Question about accidents
 

Most teenagers in the US are excited about getting their permits and licenses. I wasn't, worried I'd hit a pedestrian who didn't look both ways before crossing. I was also six when I emigrated from Vietnam, where there are practically no traffic regulations and accidents were rampant. Children even younger than I would run across the streets while scooters zoomed by.

My brother's coworker has told me couple of times that he's never been in an accident because he's a good driver, taking the road on like it's an obstacle course and avoiding hits from drivers who aren't where they're supposed to be.

A family friend has also told me sooner or later accidents happen - worse case scenario being accidents caused by drunk drivers.

This is a thread about how long you've been driving, how many accidents you've had, what kind they were, whose fault they were, et cetera

Answer: a long time, and two accidents. Both were rear-enders, me stopped for at the end of a line of other cars, and the car behind hitting me.

I do generally agree with your brother's coworker: I've avoided quite a number of potential accidents by being aware of other traffic, Some might say that my definition of aware equates to paranoid - comes from a lot of motorcycle riding, where you live longer if you start off assuming that a significant portion of car drivers actually WANT to kill you, and are just waiting for you to give them a chance :-)

In my last accident, I was rear ended. I was avoiding rear ending the guy who cut in front me from the yellow lane in bumper-to-bumper traffic. When traffic started again, he sped off. The man behind me hit me hard too

There is only so much you can do yourself. Even the best driver can get rear-ended or hit a ped that jumps out from behind something without looking.

In the last 10 years I haven't had any real accidents, only a few close calls. Once I had to get out of the way of a truck speeding down the middle of the road, pulling a mirror off from a car parked on the side. It was the truck's fault, but I had to pay mirror's owner $20 :(
A few months ago we were coming back from a long trip, it was dark, the weather was crappy, I was the only driver, tired and mad at some nonsense that had been going on earlier, and I didn't notice a yield sign. I saw a car speeding right towards my side. Thankfully I was going slow, but the car was heavy (4 people plus load). I stopped just in time.
Many years ago I was driving down a street in Warsaw, going some 50-60 km/h, with a tram going the same speed right next to me. Suddenly the tram turns on me, instead of going straight. At full speed and without a turn signal. I hit the gas and barely made it. After that had to stop for 10 minutes for my adrenaline to go down.
And once I almost hit a cyclist while backing. The parking lot had hedges in dumb places.
Gee, looks like I'm a hazard and should have my licence revoked ;)

EDIT: Tas reminded me that I also got 1 ticket in my life: For not having my lights on in the middle of a sunny day (lights should always be on here). Soon I'm installing automatic LED DRLs, shaving about 150-200 watts from my load :)

When I first started driving, I think a woman and her two young children were crossing the road after the cross signal ended and when the left-turn light was on for me to go and yelled at me because I almost hit her

4 years, zero accidents.

12 years. Had a head on collision during my first year of driving, fault was 50/50. Also got rear ended on the highway 6 years ago. Only got a single ticket in y life, for speeding, 2 weeks after I got my license. Not a chance that's gonna happen again with the kind of driving I'm doing nowadays.

19 years of driving.
1 minor accident. ( about 15 years ago)

at cross street i miss judged the oncomming traffics speed ( assumed the car was doing speedlimit - i was wrong - car was speeding) - got my rear bumber clipped ( pulled plastic off) and the other car had minor damage as well.

was lucky. Now i ASSUME they are speeding and not paying attention.

90% of crash avoidance is paying attention True you cannot stop ALL crashes - you can only avoid ones you can control as well as ones you can see comming.

Example - when driving on highway and someone is merging into my lane from an on ramp - I ASSUME they are not going to look to see if I am there and will start to slow down to give them room ( even though LEGALLY they have to slow for me) I have avoided several Issues this way.

steve

12 years, 3 accidents, 0 moving violations.

