Post Car Crash Feelings

jamieh

Hey all,

I had a car crash lastnight. It was my Mums car, only got it in Janurary. Haven't got a quote yet but I'd say there's a good bit of damage done to the car. I was blinded by the sun for a second, back wheel hit loose gravel and spun, ended up in a ditch\wall and fell onto its side. Speed wasn't a factor, witnessed even said that to the gardaí.

I'm fine physically, but its such a bad feeling. Playing the images\sounds\thoughts over and over again, the guilt, its impossible not to think about it. Thinking about how much its going to cost to fix (presuming its not a write off), I'm a named driver so I prob have no chance of getting full insurance for a long time to come.

Has anyone here had a crash and how did they feel after it??

Sorry mods if this isn't the right forum, feel free to move.

kluivert

The exact same thing happened to me - I put the back wheel on the grass (wet) and it spun across the road and head on into a ditch.

The car was mine and I had only been driving two months.

Hurt more than anything else, but learned a big lesson from it though. You can never be two cautious. A car is a car so what.

If its new here is a tip for you ok. Get the garage to say its a right off, even if its not ok, The insurance will pay out for a new car, then get your parents to go a repair shop in the country somewhere, there is plenty of them about, repair the car and you buy it off your parents at the cost price that it costed to repair. You understand.

My boss crashed her brand new 05 car last year on the icy roads, it was put down as a right off or something that the insurance company give her a new car same make and model, she give the car to her brother who repairs cars for a living.

Put it down to a learning experience dont feel bad, just count yourself lucky that you werent another stat on the road deaths list.

Again Road Safety is the thing here as in only in Ireland is it possible to put a back wheel on a grass verge.

If the government built proper roads there would be half the accidents.

Seth Brundle

1. you are uninjured - only the car was damaged car after all! Consider yourself lucky
2. you re a named driver so you will not be punished by the insurance company - the policy holder will.
3. incidents like this can happen at any time. Just make sure you are prepared for them as best you can because when they happen you are just a passenger!
4. I took out about 18m of a ditch before in a fiesta doing a 360 turn years ago. I can still recall the noises, feelings, etc. I got out of the car and realised I was fine etc. [An approaching car decided to pull in to help and ironically I that had to tell them to park in a safe place as the next car would smack right into them.]
Thankfully I haven't had anything really since (fingers crossed).

dfcelt

Yeah, I agree, its a learning curve, don,t let it get you down. Just shows you that you can never be too cautious.
I had a company jeep and slid across the road, hit the ditch which spun me 180 degrees, went through the fencing and ended up on my side in January. All at 30mph on an icy main road in January with 4x4 activated (road wasn't gritted), all I could do was apologise, same as yourself.
Same as above we got full value as it was deemed a write off but my mate had it back on the road for himself within a month.

TempestSabre

Horrible feeling, tough luck. Anyone can have an accident, bright sunlight is a real problem. Need to wear shades to counter that. At least no one was hurt thats the main thing. But I'm curious how do you (kluivert) manage to get a back wheel on the verge without putting the front one on it?

magnumlady

The only thing I'd suggest is to try and get back out in a car again asap.
I had a bad crash a good few years ago, bloody drunk driver hit me head on. I was hurt quite a bit and had nightmares for months afterwards.
The most annoying thing though was that the police arrived and did a breath test on me first! The clown was jumping around saying his girlfriend was driving. Luckily there were witnesses.
The worst thing was that I got 2 grand for my car, that I had just finished paying for and cost me 7! Thats England for you though.
Anyway its going to take you a while to get over the shock, thats why you feel so bad at the moment even though you weren't hurt, its still a shock.

kluivert

dfcelt wrote:

Same as above we got full value as it was deemed a write off but my mate had it back on the road for himself within a month.

Am not be smart but this is not a bad way to get a second new car if you are willing to pay a bit extra on the insurance. I dont mean go out a crash the new car but its something to look at for all you dodgy people out there.

Jemiah, it takes awhile to get over the shock as said and gain your confidence back but trust me you will and the sooner you get back to driving the sooner this will happen for you. Its better that you have learned this now than in ten years time. For the time being talk to folks and family about it or your buds, as you see from here nearly everyone has had a crash of some degree.

You ll be grand. Dont feel bad about it.

jamieh

Hey all,

Thanks for the advice. It happens to the best of us I guess. And would ye believe I only got the full licese a few weeks ago.....typical!!

