Tell Us About Your Last Automobile Accident

The last accident I was in was when a deer ran in front of my car. $4000 worth of damage. That's the second time that happened. The first time, a deer jumped down a steep embankment and landed full speed on my front fender. They may be cute and all that but not when they wreck your car.
I was in an accident one time when a neighbor ran into my left front fender. He knew me and where I live. He expected me to turn right into my driveway. But, when I picked up my children from school, I also picked up the little girl who lived across the road. So, I was turning left into their driveway. He saw me slow down, started to pass me and ran into my fender. I had my left turn signal on and it was still on when the highway patrolman got here. I don't know why he didn't see it.

 

I was turning left at a wide intersection with a 7-11 on the corner in 2009. No traffic coming. As I was making the turn, a car came racing out of the 7-11 toward me literally on two wheels. I slammed on the brakes and skidded, lightly sideswiping the car. Very little damage.

I pulled into the 7-11 and called the cops. He pulled into a drugstore on the other corner. The police came and motioned me to drive over to the other parking lot. By the time I got there, the officer was laughing with the guy and talking about "women drivers". They were having a great old time. Another car had pulled in right before the policeman arrived with a couple of "witnesses" to the accident.

I started to tell the policeman about what happened and he stopped me. He said he had all the facts he needed and gave me a ticket for "improperly entering an intersection and failure to yield right-of-way". I knew I was screwed. There were "witnesses" that I couldn't prove weren't there at the accident and a police officer who obviously didn't want to hear from me. I was going through a rough patch emotionally and couldn't face going to court to plead my case.

I paid the ticket and had my car repaired. A couple of months later, I got a call from my insurance company who said that the other driver had retained a lawyer and planned to sue for "severe neck and back injuries". WHAAAAT? It was a low-speed side-swipe that did little damage. The insurance lady said, I know, I know, but we have to investigate.

A couple more months go by and I get a call from the insurance company again. They said his lawyer had "fired" him. Why? Because the guy had been in accidents in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2008, claiming severe neck and back injuries each time. She said, unfortunately, the case had to stay open a certain amount of time (I think 3 years?) but that we'd probably never hear from him again. We didn't. Time ran out on the case and I started breathing again.

There are people who go out there and deliberately get into accidents to collect insurance payments. Obviously, he was one of them.

 

I think those are the only accidents I was ever in. I'm a very good driver.

I have come very close to two that would have been disastrous. There is a little country crossroads near here. I was approaching it once and saw a loaded log truck coming up to the stop sign from the right. I could see that he wasn't even slowing down. If I had kept my speed, he would have run into the side of my car. I floorboarded it and went into the shoulder on the left side of the road. I came to a stop almost in the ditch. He came to a stop in the left lane. When I stopped shaking, I drove on home.

 

The last accident was when I was sitting at a 4 way stop, bright clear day, excellent visibility and the stupid ass to my right, turned left into my lane and ran over my left front fender, while I was in my little roadster. Only 220 of the things built and I have to be in the right place at the right time to encounter this idiot. The car had to be sent back to the factory in GA because no one up here felt confident working on it. It ended up costing his insurance company $27,000+ dollars.

The stupid ass even tried to accelerate down the road and pulled the front of my car into his lane.

 

50 years ago (when I was 20,) I was driving to my GF's house at night. It wasn't raining, but the street was wet from previous rain. I see headlights coming straight at me head on, really fast - around 70. I swerved at the last second & he hit my rear quarter panel (behind the rear door) & I spun around 3 times.
A second later, I heard a loud crash. I walked to where the second accident was & it looked really bad; a Cadillac he T-Boned was on its side & it was so mangled, I couldn't see anyone in it.
When police arrived & started to interview me, I asked how the driver was & who was in the Cadillac.
The officer said the driver smells like a brewery & will probably be arrested after they test him. Then he said The driver in the Cadillac was killed & her teenage daughter lost a leg.
Well, I felt kinda sick.

 

1970, driving home from grocery shopping just outside of Vail, Colorado. I was driving with my wife and 8 month old baby. Two lane blacktop straight highway, speed limit was about 50 mph. I noticed a VW bug parked on the shoulder across the road from me. All of a sudden, with no warning what-so-ever, the VW pulled into my lane broadside to me. I barely had time to hit the brakes when we collided at maybe 45 mph. I was driving a heavy Plymouth station wagon. The impact threw the VW clear back across the hwy and into the field beyond. I had hit the VW in the passenger door.

Something heavy came flying from the back and had hit me in the back of my head and knocked me senseless. My 1st thought was for the baby. The impact was so great that it yanked the baby from my wife's arms and raised a huge bump on her head. Still not thinking clearly, I took up the baby and managed to get out of the car.

Though I did not know it at the time, the very first vehicle to stop was filled with Vail ski patrol. They baby was unconscious and one of the ski patrol guys took her from my arms and ran to a farm house close by. I was still with him when he didn't even knock at the door and he put on a cold compress and the baby started to cry.

It was only then that I remembered my wife. I ran back to the car and she was badly shaken and too dizzy to walk. Something strange was happening to me. I had my wife in my arms , but all I could see was clouds. Apparently, I had fallen over, backwards, and was lying on my back with my wife still in my arms and my legs were still trying to run.

Later, at the Vail mini-hospital one of the ski patrol guys told me that when I 1st approached their vehicle, I started screaming, as I kicked a tire, "Hospital. Hospital. Hospital. "

A highway patrol guy was at the hospital and after i gained my senses, i asked hi if it was my fault. He said "No way. You were still in your lane and I could see how you left tire marks on the road as you tried to stop " That was when he told me the driver of the VW was falling down drunk.

