Collision History
Apr 17, 2014 8:52:03 GMT -5
georgiacammer, badsouthfldrivers, and 2 more like this
Post by 1995hoo on Apr 17, 2014 8:52:03 GMT -5
I've been in two that were my fault and, in recent memory, four that were not my fault. When I was a kid I was in at least two (one of those when the school bus rear-ended a VW Beetle at the old one-lane bridge on Woodburn Road in Fairfax County, the other when a friend's mom rear-ended someone at a yield sign at low speed and did no damage).
The first one that was my fault was when I was 16. I was driving my dad's car, making a left turn, and couldn't see a car coming through stopped traffic. He hit me and I was at fault for failure to yield. What made it all the worse for me was that Dad was in London on business at the time and then, when he got back, I was in Norfolk on a school trip. I seriously thought about vanishing in Norfolk and not coming home from that school trip! (The dumb things you think when you're a kid....I thought my father would beat the crap out of me, but he didn't....yelled a hell of a lot and of course I had to pay his insurance deductible, which for a 16-year-old kid was a lot because I also owed him $350 he'd loaned me a few weeks earlier when my 1977 Granada's clutch had to be replaced....I wound up getting a part-time job on weekends so I could get the money to pay him.)
The other that was my fault was about ten years later. I was coming home from work and was trying to change lanes; the guy to my right sped up to box me out right as the guy in front of me hit the brakes. I rear-ended him. Got a ticket for failure to pay full time and attention. What made that one worse was that two days later I got laid off from my job. Ugh. Horrible week for me. I knew things were looking up three weeks later when, the day before my car was ready to be picked up, I bought a scratch-and-win lottery ticket at the grocery store and won $250....which happened to be the amount of my deductible! Landed a new job a few weeks later that paid $28,000 more than the job I'd lost, too.
Other wrecks: A few months after the second wreck described above, I traded in that car on an Accord. Less than a month after buying it, I got rear-ended. I was stopped at the end of a line of traffic for a red light. The light turned green, but of course you have to wait for the cars in front of you to go. A foreigner drove right into the back of me and blamed me because I wasn't moving for a green light! The cops cited her, of course. She had tried to leave before they came because she "was in a hurry to pick up my husband," but since we were right in front of a 7-11 there were plenty of witnesses.
Then five years later the same Accord got rear-ended again. I was again stopped at the end of a line of traffic for a red light. Thankfully, I never block the box, because in this case an 18-year-old girl driving her mom's Volvo 240 wagon slammed into the back of me going at least 25 mph. Because I didn't block the box I was able to spin the wheel frantically and avoid hitting the cars across the intersection. Insurance declared the Accord a total loss due to the amount of damage (the car was seven years old by then). I had ONE car payment left on that car! I had also had it in for servicing the day before the wreck and the mechanic said, "You maintain this car fanatically. You'll easily get 250,000 miles unless you're in a wreck." $%&*(!!!!!!!
Since then I've had two other minor fender-benders, neither my fault, both in the Acura that replaced the Accord. Less than three months after I bought it some dumb bitch illegally using a handheld cell phone backed into my front bumper on New York Avenue in DC. Had to replace the bumper. A few years later another woman rear-ended me in stopped traffic in Virginia and I had to replace the rear bumper (no other damage beyond the bumper either time).
I've begun to think it's not "if" you're in a wreck around here so much as "when."
The first one that was my fault was when I was 16. I was driving my dad's car, making a left turn, and couldn't see a car coming through stopped traffic. He hit me and I was at fault for failure to yield. What made it all the worse for me was that Dad was in London on business at the time and then, when he got back, I was in Norfolk on a school trip. I seriously thought about vanishing in Norfolk and not coming home from that school trip! (The dumb things you think when you're a kid....I thought my father would beat the crap out of me, but he didn't....yelled a hell of a lot and of course I had to pay his insurance deductible, which for a 16-year-old kid was a lot because I also owed him $350 he'd loaned me a few weeks earlier when my 1977 Granada's clutch had to be replaced....I wound up getting a part-time job on weekends so I could get the money to pay him.)
The other that was my fault was about ten years later. I was coming home from work and was trying to change lanes; the guy to my right sped up to box me out right as the guy in front of me hit the brakes. I rear-ended him. Got a ticket for failure to pay full time and attention. What made that one worse was that two days later I got laid off from my job. Ugh. Horrible week for me. I knew things were looking up three weeks later when, the day before my car was ready to be picked up, I bought a scratch-and-win lottery ticket at the grocery store and won $250....which happened to be the amount of my deductible! Landed a new job a few weeks later that paid $28,000 more than the job I'd lost, too.
Other wrecks: A few months after the second wreck described above, I traded in that car on an Accord. Less than a month after buying it, I got rear-ended. I was stopped at the end of a line of traffic for a red light. The light turned green, but of course you have to wait for the cars in front of you to go. A foreigner drove right into the back of me and blamed me because I wasn't moving for a green light! The cops cited her, of course. She had tried to leave before they came because she "was in a hurry to pick up my husband," but since we were right in front of a 7-11 there were plenty of witnesses.
Then five years later the same Accord got rear-ended again. I was again stopped at the end of a line of traffic for a red light. Thankfully, I never block the box, because in this case an 18-year-old girl driving her mom's Volvo 240 wagon slammed into the back of me going at least 25 mph. Because I didn't block the box I was able to spin the wheel frantically and avoid hitting the cars across the intersection. Insurance declared the Accord a total loss due to the amount of damage (the car was seven years old by then). I had ONE car payment left on that car! I had also had it in for servicing the day before the wreck and the mechanic said, "You maintain this car fanatically. You'll easily get 250,000 miles unless you're in a wreck." $%&*(!!!!!!!
Since then I've had two other minor fender-benders, neither my fault, both in the Acura that replaced the Accord. Less than three months after I bought it some dumb bitch illegally using a handheld cell phone backed into my front bumper on New York Avenue in DC. Had to replace the bumper. A few years later another woman rear-ended me in stopped traffic in Virginia and I had to replace the rear bumper (no other damage beyond the bumper either time).
I've begun to think it's not "if" you're in a wreck around here so much as "when."