To answer Tempest Sabre's question...it wasn't a verge. There is roadworks going on at the spot it happened and there's loose gravel along the side of the road so the gravel was on the same level as the road. You actually have to cross the white line in order to not hit the gravel, because of the sun I ended up on the right (or in my case the wrong) side of the white line and hit the gravel.

kluivert

Will there be words with the local county council for not ensuring proper road safety at road works. All roads works are meant to be coned of. Just a thought.

Stephen

Be careful with the insurance fraud lads

Technically, when your insurance company replaces your car as a write off, they own the wreck/remains.

kluivert

Stephen wrote:

Be careful with the insurance fraud lads

Technically, when your insurance company replaces your car as a write off, they own the wreck/remains.

Just weird the way the system works.

I couldnt believe it when my boss told me that her brother was driving the car that she crashed, after getting a replacement.

Seth Brundle

You can buy the wreck back off the insurance company.
They will be glad to be shot of it for a few quid!

Big Nelly

kluivert wrote:

If the government built proper roads there would be half the accidents.

Most of the time its not the roads but the drivers, as you said above you where 2 months on the road. I bet if it was now(I guess you have full license and driving a while) it wouldnt have happened. Also OP said it was his mums car so I bet he is on prov license.

Problem in this country is the amount of gobsh*ts on the road on a prov license and havent a clue how to drive but you ask them and they are the best drivers in the World. Its a joke to be honest and I the one wish I have on the roads was that Garda stop these drivers, if they haven't a full license drive with them then take license off them, rip it up and ban them for 2 years off the road before they can apply for license again. Whats the bets if they done that the number of accidents/deaths on the roads would be halfed.

Oh yeah and I dont want to hear this bullsh*t about "I cant get a test blah blah blah", my mate who drove years ago but stopped because living beside work changed jobs and needs a license. Done lessons etc and everything and I am taking her out as well for more, she applied for test about 2 weeks ago. Test this month. Yeah big backlog there:rolleyes:

To Gay Byrne: BAN THE PROV LICENSE DRIVERS

Idleater

kbannon wrote:

You can buy the wreck back off the insurance company.
They will be glad to be shot of it for a few quid!

Yes, and there is also an extra cost to you involved, as you have to pay 1) for the car ("wreck"), 2) for the repairs to said wreck, and 3) have an engineer structurally test it to make sure it passes all the original safety specifications and 4) insurance companies will know that it once was a write off and will possibly send their own engineers to assess the structure of the car.

I don't think that the engineers tests are something you can get a "mate" to sign off on either, because there has to be at least 2 seperate tests done.

L

GeorgeBailey

Big Nelly wrote:

Also OP said it was his mums car so I bet he is on prov license.

Jamieh wrote:

And would ye believe I only got the full licese a few weeks ago.....typical!!

Big Nelly wrote:

Oh yeah and I dont want to hear this bullsh*t about "I cant get a test blah blah blah", my mate who drove years ago but stopped because living beside work changed jobs and needs a license. Done lessons etc and everything and I am taking her out as well for more, she applied for test about 2 weeks ago. Test this month. Yeah big backlog there:rolleyes:

Applied for my test last August. Wife applied in April last year. Still nothing back for either of us. Where did your mate apply?

Big Nelly

GeorgeBailey wrote:

Applied for my test last August. Wife applied in April last year. Still nothing back for either of us. Where did your mate apply?

My mistake about license..:eek:

She applied in Cavan, few of my mates from Dublin applied in Navan and got there test within the month. Plenty of places to do the test.....problem with half these "great" drivers is they know they won't apss it

Tobias Greeshman

BigNelly wrote:

Oh yeah and I dont want to hear this bullsh*t about "I cant get a test blah blah blah", my mate who drove years ago but stopped because living beside work changed jobs and needs a license. Done lessons etc and everything and I am taking her out as well for more, she applied for test about 2 weeks ago. Test this month. Yeah big backlog there:eek:

Sounds like she ticked the box on the driving test sheet, that she'd accept cancellations. There's no other way you'd get a test that fast.

Have a look at the waiting lists and pass rates for each of the test centres, the pass rates are still way too low and resulting in too many provisional drivers on our roads. Driving test waiting lists

Big Nelly

silas wrote:

Sounds like she ticked the box on the driving test sheet, that she'd accept cancellations. There's no other way you'd get a test that fast.

