rear ended

Adelard of Bath · Post by **Adelard of Bath** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 12:58 am

Not in my super rusty Tercel or I might not be writing this right now! but I was driving on the highway today in my dad's truck when suddenly everyone is slamming on their brakes, due to a stalled 80s f-250 or something...so I managed to NOT rearend the guy in front of me (although that is what happened to me a couple months ago, I wasted a New Beetle) but I figured the Pontiac behind me would never stop in time, so I started to go in the ditch to get out ofthe way...didn't work, she wasted me, but somehow the front end of the Pontiac dived under the large tube thingie for my trailer hitch, and the spare tire on the back of the truck (nissan pathfinder actually)
so while I received no damage other than a slight curling of the sheetmetal on the bumper and some white Pontiac paint on my hitch bar, the Pontiac is probably going to be totalled.

but I got pushed into the ditch sideways and as I was sliding on the snow going totally sideways, I thougth for sure thye truck was going to roll....but I made it, and the engine was still running yay! so I got to crawl out of the ditch in 4low and hopefully the Minnesota State Patrol video cameras were rolling so now I am famous for my offroad stunts! "cops" here I come!

But the moral of the story is.....it all started with a stalled vehicle.

and suddenly i'm like "so I kinda have a moral obligation to NOT be driving that old Tercel that has stalled on me in traffic in more than one occasion" cuz now we are talking danger potential....

that things so rusty that if anyone hits me, i'm going to look like a the inside of a can of baked beans by the time the police get there.

Oh well maybe I'll keep it anyway! "You only die once" as I always say

MootsMan · Post by **MootsMan** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 9:28 am

That's a scary feeling.....anybody that drives much probably has experienced that knot in the gut when you see the taillights in front of you go bright right in your face. I will have to admit I've tagged a couple of rear bumpers in my driving career. Glad you came out of it, and hope the vehicle didnt' sustain any other damage ! Let us know when the video is coming out ! ^_^

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 2:21 pm

Hehehe.. Know whats fun? Going 80 down a poor condition highway in a 2003 Ford Excursion Powerstroke, and suddenly seeing smoke start rising from a shuddering semi, promptly followed by lots and lots of red. I hit the brakes, had everything light go flying forward... Stopped in time to just tap the guy in front of me, not even enough to cause a jerk, just enough to make him move a little (his brakes were off) and the guy behind me was luckily a Subaru WRX with nothing behind him, so he had no trouble halting in time. Want to know the funny thing? I only had 23 out of 50 hours of driving in on my permit and I somehow either did the right thing or got lucky. Had turned out some elk decided to cross the highway. No major accidents, but a few dinged bumpers and fenders.

And by the way.... How did this truck stall and suddenly just stop? It would glide for a while, long enough to do the smart thing and move away from traffic... And unless he was going 85, the air is not going to slow him down faster than light braking would. Maybe the guy freaked and hit his brakes when it stalled?

Pegger · Post by **Pegger** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 2:47 pm

I'd say you got lucky Typrus.

80 on a poor condition highway is just the right way to disaster.

Conditions should always dictate how you drive, not your abilities.

Anyways, I don't want to lecture, glad no-one got hurt in their mishaps.

Drive safe, drive smart!!!

Guy

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 3:03 pm

Was just keeping up with traffic. Not being an arse.

3A-C Power · Post by **3A-C Power** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 3:06 pm

I was also rearended at the start of the winter when the roads iced up. I was taking it easy at a stop sign but the guy behind me unfortunately wasn't. being -20 degrees, the polypropylene bumper cover cracked and that's all the damage I took. The Intrepid that hit me suffered a cracked front bumper and smashed foglight. He wanted to leave the insurance and the cops out of it which I understand but also didn't want to give me anything for the damage he did. I let him get away with it because I wanted to go home and sleep rather than waiting for the cops and I have a spare bumper cover, but that guy's attitude really surprised me.
I see too many rear-enders on my way to work in the morning along a busy highway that everyone commutes on. It's never because of some catastrophe but rather everyone following much too closely being both tired and in a hurry from having to start so early in the morning to make it to work. On a jammed highway, the speed can go from 100 to 0 really quick as you come up to a clogged area, and that means everyone has to slam on the brakes. I've had some close ones myself. I just try to keep my distance so on the chance that I don't react right away, there will still be enough time to stop.

