Your first car crash

[schrodinger]

Well Escapist, I just had my first car crash tonight. Let me tell you this smashing tale of cars and construction cones. I was driving home from my college night classes when a car in front of me had knocked down some construction cones(I didn't see it, but thankfully a couple witnesses saw it happen), thus causing me from seeing the lane narrowing in time. I had done a sudden brake, trying to avoid hitting the damn cones. A few seconds later a girl had crashed into me, she spun out and ran into the wall. Thank every god in the universe neither of us got hurt(besides a nasty case of whiplash), but both of our cars took some heavy damage; her car took the brunt of the damage with the front totaled and my car's rear bumper destroyed with the frame warped. Both cars are not drivable, unfortunately. The funny thing is we both have the same name, almost the same age, go to the same college and were both driving from night classes. One hell of a coincidence!

How about you fellow escapees? How was first car crash? Was it dramatic, limbs flying everywhere or simply a fender bender?

 

[Elfgore]

Mine was a fender bender.

I was coming home from Friday Night Magic and it was raining worse than I had ever driven in before. There was a guy going slow two cars in front of me. The car in front of me couldn't adapt to that and kept speeding up and putting on his breaks. The girl behind me must of have fallen into the rhythm as well. Finally the guy in front put his breaks on to turn. The guy in front of me was of course not adapting and had to throw on his breaks. I managed to put mine on in time, but the girl behind me rear ended me. We pulled off and got out. Her car's hood was smashed up but my car only had a crack in the bumper. Since it was raining and I was tired and just wanted to get home, I decided to not worry about exchanging information and just traded phone numbers in case our parents decided we needed to trade. I never got a call.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I've never been in a collision yet. I have slid off the road 3 times last winter. Winter in Saskatchewan is bad enough but last year it went from almost melting point to freezing temperatures several times so ice was EVERYWHERE.

Boss wasn't amused. Doesn't matter, I'm not going to be on time if I'm in the ditch. She had to deal with it.

 

[cathou]

my first car crash wasnt that bad. it was in january, like 15 years ago or so. i was on an icy road, and i was unexperienced. i was going to fast i guess, because my car started to go slowly sideways. but it was a small road and on both side of the road there were 6 feet high snow pile left by the snow plower over the weeks. i tried to turn my wheels to counterbalance the slow spinning of my car, but i wasnt experienced enough to look where i wanted to go instead of where i was going. i was compensating too much and when my car stoped spinning left, it start spinning right, and left again, and right again...

the the front of the car hit the snow pile, teared off the front bumper and the car spinned half a turn and smash my side on the snow pile.

the car was badly damage, but i was ok, just very frightened.


my second car crash was very bad, i totalled the car, and the bone in my leg decided to see if the life was better outside my body.

and my last one was actually a good thing for me, i made money from the insurance, and i was mostly ok. and now i know that in a face to face collision with a yaris and a lincoln MKX, the lincoln win...

 

[Miss G.]

I think it was in '08. Drunk guy in a pickup truck swerved in front of me and hit the driver's side of my car when I tried to overtake him. I'd just recently gotten my Driver's License and car and didn't quite know how to handle the situation. It scared me and my mom and sister who were in the car with me, I don't think my brother noticed much of anything. Nothing really happened after that, as apparently the damage, minimal though it was, only happened to my car and he drove off to the side to continue whatever the hell he was doing. At least now I know to just let the drunk drivers pass by.

Second time around Christmas '11 before I left for school in the US, my car got hit again on the driver's side by an unlicensed, uninsured, un-'anything that would help to fix my car' driver hit me. She came in from a side road and was in the wrong, so I didn't have to deal much with the traffic officer that was on the scene, but its not like I could get anything from her or the other 15 people who had their names on that car. Thankfully this happened near my dad's work and near my other family, so I got sorted out and the pain I got from my seatbelt went away. At least I always have insurance, and in the end (when I came back home for break) my used Hyundai looked factory new, whereas her car was a total write-off and made it seem like my car should've been more damaged than it actually was in comparison.