Have a look at the waiting lists and pass rates for each of the test centres, the pass rates are still way too low and resulting in too many provisional drivers on our roads. Driving test waiting lists

What??? so you cant tick the same box or some other prov driver? thats another bullsh*t excuse. I haven't a clue what she ticked to be honest but if she can get a test why can't someone else??

When I done my test years ago it was alot worse than now but I followed up and it only took me a month to get my test. Seems if someone wants to do the test they can do it.

dts

So let me get this right?
You can fail your driving test then drive home on your own?
Crazy country!!!!!!!!!!!:D

kluivert

Big Nelly wrote:

Most of the time its not the roads but the drivers, as you said above you where 2 months on the road. I bet if it was now(I guess you have full license and driving a while) it wouldnt have happened.

Problem in this country is the amount of gobsh*ts on the road on a prov license and havent a clue how to drive but you ask them and they are the best drivers in the World.

Whats the bets if they done that the number of accidents/deaths on the roads would be halfed.

To Gay Byrne: BAN THE PROV LICENSE DRIVERS

Serious think before you type.

Yes I was on the road two months however the road conditions where unforgiving. Driving along a road with wet leafs and grass, no hard shoudler or nothing to speak off. Is that safe?

Compared to roads in Europe or the UK, Irish roads have little margin for error and this applies to whether you are advanced or learning. My point is that if roads where better designed built and maintained that there would be a reduction in stupid accidents.

As for provisional drivers, I believe they must take a mandatory number of lessons within a set period of time for example 10 lessons in 10 weeks and then let them drive on their own till they get there test.

By the way look at the look people who have died on the road this year, I dont think any of them where provisional licensed drivers.

Seth Brundle

You are only realising this now?

Big Nelly

kluivert wrote:

Serious think before you type.

Yes I was on the road two months however the road conditions where unforgiving. Driving along a road with wet leafs and grass, no hard shoudler or nothing to speak off. Is that safe?

Compared to roads in Europe or the UK, Irish roads have little margin for error and this applies to whether you are advanced or learning. My point is that if roads where better designed built and maintained that there would be a reduction in stupid accidents.

As for provisional drivers, I believe they must take a mandatory number of lessons within a set period of time for example 10 lessons in 10 weeks and then let them drive on their own till they get there test.

By the way look at the look people who have died on the road this year, I dont think any of them where provisional licensed drivers.

I have been driving on the roads now for over 10 years and I can tell you when I started they where alot worse, alot started to drive on Cavan roads which are the worst in this country. I have never crashed. I have seen L drivers crash on a perfectly open road, N3 has daily L drivers smashing into someone/something for no apparent reason. Also last week was on the dual carriageway and there was a build up of traffic because a truck was broken down on roundabout at end. Some gobs**T learner came up the road, barely hits the brakes and straight into a car that was stopped on the road because of the traffic. What can you see but two big L plates plastered all over the car.

kluivert

Big Nelly wrote:

I have been driving on the roads now for over 10 years and I can tell you when I started they where alot worse, alot started to drive on Cavan roads which are the worst in this country. I have never crashed. I have seen L drivers crash on a perfectly open road, N3 has daily L drivers smashing into someone/something for no apparent reason. Also last week was on the dual carriageway and there was a build up of traffic because a truck was broken down on roundabout at end. Some gobs**T learner came up the road, barely hits the brakes and straight into a car that was stopped on the road because of the traffic. What can you see but two big L plates plastered all over the car.

Well there is agrument there. That is seriously dangerous driving. But saying ban all provisionsal license drivers is a bit harsh now come on. By the way I learned to drive on the Carrick to Dundalk road. Theres not enough fingers on both hands to count the number of accidents each year :rolleyes:

What no one teaches you when learning to drive is accident avoidance driving. What you are taught is smash on the brakes to stop.

You boys in Dublin with your motorways and dual carriage ways dont know how lucky you have it.

Boggle

By the way look at the look people who have died on the road this year, I dont think any of them where provisional licensed drivers.

Things have probably changed since I left but I know that up to recently there were no stats for how many fatal car crashes were caused by prov drivers. (Can anyone confirm??)

I have been driving on the roads now for over 10 years and I can tell you when I started they where alot worse,

The roads may have been worse but there's alot more cars on the road even now... I'm driving just about 10 years myself and even I notice the difference.

But saying ban all provisionsal license drivers is a bit harsh now come on.