Where I had struck the VW passenger door, a young woman had been sitting. Her injuries are too gruesome to talk about. The drunk driver ? He had only a tiny drop of blood between his eye brows.

This was the only accident I was ever involved in. BUT nearly the end of all 3 of us.

 

One accident, heading North on Main and I was making my 180 around the Warwick Hotel Fountain and a large station wagon ran his yield right sign and would have hit me in my door had I not made a very hard right turn, he hit me hard in the driver side front fender and kicked my car around hard enough to punch a large hole in the driver side trunk area. He and 3 other people were in his wagon. No one hurt but the Police were very slow about responding and we had about 6 wreckers on scene, the guy turned out to be lawyer and he gave one of the wreckers permission to move his car. I told that wrecker driver either drop the car or get sued. It was against the law to move a wrecked vehicle before accident investigators give their permission. Now if all moving lanes of traffic is stopped due to the wreck it is permissible to move a vehicle if it can be moved. That was not the case there was one lane open. So it was about an hour before police arrived and they started doing the usual routine and taking license information and then looking at the scene. The first thing the police did was to tell that wrecker to drop the vehicle and move out of the scene. He drove back over to the curb and parked with his buddies all sitting there. So the lawyer started this lie about I was speeding and walked behind my car and pointed out two skid marks, it belonged to an MG sitting behind me and the two people in MG saw the whole thing so they just parked and hung around. The tire marks were two thin 13 inch tires. I had 70 series 14s. The cop laughed in his face and gave him a ticket for failure to yield at the sign. I had the Ford dealer who sold me the car hookup and take it to the dealer to have the repairs. It was over a month due to not having any sheet metal in stock due to the car being a new model. It looked good as new when I picked it up but I noticed the paint had a slight mismatch which is normal for a metalic paint, only after dark you could see the difference but you really had to look for it. I wasn't too concerned with it and never complained I was just happy to get the car back. The front end looked pretty bad and I thought that it might have been totaled since the struct area had been hit. Never had any issue with the car and that is the only wreck I have ever had. I did come close once on Long Point racing a 340 Duster and right in front of the old Kayo gas station hit water that had been swept out of the driveway of the gas station and I just happen to hit 2nd gear and the water at the same time and did a complete 360 stopping in the oncoming lane. I was getting ready to put some dust in the Dusters face. I loved to crush those little Dusters because they really all ran strong and they loved to pick on Mustangs. I had my mojo working because I was running a 4:11 posi-traction on the street and never had a Duster beat me. A corvette yes but only by a door length. I had bought a burned out 70 429 Torino and I had a new motor and C6 Tranny and the low rear end. It was an internal fire that gutted the inside but no damage to the power train. Or better known as an unpaid notes fire ! I paid 500 for the car. Never got around to using the motor. Made my ex wife mad because I stored the engine in the spare bedroom.

 

Never ran over anyone. I did forget about the nose dive on a manhole cover that had a cave-in around it. I was driving a little Pinto and before I hit that manhole tube it was a good car. It turned me hard right straight into a deep ditch. I was on the same street that the Police Department had a sub station on highway 290 intersection of the street I was on. So family picked me and the wife up and we stopped there at the sub station to make a report so insurance could be notified. The desk guy laughed and say's "Oh yeah, we know about that cause we've lost two cars there". I ask him why they hadn't put up barricades and he said it was reported to the city !!! So the Pinto was totaled, it removed the oil pan and the steering rack and also pushed the frame horn driver side about 2 inches over to the right. It was about 3 or 4 months later some guy called me at dinner time and ask me if I thought the car would be worth buying as salvage. I just told him only if he thought having a bent frame horn was alright. I never considered that a wreck because it was only me and at dusk I didn't see the hole until I was already on it. We were bouncing around pretty good there for just a second. The steering wheel would spin 360 degrees so I knew it was in pretty serious shape.

 

I have only had two accidents.
One summer my 'rent a pony' business was doing so well, I was thinking about all sorts of things to do and ran a stop light. I was hit by a cop. A young cop. He was teased unmercifully by the officers who showed up to the call. But I thought it was cool if I were to be hit by anyone. It was a good story.

Then a few weeks ago, I backed out of my garage, talking to my daughter. Didn't notice a visitor's car in the driveway.

 

I was a passenger when the accident occurred in a Rambler. We were crossing over and got hit (t-boned) where I was sitting. That was over 50 years ago. About 10 years ago I was backing up slowly in my first Jeep and backed into a parked car minor damage to the other car. My second Jeep was christened when I backed into a pole at the flea market. I admit I can't drive well in reverse. Another time Johnny drove into a pole turning into an ATM drive thru. I think the sun blinded him and he turned to soon. We made it home but the Alero was totaled.

 

Ramblers were some tough cars. My Grandfather drove a Yellow Cab in Oklahoma City for 35 years and you had to buy your own vehicle, he always bought the Ramblers because they were so dependable. In 1960 his old Cab was air conditioned and I am sure he still had the same old car when he died. My Brother and I would go to the movies on Saturdays and we would call dispatch and ask for cab 98, do the same when the movie was over. Sometimes I feel so bad about my Grandfather dying just 6 months after I joined the Army. I have never been back to OKC since I left in 65 for the service. My Brother and I were planning a final trip to visit his grave and then of course my Brother died first so that pretty much nixed any future trip. I don't feel like traveling today or tomorrow.

 

Welll not involved in this accident but yesterday the temps got close to 100 here and the pavement buckled in a nearby town on the highway. Quite a few cars strewn about with ruined tires.
That used to happen a lot in New York but I've only heard of it happening maybe 3 times in the 50 years I've been here.