Car accidents and you.

[Eggsnham]

How have car accidents effected you over the course of your life?

An accident before my time has left my dad with a bad back. So I've always remembered my dad as somebody who sometimes every so often in the month needs to go to a chiropractor to fix him up. And if he doesn't he'll be so stiff with pain he can't move at all. It's not a good feeling watching your dad in so much pain and knowing there isn't anything you can do at all.

Much more recently a friend of mine was killed in a drunk driving accident. He was T-boned by a drunk guy coming home from a party in another town. The idiot lived, the innocent died and it shocked our town's small community.

Accidents happen every day, whether they're preventable or not, and they do impact people's lives.

So how have they impacted you? Have you been directly involved in an accident? Have you ever been the first to the scene of an accident?

Post away.

[sub][sub]I've fortunately never been in an accident myself.[/sub][/sub]

I'm sorry to hear about your friend, that's always a sad thing.

I've been in two accidents that I can recall. Neither were very serious, but they both put a strain on my parents' wallets.

The first one I can remember was when I was about six or so and my mom's car axle broke in the middle of an intersection during winter. Luckily, nobody hit us, but it was late at night and cold as hell. Took about two hours to finally get help and go home.

Number two was a couple years ago when my dad, my stepbrothers and I were all riding to and from the mall a couple days after Christmas and an older man rear ended us. Everybody was a little shaken up and I hurt my arm a little bit on the seatbelt, but it was nothing serious.

The guy who hit us was a pretty nice guy too.

As for non-car related accidents, there are three instances where I broke a bone in the stupidest ways possible.

1. In eighth grade I broke my leg skateboarding; I hit a small stone and the board popped up and made me fall on my shin, splitting it vertically, right down through the growth plate.

2. In ninth grade I ran into my friend while playing a sport a bunch of us made up in school, I dislocated and fractured my arm.

3. Last year I was going up the stairs and tripped. Breaking my nose. While walking up the stairs, I broke my nose. It was funny explaining that to the doctors at the hospital, though.

I've resolved that if I ever get any more semi-serious injuries, I'll just lie and tell people that I was fighting some large animal or something.

EDIT: I almost forgot, also last year, I was walking DOWN the stairs broke my big toe on the right foot. I kinda just tripped on nothing and fell on my foot, which was crushed by my back. Hurt like a ***** and I don't think it's fully healed yet, a little less than a full year later. It's actually surprising that, of all the parts of my body which were involved and bent in weird, compromising ways, my TOE was the one thing that was broken. Not that I'm complaining, though.

 

[EHKOS]

3. Last year I was going up the stair last year and tripped. Breaking my nose. While walking up the stairs, I broke my nose. It was funny explaining that to the doctors at the hospital, though.

I've resolved that if I ever get any more semi-serious injuries, I'll just lie and tell people that I was fighting some large animal or something.

That's nothing. One time I was near the fireman's pole on the playground in the winter. This kid bumps into me and I slide off face first. Fell on my head and broke my arm. How that happened I'll never know.

 

[Firefighting Bear]

Part of my job. Seen several, nothing too nasty yet thankfully. I hear of horror stories though and winter is coming up, when most accidents will happen...

 

[Dutch 924]

I have no intention of crashing anytime soon, but if I do, it'll be the other guys fault

 

[Eggsnham]

3. Last year I was going up the stair last year and tripped. Breaking my nose. While walking up the stairs, I broke my nose. It was funny explaining that to the doctors at the hospital, though.

I've resolved that if I ever get any more semi-serious injuries, I'll just lie and tell people that I was fighting some large animal or something.

That's nothing. One time I was near the fireman's pole on the playground in the winter. This kid bumps into me and I slide off face first. Fell on my head and broke my arm. How that happened I'll never know.

I just have one thing to say:

Impressive.

 

[scoopz]

I have been in two minor ones. The first happened when my friend's dad was taking us all (me,sister,friend,friend's sister) to school. Mind you this was in middle school, and friend's dad hit some car. No one was injuried. We were all just like "woahh."

The other time was about a year ago. I was driving my '93 Ford Escort GT. I was in a turn lane in the median to cross a highway, lots of traffic as this was about rush hour time. This guy waved me on because he had to stop and I knew there were cars coming but it seemed like a break in traffic and I trusted the guy (which is stupid, never ever trust any body else while you are driving. I learned the hard way) so I floored it. Some guy in a Pontiac hit the right front of my car, which ripped the bumper of and mushed things slightly.

