This is topic My First Car Accident in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-16-2007, 05:08 AM:
 
Well I got into my first car accident ever tonight (actually last night around 11:50pm MST). Not fun. I was coming home from a friend's house and had a green light at the fateful intersection. Some person(s) coming the opposite way decided it would be a great idea to turn left on a red arrow as I approached at or near 40mph. See crappy illustration below:



I hit them really hard. Both airbags deployed. My car (which I loved) is totaled. One payment away from being 100% mine, too! Anyway I never lost consciousness and I cussed for about 20 seconds or so before getting out of the car. Someone else was already calling the police. The SUV-type vehicle that was hit also had its airbags deployed, both doors open and nobody around. The driver and passenger had apparently fled... on foot! At first I thought the vehicle must have been stolen, why else would they flee on foot? But they were caught and it turns out the driver was unlicensed and a minor (14, maybe?). The registered owner of the vehicle was the passenger but the police were not 100% sure they had insurance. Probably not, knowing my luck. Alcohol was not involved in any way, apparently.

I hit the vehicle really, really hard. It was not fun. It still is not fun. I loved my car (2003 Honda Civic EX). I used to pat that thing on the chassis telling it we were going somewhere and things like that. When I got out after the wreck and saw the massive front-end damage, I patted my car goodbye, knowing that it could never be driven again. As for me, I was taken to the hospital, treated and released. I am scraped up on my hands from the airbag deployment and a little bit on the face. It feels like I've been hit in the chest with a freakin' bowling ball. The doctors saw no reason to believe that I was permanently damaged or required to stay at the hospital, but they did say that I will be extremely sore for awhile in the chest. I can still smell the airbags, hear the crash and all of that. The two people they caught running away were apparently taken to the same hospital I was, though I never saw them. It was the same hospital I was born in, so obviously I recognized my old room and nursery, etc.

On the way home from the hospital we drove by the scene of the accident, just because I wanted to face it immediately and not have that looming in the future. They did a nice job cleaning it up so fast. I have to get my car replaced. I am not looking forward to going through all of that red tape. I am glad to have walked away and all that, but still if I had left 30 seconds sooner or later... the world is full of "what ifs". I'm still shaken up to some extent, and only time can heal that wound. I hope it doesn't take forever.

Thanks for listening.
 

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Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 12-16-2007, 05:41 AM:
 
Glad to hear that at least you're ok Joe.
 

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Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 12-16-2007, 05:54 AM:
 
Wow, at that speed you really could of been hurt bad. Its a good thing the airbags deployed and you had your seat belt on. Its good to hear your ok and safe. Thats sad about your car, I love Civics especially that body style.
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 12-16-2007, 08:54 AM:
 
Sorry about the now deceased car, but surely the important thing is that you're OK. From the way you describe it, I guess it's quite likely that the airbag saved your life. A full impact at 40mph dissipates a hell of a lot of energy.

Despite only being 34, I've been involved in three road accidents, one train accident and, earlier this year, an aviation incident which could have become an accident, but thankfully didn't.

The first car accident was about 3-4 months after I passed my test, in 1994. I was driving back to university, and right at the end of the six-hour drive I turned right (i.e. across the oncoming carriageway, given that we drive on the left in the UK) into the main entrance of the campus, and was hit by an oncoming car which I'd failed to realise was so close. It was very foggy, on an unlit rural road (the campus was out of town) and it was my mistake pure and simple: I thought the oncoming car was further away than it actually was. No-one was hurt, but both cars were knackered. The other one was brand-new, top of the range BMW as well! The policeman who attended explained that the last few minutes of a long drive is a peak risk period for accidents, because you're back on familiar roads, anticipating getting to your destination and letting your eye off the ball. I've always tried to force myself to pay extra attention towards the end of long drives since, and will sometimes make a coffee stop about an hour short of my destination. Thankfully I was in my first year of driving and didn't lose my no claims bonus, because I hadn't accumulated one!

The second accident was driving home from work in Middlesbrough in 2003. Middlesbrough is a very economically depressed, former steelmaking city with an extremely high crime rate. A rusty old black BMW (why do I always have trouble with BMWs?) turned right out of a side street and smack into the side of my car as I was passing. None of the five occupants of the BMW could speak a word of English. I rang the Police on my mobile, who said that if there were no injuries there was no need for them to attend: I should just swap insurance details with the other party, and that was that. So I took photos (I always keep a disposable camera in the car for such eventualities), took his number and called the RAC, who came and towed our cars away. My insurers later discovered that the BMW had been registered as having been scrapped in 1997, and that if their previous experience of dealing with accidents in that part of town was anything to go by, its occupants were probably all illegal immigrants. So bang went my no claims, but at least no-one was hurt.

The third accident was in a hire car on a business trip to Germany. I was queuing at a junction to join the autobahn hear Hahn airport, when a lady - yet again, in a BMW!!! - went smack into the back of me. She was paying more attention to her mobile phone conversation than the road in front of her at the time. The police were brilliant, and sorted everything out with the hire company. They also told me that if her mobile phone records proved that she was making a call at the time of the accident (the precise moment of which would be determined by footage from a CCTV camera covering the junction), she'd be looking at three to six months behind bars.

The rail accident I was in was this one. I was in the rear carriage and was unhurt. Bizarrely, this might be a case of smoking being good for one's health. I was in the rear carriage because it's the smoking carriage and the colleague I was with wanted a fag. I wanted a coffee, which you buy from a carriage further forward, and we agreed to go and get one after he'd had his fag. All but one of the deaths, and many of the very serious injuries, happened in the carriage which had the coffee bar in it.

