s/o dashcams # of accidents

[circa1978]

sakoro, leaving Chicago for sure helped the situation - but I definitely became a better defensive driver. My teen accidents would have happened anywhere, probably. They were very much the product of me and my friends not having fully developed frontal cortexes. My cousin and I were given our own cars far too soon.

[janegold]

I rear-ended someone once as a teenager (no damage to either car).

I got rear-ended two years ago by a teenager (some damage, no injuries).

I've been in two other more serious accidents that involved some injuries as a child but not as a driver.

[InBetweenDays]

I've been in two accidents. The first I was around 17. Driving in Minnesota in the winter and slid on some ice into a snowbank (was going slow so no damage from hitting the snowbank). A car behind me couldn't stop and slid into me. Police determined the other driver was at fault for hitting me since they were following too close for the conditions.

Second accident I was around 23 and was driving in downtown Seattle with H and a friend. Someone ran a red light and t-boned us. Spun my car around and we were hit again by the car behind us. Broke the axle of my jeep so it had to be towed. When the police and tow truck left H, my friend and I were just left standing there so we had to walk two miles back home. 😂

[10outof9]

I haven’t read any of this thread, but I wanted to share that I read “dashcams” as “dachshunds” and I was rather confused.

[skidunks]

Before age 10- my dad rear ended two people and I was in the front seat with him.

10 y/o ish- in the car with my dad, my sister and my best friend. We went through an intersection and a lady ran a red light and t-bones us. My dad’s car was smashed on one side but now injuries, thank God.

25 ish- a bus merged into me and scraped my side mirror. No injuries and minimal damage.

30ish- I hit black ice on the highway over a bridge, spun out and hit the median. I had a cut on the back of my head, a black eye and scraped nose from the airbag. My car was totaled, somehow no one else was involved. The worst part was I was on the phone with my parents when I started sliding and they heard the whole thing happen with me screaming “oh my God, oh my God” and then my phone went dead. I felt so bad for that!

[sunshineandpinot]

I don't want to make a new post but what is the current protocol if you're in an accident? I've been rear ended 5 (!!!!!) times in the past 4 years. 2 were semi-minor; my car was drivable. Third car hit second car and pushed into me, 2x 4 weeks apart. Both times middle car was totaled and cops came so I was able to get a police report. Times 3-4 were super minor, driver stopped and let me take a pic of license and insurance and we went on our way. Their insurance took care of the damages. Time #5 was more challenging, but also very minor and I didn't call cops.
My dd is nearly 16 and will be driving. If she's in a minor accident, I have told her to take a picture of the license plate immediately and then exchange DL and insurance info. When are you supposed to call cops? If cars are not drivable? Do you call 911? I feel like I should know this.
I had never been in an accident until I was rear ended. I really hope that streak is over.

[mofongo]

circa1978 - ma’am! I’d say you’re only allowed to be a passenger princess, but it doesn’t seem to matter! Maybe get one of those tesla abomination things!

[sweetchix]

17 - front passenger in a friend’s car. She was pulling out of a gas station on a rainy day and didn’t see a pickup coming. He hit us and we spun into a ditch. We got checked out for concussions but were fine.

~25 a lady bumped me in a Burger King drive thru line. It was so light and I had such a shitty car at the time, I didn’t even get out to look at anything.

26 - hit a deer on the highway around 1am. It died. I cried.

46 - parking at the grocery store on an icy day. Hit the gas a bit to get over a pile of snow and drove/slid into an icy snow pile. Ripped the driver side of my bumper loose.

[lostrn]

When I was 17-ish I hit someone in the mall parking lot. Or potentially they hit me? I can't remember precisely. But my dad did defend me.
When I was 18-19 I hit a deer in my car on the way home from work. Scared to tell my dad so I just drove to work like normal the next day but yeah my car was overheating. My boyfriend needed a ride home from work so instead of telling my dad I was overheating, or telling boyfriend's dad about the situation (or frankly telling the 3 older brothers hey, I can't pick him up today!) I borrowed the older brother's girlfriend's car. And it caught on fire and I panicked and rolled it into a ditch.

This was a great weekend!

[mrsukyankee]

Just one accident. I was in West Orange, NJ, making a left turn in a double left (I was in the right lane of the two left turning lanes) and the guy went straight into me. It was definitely not my fault and the police came quite quickly. Not huge damage and I wasn't hurt at all.

