God, I feel so stupid! Just the day after driving about 100 miles on thick fog and winter conditions without a single problem, and after advising everyone I know to be careful these days (my hometown and surroundings are infamous for their fog), last morning I crashed my car. I was driving by granny to a nearby village to take a look at her house, I was rested and both car and road were in good conditions. Even the fog was thin enough to see about a mile ahead, but I lost my concentration for just one second i when I looked into the road again we were drifting towards the verge of the road. I tried to steer left again, but by then the right wheels went over the concrete kerb and the car was beyond control. I think we did abouth a hundred yards like that, while the car finally slowed to a halt. We are both fine, just a bit shaken. I still can feel the adrenaline rush all over.
We waited a few minutes in the car and finally, after checking we both were fine and the car crippled, I stopped an oncoming car. It was occuppied by two priests (who else, in a sunday morning) who phoned the police with their cellular (mine was sans battery, for further infamy), and while they arrived I placed the caution triangles before and after our car. The whole thing took a while, but after a copuple of hours we were safe back a t home, and the car was towed away. Tomorrow I'll know the extent of the damage, but I'll probaly have to get a new one, because it is a very old car and the repairs will probably exceed its own prize. So far I'm sure all wheels are damaged, together with the direction and the oil depot. I have some savings and I don't really need the car urgently, so I'll probably start cheking the second hand ads in a couple of weeks.
Tough break Neville. Hope you get things back on the road soon.
Just scary. Feel more angry than anything else right now. I'm a newbie when it comes to driving (had my license just one year ago), but so far all I had gone through were a cople of scratches. Should have been more careful, that's what i keep telling myself. Overall we've been quite lucky, we could have crashed through a metal bareer there are quite a few on that same road) or even overturn.
Next time...
Keep your eyes on the road dude!
Chalk that s**t up as a learning experience.
It sucks...I know it...I've been there before.
I've crashed two cars myself.
(glad to hear you're ok)
DRIVE DEFENSIVELY!!
I am sorry to hear about your accident Neville. Most importantly, however, is that both of you are okay. Hopefully you will be back on the road, in another car, soon. I know what it is like to lose a car and depend on being able to borrow one. Hopefully you won't have to be without a car for long.
Let's be careful out there
Damn. That's not good, but hey at least you're ok! Try not to feel too bad, because you'll just get bogged down with the 'I should have been more careful' thoughts which can drive you a little crazy. Just use it as a learning experience for the future!
If it makes you feel any better this last year, I have parked my car in our driveway and walked inside, without realising I left the parking brake off and my car rolled out the driveway and across the road. Twice.
No real damage or anything, just a really embarrassed me looking perplexed at a man who rings my doorbell and tells me my car has driven itself across the street!
Haha, silly...
It's good to hear that you are ok Neville. I know how bad it can be to wreck a car as I've been in two wrecks, both of them quite close to each other.
I ran into the back of someone in traffice once, and as soon as I got the car out of the shop, I hit an 8-point buck (deer) and the car was in the shop for another 2 months.
As I said, it's good to know you are alright. It happens to the best of us.
I'll echo the others' remarks and say glad to hear you both are okay.
A lotta folks find this hard to believe, but I rode motorbikes for about five years before I finally learned how to drive a car. I'm not even gonna get started, but one thing I learned in that time, is that it doesn't matter what the law says, you do not have right of way.
Of course, on a motorbike you tend to look at these occasions as more of an adventure, especially if you've got a scar or two to show off to your buddies.
That is, of coarse, until you meet this guy in rehab who's got a couple of sweet vintage Harleys, but he can't take them on the road because his last wipe out left him with epileptic seizures.
But that's another story.
Chalk it up to one of life's little learning experiences.
I've wrecked two cars myself, and both times, I had my tires overinflated by just a few pounds, and I took my eyes off the road for just a second.
An of coarse, both times, I really felt like an ass.
Crazy story following that second one, but I'll get into that some other tiime.
One thing I've learned from all of these (besides keeping your eyes on the road) is that it really pays to get towing & replacement coverage.
I'm glad to hear you're ok and the worst of it is to your car.