The air incident was in September this year, on my way to a conference in Rochester, NY. The Minneapolis to Rochester plane had started its take-off roll and then aborted it about 15 seconds in, slamming on the brakes VERY hard. Luggage fell out of the overhead racks and the experience was pretty alarming! The pilot later explained that he'd been given permission to take off in error, as a plane which had just landed on the same runway had failed to vacate it. Flight attendants then replaced the luggage, checked that no-one had been hurt and then the plane made a second, successful attempt to take off. This surprised me a little bit - I thought that brake pads, etc. would probably have to be checked over after an emergency stop like that, but apparently not. The airport had been closed for about an hour before we left because of a thunderstorm, so I suspect they were trying to get as many flights in an out as they could, in order to clear the backlog. It was still quite scary, though.
 

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Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 12-16-2007, 10:04 AM:
 
Glad to hear you are okay Joe. Cars can be replaced.

You probably will be contacted by hoards of ambulance chasers wanting a lawsuit. Most of those guys will settle for the first offer and leave you with very little compensation. Not that you should sue, but if you do, get a reputable Personal Injury attorney.

My son was involved in a similar accident where the perp fled. Fortunately he wasn't hurt. I suspected the perp wanted to dispose of his stash before the cops caught him. But catch him they did, and charged him with felony hit and run. He couldn't make bail and sat in jail for several months before trial where he was convicted of a lesser offence. My son's car was totaled but he was made whole by the insurance company. Turns out the perp didn't even own the car; his landlord did.
 

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Posted by Floyd Justin Newton (Member # 1316) on 12-16-2007, 10:31 AM:
 
Joe- What the hell would we do WITHOUT you?!
 

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Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 12-16-2007, 12:07 PM:
 
Leo, you really do seem to have been most unlucky to have been in no less than four accidents in your relatively short life so far. I've been in one road accident, a very minor one, which resulted in nothing worse than a broken side-light, and I've also been on a train which ran into a fixed, i.e. not hydraulic or friction so it could move to absorb the energy, buffer stop at about 2-3 m.p.h. I was standing at the time, and it was quite a jolt, even at that speed; I wouldn't want to do it any faster.

Between 1978 and December 1982 I did have a car, it was a 1967 Morris 1100. I never wanted to drive, but my Mother insisted that I should. I drove a total of not much more than 1000 miles in the four and a half years or so that I had the car, and 300 miles of that was on one day, the only long trip that I ever made. An aunt of mine, who lived in Chard, Somerset, had died and we went down to collect some things from the house. I doubt if I'd ever driven for more than half an hour at a time before, and certainly nothing like this distance. On the way back we were somewhere on the outskirts of London, had taken a wrong turn, and I wasn't sure where we were going. I wanted to stop, but mother wanted to carry on, and get home. I knew I was a bit tired, but really didn't realise that I was almost asleep, until I actually drove off the side of the road, at which point I insisted on stopping. The only real difference between the way I was driving and The driver at Great Heck was that I came off the road at a time and place where it didn't do any harm, but it could easily have been different; I learned a lesson that day.

I stopped driving a year or so later, when car and mother both expired at about the same time, and I never want to drive again, I either walk, use public transport so somebody else can do the driving, or I don't go. Most of the placces that I actually need to go are within walking distance, or a bus ride.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-16-2007, 12:21 PM:
 
Joe, glad to hear you are OK. Film-Tech wouldn't be the same without you. I agree with the others that the airbags probably saved your life. (Along with the seatbelt which I assume you were wearing.)

I had my first accident at around 18 or 19, I was driving my boss's car! I had borrowed it to go home for lunch break. Honest to God, his last words to me before I left were, "Well, you can use my car if you promise not to wreck it!" Thankfully mine was just a fender bender, and not my fault, but I can tell you from that experience that you will always remember the sound of hitting that other car.

But at least you are around to remember it, so it's all good.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-16-2007, 12:28 PM:
 
I'm somewhat shocked to hear about the car accident, Joe. I say "somewhat" since everyone is going to get into a fender bender of some sort eventually.

It's especially sad when a car you really like gets smashed by someone else making a doofus mistake. It almost sounds like one of those "Murphy's Law" things with you so close to having the Honda paid off.

I really hope your own car insurance policy has coverage on uninsured or under-insured drivers. You may be able to file on that and then allow your own insurance company to go after the idiots who failed to yield the right of way.

Pay attention to your medical symptoms too. Once you settle with the other driver's insurance company you're on your own. Back and neck stuff is pretty obvious. But keep other things like TMJ in mind (short for tempo-mandibular joint syndrome). Lots of people develop TMJ as a result of car accidents.

I developed TMJ in my left jaw joint after my 1992 Camaro was totaled in 2002 when some dumb-ass ran into the back of me at 40mph while I was turning onto my own street. My neck and back got screwed up too. The other driver's insurance paid for the physical therapy on my neck and back injuries. But I didn't know the discomfort I was feeling in my left jaw and inner ear was TMJ until after I had settled. OTOH, there's not much you can do about TMJ other than take steps to use that joint as little as possible. Most operations to treat TMJ fail. It would have still been nice to get some "pain and suffering" asshole tax on that driver for having his head up his ass instead of watching the road.

I really hope you're alright and have no permanent injuries. Good luck on getting your Honda replaced.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-16-2007, 12:30 PM:
 
Thanks guys. Yeah, I agree about the airbags and the seatbelt saving me... or at the VERY least preventing a significant amount of damage to my person. I'm only able to sleep a few hours at a time now due to the position quickly becoming uncomfortable (that's why I'm up now). All I want out of this is a new car... not a same-year replacement car with tens of thousands of more miles. Even if I have to pay a bit, I'd rather just get a new car. We'll see what the insurance has to say when they call back.

There are a couple of Bevan-Poos™ that are still in the glovebox that I need to get out.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-16-2007, 12:34 PM:
 

quote: Joe Redifer

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I am glad to have walked away and all that, but still if I had left 30 seconds sooner or later... the world is full of "what ifs".