First one was my fault, I rear ended an old lady who stopped at the bottom of an off-ramp.
Second one was their fault, I got rear ended by someone in stop and go traffic who was busy checking another lane she wasn't in.
Third one was 3 people removed's fault. Traffic suddenly stopped on the highway and the lady driving the 3rd vehicle back didn't hit the brakes in time and hit the person in front of her, who was pushed into the guy in front of him, who was pushed into me, who just barely tapped the guy in front of me (no damage to the front of my car).

Some accidents you can avoid by paying attention. Some accidents you can't because someone else didn't.

Yea, I don't know how you could've avoided your last accident

11 years, 1 accident, 3 times off the road, 1 ticket
accident was me and 3 friends driving through a parking lot when a 16 year old who had already had 3 other accidents was cutting across the isles and came out from behind a van an hit me. Passangers side in front of the tire. I was able to drive, but her car was leaking antifreeze really bad. Since it was a parking lot it was "50/50", but anyone with a brain would tell you that the girl going 30 in a parking lot cutting across isles was at fault.

3 times off the road, all due to ice on corners. The little Chevy Sprint I drove at the time never got injured even once during those excursions... Not sure how, it took some good blows sliding off the road sideways a couple times, and straight off through a ditch and into a field the other.

Ticket was right after I got the car I have now. The tires are larger than stock, so the speedo was off, and compared to the Sprint, my Suzuki Swift has a lot of power. I had gotten used to driving 5 over in the Sprint, but doing so in the Swift meant 8 over, and a ticket. I was 18.

kitaimdao -

Since 1984. Two accidents. One my fault and one maybe 1/2 my fault, but then he or she ran away. Here's a rough estimate of miles driven :

It seems like I used to get moving violations spaced apart just enough so as to be able to go to traffic school, but none in recent years (knock on wood).

I drove a motorcycle too. I enjoy cruising, but LA traffic on two wheels can be a lesson in being terrified of other drivers.

I have a theory. The longer you drive, the more "6th sense" you develop. Even though your reaction skills erode, your experience allows you to "intuit" how to drive safely. It's like the "flight hours" a pilot amasses in order to become certified.

It doesn't mean I won't get into an accident tomorrow, but nobody's been hurt in all that time, so I count that as a win.

CarloSW2

I'm fortunate nobody has been hurt too

17 years...3 accidents...2 moving violations.

Accident #1: 17 years old and hit a patch of ice on a bridge...hit the side of the bridge with the passenger front side and it spun me around and I hit the passenger rear side. No other vehicles involved in crash. Had my license for 3 weeks when this happened in my Chevy Monte Carlo...not fun explaining this one to Mom.

Accident #2: 18 years old and was showing my girlfriend the top of my head after a haircut (dumb). Needless to say, when I looked up there was a rear bumper in front of me...crammed the brakes and lightly hit the car in front of me...no damage to either vehicle (also in my Chevy Monte Carlo).

Accident #3: 29 years old and my Ford Ranger was parked in my driveway/parking lot when a drunk driver lost control of his vehicle, ran over a fire hydrant and sent the hydrant and his car into the side of my truck. I had just parked the car 5 minutes earlier...anyone believe in "if it's not your time to go it's not your time to go?" (Side note: I got a nice new paint job on the entire truck out of this one...two weeks later I backed into a basketball hoop pole and dented the nice new paint job...sold the car a month later for less than I should have due to the big dent).

The two moving violations were a speeding ticket (52 in a 35 coming off a highway) and running a yellow/red light. Both were over 7 years ago and are no longer factored into my insurance rate.

Nice thread kit,

I've been in a LOT of trouble, but just little enough to not get slammed by insurance. Lets see:

95 Subaru impreza sedan - ditched twice, no damage, towed away from both by friends
My friend's 80's model buick skylark - I was driving and rear ended an overweight wench who slammed on her brakes for no apparent reason - she was on the phone with the police before she even pulled over. Left some of my friend's new paint job on her car which was wiped off with a paper towel but destroyed my friend's fiberglass front end. The police officer had to CONVINCE her she might have been injured in the accident (she said "no, I'm fine" several times while the cop said "are you SURE?", to which she eventually replied "welllll, my back hurts a little". The cop reported it as a "personal injury accident) she tried and failed to get an insurance settlement, and my friend already had a new front end he planned on putting on anyway. This incident somehow ended up with no ramifications whatsoever :D.