While I may not agree with demonising L drivers I don't believe that any L plates should be on the road. If a license is not earned then how can they respect it - also how can you justify allowing someone to operate any sort of a vehice without being qualified to to so??

Big Nelly

kluivert wrote:

Well there is agrument there. That is seriously dangerous driving. But saying ban all provisionsal license drivers is a bit harsh now come on. By the way I learned to drive on the Carrick to Dundalk road. Theres not enough fingers on both hands to count the number of accidents each year :rolleyes:

What no one teaches you when learning to drive is accident avoidance driving. What you are taught is smash on the brakes to stop.

You boys in Dublin with your motorways and dual carriage ways dont know how lucky you have it.

In Dublin now but grew up on roads called "the bog road" etc, each side was a 10ft drop into a ...guess.....bog and the road was just about the width of the car. If you did make a mistake there it was bye bye Big Nelly:p

Ok the last point I made wasn't very clear, I mean not to ban all prov drivers, if you did nobody would ever learn to drive but ban the dopes who buy a car, go get a prov license and next day are on the road with there new car and license and havent a clue what they are doing. Also they seem to think it is ok to drive without a full license driver. These are the people that should be kicked off the road for 2 years if caught. I know plenty of people that have done this and are still on the road today, on first prov without a full license driver and then have the cheek to tell me they are a "great" driver. I dont bloody think so

As you mentioned its grand for someone to be able to start and car, drive it somewhere and hop out. People do this and think they are a great driver. Any gobsh*t with a brain can do this, especially with the influx of automatics. But the problem happens when something goes wrong, they havent a clue how to control the car, how to brake etc...this usually ends up with car smashed up and if unlucky someone dead. Its a joke.

To train myself how to control a car when skidding, years ago when it snowed in Cavan me and my brother went over to some land we owned with a private lane which had just being relaid so was the same as a road. We practised for a few hours on what was the best way to stop when the car when it skidded, hand brake was used to start the skid. Good practise but someone on here will prob have a go now saying I shouldnt have done that but it was a private lane on our land and nobody was allowed access to that lane except our family.

Big Nelly

Boggle wrote:

The roads may have been worse but there's alot more cars on the road even now... I'm driving just about 10 years myself and even I notice the difference.

Really is doesnt matter about the amount of cars on the road, we have one of the worst death rates on the roads and this isnt because of the number of cars but th enumber of gobs**ts in the cars. You look at how many cars are in the UK etc. Can't blame the roads for everything. My point is the amount of deaths is more to do with the people and not the roads.

Also the majority of deaths are in country area's and not in the city whree the increase is cars is massive. When I lived in Blanch when I was a kid you where lucky to have one car per house. Now on same St in same area you can hardly drive down it at night because of the amount of cars parked on the roads. There is 5 cars in the house next door to me.....5 cars

Padraig Mor

Big Nelly wrote:

ban the dopes who buy a car, go get a prov license and next day are on the road with there new car and license and havent a clue what they are doing. .

OK first off I think it is obvious that driver education etc here is the pits and that Ireland should use the German system - mandated test hours in various conditions (incl. night) before you can do your test (and psychological evaluation after three fails!).

However, I for one, am sick to death about hearing about how bad L-drivers are and they cause every accident on the roads etc.... I drive about a 1000 miles a month - not a load, but certainly not insignificant either. The most dangerous driving I see BY FAR is by licenced 'competent' drivers - like the crash I saw this morning where a 40-ish guy slammed into the back of a car turning right. Now I don't mean to tar everyone with the same brush and of course there are bad L-drivers out there and excellent 'full' drivers but, in my experience, L-drivers generally display an overwhelmingly superior understanding of the Rules of the Road than full drivers - I rarely see a fully licenced driver indicate a 'right turn' on a roundabout correctly for example and just a few days ago on this very board, a poster swore blind that the Rules allowed you to undertake on the left at high speed. That this is the case is simply down to the Theory Test. You see, you cannot "buy a car, go get a prov license....next day". You have to pass the Theory Test first. Now, I've seen posters here who argue that you simply have to 'learn off a few answers' to pass it, like they probably did for the actual driving test in the pre-Theory days. There are approx 800 questions from which they pick 40 at random. If someone can 'learn off' 800 answers and not understand the ROTR - well, I'd be surprised TBH. Sure, maybe some L-drivers drive a little on the slow side, but most licenced drivers could learn a thing or two from them about indication, lane discipline, right of way etc. Regarding emergency situations etc - I think that unless there is a MAJOR overhaul of the education system, the only way people will pick this stuff up is through daily driving experience (fair play to you for your skidding practice - most people do not have this option though).