[macmars45]

18 yrs old: I was driving straight through an intersection with a green light and someone turned into me on their yellow arrow. It was a girl a year ahead of me in school. She tried to lie to the police but her friends with her told the truth. My mom's car that I was driving was totaled. Hers was drive-able. She and her friends had my dad as a 5th grade teacher so when he showed up to talk to the police and take me home all the kids in the other car were apologizing to my dad.

20 yrs old: I've almost hit a cyclist (he was riding with the flow of traffic in front of me and then suddenly cut in front of me to turn left). I sobbed the whole way home.

24 yrs old: sideswiped a pedestrian in a parking lot. I was sobbing inconsolably. She was slightly bruised; she barely hit my side mirror with her arm. That one messed me up for a long time and I refused to drive in big parking lots for a good long while afterwards. (H drove or I road the bus/walked to my destination.) The week after that happened in the evening two pedestrians crossed the road not in a crosswalk right in front of H while I was the passenger and he almost hit them.

34-38: I've had quite a few near misses with people pulling right out in front of me or changing lanes to mine without seeing me. And one parking lot near miss when a guy pulled out right in front of me (not backing out, just driving through the parking lot).

[circa1978]

mofongo, fair. I'm 46 now and it slowed down a lot after my mid 20s. But my husband might be right.

[starburst604]

I've been driving a LONG time - but I had my fair share. Can I remember them all? Was rear-ended a couple of times with no damage in my first car, so age 16-17. In my second car, my poor Toyota Celica, I fell asleep (!!!) just as I turned onto my street and did a little bump and grind with my neighbor's stone wall. My grandfather's friend had a body shop and helped me out bigly with that situation. My next car I know I rear-ended someone when I was caught up in some music and zoned out. I was also rear-ended in that car while stopped at a light, so hard that it pushed me into the car in front of me. In my next car I tried to go around someone in a parking garage, skidded on ice and slammed into the concrete wall. That was fun. I was driving on a notoriously windy and narrow 2 lane road in Boston (the Jamaicaway) and someone oncoming hit me head on and they took off, but damage was fairly minor. I once backed into a van and left a dent, I left a note but nothing ever happened. I think that's all?? Nothing in the last 15 years and never anything serious, thankfully.

[circa1978]

To bring the relevance to dashcams - all that and none of those accidents were disputed! Even the lady mad my cousin rear-ended her - we all admitted what happened. It would have made quite a highlight reel at my funeral though, if it had all been taped.

[meanie]

Within a couple of months, I had all of these happen resulting in me having to take a class so I wouldn't lose my license 

- I was rear ended pretty hard while sitting in stand still traffic
- I hit the bumper of a work van while trying to switch lanes in stop and go traffic - this one sucked because any other vehicle would have been a dent but the work van had a steel bumper and my car got ripped apart
- Pulled over for speeding and found out my car registration had lapsed, H missed it in the mail ...oops


H still laughs about how I called him after the driving class lamenting over all the "losers" in the class, he was like....you are also in that class dummy.


I have been in a few accidents as a passenger:

- T-boned on my side when I was 10
- Someone tried to pass H on his passenger side in a single lane and side swiped us
- Couple of bumper taps in traffic
- Hit from behind while sitting at a red light, I was pregnant with our first

[mofongo]

Oct 22, 2024 8:53:00 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

mofongo , fair. I'm 46 now and it slowed down a lot after my mid 20s. But my husband might be right.

Maybe a bubble wrapped car? 😅 

[meanie]

sunshineandpinot It may depend on the laws where you are. In MA if the damage is over $1000 (which is most accidents) and on a state highway you are required to call the police. I didn't know this and got yelled at by a state trooper when someone rear ended me.

For your DD I would just tell her to always call, there are so many things that can happen and getting a police report will make things 100x easier.

[fiddles]

Dude some of you should get a bus pass

[ellipses84]

I’ve been in a lot, all no-fault or not my fault. I feel like I’m forgetting some.

16 - I only had liability insurance on my first car and my parents told me I would have no car if it got totaled. I offered to return a movie for them at night my first month driving and had a car hit me at a 4-way stop in the mall parking lot. I think I had the right of way but I was crying because I thought I was going to lose my car and the old people in the other car acted like it was my fault. My parents showed up and based on where my car was hit and my story, my parents were like, it wasn’t your fault! Plus it was only a fender bender 😆

21 - Not an actual accident but I had an infamous recalled Firestone tire come off an SUV on the freeway. The tread literally peeled off like an orange. So scary, but we and the car were ok aside from a few paint scratches.