93 Subaru legacy wagon - ditched once, no damage, drove out. My 1st speeding stop - It was a passing zone and a slow-moving loaded up contractor truck with a bunch of ladders on it, "offered" me a pass. I took it, and noticed some oncoming traffic coming in hot, so I sped up to finish my pass and get back in my lane. One of the cars in that incoming traffic was the po-po. Very unlucky. Got it reduced to moving violation.

Edit: oh yeah, I've never hit a deer, but a deer hit me on the drivers side of this car one time. Small dent and a few tufts of fur.

94 Ford F-150 (father's truck) - ripped a softball size hole in some lady's old fiberglass buick while in high school - left a note on her windshield and forked over a 1 or 2 hundred to fix it. Also rear ended another horrible old witch who stopped at the bottom of an on ramp for NO REASON on a slick day. There was no visible damage to her car, but she found some little pucker in the fender and managed to win $900 from my insurance. Awful person - deserved to be rear-ended by me :-P

93 Toyota corolla sedan - ditched once - This was awful - I was driving home late one night about a year and a half ago. I was driving home to my parents house where there's a reasonably large curve in the road. It was apparently a little slick, and with a couple ditched cars under my belt, controlled the car into a light landing gently into a ditch. I couldn't manage to get it out, and a passer-by stopped and offered her help. This failed, and I ran to my parents house about 3/4 mile away to get my father's truck to drag it out. Turns out the lady who helped me called the cops, and one was there waiting for me. He had a marine corps style haircut and a marine corps style attitude - he was a real prick. He convinced his self I had alcohol on my breath (I had some drinks MUCH earlier that night, but I was definitely not intoxicated). He also took the liberty of searching my vehicle without my consent, constantly spitting through the process. He then decided to keep me in the back of the police car for a while even though I was not under arrest. I was forced to pay a towtruck to pull my car out of the ditch even though I had my father's truck ready. My parents learned of the event by now, and arrived on the scene, as baffled as I was that I was required to hire a towtruck. They were not pissed - thank ****:cool:. I got an awesome lawyer for this and ended up with no points on my license, the $100 for the towtruck, and a $275 fine - Still no bill from the lawyer to this day. My real disdain for most cops began here.

Also in the 93 corolla - Second speeding ticket - totally legitimate, guilty, 79 in a 65 (huge downhill :o) Got some points that were removed with defensive driving class I regularly go to for insurance discount.

My current 98 Civic - 3rd speeding ticket - sneaky school zone in Chittenango NY (fun fact: this is where L. Frank Baum, the creator of The Wizard of Oz, was from). this cop was really nice and saw that I was on my way to do a job at their local advance auto parts with my ladder, cabling, and tools. - let me off with a local traffic infraction that consisted only of a fine, no points, nothing involved with the state.
Since then I've been stopped numerous times (for driving too slow, for headlights, just for the hell of it) and never ticketed. some of the police were alright, some were obviously looking for trouble.

With all but my current car, I (may or may not) have parking tickets up the wazoo at a local university, where I am/was a volunteer DJ at their radio station, but not a student and therefore am effectively immune to their parking tickets - by now with overdue payment penalties, I've probably accrued over a thousand dollars in fines :eek:. Not paying those :thumbup:.

I've had several parking tickets in NYC and have been towed in NYC - an awful place to park - I try to avoid driving there at all now, but next time I park there and forever more, I'm taking photos of my car after parking.

Fun parking ticket facts: in some little towns that are essentially little pieces of San Francisco that someone dropped out of an airplane (like Asheville, NC and Ithaca, NY) the first parking ticket you get is a free warning. I've kept these as souvenirs.