Regarding statistics for accidents - to the best of my knowledge, the records that are there show that L-drivers constitute a LOWER percentage of drivers in fatal accidents than their percentage of overall drivers, i.e. an L-driver is less likely to be involved in a fatal crash than a full driver. Where controversy arises though is that the Gardai don't always record the licence 'status' at an accident and the L-haters naturally assume that everyone of these is a learner driver. This is my recollection of some posts here some time ago, so no link I'm afraid.

Big Nelly

Padraig Mor wrote:

You have to pass the Theory Test first. Now, I've seen posters here who argue that you simply have to 'learn off a few answers' to pass it, like they probably did for the actual driving test in the pre-Theory days. There are approx 800 questions from which they pick 40 at random. If someone can 'learn off' 800 answers and not understand the ROTR - well, I'd be surprised TBH.

Have to stop you there, the theory test is a joke, anyone with a brain can pass it. My brother who had hardly ever driven, had a brief glance at the rules of the road book before the test went in and got 40 out of 40. They are mostly stupid questions that anyone with any cop on can pick the correct answer. Its a joke to be honest.

Not saying that every Learner driver is at fault and yes I have seen plenty of full license drivers who are brutal but again my point if you are on first prov and no license driver with you then you should get a 2 year ban

dts

Its not learners that are hated its the people who are driving round with no intention of trying to pass the test with no fully licensed person in the passenger seat to guide them.
If I wanted to fly a plane I would have to get a license and go up with an instructor, the same should be for cars. How can you justify letting someone just get in a car and drive on the same road as the rest of us with no experience?

Big Nelly

dts wrote:

Its not learners that are hated its the people who are driving round with no intention of trying to pass the test with no fully licensed person in the passenger seat to guide them.
If I wanted to fly a plane I would have to get a license and go up with an instructor, the same should be for cars. How can you justify letting someone just get in a car and drive on the same road as the rest of us with no experience?

Thats my point man:D

Padraig Mor

Big Nelly wrote:

Have to stop you there, the theory test is a joke, anyone with a brain can pass it. My brother who had hardly ever driven, had a brief glance at the rules of the road book before the test went in and got 40 out of 40. They are mostly stupid questions that anyone with any cop on can pick the correct answer. Its a joke to be honest.

Not saying that every Learner driver is at fault and yes I have seen plenty of full license drivers who are brutal but again my point if you are on first prov and no license driver with you then you should get a 2 year ban

.....and anyone with a brain should be able to understand the ROTR. Granted there are easy questions in the Theory Test (although not as many as you probably think), but most driving situations are pretty uncomplicated as well - right hand lane for overtaking, indicate left before leaving roundabout etc but day in, day out I see full drivers (and some L-drivers too, naturally) unable to understand these most basic of rules. As I said, there are about 800 questions on the Test, presumably covering pretty much every aspect of the ROTR. As I said in my earlier post, my daily experience leads me to believe that L-drivers have a better understanding of the ROTR than full drivers. This is either down to the Theory Test or full drivers simply forget what they have learnt after they pass their driving test proper. I also agree that 1st prov. drivers should not be alone (as it is currently against the law) and should be 'punished' for infringing this - although a 2 yr ban is probably a bit severe! Re your brother having 'hardly ever driven' prior to his Theory Test - surely he should never have driven?

dts: forgot to add in my original post that many of my points do not apply to 'perpetual' L-drivers, although why anyone would not want to pass their test is beyond me TBH.

Oh and no, I'm not an L-driver!

kluivert

Big Nelly wrote:

In Dublin now but grew up on roads called "the bog road" etc, each side was a 10ft drop into a ...guess.....bog and the road was just about the width of the car. If you did make a mistake there it was bye bye Big Nelly:p

Hey Big Nelly

So you know the road am on about. The one on the Carrick - Dundalk road. The council re tarmac the surface, its now smooth no pot holes but its a roller coaster ride - up and down and up and down. The drop is now about 15ft a lorry got it left wheels on the verge and landed in the bog. Upsidedown.

Never seen a lorry upsidedown before. I must take a picture of this road so people will understand my point about building safer roads. No crap people the drop is a good 10-15 ft. If you come slight off the tarmac your straight down, theres no hope of getting the car back on course.

