Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - What's the worst road accident you've been involved in?

440sixpack · 04-24-2003, 06:37 PM

Funny, I've already got this pre-written:

Not my fault apart from poor judgement, but here goes...

I was letting a friend of mine from work drive my car at night after work on her leaner's permit to get some practice (Mistake #1). Well things went just fine the first few times we went out. So we're out on a nice early fall night cruising around town, and as we're waiting to take a left turn at a pretty major intersection, I let my attention wander (Mistake #2). Suddenly, I feel a tremendous BANG, and the car is slewing around hard. I must have blacked out briefly because the next thing I remember I'm looking around saying where the hell am I (I was disoriented as the car had been spun around about 270 degrees) and there were already people there, some dude babbling about how he was a nurse, and the cops were there. Of course the kicker was that this accident happened directly in front of city police headquarters! So response time was rather quick.

So we were carted away to the hospital where we were checked out and released - neither of us had any significant injuries, nor did the couple in the other car - so we walked away from it.

At this point I still didn't know exactly what had happened except that what I had seen of my car was pretty screwed up. So it was back to the intersection where it happened to see if someone at one of the gas stations there knew where my car had been taken. When I asked at the first station, the guy said to me "you were IN that crash and you're OK?" This was my next hint that this must have been a real doozy. My car's at the station across the street, so I take a walk over and it all becomes clear.

What had happened was that in the midst of taking the left turn we had been broadsided by a Jeep Wrangler. Bear in mind I was not driving, I was in the passenger seat - and the point of impact was about 2 ft. behind me. So in my opinion I lucked out big time to walk away from it. The car was a mess ('89 Sentra). The rear passenger door and quarter were bashed to hell, the back seat was buckled, the back passenger wheel had been snapped off, windows blown out, the whole nine yards. Sucker was obviously totalled.

The best part of it was that I ended up getting nearly what I paid for the car! I had bought it two and a half years earlier for $5000. A few months before this accident I was in a small fender bender which caused a small dent in the drivers quarter panel. Their fault, so I got a check for $400 and change. However, I decided not to get it fixed and just kept the cash. This is OK, but that $400 should have been deducted from the value of the car when it was totalled. I don't know if it was or not, but when the claims adjuster said they were giving me $4400 for the totalled car I was thrilled! So I paid about $200 to drive that car (only 4 years old when I got it) for 2 1/2 years. So there was a bright side.

So always be careful who you let drive your car! You can bet when my Challenger is done no one and I mean NO ONE but me gets behind the wheel! The other good accident I had I totalled the car while driving myself this time and put my friends head through the windshield, and that one was also because I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. The moral of the story is, keep your eyes on the road! (and your mind too.)

04-24-2003, 06:37 PM	#4 (permalink)
440sixpack Lord of All Fevers and Plagues Location: Brockton, MA	Funny, I've already got this pre-written: Not my fault apart from poor judgement, but here goes... I was letting a friend of mine from work drive my car at night after work on her leaner's permit to get some practice (Mistake #1). Well things went just fine the first few times we went out. So we're out on a nice early fall night cruising around town, and as we're waiting to take a left turn at a pretty major intersection, I let my attention wander (Mistake #2). Suddenly, I feel a tremendous BANG, and the car is slewing around hard. I must have blacked out briefly because the next thing I remember I'm looking around saying where the hell am I (I was disoriented as the car had been spun around about 270 degrees) and there were already people there, some dude babbling about how he was a nurse, and the cops were there. Of course the kicker was that this accident happened directly in front of city police headquarters! So response time was rather quick. So we were carted away to the hospital where we were checked out and released - neither of us had any significant injuries, nor did the couple in the other car - so we walked away from it. At this point I still didn't know exactly what had happened except that what I had seen of my car was pretty screwed up. So it was back to the intersection where it happened to see if someone at one of the gas stations there knew where my car had been taken. When I asked at the first station, the guy said to me "you were IN that crash and you're OK?" This was my next hint that this must have been a real doozy. My car's at the station across the street, so I take a walk over and it all becomes clear. What had happened was that in the midst of taking the left turn we had been broadsided by a Jeep Wrangler. Bear in mind I was not driving, I was in the passenger seat - and the point of impact was about 2 ft. behind me. So in my opinion I lucked out big time to walk away from it. The car was a mess ('89 Sentra). The rear passenger door and quarter were bashed to hell, the back seat was buckled, the back passenger wheel had been snapped off, windows blown out, the whole nine yards. Sucker was obviously totalled. The best part of it was that I ended up getting nearly what I paid for the car! I had bought it two and a half years earlier for $5000. A few months before this accident I was in a small fender bender which caused a small dent in the drivers quarter panel. Their fault, so I got a check for $400 and change. However, I decided not to get it fixed and just kept the cash. This is OK, but that $400 should have been deducted from the value of the car when it was totalled. I don't know if it was or not, but when the claims adjuster said they were giving me $4400 for the totalled car I was thrilled! So I paid about $200 to drive that car (only 4 years old when I got it) for 2 1/2 years. So there was a bright side. So always be careful who you let drive your car! You can bet when my Challenger is done no one and I mean NO ONE but me gets behind the wheel! The other good accident I had I totalled the car while driving myself this time and put my friends head through the windshield, and that one was also because I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. The moral of the story is, keep your eyes on the road! (and your mind too.)