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You have to look at it this way. What if you left 30 seconds earlier and avoided that wreck entirely? Well, you could've gotten into a wreck one light later that crippled you from the neck down forcing you to be in a wheelchair and watched over every day for the rest of your life, as some caretaker wipes your butt whenever you poop! It's like Rick said, that car can be replaced. What's important is that you are ok, whether you have to suffer some chest pain or not for awhile.

Did you get any information on who that little shit and the retard car owner was? Be sure to hunt them down and throw a bowling ball at their chest!

And don't sweat the Bevanpoos. I'll send you some.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 12-16-2007, 03:21 PM:
 
Glad to see you made it through reasonably OK Joe. And I've got a stack of Bevan-Poos™ hiding around here somewhere too. You're welcome to them. Gotta keep someone around here to comment on my heavily accented Engrish language anime rantings.

Sorry to hear about your Civic Joe. I know I hate it when I lose a favorite anything.

Since we're sharing wreck/smash stories, my first one was in 1979 when I was 24. I rear-ended someone that had done a panic stop in an intersection (was tired from a morning swim workout and was rushing to my next class across town). Was doing about 25 mph when it happened. I pushed in the trailer hitch on her car about a quarter of an inch - the entire front end of my '68 VW Type 1 (the bug) was demolished. I got a $200 ticket for failure to pay attention - she got arrested for the combination of no license on person or record, no brake lights, and leaving the scene of an accident.

Had a lap belt on (no shoulder harness nor air bags in those days). Still managed to fold the steering wheel in half with my arms on impact, and left a bunch of my hair embedded in the windshield glass. Didn't go to the hospital but I was definitely sore for a week afterwards.

Fortunately I had the bug back on the road repaired and repainted about three weeks and $1100 later. Continued to drive it daily until 1995 when it became the #2 weekend/hobby/project car.
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 12-16-2007, 03:45 PM:
 

quote: Stephen Furley

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...and I've also been on a train which ran into a fixed, i.e. not hydraulic or friction so it could move to absorb the energy, buffer stop at about 2-3 m.p.h. I was standing at the time, and it was quite a jolt, even at that speed; I wouldn't want to do it any faster.

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quote: Stephen Furley

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I stopped driving a year or so later, when car and mother both expired at about the same time, and I never want to drive again, I either walk, use public transport so somebody else can do the driving, or I don't go. Most of the placces that I actually need to go are within walking distance, or a bus ride.

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I don't especially enjoy driving either: but outside London I'm afraid I'm not in that position. And even when there is a public transport alternative, it's always a lot more expensive and a lot less convenient than driving. So, despite the added safety benefit (and I admit that statistically, I'm very, very unusual in having been involved in a train crash) of public transport, I'm prepared to take the risk of driving for the cost and convenience.
 

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Posted by Jennifer Pan (Member # 2035) on 12-16-2007, 04:17 PM:
 
Joey, I'm REALLY glad you are still alive. Sorry this happened to you, you really loved that car. I hope this whole ordeal runs smoothly and that you feel better soon.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 12-16-2007, 06:52 PM:
 
I'm very glad to hear you're not too badly hurt Joe. At 40MPH it could have been a LOT worse.

Those other doofuses should be made to buy you a new car out of their own pockets...then we'll see if he's that quick to let an under-age driver in the driver's seat ever again.

Drink some chicken soup. It won't help, but it sure is tasty.

 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 12-16-2007, 07:01 PM:
 
And we don't get a Joe Redifer Video Production re-creation of the disaster???? Joe, I'm very disappointed....but I am glad you are ok.

My first accident was in 1973 when some old fart fell asleep behind the wheel and went through a red light. I was driving the TV service truck at the time and he hit me in the right front corner and we spun around in the intersection.... kinda like Jake and Elwood in that scene in Blues Brothers... it broke my watch too! Well... the van was totaled and so was the sleepin guys car, actually they were now one mass of mangled metal... they took him away in an ambulance and I never heard how bad he was hurt... it took two tow trucks to pull em apart before they could be hauled away. I haven't had any accidents since that one...

Mark
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 12-16-2007, 07:07 PM:
 
Gosh Joe, I'm glad you're OK. Car crashes are NO fun...I know from personal experience. I had one in 1976 ...none since then...knock on wood!

I was driving to work at Panavision and at the last second, some dumbass cement truck-driver crossed into my lane and I hit him. My wife was in the passenger seat and 9 months pregnant. We were both wearing seat belts...no shoulder belts back then.

My car was totaled and the next day my youngest daughter was born... go figure!

I hope you catch the sorry ass that ran..he DOES deserve a beating today!
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-16-2007, 07:35 PM:
 
I'm glad to hear that not everyone has been in zillions upon zillions of accidents (though Leo seems to have had a definite run of bad luck). I hadn't had any since 1973 or '76 either! Hopefully I can go back to not getting in to wrecks.

Tomorrow is "deal with insurance" day. Fortunately I'm fully covered, but I'd still rather the other people pay. I'll post updates on all that hopefully tomorrow.

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen

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And we don't get a Joe Redifer Video Production re-creation of the disaster???? Joe, I'm very disappointed.

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I had to work with the time constraints and limited source material available at the time. I apologize for the crudity of the image in the first post in this thread. If I had felt better I probably would have made it in 3D and at least stereo, but I did what I could.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-16-2007, 08:59 PM:
 

quote: Joe Redifer

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I apologize for the crudity of the image in the first post in this thread.

