoots out your ass, you think happy thoughts and just fly over the car? And here I've been riding around cars like a sucker. Teach me how to pass with rainbows and fairy dust!? TEACH ME!" (that last bit was delivered while I had two handfulls of his jacket and about 2 inches from his nose). Yeah, he shut the fuck up after that.

 

[MadCow809]

And how do you judge braking distance for a car that wasn't there a moment before the crash?

Seriously. Does your car have bad spelling : clarvoiant clairvoyant braking as well as ABS?

No, but you can predict/assume what the driver will do. Making yourself heard, or noticed by other drivers on the road can also help to reduce possible accidents.

I've never had a problem passing ppl from their blindspots or failed to stop in time. So according to your logic, my clairvoyance must have saved me from all the potential crashes......or maybe it's called common sense?? Obviously something that lane splitters fail to understand.

 

[EyeMWing]

I'd like to meet whoever came up with the nonsense idea that "rear-ending = your fault." I would like to eviscerate them with my bare hands.

Maryland state law designed to lower the costs and complexity of policing (Because *FUCK* truth and justice, that shit costs MONEY!)

 

[flydiscovery]

No, but you can predict/assume what the driver will do. Making yourself heard, or noticed by other drivers on the road can also help to reduce possible accidents.

I've never had a problem passing ppl from their blindspots or failed to stop in time. So according to your logic, my clairvoyance must have saved me from all the potential crashes......or maybe it's called common sense?? Obviously something that lane splitters fail to understand.

SIGH. Let me remind you of the concept of an accident. Not all accidents are predictable and not all accidents are preventable. You can do a hell of a lot to ensure the safety of yourself and others on the road, but playing the "you're a shit driver, it's all your fault" game is pointless.

 

[Zesty]

Reading through this thread makes me so feel all the more glad I'm yet to fully stack a car, whether my fault or someone else's. Some stories people have told (and some pics) have been enough to make me say 'yikes!' out loud.

I've had a couple of close calls, which both would have been my fault. One due to excessive speed and driving beyond my capabilities at the time. Somehow I didn't put my father's car into a guardrail when I had a nice demonstration of understeer in the wet, and a quick enough reaction just saved me from ploughing into the back of a car when I wasn't concentrating as much as I should have been.

 

[Blind_Io]

No, but you can predict/assume what the driver will do. Making yourself heard, or noticed by other drivers on the road can also help to reduce possible accidents.

I've never had a problem passing ppl from their blindspots or failed to stop in time. So according to your logic, my clairvoyance must have saved me from all the potential crashes......or maybe it's called common sense?? Obviously something that lane splitters fail to understand.

I've passed tens of thousands of cars without incident. It only takes one person to do something unpredictable- such as run a stop sign, change lanes into the side of you, jump a light, or suddenly realize that he's about to miss his exit because he's in the fast lane and still try to make it. 99.9% of the time you aren't in the line of fire or can see someone is driving like an idiot. All it takes is one time for someone to do something totally irrational and for you to be in the way.

Not all situations are predictable. I've had people pull up at cross streets, stop, look right at me and wait as I approach. No other cars on the road ahead of me, but they decide to wait for traffic. I can see the driver sees me, I even have eye-contact. Just as I'm within 10 yards of the car stopped at the intersection the driver pulls out right in front of me - I pull hard on the brakes, the car behind me screeches and locks up. I pop the clutch, roll wide on the throttle and run like hell for a 2.5 foot gap between cars so I don't end up as Spam packed into a Michelin tread pattern. In this case, the ability to lane-share saved my ass (as it has many times).

To expect drivers to always know what someone will do is not only idealistic, it's idiotic. People can be unpredictable and in heavy traffic or tight corners it's not always possible to have an escape route from every single vehicle. In some cases you never even see the car that hits you.

In one of my crashes I was sideswiped by a truck. I had no escape, the truck came in from my right, I had a curb to my left with no shoulder, and cars ahead and behind me. I had no option to brake since I was already along side when the moron changed lanes into me. I couldn't power out because the front of the truck had already closed off most of the land ahead.

So tell me, how would you have know that of all the cars in that bumper-to-bumper traffic, that one driver was going to pull out and sideswipe me? How would you have prevented it?

Seriously, I want to know. The CHP officer fixed the other driver with 100% of the blame - which is rare in California. Essentially, you have to have had no way to avoid a collision to have the other person get all the blame. So tell me how you are right and the CHP accident investigator, two insurance companies' investigators and I am wrong but you are somehow right.

Oh, and one last thing: I wasn't lane-sharing. If I had been sharing this accident would not have happened. Even the cop agreed with me on that.

 

[AudiV6]

Well my worst crash was in my second Car (a 90' Corsa 1.2), and I cant really remember how it happend, a eyewitness saw me going around a left corner too fast, it was a wet day, both right tyres hit the grass then the front right tyre came on tarmac again and -because the backtyre still was on the grass- the back broke out, i was sliding about 30 meters before I hit a little tree with the right back wing, the car was shot into the air spinning me on my own achsle around before I was landing on the street again. Then the witness said that he had to brake hard not to hit me.

I had a small concussion, my head hit the passenger seat and then the overrollcage (It was a stripped out selfmade-track car, I was about to install a 2.0l 16v a week later), the car was wrecked, and I couldnt remember anything up to the moment before I was going into the corner.