33 - A jerk cut through a store parking lot to avoid traffic and hit me.

34 - Doing a favor for DH’s coworker, driving home from picking up supplies for a charity event at a store near our house, a young neighbor ran a red light and hit the drivers side of my car. I was 6 months pregnant with my 5 year in the car, so it was my scariest accident. I had to go to the hospital and be monitored.

34 - Shockingly my car was not totaled in the above accident. It had just been fixed and got home from the shop. I think it had just been paid off or was about to be…then a flash flood came and destroyed both our cars and our home.

35 - Replaced our cars. Hurricane Harvey destroyed one of them. My SUV was ok and both our replacement cars are paid off now!

37 - I was going down a hill in the right lane on a two lane road getting ready to turn right at an intersection ahead. There was a huge RV in the left lane with their right turn signal on. I didn’t realize they were trying to turn right into a parking lot before my right turn. They still took the turn wide despite my car being there, and dragged my car. It was scary because a car or SUV has no chance against an RV that size but luckily it was low speed. Both kids were in the car and my car wasn’t drivable so I was stranded there for a while.

I’ll add a couple more for fun.

The first time I hung out with my BFF she was one of the few people who had a car at college and offered me and some other friends a ride to the store. Leaving, a car driven by another college kid in his friend’s car with no insurance cut through a parking lot and hit us, knocking her bumper completely off. A kind stranger helped us tie it back on so we could drive back to campus since it wouldn’t fit in the car.

DH was driving my newly paid off car (the first new car I’d ever owned). Not 1, not 2, but 3 coyotes ran out of on the road in front of him. He swerved to miss them and hit a guardrail. The damage was worth more than the car was worth and it was totaled.

[sunshineandpinot]

Oct 22, 2024 10:17:47 GMT -5 meanie said:

sunshineandpinot It may depend on the laws where you are. In MA if the damage is over $1000 (which is most accidents) and on a state highway you are required to call the police. I didn't know this and got yelled at by a state trooper when someone rear ended me.

For your DD I would just tell her to always call, there are so many things that can happen and getting a police report will make things 100x easier.

TIL!!


Texas law mandates that you must report a motor vehicle accident within ten (10) days if the accident involved an injury, fatality, vehicles that couldn't be moved, or property damage exceeding $1,000.

Yikes, each of my very minor rear ends resulted in $2400 in damage. 

[basilosaurus]

I think I was 17 at my first.

There was a light that was no turn on red. Green signal turned on, and, like my dad taught, I waited for the first 2 people to run the red. Welcome to S FL! I started turning, and the 3rd red light runner rammed right into me.

Cops of course tried to blame me. Dad believed me but also thought it was best for insurance to trust the guy who wanted to just pay damages. He of course did not. Good lesson for my teen self! Don't trust people that run a very very red light. Dad at least split the cost with me (IMO he should have paid all since it was his bad advice, and I was definitely not to blame)

Next was years later, in Japan. I lived on a 4 house street and rarely needed to look behind to back out. But, being a safe driver, I always did. Until that day. Big dog was in the car blocking my mirror. I backed into landlord's car. Insurance increased by $10, but I did have to go interview at the police station with a military escort. Do not recommend!

Learn from my lessons.

Also, don't drive a borrowed car in poor maintenance where a bumper might fall off at anytime. That's my current situation. Both front and back have fallen off. Back is tied on by wire now. Front caused me to lose control and hit the curb. Thankfully that was the only fallout, no injuries to anyone or anything other than car. Also, thankfully, I could stick out my thumb and get a ride back home, safely.

[aspentosh]

I have been in one accident. I think I was around 33-34? I was found at fault, but it was total BS in my opinion.

I was backing out of a parking spot in a large strip mall and had rear view assist on. No vehicles were coming and I kept checking for them. I was 75% of the way out (my nose was pointed at the car beside me) and they hit me SQUARE in the back of my bumper going at least 25mph. They immediately admitted fault and we exchanged info, but then their insurance fought it because I was reversing. I even took photos to show where my car was in relation to the driving lane, how they hit me, how her bump was fully lined up with mine (not hitting at the back side of my bumper). I was pissed.