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Sounds like you're channeling "Doc" from Back to the Future. Are you sure you're OK?
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 12-16-2007, 10:34 PM:
 
Geez... I almost forgot... I met up with the side of a Mel Brooks Movie Production Truck when he was filming Robin Hood Men In Tights... This actually happened right in the middle of Hollywood... I was in a vehicle that I had rented in Las Vegas and had driven down to Hollywood. I drove it around Hollywood for a couple of days after the collision and then back to the rental place in Vegas. I filled out the necessary damage report and walked away from it completely and never heard another thing. Although the side of the vehicle was pretty well damaged and the side view mirror hanging by a thread. I had taken the full coverage out on the rental. I always have ever since that happened... Who's fault was it.... I always said 50/50... the lane I was in ran out and Mel's truck failed to yield the right of way to me.... Obviously he didn't see me there.

So that makes two for me...

Mark
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-17-2007, 12:01 AM:
 
Your first accident is always the worst.

By the time you've had two or three of them, you'll just get out of the car, kick the fender and say, "Aw, fuck..."

Okay... Seriously...

Glad you're okay!

I don't know what the laws are in your state but, here in Pennsyltucky, if you're caught without insurance it's an automatic loss of your driver's license. If you are in an at-fault accident without insurance you could end up in jail. And, in rare cases, if you are in an at-fault accident without insurance and there is a death or life threatening injury, you could POSSIBLY end up getting charged with vehicular homicide! (Again, rare but possible.)

If you were 100% NOT AT FAULT, your insurance company should just pay the cost. Then THEY will go after the other driver for the cost of repayment.

I gather you've already gone to the hospital and documented EVERY LAST scratch and bruise on your body. Right? Be sure to let your legal representative know about your loss of sleep, lack of appetite, loss of transportation to work, your pain and suffering and any mental distress you have had. You're probably not the type of person who would nickel and dime the court system for every penny you can weasel out of them... BUT you DO want to make sure that every last marble goes on YOUR side of the scale when it comes to weighing out justice. You can bet that, if a person doesn't have insurance, they will be the type who tries to weasel out of responsibility in court too. Every chit you can place against them is another chance that you'll both get what you deserve.
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 12-17-2007, 05:00 AM:
 

quote: Randy Stankey

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If you were 100% NOT AT FAULT, your insurance company should just pay the cost. Then THEY will go after the other driver for the cost of repayment.

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OK, but is there a potential issue around no-claims bonuses that Joe needs to look out for?

I don't know what the situation is in the US, but here you earn a 'no claims bonus' for every full year you're insured and no claim is made against you, with the result that your premium goes down a bit each year (a lot for the first five years, then a little bit thereafter). Assuming you have fully comprehensive insurance (as distinct from a cheaper third party only or third party, fire and theft policy, which doesn't cover accident damage to your own car, only the other person's if the accident was your fault), you're totally covered for any damage, but unless your insurance company successfully recovers the money from the third party's, the accident is deemed to have been your fault for insurance purposes.

That's what happened to me in Middlesbrough: even though the accident was clearly the third party's fault and I had photos to prove it, because the other car had false number plates and the police could never trace its occupants, they couldn't recover the money from the third party, so the claim went on my policy and I lost my NCB.

Insurance companies will want to do this if it saves them hassle. If the third party gets a clever lawyer on board, alleges you were doing something stupid (e.g. using a mobile phone), and especially if they have a passenger(s) in the car who are prepared to lie for them, your insurance company will probably want to cut the hassle and legal costs, settle it as 50/50 and you lose your NCB. It's especially bad news if you're driving alone and the other car has more than one person in it, for obvious reasons.

I heard one horror story in which a colleague's husband was rear-ended at traffic lights by a drunk driver. An open-and-shut case, you'd have thought... until the guilty party's insurance company had my friend's car examined, and discovered that one of its tyres was about 0.001 nanometres below the legal minimum tread depth. They then reported this to my friend's insurer, who declared the comprehensive cover invalid, because the small print in the policy stated that the car had to have fully legal tyres on it at the time of the accident in order for the policy to be valid. He then ended up having to cut a deal with the third party's insurer, which ended up being far less than his car was worth.

Given that the other driver did a runner in Joe's accident, I'd have thought that this was as open-and-shut a case as there could ever be ... but in my experience, beware of insurers wanting to take the easiest (for them) way out.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 12-17-2007, 05:30 AM:
 
Joe -- you are a very lucky man....well, lucky that you are not hurt, but no so much that you have 14yr olds mashing into your car and having to have it put to sleep. Really glad you are ok, bro. And glad to see your famous sense of humor hilarious as ever, still in tact; surely that's a good sign.

And yes, that damn film loop in your brain which seems to be stuck in replay will bother you for awhile, especially whenever you have a free minute to think, so just keep busy, tell yourself dirty jokes, etc. That, and time, usually will make it fade. Traumatic stuff like this take much longer to become "the past." But it will. Here's to making it a distant memory!

Now make them buy you a new car.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-17-2007, 06:23 AM:
 

quote: Joe Redifer

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if I had left 30 seconds sooner or later...

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Joe, sorry to hear about this. Sometimes, as much as you try to compensate for other's mistakes on the road, they just come out and strike you anyway. There's no preventing or avoiding all scenarios. One kook decides to end it all by cutting in front of you at the last minute head-on. It will happen.

Everyone gets the "If I'd waited 2 seconds more at that last light..." thoughts. Yes, but also if you'd waited 2 seconds more somewhere the day before, or someplace last year, you would've been in a wreck that you've already avoided.

Now, go strangulate that little bastard!
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-17-2007, 09:42 AM:
 

quote: Frank Angel

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that damn film loop in your brain which seems to be stuck in replay will bother you for awhile, especially whenever you have a free minute to think, so just keep busy, tell yourself dirty jokes, etc.

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And here's a great excuse to download some internet porn!
 