Part of me is just plain unlucky, part of me has a will to stick it to authority, sometimes I just make honest mistakes. Luckily I've never been hurt, nor hurt anyone else.

Lol, that reminds me, used to be that in chicago you could hand the cop a $50 and be on your way :)

My first accident with my car was backing out of my steep driveway - might've still had my permit. I was going to get groceries with my parents. I hit the side because my father's big van was parked on the other side of the driveway. It put a gash in one of my tires so we had to get another one

Ooh what a q.........
 

There are lots of accident stats and stories available that are not eco-mod specific. Rarer are the avoided-accident stories. Twice, my sporty driving practice has paid off when I have slid through corners on unexpected ice, when loss of control would have been very bad. One night, I was droning along a minor highway when I flashed by a car upside down in the next lane. I was lucky - the reflectors had mostly fallen off. Other times, I've been dancing around the potholes and generally having fun, and found myself with plenty of time to react to surprises on the road, one of which was a friend and her bicycle in a heap. Over 60% of the drivers on their way to an accident just freeze up and don't even brake, let alone steer creatively. I saw two dogs run into heavy traffic from a highly visible side road, and nobody even honked.
As with eco-driving, the biggest factor is behind the wheel, looking for options. Know how your car handles at the limit, by pushing it when you can see that it is safe. One friend looked up from changing her radio, and swerved to stay in her lane. Then she overcorrected twice and totalled the car.

If a man has been born to be hanged, he needn't be afeared of the water.
- Texas Aphorism

If you see one deer, don't stare - spot the others.

I'm not sure if I've driven in heavy snow

more regalia
 

I'm Asian. There's a stereotype here

32 years driving. Lots of cars and trucks, a bunch of motorcycles. I will not count dirt bikes or any offroad activities. I was rear-ended once in my old Sentra. I made a left turn with my Neon into an SUV with no lights on (at night and that driver was a cop's wife, I lost bigtime), both of us drove away with minimal damage. All other vehicle damage was my cars being backed into in parking lots. I was run off the road once on a motorcycle, a little rash but no real damage to me, and the bike wasn't seriously damaged.

And I've never had an accident/incident with company or work vehicles ranging from golf carts to heavy equipment.

OK, seemingly thousands of close calls. I drive with a motorcyclist's awareness. I expect the worst of other driver's around me. And they usually fulfill my expectations.

I don't text, rarely talk on the cell anyway. I don't have a bumpin' stereo to drown out all sounds, and my window tinting is legal. I use all three mirrors, and scan gauges, mirrors and left and right frequently. I don't watch the car in front of me exclusively, I'm looking about 3 seconds down the road in town, and 10 seconds on the highway.

What?
 

Which forum did you think you were on?

We, (at least me, and I don't believe any of the others here), don't stereo type or judge others.
Read some of my posts and you will learn some of the dumbest things on the planet are my fault.
If Al Gore is responsible for inventing the internet then I am responsible for the "Terminator" scenario.

I understand your point though. A lot of drivers will see a young Asian Woman behind the wheel, and resort to their fathers way of thinking, and blame every road problem they encounter on you.

But I truly don't think that happens here.

"Here" as in my post

Been driving for about 15 years, had one major accident, a medium one and a minor "bump".

I was "lightly" rear-ended when traffic came to a stop suddenly on a busy street. I was able to brake in time, but the guy behind me couldn't. Impact was more like a big push, the kind you get in a rollercoaster when it starts. I had my VW Fox, so the bumpers were "real" solid bumpers, not plastic molded ones that cracks. Other guy had a Mk2 Golf, same kind of bumper here. No damages/injury on either party.