 

[Dirge Eterna]

I am 37 and have never been on a car accident. The only accident I was ever in was on my motorcycle. I was sitting stopped at a stop light. There were cars all around me and I was a little off center in my lane. I had just stood up to stretch and a car came up behind me and stopped but then drove forward again and hit my back fender. I wasn't injured and I didn't drop my bike since I was standing up at the time it just rocked forward a little, I was in neutral so it didn't even kill the engine. We pulled into a parking lot and the lady didn't speak English, didn't have a license , or insurance and didn't own the car. With the rudimentary Spanish I knew and the broken English she knew I got her name and address. I called the police but they didn't give a shit as this is L.A. and they don't respond to accidents unless someone is hurt. Even though she was committing several crimes at the time, if I had been pulled over and not had a license and insurance I would go to jail but whatever. So she gave me all fake info of course and my insurance had to pay for the damages, my back fender, break lights and tail pipes were damaged and tweaked. It was about 1,400$ worth of damage, I had custom pipes but they only would pay the standard OE part price. Her excuse for hitting me? She thought traffic was moving so she just accelerated, too bad I was in the way. There was a van in front of me that hadn't moved yet so I have no idea what she was seeing.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Last november. Made a bad call when I was driving home from school for the weekend. I knew I was in bad shape, so I'd stopped for a rest at a Tim Horton's about a half hour earlier. A hot chocolate and a twenty minute nap would do me some good. When I got back on the road, I passed out about ten minutes later. Jolted awake when I felt gravel under my tires, over corrected, swerved back into my lane and hit the breaks, spun out and crashed into a hydro pole.

The front of the car was wrecked on the driver's side, I'd hit a power line, so there was a fire and sparks flying all around. It's eleven o'clock at night on an unlit highway, and it's freezing out. Luckily, a road patrol (guys who clean off roadkill or debris) was right behind me, and pulled over to offer help.

Amazingly, I walked away from the whole thing without a scratch. Not that I want to try again.

 

[piinyouri]

Pretty "fun" as most crashes probably go.

I was oh...16-17, had my car for almost a year. I never ever did anything risky or stupid. Hell, I was still pretty damn terrified on the road.

Then one day after school had let out for summer vacation, I picked up a couple of friends and we went driving around.
I had done this a few times before. This time though instead of cruising through town, we took the dirt road just pass my second friend's house.

It's the strangest thing, to that point I had plenty of opportunities to be rebellious and speed around, or do whatever it is most teenagers my age did. But I never did, never had the urge really. But that day felt different for whatever reason.
I turned the radio up and we were all joking and having a great time. I continued to go faster and both my friends were very lighthearted about it. No one thought I was going to fast.

At this point I'm probably going 45 on a rough dirt road. It all felt amazing, such a feeling really I can't explain it, but I guess it's that moment of invincibility a lot of teens feel. I just felt like I should push it harder.

So the radio went up in volume, we're all yelling at each other and laughing and having a great time, when my back wheels break loose. It was only momentarily and should have been the sign to slow the fuck down, but I didn't. I went faster.

Not probably 300 feet later the car breaks traction again, but this time much more severe. It starts to swing wide to the right, and I over corrected and put it into a small ditch on the side of the road. Over corrected AGAIN and was still carrying a good amount of speed, so when it came out of the ditch it popped up and rolled over onto it's side and then on it's top.

This all happened in less than 3-5 seconds.

Everyone was okay, and thankfully me and the friend in the front were seat belted in (auto seat belts)and my friend in the back, being a bigger guy, braced his arms and legs on the roof and floor of the car instinctively.

I remember not driving anything for almost a year after that. And when my family had found another car, my whole body was shaking when I test drove it.

 

[Able Seacat]

About a year ago, I was on the motorway with some heavy rain and still dark early morning. A van in front of me braked suddenly and started to swerve (he said a car cut him up turning into the lane in front of him) I braked and turned to avoid the back of his van but he corrected and we collided, pushing us both into the central reservation. Two cars then crashed into the back of mine. No one was hurt thankfully.