And I understand your point. When I got my provisional license I took 20 lessons before getting into my car. Part of the Insurance agreement with AXA at the time. It was too many lessons but better educated about the driving techniques than just getting in the car and driving.

jamieh

Hey all,

OP here.

We're starting to get into the fun part, insurance etc etc.

We've let the insurance know about the accident. We rang the dealer we bought the car from, it was only bought in Janurary so it's about 2 months old.

The salesman wanted to know that if the cost of repair was equal to half the value of the car is it the equvilent of a write off. ie. If it cost €12,000 to repair a car worth €24,0000 do you automatically have to get a new car? He couldn't remember what the insurance companies called it.

Does anyone know what it would be called??

Boggle

Regarding statistics for accidents - to the best of my knowledge, the records that are there show that L-drivers constitute a LOWER percentage of drivers in fatal accidents than their percentage of overall drivers, i.e. an L-driver is less likely to be involved in a fatal crash than a full driver. Where controversy arises though is that the Gardai don't always record the licence 'status' at an accident and the L-haters naturally assume that everyone of these is a learner driver. This is my recollection of some posts here some time ago, so no link I'm afraid.

Cheers Padriag! Do those stats show a per capita figure or is it just fewer crashes involved L plates than non l-plates?? Does anyone know a link to any of this info??

Big Nelly

Padraig Mor wrote:

Re your brother having 'hardly ever driven' prior to his Theory Test - surely he should never have driven?

Just to clear this up, he didnt, had no license so no insurance etc so couldnt drive. I dropped him off and then picked him up, when he got license my mum then put him on her insurance and I brought him out for lessons......he never drives without a full license drivre because he is on his second provisonal which as far as I know he is not legal when only on second but could be wrong. Thats the way you are supposed to do it. I am talking about the people that dont bother with lessons and just hop in car and off they go, or they get 2-3 lessons so they learn basically how to start/stop the car and off with them

redman

jamieh wrote:

I had a car crash lastnight.

Has anyone here had a crash and how did they feel after it??

Well sorry to hear that Jamieh, you'll get over the emotions in time.

ALL of us we learners/newly licenced drivers at some time and it's good you've escaped unhurt (except perhaps your pride and some cashflow)

There is nothing like this experience to mature your skills.

We are all human and subject to accidents whether we have been driving for 1 month or 50 years.

Just move on with it...

jamieh

Cheers redman......

Does anyone here have a good knowledge of motor insurance?? I have a question thats posted 3-4 posts up

Padraig Mor

Boggle wrote:

Cheers Padriag! Do those stats show a per capita figure or is it just fewer crashes involved L plates than non l-plates?? Does anyone know a link to any of this info??

Again, this is what I remember from posts here maybe 1.5 - 2 years ago so no link. I would imagine the details are in a Garda report .....somewhere. From what I recall the stats showed that say, 10% of fatal accident drivers were L-drivers, but L-drivers comprise 20% of all drivers on the road - these figures are off the top of my head but you get the picture.

Padraig Mor

Big Nelly wrote:

Just to clear this up, he didnt, had no license so no insurance etc so couldnt drive. I dropped him off and then picked him up, when he got license my mum then put him on her insurance and I brought him out for lessons......he never drives without a full license drivre because he is on his second provisonal which as far as I know he is not legal when only on second but could be wrong. Thats the way you are supposed to do it. I am talking about the people that dont bother with lessons and just hop in car and off they go, or they get 2-3 lessons so they learn basically how to start/stop the car and off with them

He can drive on his own on 2nd prov., but not 1st or 3rd......or 4th, 5th etc! Personally, I didn't really use my first provo so got ~10 lessons in last few months of it. Drove on my own on second but never on my first.

gbh

The call to ban learner drivers or L plate drivers is just a silly knee jerk reaction designed to penalise a section of society who bear no responsibility for most crashes on our roads. It's the equivalent of blaiming the Jews for the Reichstag fire or saying all foreigners can't be trusted.

How many wrecks that you see on the news as a result of a fatal crash have L plates on them? I've seen quite a few such wrecks and I can honestly say I have never seen a single L plate on any of them.

One of the reasons is that people are far more wary around cars with L plates on them. However they are not so wary around people without L plates.

L plate drivers are an easy target but the wrong target. It's people who are over confident and mostly with years of experience who are involved in or cause 99% of accidents.

padraigmyers

jamieh wrote:

Hey all,

OP here.