My medium accident was because of a deer. I had a '97 Jetta turbo diesel. It was a narrow country road, with tall grass (4-5 ft) on the sides. I had just crossed another car, I checked my speed (55 mph), and as I was setting my eyes on the road, I saw the deer crossing right in front of me. I hit it as it was halfway past my car. Luckily it didn't went over my hood and through my windshield - it was flown over the other side of the road, in the ditch. Car drove fine after that (well, up to the garage), radiator was pushed back and bent, but didn't leak at all. :)

And, my big crash... Again with the Jetta turbo diesel. I was with my GF, coming back from a day trip in Ottawa. It was 10pm, and I decided to fill up on diesel because of the 300 km of road ahead, and it was getting late. First exit's gas station didn't have any diesel left. So I stopped at the next exit. As I was coming back on the Highway, I had just merged in the right lane and was about to set the cruise control at 110 km/h (78mph) when I heard a screeching noise.

I looked at the rearview mirror just in time to see a pair of headlights shifting to our left. When I looked at my left, and there was this generic sedan, 4 wheels locked and smoking, passing me in the other lane! It nearly passed me, and as it slowed down it came back in my lane. I felt a *thud* behind... The other car had tapped my rear bumper on the side, just behind the wheel. If you ever saw COPS or a Police chase TV show you know what happens next. I lost control of the car, fishtailed.

We hit the grass on the side of the road still going, I'd say, 80 km/h. Sideways. The wheels dug in the dirt and we rolled over two and a half time. I was "okay", my girlfriend had a broken sternum and a "more alarming than it looks" gash on the forehead. Poor Jetta was totalled, after 475000 km (300 000 miles) on the road.

Sorry for the long story, I tried to skim some details out but also leave the important parts in.

I'm with you on that one. Well, it works for *some* people at least. It's true that driving is way underrated (in term of danger), since the average people drive more and more miles per year and yet nothing happens. So we let our guards down. We plug the automatic pilot. Hey, I'm also guilty of this at times.

But about the '"6th sense", I got an "alarm bell" ringing for me a few weeks ago.

I was on a 4 lane wide "boulevard", without physical separation, just a yellow line. Two lanes in each direction. I'm in the left lane. In the right lane, a Pepsi truck is slowing down to turn right at the next intersection. At this intersection, I see a Taurus on the crossing street waiting at its stop sign, with its blinker set to turn left on the boulevard (opposite side of me).

The Pepsi truck is kinda blocking his view, but if I can see him, he should see me, right? But still, I think: "Don't you move from here, Taurus..." And I'm preparing myself to react (thumb ready to hit the horn, I lift my right foot a little). As I pass the truck, I can't see the Taurus anymore so I don't know if its staying put or what.

Then, oh lovely, I see the Taurus begining to cross the right-most lane, but it doesn't seem ready to stop! I hit the horn, swerved in the opposite lane (empty, of course). The Taurus' nose stopped past the middle of the lane I was in; it wasn't fast to react. :mad: I don't know if I could have made it if I wasn't "prepared" for this... But the scary part is that I normally wounlnd't have noticed the waiting car... I was almost sure it would try to make it a go in front of me...

I don't see the stereotype. I see bad drivers everywhere, and they all look different and drive different vehicles. But they are all bad drivers. I see good drivers everywhere too, and they also all look different.

That 6th sense doesn't develope with everyone either...

I didn't have a point. It was self teasing. Anyway what's ironic is both you and dcb, in private message, mentioned "woman." I've always heard the stereotype refer to Asians in general. :p

It's also ironic that I've never met an Asian who didn't fit the stereotype. However, I know that stereotypes aren't true.

As for the sixth sense, God knows I need it

It's not really ESP.
It's just plain old experience from observation.
Kind of an "I've seen this scenario before,----- and now the idiot in the red car is going to cut off the idiot in the green car -------- who is going to dart into my lane" kind of wisdom.
You will gather these experiences the more you drive.
You will watch in horror as some inattentive person try's to dart across traffic and ends up T-Boned because he did not have a clear view of the road he was entering. (yes I did see it, but couldn't stiop it)
And as you gather this information your mind will store it in the back archives for when you encounter it again so you will feel the Deja Vu and slow down a little more to allow these fools to try and merge two cars into one.