I've been in a few wrecks before that have landed me in the hospital. My worst one was back in '96 where I drove a Pontiac Fiero into a wall while not wearing a seat belt. I put my head through the windshield, broke my wrist, and broke my hip. The car had collapsed all the way up to my seat, leaving the passenger front tire in the passenger seat touching against my shoulder. I was close to having been killed. I had to be extracted from the car with the rescue crew cutting the roof off and I was air lifted to a hospital. I spent a few months rehabbing my leg so I could walk right again. Everyday I live with the pain that this inflicted on me and I can never forget it. It's one of the things that adds hell to my already taxed brain.
Why did I tell you this? I want you to realize that what happened to you should be a learning experience and teach you that you have to be careful. This was minor for you and with any luck you can use this to help avoid anything worse happening to you by some stupid mistake. Please don't take this as me preaching to you, I just want you to realize what happens to regular people all the time on the road that make poor decisions and stupid mistakes.
Dude, don't sweat it. Your okey, thats what matters.
I've put about 750 miles a week on my delivery job, and concitering the math, i've beaten the odds, far as "At Fault"is concirned. And thats since 1989.
Pray for me iut stays that way.
I've done some "dumb driveing tricks" in my life, and seen many more.
Be assured....we know how ya feel.
Thanks for your concern and support, people. I just spoke to my mechanic and says that although he still has to see the car for himself, he thinks it could be repaired for less than $2000. Decent second hand cars in my hometown are at least $4000 or $5000, so I think I'll end up keeping my old car if it ends up being repairable.
Been doing some thinking as well, and I've reached the conclusion that I should be doing less driving in the future. I'm the only driver in my family, and since my grannie is living with us I've benn doing much more driving than I'm used to. Maybe it's time I learn to say "no" every once in a while, specially now in winter.
Never been in a crash myself, but I just heard my friend rolled his SUV twice in a ditch while he was drunk. He doesn't remember any of it and woke up int the hopsital with a minor concussion, but he's learned quite a lesson from it.
Me, I like to drive as little as possible. In practicality, I chose to live downtown, so everything I need is within walking distance. Best decision I ever made.
Glad to hear your head's in gear, Neville. Sorry about the car though.
Ouch.
I wrecked a cab once.
I was driveing a Checker here in columbus. I loved those cars!
Huge, but manuverable, and you could play hand ball in the back seat!
Anyhoo, i was takeing a fare to the airport, and turned onto 62. Hit a patch of oil or something, in the rain, and went into the guardrail, front first...then it slamed out, and backed into the rail!
Got both ends. Yet...they got it fixed!
I've driven probably 800,000 miles or more in my life time and have been involved four accidents. The worst when I was 18 and flipped my pickup.
A guy in a Maverick made a left in front of me while I was going about 60 (it was legal in '73) so I didn't have any time for react. I just grabbed the wheel with both hands and stomped the brake. I hit him at a slight angel which stood the truck up on the front passenger side corner, then when his car was knocked out of the way the truck rolled on over and was heading the same direction in the same lane only upside down.
When I looked out the other driver only had one foot in the car and the first thought I had was "Man, I killed somebody.", and about that time the jack falls from under the seat and landed about a half inch from my head. A friend of mine who happened to be at the intersection ran over and helped me out. Quite a crowd gathered and I was just sitting in the ditch waiting on the cops and ambulance when someone runs up and asked what happened to the guy in the truck.
I rode in the front seat of the ambulance to the hospital. I just had a big headache and bruised the muscles in one of my shoulders. The other guy broke his shoulder blade and had to have a bunch of glass picked out of him. He also got a ticket from the state police who said it was the third car the guy had totalled in six months.
I just remember that what had happened didn't sink in until I was sitting at the hospital waiting for the doc to see me. I just turned ghost white and started shaking all over.
The wreck busted the engine block in my truck and sent the oil and stuff back into the cab. The wrecker company always displayed the latest wrecks out by the street for everyone to see. The guys where I worked were asking me if I s**t my pants because all this brown stuff was in the cab.
The best thing you can learn from a wreck is to always be alert and don't trust the other guy at all.
Got that last part right!
When driveing....BE PARANOID! It could save yer life!