Turns out, even though it was a minor collision, it bent the frame in a way that couldn't be fixed, or the cost of fixing it was wayyy more worth than the car so we scraped it.

Now I have a 2005 Scion xB and love it. Still miss that car though :[

 

[SilentCom]

I've never really been in a car accident, however when I was in high school our bus driver hit a car that pulled right in front of them. It was a startling experience with the shattering glass, crunching and clanging metal and all. It wasn't a low speed collision either, the other driving just drove right in front of the bus I was in so it wasn't even the bus drivers fault.

Unfortunately we had to wait more than an hour in the bus while a new bus came to pick us up.

 

[The .50 Caliber Cow]

Lost my stepdad in a car crash. Well more of a train crash. Well, so much for him.

 

[liquidsolid]

I've been in a head on collision before and ever since I've been a little nervous in cars. It isn't really that I'm afraid of driving, because I can drive fine.

My friends and I are in our 20's so naturally we engage in risky behavior. My friends think nothing of driving after a few drinks, driving while texting, or taking both hands off their wheel to smoke cigarettes.

My friends driving makes me nervous whereas before my accident I thought I was indestructible.

 

[SkyeNeko]

My dad and uncle got in an accident when I was born. It had just rained, they were going fast on the freeway, and then some guy in front of them can't decide what lane to stay in. Long story short they ended up spinning and hitting every side of the car on the divider. The car was totaled from what I hear, but they made it to the hospital without much event. Oh and neither of them were hurt.

My uncle hit a drunk guy early in the morning who wandered out onto the street. His family tried to sue my uncle for everything. Which was bad cause my uncle relies on my grandparents for money outside of bills/living expenses. They tried to get tuition for their kids and everything... even though the guy didn't have a job in the first place.

And most recently, my parents were in an accident when a drunk driver switched lanes on a 2 lane road. They were in the one he switched to. My dad swerved out, and the car ended up rolling out into a ditch. Totally destroyed the car... oh well. My dad was tired of the broken coat hangers anyways. Dad wasn't hurt at all, mum has a weird back so she got a little more damage.

 

[mmins]

I was on my way to go see my friends moms memorial. It was a rainy day and I was driving quite quickly and I managed to run into pole... in an empty parking lot... on my birthday...

 

[Smiles]

When I was young my grandma died in a car accident. My grandpa had forgotten to take his meds andfell asleep at the wheel, and even though he was only going 15 km/h my grandmother died and his friends in the backseat were injured. a little while after he took us to disneyland and i never saw him again.

when i was 14 i was spending time with my dad, and as he was taking us home over a very narrow bridge, the Patullo(i guess it wont mean anything to non-vancouverites), a lady drove into our lane. there was a huge 18 wheeler next to us so my dad had nowhere to go to avoid her. he managed to swerve just enough to not hit her head on and also not run into the 18 wheeler but she popped the tires on one side and smashed the left side mirror through the windows. her car continued after bouncing off my dads van to hit the guy behind us head on causing the whole bridge to become traffic jammed. I don't remember if anyone died that night but i think a few were seriously injured.

about 7 years ago, my dad was taking us on a camping trip and it was supposed to be a surprise that we were visiting my grandpa who I hadn't seen in years. we left early to get a good start on our vacation, and it was a foggy morning. as we were driving on the highway the fog seemed to thicken to the point where we couldn't even see in front of us. my dad ended up smashing into the back of a u-haul that had stopped due to lack of vision. going 80. my brother was sitting in the front passenger seat, where the van had folded in on itself, they had to use the jaws of life to extract him. I got a broken collarbone and a weird bruise on my shin that swelled up to twice the size, and immediately after the collision I was blinded by shock for a few minutes.

sometimes I get freaked out when I'm in cars. I have to close my eyes and imagine I am somewhere else. I don't think I will be getting my drivers liscense any time soon...

 

[Lederin]

I was in quite a bad one about 6 years ago....Basically, someone undertook a lorry, got clipped on her back bumper, went across 3 lanes of motorway, hit the crash barrier and drove down the wrong way down the lane and into my mum and me who swerved and hit the crash barrier, the car behind us drove into the driver's side door so we had to kick the door off my side to get out. Car was completely totalled...

Amazingly the only 'injuries' I came out with was bruises on my head (from the windscreen) chest (from the seatbelt) and a sore ankle from kicking the door off to get out. The police told me that if the car behind us had been going 5mph faster it would've gone straight through our car, killed my mum and broke every bone on he left side of my body O_O

All I have no is sustained shoulder pain from the whiplash, but really, I am one lucky bastard :O