The van needed a tire a change and the brake lights weren't working. The three cars were a write off though.

 

[Caiphus]

I've managed to avoid crashing myself. The first and only car crash that I've been in was when I was 8, living in Dubai. It was pretty tame as crashes go. We were stopped at the lights, and the car behind us must have missed his brake pedal, or been distracted by something, and went into the back of us. Only got whiplash, so yeah.

I remember looking over my shoulder and seeing the guy looking extremely sheepish/angry with himself.

I remember almost falling out of the car when I was 4 though. I didn't close the car door properly, and it opened while we were driving down a hill. Fun.

 

[DanielBrown]

Haven't had one yet, but I was extremely close to dying a few months ago. Was gonna turn left at a crossroad in rush hour. Both the facing side and mine had green light straight ahead and to the left. Took it easy at first, but when I had gotten halfway out and still couldn't see any cars going straight ahead(the left-going lane was packed) I decided to go for it.
Little did I know some guy decided to hurry past the green light before it passed, coming at me with probably 80km/h. My first instinct was to hit the breaks, but then time stopped for a second and I decided to hit the fucking gas to get me out of there.
He must've missed my car by a fucking centimeter.

There was also the time when a suicidal elk ran in front of my car. My mom made an emergency stop and waited for the retard to pass. After that she gathered her nerves and started driving again. Guess who decided right then was a good time to run back the same way he came? Fucking mööses.

 

[Terramax]

Mine was a motorcycle accident. 1 hour before my bike test, ironically. It was raining, I took a turn too hard, came off the bike at around 35miles and hour (50kph?), rolled down the side of a motorway for about 15 seconds.

Coming off your bike is a strange experience. You don't realise what's happening at first. It took me a few seconds before I was able to comprehend what happened. I don't remember that actual fall. Then, when I realise I'm rolling down the road, it feels stranger because I knew what was going on but was unable do anything about it. Ever slept on your arm and then woken up? That feeling that you can't control your arm until the blood comes back? Imagine that with your whole body, and imagine the whole world spin round and round and round.

Luckily I only cracked a part of my thumb's bone, making riding difficult for a few months. Suffice to say, I failed the bike test later that day.

 

[Saulkar]

My first car crash was when I was 8. A simple fender-bender over in Regina that did not even leave a dent despite launching us halfway into the intersection!

Oddly enough the entire (minus two out of 3 brothers) family was in our brand new Dodge Avenger on our way home from Tisdale a couple days ago on Monday when an entire herd of moose began to cross the road a few meters in front of us. With no time to slow down and the herd densely covering the entire width of the road, my dad ,who was driving, tried his best but still ass-ended one but managed to avoid riding said moose into the cabin. It still shattered the front passenger side of the windshield and showered my younger brother in glass but we were all unharmed.

I cannot say the same for the moose who decided to pursue a dead-end career as a contortionist.

 

[Dirge Eterna]

Mine was a motorcycle accident. 1 hour before my bike test, ironically. It was raining, I took a turn too hard, came off the bike at around 35miles and hour (50kph?), rolled down the side of a motorway for about 15 seconds.

Coming off your bike is a strange experience. You don't realise what's happening at first. It took me a few seconds before I was able to comprehend what happened. I don't remember that actual fall. Then, when I realise I'm rolling down the road, it feels stranger because I knew what was going on but was unable do anything about it. Ever slept on your arm and then woken up? That feeling that you can't control your arm until the blood comes back? Imagine that with your whole body, and imagine the whole world spin round and round and round.

Luckily I only cracked a part of my thumb's bone, making riding difficult for a few months. Suffice to say, I failed the bike test later that day.