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Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 12-17-2007, 03:19 PM:
 
Wow. Yesterday, I nearly had the opposite thing happen to me. I had a protected left turn arrow and was turning left and a car came up the road and ran the red light. I cleared the intersection and thought, "that car never slowed down" as it went through the intersection at around 40 MPH. If I'd been a second or two slower starting off, the car would have hit me. Luckily, the people turning behind me didn't get hit by it. It would have been nearly head-on if one had gotten hit.
 

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Posted by Peter David Bruce (Member # 4447) on 12-17-2007, 03:46 PM:
 
So sorry to hear of your accident. Youve been really lucky. My best friend was in a crash last year caused by a minor in another car. they were going in different directions on their respective lanes when last second the driver pulls into my friends lane, and as she locked up to brake she skid sideways and the other driver ploughed into the drivers side of her car.

I was waiting with her in the hospital for weeks when she was in hospital.... She was in a coma, and had severe blood clotting to her brain.

She survived! And although she looks different and doesnt have the same bounce in her step - shes just the same girl ive known. Maybe a little wiser from the experience too. She still occasionally suffers from epileptic fits but shes working through those.

The other driver? got off scott free. Not right. He wasnt injured in anyway - not that i would ever wish hurt onto anyone else, but still. My friend just had her 18th birthday last month.

Joe - youre lucky, but i know how frightening and depressing an incident like this can be for you. Sorry about your civic too - my bro used to have one of those '03 models and now has the new typer civic. its his whole world...

best wishes joe, and take it easy for a bit... thats quite an event, and healing takes time. Thats physical, and mental healing. good luck mate.

Peter
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-17-2007, 05:46 PM:
 

quote: Frank Angel

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tell yourself dirty jokes, etc.

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quote: Tim Reed

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Yes, but also if you'd waited 2 seconds more somewhere the day before, or someplace last year, you would've been in a wreck that you've already avoided.

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Yes, all a possibility. But still, I've realized that 30 seconds one way or another would have done much with stoplights being what they are. It won't matter until I get that time machine completed, but until then I'll just have to deal with "what happened, happened". It's kind of stopped being scary as I've gotten used to it. I still wouldn't want to do it again nor would I wish it on anyone else, though.

Peter, sorry to hear about your friend. If I were that minor and I got off scot free, that would probably make me feel even more guilty about the whole thing. It would be one of those things in my life that I'd always be trying to make up for. But then again that minor isn't me, so he probably just went out and partied.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-18-2007, 12:33 AM:
 
Your friend should buy a copy of "Red Asphalt" on DVD and send it to that little prick for a Christmas present!

http://www.pegasusdrivingschool.com/scare.htm?gclid=COChzb2asZACFQKkHgodJlJeGg

There are enough versions of that movie that she could send a different one every year for about the next 6 years!


 

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Posted by Christopher Crouch (Member # 3784) on 12-18-2007, 05:18 AM:
 
Glad to hear you are ok.

I had my first accident when I was 16, a week after obtaining my license; the brakes failed on my car and I ran in to a tree. Roughly a month later, I had my second accident; lost control on an icy road and ran in to a tree. About a year after that, I was hit by a drunk driver, spun off the road, and...you guessed it, hit a tree. I haven't had an accident since then (going on about 20 years now). Luck or the fact that I moved to an urban area with few trees?
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-18-2007, 05:22 PM:
 
Here are some pictures of my poor wreck. To be honest, now that I see it in the daylight, it doesn't seem as bad as I thought, though I am still kind of hoping that they total it because I'm not sure how much I'd trust a vehicle that has been refurbished from a front-end collision. If it can be repaired and trusted, then great!









Also got the police report. The 14-year old had alcohol on HER breath, as did the two passengers in her vehicle.
 

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Posted by Kelly Skaggs (Member # 1780) on 12-18-2007, 05:30 PM:
 
Both airbags will = big cost I heard around $1500.00 each. I would be shocked to hear it will not be totaled. Glad we will still have your sense of humor. I do not post much but I read every day and laugh my ass off.
 

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Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 12-18-2007, 05:32 PM:
 
I'd be quite surprised if they don't stroke it. You can't buy the parts to fix it for anywhere near the book value of the car, let alone any labour.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-18-2007, 06:31 PM:
 
You can really tell that the car body's design worked well to absorb the impact before it crunched you, Joe. Good choice of car!
 

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Posted by Andy Muirhead (Member # 712) on 12-18-2007, 07:35 PM:
 

quote:

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Here are some pictures of my poor wreck. To be honest, now that I see it in the daylight, it doesn't seem as bad as I thought, though I am still kind of hoping that they total it because I'm not sure how much I'd trust a vehicle that has been refurbished from a front-end collision. If it can be repaired and trusted, then great!

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Haha Joe, from your pics, It's very obvious your (loved) car is a write off - no question at all. It doesn't take much to do it really.
 

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Posted by Nate Lehrke (Member # 1460) on 12-18-2007, 09:50 PM:
 
Where were you exactly Joe?
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-18-2007, 10:26 PM:
 
Kipling and Colfax.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-18-2007, 11:46 PM:
 
The kid should spend time in Juvvie and be barred from getting driver's license until she's 21.

The owner should be spending some time in jail and lose his license for at least a couple of years.

If the other passengers are under 21 they should lose their license too just for being stupid and getting drunk then running away.

This is a clear case of criminal negligence on the part of the adult!

If somebody wants to fuck up their own life, they are welcome to do it. It's a free country, after all. But when you go around fucking up other people's lives, that's the last straw!

People like that ought to be burned at the stake!
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-19-2007, 12:38 AM:
 
The 14-year-old supposedly just got out of "juvvie" not too long ago and is afraid of going back. The 45 year old guy is the epitome of stupid. That's his maroon Jeep in the 3rd picture, by the way.
 

