So I got into a pretty serious car accident.

Hi folks, thought I'd share the story of the car accident I got into yesterday, hopefully you'll take away something from this.

I was on my way home from uni to enjoy the weekend,
I pull up to turn left onto the road to take me home.
There is one person in the oncoming traffic lane (Double lane both ways.)
She had her blinker on, and was slowing down as if to turn the same direction I was going.
Since she was farther away I could easily make it before she made it, regrettably she didn't actually intend to turn as she indicated with her blinker and I got broadsided.

The experience? Unreal. There is that moment just before the collision where it seems like time slows. It was the strangest sensation, I'm watching this minivan about to spear into my passenger side and I didn't feel scared, I didn't feel any adrenaline pumping, I didn't feel anything. Its just like you are moving through water as this unstoppable force is about to collide with you. I realized I might be about to die and I just felt numb.

After I finished spinning (I did a 180 spin from the impact, landing in the lane I would be sitting in to turn onto the road I was getting off of) I sat in the car for a good minute, just looking around. You just sit there thinking, "Alright, the nightmare is over, when am I going to wake up?" but you don't, glass is all over the inside of my car, my passenger window is shattered and my main windshield is cracked heavily. The entire passenger side of my car is crushed in, if anybody had been in the passenger seat of my car they would have likely died (The passenger seat was crushed in half.)

I walked away uninjured (As did the lady in the minivan, who insisted she didn't have her blinker on, which is either a lie or she accidentally put it on and didn't notice because I very clearly saw her blinker flashing.) so thankfully nobody was hurt.

As a result, my car is totalled. The entire passenger side is destroyed. And I'll have to figure out some way to get to uni now (Ironically I was actually going to start taking the bus when winter hit since parking is murderous once the snow starts falling. And I would have saved gas money that way.)

The cop who reported to the accident said that if its just my word against hers the situation will be mostly my fault simply because of an issue of failure to yield right of way.

If I could tell one thing to anybody about driving after this experience, it would be always always always err on the side of patience and caution. Blinkers are pointless, people are stupid, and I'm just as stupid for believing that lady's signal as she was for putting it up without following it. Never assume the other people on the road are going to do what they indicate they are, if you have to wait and possibly be late for something, just take solace in the fact that you will get there in one piece and that your loved ones will never have to get that phone call hearing you just got into a serious accident.

Go and hug your loved ones,and drive safe folks. Hope you'll never have to experience what I just did.

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Originally Posted by Exdream

The cop who reported to the accident said that if its just my word against hers the situation will be mostly my fault simply because of an issue of failure to yield right of way.

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Unfortunately, if you get into an accident while turning left, you'll almost always be in the wrong. It's like rear-ending somebody, even if the guy in front of you slammed the breaks, you'll look like the bad guy.

Glad nobody was hurt.

Yeah, it is good to hear that you are all right. I heard that on my driver's test as my biggest flaw, (it didn't fail me, though.) That is, the instructor told me to stop driving with the assumption that everyone else is following the road laws... This story definitely verifies that as wise advice.

Ewwww! I know that feeling, I got in an accident a little more than a week ago, I think it was scary! We were on a dual lane road, we were on the outside lane, and the guy on the inside lane almost missed his turn, turned really fast, and clipped us from the side. We did a one eighty, and almost rolled over. The crash still plays every time in the morning when I swim. >.< Our truck is totaled, And i'm really sad, I got too attached to the truck.

But we're all safe. (It was four of us in there.)

I've always learned to not pay attention to people's signals. That's the first thing I learned... =P
Good to hear you're safe as well. =)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Exdream

The experience? Unreal. There is that moment just before the collision where it seems like time slows. It was the strangest sensation, I'm watching this minivan about to spear into my passenger side and I didn't feel scared, I didn't feel any adrenaline pumping, I didn't feel anything. Its just like you are moving through water as this unstoppable force is about to collide with you. I realized I might be about to die and I just felt numb.

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Great description on how it feels. Gave me flash backs of a bad accident me and some friends were in back in '05. We were coming home from a club and my friend and I were passed out in the back seat. When I woke the car was upside down rolling. I didn't realize what was going on and I swear I asked my friend and he yelled we were getting in a car crash. Everything went slow motion and I could see the world turning out the front window and I thought to myself I sure hope I don't go unconscious. When it stopped we were upside down and I just hung from my seat belt thinking wtf, did this really just happen. Only person who got hurt was the guy sitting next to me, he got like an 8 in gash across his forearm, it was pretty nasty.


Glad to hear no one was hurt, sucks about the car though :(

Take care

Oh wow, it's good to hear that you or the other person weren't hurt, and also the no one was in your passenger seat (ouch).

I got into an accident about a month ago. My girlfriend and her sister work at the stadium where the chargers play and such and I often take them to and from work. Then one day, I just picked them up and drove down the street. I made a right turn and started going down when all of a sudden, this other vehicle just made an illegal left turn (over double yellow) trying to get into a parking lot and hit us. It felt weird. Like you said, there was that moment right before the collision where it feels like time stops, but in the middle of it, I accepted that I was about to get smacked. It seemed unreal, and I felt a little uneasy telling the police what just happened.

I drew a quick representation. I was driving a gray lifted Chevy and the vehicle that hit me was a white lifted Ford. I'm sure it was a good thing we were both lifted or else someone probably would have flipped.

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/5087/accident.png

It turned out the other driver was a DUI and was found 100% at fault. It was a good thing that everyone turned out ok though, besides maybe being a little sore and shooked up, but I had to go about 2 weeks without my truck :(

Glad to hear everyone was okay!!!

My dad taught me that hard lesson when I was a little kid. Since before I could even look out the windows without stretching dad would complain about stupid drivers and how no one should ever trust another persons blinkers. I didn't start driving until I was 22 years old or so, but I never forgot what he said. It's saved my hide on more than several occasions.

Did you have a rush AFTER the accident? I've been in a couple accidents (a bad one in my teens) and another while driving an RV with a car trailer attached (some bozos were throwing large rocks off an overpass and hitting the vehicles below). During the accidents I was calm, clear headed, extremely alert. But atfterwards... the first time I got numb, the second I was ENRAGED. I wanted to find those punks and run them over lol. AFTER the incidents I got the shakes.