Adelard of Bath · Post by **Adelard of Bath** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 3:26 pm

Perhaps I gave the wrong idea about the stalled truck...it was over as far as it could go on the shoulder, sitting there with the hood up, probably for a few minutes...but it was like 4:30pm and in this town, everybody thinks they have someplace to go, so the highway was super busy, plus it was in the busy part of town...and as everyone knows, everybody drives too close together and everyone is like "gotta go home after work gotta go home home home" and that's all they care about...so suddenly everyone is slamming on their brakes, we've all been there...

Yes and actually a couple months ago, I was driving my 97 Malibu, same area of town, same time of day and every is like "home home home i'm stressed out from my crappy job" and so the traffic is like 55mph bumper to bumper, and I was getting the left lane, looked over my shoulder, clear, start moving over, look back in front of me and get a face full of brake lights....slammed on the brakes and tried to go into the ditch cuz I knew I wasn't going to make it, but dind't quite make it...wrecked the front corner of my malibu and the New Beetle in front of me went flying, bent his rear wheel out sideways! heh yay fun times

I'm just glad I wasn't driving the Ramcharger I had at the time, then I would have wasted that guy at full speed with 6000lbs of steel with nothing to reduce the impact....and I don't care what anyone says, ABS is a good thing in a pure-panic situation. Yeah the Ramcharger would have not even a scratch I bet, but I'd be lucky if that guy didn't go into the hospital...as it was, nobody was hurt at all and the car was "repairable"

tercel4wdrules · Post by **tercel4wdrules** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 12:39 am

One time my dad was getting on the freeway and he kind of ease off on the gas on the on ramp because of traffic I think, and I just heard tires screeching. It was a Ford Explorer which made it in time without crashing into my dad's Corolla. No full throttle acceleration on the onramp with traffic!

On another time my dad was going about 60-65 on the freeway when the right lane merges with the left lane farthest to the right when the guy wants to merge and the lane is ending, but my dad is going too fast to stop (especially with those good-for-nothing brakes it had) and attempts to stop but is unsuccessful and almost locks up his tires, but the guy ends up in the emergency lane and my dad had to downshift to 2nd and mash the pedal at 4k and it took forever to get up to speed. That's why you need a little more power with the Terc. That was a closest encounter I had ever witnessed with the Terc. Whew!

3A-C Power · Post by **3A-C Power** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 6:06 pm

Yeah one time recently I was getting on the highway after work (it's always jam-packed then) and I heard this sound behind me like an engine running at 5000 rpm. A Nissan Maxima or something was only feet behind me, and he must have been driving in first gear to get his aggression out! I thought, let the fool blow his engine, I wasn't going to waste any gas going faster for his sake.

lesabre400 · Post by **lesabre400** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 7:46 pm

I was sitting behind a couple cars, waiting for one of them to turn left into the convenience store of this little town I was passing through. I look in my mirror and see a 3/4 ton GMC going way too fast to stop. I hear squealing tires, then that 'THOK' sound of a heavy collision. I didn't get whiplash, but my '68 Buick LeSabre (that's a full size model) had it's tail lifted into the air, got pushed about 30 feet and received $7000 worth of damage. I'd had the car only a few months. Luckily by this time, the cars in front of me had moved. Turns out the truck was driven by some young guy who worked at the local GMC dealer.
The saving grace was that my car had brand new springs put in and sat really high, so believe it or not, the truck hit me by the bumper and not my irreplaceable taillights (the only set I've ever seen were on eBay for $900US). Now the car is dropped 3" - that GMC would probably launch right off me like a bad Evel Kinievel stunt.