I have been driving since I was 12, got my license at 15 1/2.
When I was driving illegally, I was OH SO careful.
When I got my license, I lost it for demerit points (all speeding) within 3 months. (my younger brother TOTALED his first car on the way home from DMV with his brand new license in his pocket and our Dad in the passenger seat) ROFL

It is not how well you CAN drive.
It is how well you WILL drive.

I will drive to the best of my ability from now till I can't see straight any more.
At that point I have instructed my children to take my car(s) and license away.
By force if necessary. I will not wish to be a hazard on the road any more.

metroschultz -

I agree, but I'm talking about non-ESP experience that's operating "subconsciously".

My story is that I was in the fast lane on the 405 South. Fast traffic that was running really close and what I now like to describe as "twitchy". I got a bad feeling, so I changed to the next slower lane. Within 10 to 30 seconds, I heard a massive crashing sound on my left. Pile-up city in the fast lane. That "bad feeling" was my reaction to my experience, but I couldn't explain it at the time. Today I consciously recognize that situation and call it "accident traffic".

CarloSW2

It seem like a sixth sense at the time because we don't always recognize our own subconscious telling us to "get the he!! out of here".

In retrospect, after the Adrenalin has cooled down and your mind can reflect on the incident, you realize that you witnessed an accident like that in the past, or you were involved in one, or you were the cause of one. (guilty of the last) And your mind says;
I've seen this,
It ends bad,
We shouldn't be here,
!!!GET ME OUTA HERE!!!!!!!!
and then we move our cars to a safer lane or exit the highway before the big mess occurs and it feels like precognition.

Let's agree that experience can help

Austin Drive Clean - definitely contrary to the stereotype. (The interesting part is that she was involved in a minor accident just before the famous 48 state challenge, but she was definitely not at fault. She was getting ready to start the challenge and a truck backed into her parked car.)

I have also been in just one minor accident - not my fault. I was returning home from school and I braked hard at a light (which had a red light camera, BTW) that was turning red. The driver behind me was distracted and her car bumped mine. No damage. But I think it's still a good argument for putting countdown indicators at every light to allow drivers to time the lights.

2006: quite dark, highway, going by dump site dysarts bangor maine. notorious in the 80s for mysterious melting tires and electrical "bermuda triangles". anyhoo. That was once a paid off secret.
I am going by, perculiar odor, right lane, a camaro weaving back and forth, something was alive in the air, I could smell that raunchy mismatched convertor (exahust) spewing something eye burning. No worries, I survived traffic jams in the 70s sitting tall in a smoky old cabover tractor trailer stuck in a city tunnel with the same brain melting odor...(it adds to the character I am today) er hum, anyway,

I was doing about 70ish, flow of traffic around me, I caught a glimpse of a taillight in my headlights. Honda. (I am bizarre like that in split seconds- it must be many years of trucking as a passenger)
The car was going so slow, on this looong right hand highway bend, I knew to go to the left, and squeeze between a camaro, and the honda, the camaro rubbed paint on my left, I flew by the 20mph honda on the 70mph highway, smacking mirrors, My car went sideways, I slid a long time,m assumed a rollover, exactly saodewyas for a 1000 yards, like I was on an oil slick, and smacked into guard rail, totalling car. One old lady still alive, my old sube: destroyed. I looked back at where mirrors touched...it was long frickin way off. I slid a long time.
The police never pursued camaro. Ironically it turned out to be some junkie busted in jail before figuring out who it was driving drunk like..no charges, no resolve. no faults. A few days after the wreck..my tires had melt spots and i could not touch them, i could smell it, like peppermint...the dump site caused the honda to have problems is my only guess, as strange things showed on my own car. Repulsive odor has a chemistry. Beware. I'd love to find out what that is that keeps sneaking into these mass flunking Maine dump piles: Massachussetts.