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Posted by Scott McGuire (Member # 4508) on 12-19-2007, 01:18 AM:
 
I think you said it was a 93(edit 03). I had a 99 dodge dakota that i was in a wreck with and the two air bags being deployed totaled it before they looked at anything else. Make your last payment and start looking for a new ride.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-19-2007, 02:23 AM:
 
What kind of irks my chain is that the newer models come with daytime running lights. I thought that fad fizzled out a few years ago. I don't really consider it a safety feature. I might start forgetting to turn my headlights on and off.
 

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 12-19-2007, 04:53 AM:
 
Good to hear you're (relatively) okay.
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 12-19-2007, 09:11 AM:
 

quote:

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You can really tell that the car body's design worked well to absorb the impact before it crunched you, Joe. Good choice of car!

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Agreed completely. In front of the bulkhead separating the engine compartment from the cabin, the car's a pile of mangled metal: behind it, the car's pretty much intact.

I can't see how that won't be a write-off, though. The labour alone to fix that lot would be not far short of the cost of a replacement car, I'd have thought.
 

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Posted by Jason Burroughs (Member # 68) on 12-19-2007, 10:08 AM:
 
Sorry to hear about the collision Joe. Good thing you had a well designed car to minimise your injuries. Depending on what "blue book" is for that year, the cost of replacing the airbags alone may make the are a total loss.

In regards to the new cars with daytime running lights, I haven't seen many new cars that don't automatically turn the headlights on and off anyways.

If there was an adult in the car with the child driver then I think that the child shouldn't be punished, so much as the adult. Clearly the adult was condoning their behavior. Suspend THEIR licence and hold them responsible I say.
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 12-19-2007, 10:42 AM:
 
Wow, that sucks dude. My mom was in a bad car accident a little over a year ago. She was the proud recipient of a free helicopter ride to the hospital. She lost 25% use in one hand, and suffered quite a bit. Sounds like you weren't that unlucky.

And it looks like the car did what it was supposed to do. All the more reason to like it, although I'm sure you'll miss it.

I'm glad to hear that you're ok. This place would be pretty gloomy without all of your witty sarcasm.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-19-2007, 12:28 PM:
 
If the kid is afraid to go back to juvenile detention, too freakin' bad! She should have learned her lesson the first time!

I'm always willing to give a person a second or third chance. A MILLION chances, even!

But the sad truth is that kids like this who don't get straightened out early on will go on to be drunks and irresponsible drivers for the rest of their lives and they'll keep on repeating the behavior until they kill somebody.

Like I said, fuck up your life if you want. Just don't fuck up somebody else's life! (I do well enough fucking up my own life, thank you! I don't need anybody's help! )

And, when you said the owner was an "adult" I assumed you meant he was 21 or 30, even, not 45! That's practically criminal right there!

A man approaching middle-age, giving alcohol to kids then letting them drive?!

How could a 14 year old girl get alcohol unless the "adult" (quotes intended) either gave it to her or was somehow complicit?

That guy needs to spend some time in jail!

I bet you $100.00, if you hired a detective to look into this guy's life, you'd find out he has a tendancy towards pedophilia!
Why ELSE would a grown man fraternize with young girls and feed them alcohol and let them drive drunk in a car he knows isn't insured? He was trying to "gain her trust". (To put it nicely.)

That girl obviously hasn't learned her lesson but the "adult" should certainly know better. He's used up his chances, AFIAC!
 

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Posted by William T. Parr (Member # 677) on 12-19-2007, 01:29 PM:
 
Man Joe, That reallly sucks being one payment away from paying it off and such. I would press any and all charges you can personally through the police to hold the juvie deliquent and the adult with responsible. Glad your OK though. I bet it scared you when the airbags deployed. i know when I was in an accident back in 2001 the airbags going off scared the crap out of me.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-19-2007, 05:04 PM:
 
The bluebook value of my car is about $12,000+ right now, and that's assuming "good" condition, not "great". My car is always in "great" condition and has 24,700 miles. The engine doesn't appear damaged from what I can see, but I wouldn't be surprised if the frame was bent.

quote: William T. Parr

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I bet it scared you when the airbags deployed.

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Disappointed, actually. As I approached the accident (1 second before impact) I knew there would be no way to avoid hitting this vehicle. BAM! Then as I sit in the car, the only thing I could do besides say "Awww, shucky-poo!" was think that I had finally lost my accident virginity. I had prided myself in never having been in one even though that's half skill, half luck.
 

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Posted by Bob Koch (Member # 1062) on 12-19-2007, 08:24 PM:
 
Joe; it seems like you really loved your car and kept it immaculately. I feel your pain and although this hasnt happened to me in many years, mainly because I live out in the weeds, I sure have sympathy.It adds to the hurt that some minor moron caused all this. Joe, I`m 85 years old and I`ve never seen so many zoo animals driving as there are now. Glad you were`nt hurt; that would have been worse.
 

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Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 12-19-2007, 08:26 PM:
 
Joe said "I had finally lost my accident virginity"
virginity what is that strange word
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 12-19-2007, 08:57 PM:
 
Gord, Did you ever buy a car?
 

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Posted by Brad Allen (Member # 470) on 12-19-2007, 10:03 PM:
 
Joe, glad you walked away. Honda is one of the best at designing "crumple zones" in their vehicles. Very obviously did it's job well. Go look for that new Civic.
 

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Posted by Allison Parsons (Member # 2728) on 12-19-2007, 10:50 PM:
 
Is it possible to turn off your airbags for good?

I've been in 3 wrecks: two in my old Saab via deer (no airbags, walked away without a scratch). One 80mph with cruise control on rollover with no airbags. Just good ol' seatbelts that saved my family and I. Again, not a scratch on any of us, though we were super sore the next day. Just don't ask what the car looked like. The people who ran up to us to help us out thought someone had to have died, the car looked so bad.

