How serious are you about driving safely? How many crashes have you had?

[fusion210]

Been rear ended twice by people driving on a provisional license while they were driving outside of the provisions (to/from work, not at night) but I've never caused one. Had a few close calls from people slamming on their brakes coming to a full stop on 45-50mph roads though. Was not following the two second rule.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Xist

I am not sure that we have time to talk about all of the occasions someone damaged our cars while parked. I definitely would have a much longer list.

I apologize, I missed two accidents. I will go back and add them. One time I turned left and a woman in the other turn lane pulled into my lane and scraped my car. I pulled over as soon as I could, she kept going, I called 911, and they said "You waved her on."
"I absolutely did not."

Another time some guy freaked out and flipped me off when I came to a full stop at a stop sign. A block later there was another stop sign and he rear-ended me. I pulled over, he yelled at me and drove off, I called in his license plate number, and they told me to wait for an officer. Half an hour later someone showed up and said "You got the plate wrong."
"Did you try..."
"Yeah, we tried."

It's ok to throw your weight around sometimes. If your story is as you say, you're justified to be more aggressive.

Someone crashed into a fence post once and was trying to start his vehicle again, and I opened his door and took the keys from him, saying he isn't going anywhere. The guy told me he fell asleep at the wheel. It was around noon, and the neighborhood he was coming from is 1 min or less from our house. Only people falling asleep in 1 min at noon are narcoleptic people. I questioned and observed him to see if he was on drugs, but he seemed straight. I gave him his keys back and told him to have a good day.

Police are last responders, not first. We're the first responders.

[wdb]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Someone crashed into a fence post once and was trying to start his vehicle again, and I opened his door and took the keys from him, saying he isn't going anywhere.

My dad did that once when a besotted neighbor managed to land his car in their front yard, which is no small feat.

The guy told me he fell asleep at the wheel. It was around noon, and the neighborhood he was coming from is 1 min or less from our house.

My son's father-in-law had his ancient, minty Nissan pickup totaled by a neighbor at 11am. They live in a very tightly populated development, all twisty little streets and cul-de-sacs, one of which they live on. And yet she managed to hit his poor truck hard enough to bend it almost in half. She was also stinking drunk.

I'd talk about all of the accidents I've been in but there is really only one that matters. I pulled onto a road in front of an oncoming car, which flipped onto its roof. I stopped, I looked, but I just didn't see the vehicle. To this day I thank my stars that there were no injuries beyond scrapes and a bruise.

Two days ago I avoided being rear ended by pulling off the road as the folks ahead were slamming on their brakes. It made enough space to ease the pressure behind me and give folks a little more reaction time.

[Xist]

You did not see the vehicle on its roof? How did you find out about it?

[wdb]

I did not see it before pulling out. I sure as shootin saw it after it spun me around 180 degrees.

[niky]

I've only gotten in two accidents that I consider my fault.

One, when I'd just gotten licensed, I pulled out at a green light from beside a truck and got tagged by a guy beating the red light coming the other way. He was in the wrong, but I should have known better than to pull out without a clear view of the intersection.

The other, I flipped a car taking a sharp turn over a crest around 80 mph. We skipped over the bump, understeered out to the shoulder, the road jinked the other way, understeered towards that shoulder, hit a patch of dirt, went crosswise still doing 70, spun, slid across a fence backwards for a few hundred feet, came to a near stop in the grass with everything intact...

Hit a rock buried in the grass with the spare tire well... at 5 mph. The car flipped in Hollywood style slow motion.

Not my finest moment.

I did drive the car home, though.

-

It was after that I started taking high performance driving seriously. Take it to the track, not the streets.

[jamesqf]

Afraid I'm in the boring group. Only time I've ever bent anything on a car was when I was rear-ended in a left turn lane (with half a dozen cars ahead of me). Unless you want to count a coulda been when I was a teenager. Driving the family Chevy at about 50 when the left front wheel came off. Not just the tire & rim, mind you, but the whole steering assembly. Don't know how, but I managed to keep it right side up and going straight, and came to a stop on the shoulder.

[Ecky]

Not sure if this image follows forum rules, but it's one of my favorites.

[Vman455]

Here, a version that might better appease the site's Canuckistani owners:

[19bonestock88]

I haven’t had anything with any other vehicles, but have had a couple of loss of control incidents in my early driving years related to driving too fast for the conditions, and have had numerous near misses related to the same...

Honestly the fact that I hadn’t crashed so far is quite shocking... since taking up hypermiling, I haven’t had near the incidents, with exception to the deer that come running from nowhere...