A subaru later, I had a life long steel part fail, strangely, I had just done hauling with the car, inspection etc. It smelled like peppermint, and I remembered using a tire from my wrecked car, in the same area it failed. This peppermint smell was a direct hit and ate 3/16 steel in 6 months. Freaky hey?

Yes, that's freaky

bgd73: I bet that 20mph Honda was soneone hypermiling ;)
Now someone should post

Wow, now this is a thread I can add too!

I totaled two cars in two months. These were some of the first months of my driving. Both times i was sober. Both times i was going well under the speed limit. Both times I was the only vehicle involved.

I want you to think about that. Now add in that i was 17 at the time, and imagine what the insurance people did to me.

The first accident, it was very very icy. I slid through a T intersection and fell into the ditch on the other side. I hit on enough of an angle to write off the car by destroying the transmission. (it was an old car).

The second accident, I started driving off, and the window fogged up on me. I steered over to the side of the road to try and clean the window off better. I hit a parked Jeep and managed to roll the car. It rolled very gently. Gentlest way to completely destroy a vehicle. The driver window broke, and i undid my belt and fell out the broken window. Both accidents i walked away without so much as a scratch. For which i am very thankful.

Finally. After 6 years accident free, and about 300k kms of driving. I got rear-ended by a full size lexus (LS430) on the 2nd day i got my smart car. Did about $1000 worth of cosmetic damage to the smart, and wrote off the lexus. Lexus crumpled like a wet rag around the reinforced steel frame of the smart. His fault. I stopped. He failed to.

-Steve

33 years of driving. 3 accidents.

#1. 1980, on the back roads of Abbeville, Louisiana at 4 AM. I come around a sharp corner and there are 2 cops, a local and a state trooper, parked in the road talking. No flashers, just head and tail lights. My only choice was the ditch. The trooper took off and the local checked on me. Then he hooked a chain to his trailer hitch and pulled me out of the ditch. Other than the alignment being knocked out my Pinto was fine. I don't think he said ten words to me the whole time.

#2. 1983, on my Yamaha 750, sitting at a yield sign waiting for an opening for a traffic circle. 40ish bimbo in a red Corvette from New York bunts me across the traffic onto the center island. The bike is bent, but fixable. I sustain 2 dislocated fingers on my right hand, bruises down the whole right side of my body, a badly road-rashed leather jacket, and a cracked helmet from hitting the war memorial cannon in the center of the island. The bimbo drove away, but there were 10 witnesses who stayed with me waiting for the police and ambulance who gave info that tracked her down.

#3. 1986, stopped on a busy street waiting to make a left turn into an alley. When an opening in the opposing traffic occurs I shoot across the road, just as the person in the first parking space after the alley backs up to try to get into the flow. His car gets pushed into a light pole. It turns out he has no license or insurance. A month later I get a notice from my insurance company saying that his fat cow of a wife now has neck pain, and they settle for $5K+ $750 for totalling his Vega.

In the ensuing years I've had some close calls on my bike, but my riding buddies were less fortunate. In a 2 year period in the '90s I buried 3 of them, so I gave up motorcycles. Looking in the newspaper this morning I see that another just died in an accident on a wet road near his home. Every time I get the itch to get back on 2 wheels I get a reminder of why I gave it up. :(

My accidents very memorable.

#1 - about 3 months after getting my first car in 2001, about a year after getting my license - I back my 1985 Rx-7 up into my girlfriend's step-dad's F-150 while trying to make a get-away after he caught us less than fully clothed :o...
Needless to say I stopped to assess the damage (I never even got out of the driveway), I had smashed in the tumbler for the hatch, dented the rear under the hatch window, and broken a couple plastic molding pieces... Her step dad came out and drove off pissed without saying a thing to me... I was terrified... I found out later that I had done NO DAMAGE TO HIS TRUCK, not even a scratch...
I am still with this girl today, and she and I are getting hitched in a couple of weeks :thumbup:. Her step-dad and I get along well now if you are wondering.
One of my friends does amazing bodywork, didn't report this one to the insurance company.