I FEAR airbags. I would rather not have them at all. Joe, I'm glad you didn't turn out like my friend. She got in a wreck, airbag went off, and had a big chemical burn on her nose for almost a month.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-19-2007, 11:28 PM:
 
Airbags are like soft pillows of love. They even eject a mint as they deploy so you feel like you're in some super-upscale hotel. Anyway, the airbag deployment is what caused the abrasions on my knuckles, though I just tell people I punched someone so that they think I am tough. It smelled weird, perhaps a bit like gunpowder. The smell was gone from my car when I got in it in the tow yard as was the dust I saw floating in the air at the time of deployment. No burns or burning sensations (a friend of mine asked me the same thing). Apparently Honda does not use the same chemicals as whatever make of vehicle your friend was driving.
 

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Posted by Allison Parsons (Member # 2728) on 12-19-2007, 11:44 PM:
 
Anyone remember the old Saturday Night Live 'commercial' about the when your airbags deploy, there's popcorn inside so you'll have something to eat before the paramedics get there? haha
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-19-2007, 11:59 PM:
 
Sodium azide (NaN3) is the chemical used in most airbags.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_azide

Smells kinda' like burned peanut butter when it goes off.

Also makes your eyes water and your nose run when you are exposed to it. It can be as poisonous as cyanide and cause chemical burns. You should get out of the car if you can if it is safe to do so as soon as possible after they go off.

From what I understand it is also one of the chemicals used to make solid propellant rocket motors.

The short answer: There's a bomb in your steering wheel.

Starting in 1998, Honda started phasing out sodium azide with some kind of hydrazine derivative compound. I don't know much about it. It's supposed to be less toxic but it's still basically rocket fuel.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-20-2007, 12:08 AM:
 
Interesting. I do recall having a runny nose, though. I kept wiping it and looking at my hand wondering if it was blood.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 12-20-2007, 12:33 AM:
 
There is a way to deactivate the airbags. People of exceptionally short or tall stature and children riding in the front seats run a higher risk of serious injury or death during airbag deployment. My cousin for example is barely five feet tall and has had the driver-side bag in her car deactivated.
 

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Posted by Scott McGuire (Member # 4508) on 12-20-2007, 12:34 AM:
 
I remember when mine went off it took at least 3 days to get the smell and taste to go away no matter what i did. It is a smell and taste that i never want to experience again.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-20-2007, 12:41 AM:
 
What model/year was your car, Scott?
 

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Posted by Scott McGuire (Member # 4508) on 12-20-2007, 11:42 AM:
 
It was a 99 Dodge Dakota.
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 12-20-2007, 03:19 PM:
 
Most airbags can simply be disconnected from the wiring harness they are hooked into. I disconnected the steering wheel airbag in my Land Rover by disconnecting the battery... waiting the reccomended 15 minutes for the airbag sense capacitors to discharge and then undoing it from inside the steering wheel wiring harness. Took less than a half hour. I certainly didn't want them deploying if I hit a rock or a big bump. Another bad aspect of airbags is that they need to be re-checked by factory techs every 7 years... possibly even replaced.

Mark
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-20-2007, 07:28 PM:
 
My car has been declared a total loss. Hopefully I can get a check sometime next week (which is what it sounds like talking to my insurance company) and use it as a nice down payment on a new car. Yay, more payments! I am ordering my new car to build online, hopefully it doesn't take them long to deliver.

I wish the holidays weren't around to interfere with all of this and test my patience, but the bonus check from work (for said holidays) sure helps.
 

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Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 12-21-2007, 08:25 PM:
 
Be careful what an insurance company offers you for your old car ... sometmes they lowball you. Armed with some info from edmounds or some other source, you might get more.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-21-2007, 09:27 PM:
 
I think $13,101.86 for a 2003 Honda Civic EX manual transmission coupe with the original tires and everything else is pretty good! My insurance company even offered to compensate me for pain and suffering in addition to that.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-22-2007, 01:06 AM:
 
You might consider taking the extra money. Remember what I said about conditions like TMJ, which may only show up weeks after the accident and after you settled. I would at least get something equivalent to cover your health insurance deductible (provided you even have health insurance).

Hell, the wallop you take alone from getting hit with the airbag and other parts of the car is reason enough to get at least something for the "pain and suffering" factor.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-22-2007, 11:26 AM:
 
I was going to say the same thing.

Take the extra money and just put it in the bank.
You said the replacement value on your car was $12K. If you really CAN get a viable replacement for $12K there's an extra thousand. Add the money for "P&S" and you've got a nice little emergency fund to work with.

Besides, a couple-few thousand clams in your bank account, making a few pennies worth of interest isn't a bad thing either!
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 12-22-2007, 03:58 PM:
 
Toyota had a deal with an insurance company as an incentive -- for $300, if my car got totalled or stolen in the first 5 years, they will give me the full cost of a new replacement of a Toyota of the same make and model, including all the ad-ons that I had ordered at the time I bought the car. It sounded like a good deal and I went for it.

I live at 750 Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn NY....will somebody please come steal my car!
 

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Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 12-22-2007, 06:51 PM:
 
Frank, just leave the keys and give a description.
 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 12-24-2007, 10:10 AM:
 
Congrats on just surviving!

If you have an attorney you trust; it is best to let him "deal." Mine charged $100 and the insurance company paid for everything and OFFERED an extra $1200 just-in-case." There is no question I would have been partially stiffed if not for the mere presence of a trusted attorney.