Wow thats some scary shit dude. Closest I ever came to laying down my bike was I was making a right into a shopping center driveway. Unbeknownst to me a car had just turned in that was leaking oil and the road was wet from alight drizzle. The rear tire got squirrelly and I fishtailed a little bit. I managed to catch it and the only thing that happened was my front crash bar scraped the road a little. Could have been much worse. I watched a guy who had just bought a $25k dollar Harley lay it down on his road test, guy had trailer-ed it in and had only ridden it like 5 or 6 miles total to learn. I offered him the bike I was taking the test on a 1978 Honda 175, maybe a 180pd bike. He laughed and was like I ain't riding a Japanese bike, I didn't shed a tear when he crashed jackass. I passed, he didn't.

 

[Vegosiux]

There are only a few words I care to say about my first accident in which I was driving:

Parallel parking is a *****.

But that was then.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

Mine was bad, though it was more of an accident:

From what I can recall (I was about 4/5 years old) my mother and brother were arguing and a car was coming in our direction; we were on a small road with two lanes: one each side.

On either side of the road, there was a steep decline(we were on a narrow, quite large hill) with forests starting and the end of each respective side.

So, they were arguing and next thing I know, my brother swerved hard to the right(I think we were about to crash with that car), and I blacked out seconds later.

I then woke up: I was on a flat rock on the side of the hill; the lower part of my mouth was bleeding: the car was at the bottom(turned over) with my mum still inside it, whereas my brother was already on the road, with the ambulance.

The crash resulted in both my brother and mother wearing neck braces for a long time, and my mother being unable to turn her head to the right for about 4 months; I had re-constructive surgery done on my lower gums.

My mum and I stayed in hospital for a few weeks, whereas my brother healed up pretty quick(in about a few days).

 

[Not Matt]

i was 16 and still practicing driving. Now, i lived on a farm at the time with my family and we were rebuilding a burned down barn. So naturally there was a lot of stuff and material blocking most of the farm. One day we were going to have a crane lift some of the larger beams in the roof up to the third floor, so we had to move most the stuff in the area to make room for it. So my dad asked me to move the car. A Toyota that was older than me and barely even functional. i backed it out of our our parking are, down towards the fields and then i put it i reverse to park it......and drove straight in to a pole holding wires that supplied the entire city with power and sent it plummeting to the ground. The town were all black that day and i got yelled at for having dented the car (my parents didn't even mention the pole) . It was awesome.

 

[Lieju]

I haven't been in a car crash, but as a kid (9 or so) I was in an accident with my bike. I came behind a corner and collided with another cyclist.

I wasn't badly hurt, but I don't remember anything about it. And that scared me.
I was cycling around a corner, then the next thing I literally know I'm walking away with a bruised ankle.

It was really scary to find out that your brain can just wipe out a period of time like that.
Apparently I spoke with the other cyclist and told her I wasn't hurt, but I don't remember any of that.

 

[Milanezi]

It was very stupid, it wasn't a collision with another auto, but rather the... Yeah, one of the pillars that sustaing the parking lot of a mall lol The parking space here in Brazil are mostly way smaller than those in the US, so you have to squeeze yourself and sometimes spend minutes maneuvering into place, shopping centers tend to be worse lol I was going there with a few friends and decided I wanted to go driving, even though they did offer to pick me up (they lived only a block away from me), so the stupidity begins there, not satisfied, I decided I also didn't want to pay the absurd amount of valet parking, so yeah, I tried to park myself... Only to ruin the right side on a pillar, on the way IN and on the way OUT (when I decided I'd better go with valet parking after all)... So yeah o.o

The other time wasn't my fault at all and was extremely frustrating, it was a Chevrolet Captiva, brand new, beautiful, SUV... I was driving with a friend to a theater and as I drove past a mini truck, the driver just backed it up on my lateral while his budy, on the outside screamed him to stop. I have no idea how he didn't see me there. No one got hurt, and I got payed for the repairs, but waiting for the parts to arrive was a pain in the ass

 

[lacktheknack]

I moved too far forward while parking and accidentally brushed very lightly against the guard rail.

I'm not very good at this "having an accident" thing, am I?