#2 - about a year after the first accident - following my girlfriend (same girl, in the same 1985 Rx-7) and I look down to change the radio station, when I look up she had come to a dead stop in her 1989 Buick (she missed the turn she was going to take). Thank God for video game reflexes - I turn the wheel a 1/4 left and lock up the brakes, Spin 180 and miss her back bumper with my back bumper with a few inches to spare (don't ask me how I managed that, I probably couldn't repeat it if I tried :rolleyes:) and slide a few more feet back up over the curb on the other side of the road and hit my passenger side fender on a concrete barrier, denting it a few inches. We are both facing each other and have the same "I can't believe that just happened!" look on our faces. Like the first accident, I drive away, no insurance call and get my bodywork buddy on the horn to fix the latest crackup.

#3 - March 2004 - After an Ice storm - before the roads had been sanded in my 2002 Toyota Corolla S. I left for work 45 minutes early so I could take my time. Going down an icy back road, around a corner my front wheels break loose and I start sliding around the corner... right into a telephone poll and mailbox. I don't have a cell phone at the time, so I walk to the next door neighbor's house (there was a big scary German Shepard in front of the house whose mailbox I hit) and telephone my mom to get down here and call the wrecker to haul my ride away. Within moments a police cruiser rolls up as I am assessing the damage of the accident and goes through the motions (are you okay son? what happened here?...). I had peeled back the fender like it was a banana peel and once the auto body shop got hold of it, they found a whopping $6000 in damage to the suspension and framework (the insurance company had estimated the damage at $2000) and the car wasn't totaled, thank God. It took a couple weeks to repair, but then it was like new again.

#4 - Driving on Main street in a nearby Town 2006 - 2002 Toyota Corolla S (same as #3 above) - My girlfriend was in the car with me for this one. I go around an SUV (still on my side of the yellow lines) that is taking a right onto an intersecting street and an 50+ year old woman pulls out from that side street right in front of me. I T-bone her going at least 30 MPH (that was with the brakes locked up and a tremendous amount of rubber being left behind). She shocked, I'm shocked, my girlfriend is shocked, we pull our cars over and the old bag can't get out. I had fused her car door with the B pillar and had to yank the door open for her. I tried to keep my cool, and asked her if she was okay and for her insurance information and waited for the police show up. I'm thinking to myself "wonderful, a 23 year old kid and a 50+ year old woman get into an accident of the above description, who is at fault..." Well thank the Lord I stayed on my side of the road (the tire tracks I left behind were a clear indicator of where my car had been) because after the cop checked out the scene he said "I'm sorry ma'am, but any insurance company is going to find you at fault because you pulled out into the main flow of traffic when it was unsafe to do so, the young gentleman (he called me a gentleman! :thumbup:) was on his side of the road when the accident happened and you had a stop sign, indicating that you go when it is safe to proceed. Here is your citation. Have a nice day. Her insurance picks up the tab and I drive away with $2000 worth of damage. They insurance company can't total the car (because it was worth $2300 at the time :D) and I still drive the Rolling Lemon today.

None of these have ever been against me (the two that were reported) and the icy road #3 accident? I had to go to a hearing and provide information to get that one taken off my record (just had to provide a few articles from newspapers that had statements from state troopers saying that the ice caused about 97 accidents that day).
So I consider myself lucky and drive much more defensively than in the past. Always pay attention!!!! It will save you and others lives!
I do believe you get almost a sixth sense when you have been driving for several years, I attribute it to experience :thumbup:.

That's funny... around here if you crash and it is icy... you're just another jackass that didn't take the weather into consideration and you're instantly at fault. Every time there is a snow storm the radio reports the number of accidents reported that day... here in London, Ontario a bad snow storm usually results in >100 accidents. This is one of the worst towns for driving that I've ever lived in.