This is not to be confused with an anonymous ambulance chaser...someone you don't know. If you don't know a trusted attorney; ask where you work or where you bank. My employees have successfully used my company's attorney when "in a scrape." Louis
 

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Posted by Martin Brooks (Member # 1269) on 12-25-2007, 07:49 PM:
 
Just got to reading this...it's great that you're okay. Glad the insurance worked out. I'm not at all surprised that the insurance company totaled the car, although insurance companies seem to have reversed themselves on this over the years:

Many years ago, a woman in front of me made an illegal u-turn. I slowed down in time and didn't hit her and the person in back of me slowed down in time and didn't hit me, but the person behind her hit her hard pushing her car into mine and it completely bent my car frame. I expected the insurance company to total the car, but they didn't. They had the repair shop attach a new rear (from the top of the windshield back) to my front. I got a sun roof out of the deal that I didn't have before and everything was fine, but over the years, the rear of the car rusted (they must have used cheap non-factory paint on the rear) before the front.

On the other hand, my daughter had the seats stolen out of her Integra. Replacement seats, even though they were not heated or motorized, cost $5K (even though the entire car only cost about $14K new) and the insurance company insisted upon totaling the car even though I found seats on some online parts site for $1K. The insurance company said they had no way of knowing if those seats met spec or if they were stolen or not. This made no sense to me even from the insurance company's perspective, but they didn't give me a choice.

Anyways...it's great that you're okay and in spite of the fact that the people in the other car were idiots, it's great that they're okay as well.
 

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Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 12-25-2007, 11:45 PM:
 
So, not to go too far off topic, when a working car is "totaled," who gets to keep it? Does the insurance company sell it to a junkyard, or...?

(Joe, glad to hear you're all ok, etc., etc. Most importantly your sense of humor is well intact.)

--jhawk
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 12-26-2007, 12:24 AM:
 
The wrecked vehicle still belongs to the owner and it's a decision what what the owner wants to do with it. I've seen totals that the owner will still gladly have replaired to new.

One in case where one of our employees was doing cookies in the parking lot, lost control and slammed into the curb sideways. This busted up the entire undercarriage-both front and rear on the passenger's side. Ins. company wanted to total the vehicle out, but the kid told the ins. company to go ahead and repair.. which turned out thousands of dollars more than what the car was worth.

If the owner and the ins. company decides to call it a total and just wants out of it, then the ins. company will render the tradein value to the owner for payment of the totalled vehicle to get the title free, and the vehicle is taken to a special holding auction yard, to be placed on auction for the wrecking yards to bid upon.

Yes, Joe-glad you came out great with this. My last accident was an intersection broadside by a car who decided to come out the same time I was coming out and that bumper of that LTD came through my driver's window, spraying glass all over me and pushing me downward as the door was buckling in. Luckilly, the girl who was driving such a monstrosity of a vehicle for her size, realized that she was broadsiding someone and stopped before I was sandwiched between the door and my carseat. I got cut up pretty bad from the spraying glass and scaring my passenger pretty bad as well. With that slow accident, my car was totalled since, with the door being crushed in, it pulled the floor upwards, tweaking the entire unibody out of square.

Funny though, I didn't panic on this - just watching that bumper coming up and through my window ... until an hour afterwards that I fell into shock of the realization of that accident. Found out that she had 4 kids in that car with her and she was fighting them, thus not paying attention to her driving.

We were at a 4 way stop and I had the right a way since I was to her right.

(Can you imagine if a SUV or an ego busting jacked up truck did that to me ..? I then wouldn't be here telling you these things.

Luckilly, $UV$ and ego trucks weren't invented then...trucks were what farmers used and used as what they were designed for
..not as toy$...)

But, my first accident was when I hit a horse late at night coming home from the Drive-In that I was working at. Thing darted out from the side of the road and I hit him in the hind quarters. This spun me into the barrow pit, but luckilly not rolling over. Crushed the front end, but was still repairable and that farmer paid for the damages along with the large citation that he got from his horse getting out onto a public highway.

-Monte
 

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Posted by Marc Hansen (Member # 705) on 12-26-2007, 11:09 AM:
 
Monte-
That must be Idaho's rules, here in Washington the Insurance company owns the car if they total it. They figure that if the cost of repair less the salvage value (what a wrecking yard will pay for it)is greater than the book value, it is totaled.

1 They agree/pay you
2 They cancel the title so the car can not be put on the road again. They do this because people were stripping thier own cars, dumping them, reporting them stolen, then buying them back from the insurance companies and reassembling them.
3 You can then buy them back at salvage value. I build custom/performance engines for a living and some of my customers wreck their cars street racing (don't ask, don't tell ya know)and buy them back to get the engine or other parts.
4 The insurance company cuts the frame or some other major part in half then lets you pick up the car.

Marc
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-02-2008, 05:25 PM:
 
OK, here are a few pics of the new car I purchased last Saturday. This car is an '08 Honda Civic EX (manual transmission, of course). I bought it waaaaay back in 2007, so this car was from the future (so obviously it flies).


This is the front of the car or some similar area.


This might be more towards the rear.


From the inside!
 

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Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 01-02-2008, 08:57 PM:
 
What insurance company do you use? That's great that they're offering pain-and-suffering compensation, especially when they know they won't be able to squeeze a dime out of the minor or the uninsured. The old rule of thumb for pain-and-suffering was double the hospital bill. It sounds like you got out pretty good, so maybe the bill wasn't that much. Unfortunately doctors do nothing for hard or soft tissue damage in the chest area other than giving pain meds because you'll get pneumonia if they restrict breathing. Seatbelts can break ribs and really chew up soft tissue and airbags can break wrists and bust knuckles, but its better than the closed head wounds or spinal cord damage that could occur. You not losing consciousness indicates that there was little impact on your brain, which we already know because your posts would have started sounding like Bobby's. *rim shot*.

Do you feel any fear or similar emotion when you go through that intersection now? It took me a good six months to get over that part. That's what the lawyers really capitalize on when they sue - anything they can categorize as a permanent ailment. I suggest you wait until you are completely healed up (could be a year from now) before you settle anything. Lawyers are one of those professions that you rag on until you need one. Good luck.
 

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