We're starting to get into the fun part, insurance etc etc.

We've let the insurance know about the accident. We rang the dealer we bought the car from, it was only bought in Janurary so it's about 2 months old.

The salesman wanted to know that if the cost of repair was equal to half the value of the car is it the equvilent of a write off. ie. If it cost €12,000 to repair a car worth €24,0000 do you automatically have to get a new car? He couldn't remember what the insurance companies called it.

Does anyone know what it would be called??

I have hear this described as a economic write off as opposed to a mechanical write off. For a mechanical write off the chassis of the car must be broken by a mechanic so that the car can never be repaired.

In an economic write off where the cost of repair is too high (not sure if this is half the value though), you will get compensated for the value of the car, you then have the option of buying back your wrecked car and repairing it yourself. If you don't buy it back the insurance company have crash repair places which take these damaged repairables off their hands at next to nothing. Usually the guy who comes to inspect the damage will put a value on your damaged car. This value is called a salvage value, and is the price that you can buy the car from the insurance company at.

Insurance companies often don't mention that you can buy your written-off car back from them, so if you intend doing this mention it to them.

shroomfox

alot started to drive on Cavan roads which are the worst in this country.

That's not true. Because of Cavan's bad reputation the roads have improved incredibly over the last year. Cavan has some of the best roads in the North of the country. I can't remember when I've last seen a pothole, and the roads have been widened significantly.

Cerdito

One thing I can't understand about "perpetual" L-drivers: How do they keep driving on provisional licences without taking a test?

I thought you had to take a test to be granted third and subsequent provisionals. Do they just apply for a test and then cancel?

Big Nelly

shroomfox wrote:

That's not true. Because of Cavan's bad reputation the roads have improved incredibly over the last year. Cavan has some of the best roads in the North of the country. I can't remember when I've last seen a pothole, and the roads have been widened significantly.

I said when I started to drive, about 10 years ago and believe me the roads where brutal then, as you said they have got alot better but it took the 10 years to get there

Tobias Greeshman

BigNelly wrote:

What??? so you cant tick the same box or some other prov driver? thats another bullsh*t excuse. I haven't a clue what she ticked to be honest but if she can get a test why can't someone else??

Well I think the reason most people don't click it is that you could be offered to do a test tomorrow or next week. The main point is that you are not guaranteed a set amount of notice, so people may not be able to get time off work also if you don't take it you could be waiting a serious longer amount of time to get offered a test again. I got my test in under 3 months this way and I was lucky enough to get a decent two weeks notice.

Boggle

How many wrecks that you see on the news as a result of a fatal crash have L plates on them? I've seen quite a few such wrecks and I can honestly say I have never seen a single L plate on any of them.

Alot of L-plate drivers have, in fact, no L-plates!! Lads put them up for a week and then take them down...


Interestingly - in the following tables do not classify drivers based on licence types so I wonder do the figures actually exist... (this is a few years old so again I'm not aware that they've changed it)

http://www.nra.ie/PublicationsResources/DownloadableDocumentation/RoadSafety/file,1405,en.PDF#search='percentage of fatal crashes have provisional licence'

padraigmyers

Aside from the surface of the roads, just the amount of bends on Irish roads is madness, and I would think a major factor in accidents.
I know there is noting that can be done about the bends, but a great idea I saw when over in New Zealand and Australia was these signs before you enter every bend giving the average speed the bend can be taken at (if that speed is less than the speed limit). It means that if you are driving a road you don't know, you always know how sharp the bend is before you enter it. As well as making the road safer it also saves time, because you are not unnecessarly breaking for what may be a very sharp bend but turns out to be a long sweeping one.
I don't know why something like that can't be implemented here.

Selik

padraigmyers wrote:

Aside from the surface of the roads, just the amount of bends on Irish roads is madness, and I would think a major factor in accidents.
I know there is noting that can be done about the bends, but a great idea I saw when over in New Zealand and Australia was these signs before you enter every bend giving the average speed the bend can be taken at (if that speed is less than the speed limit). It means that if you are driving a road you don't know, you always know how sharp the bend is before you enter it. As well as making the road safer it also saves time, because you are not unnecessarly breaking for what may be a very sharp bend but turns out to be a long sweeping one.
I don't know why something like that can't be implemented here.

A very good point.

I've just returned from those two countries. I did alot of driving in both (particularly NZ) and those corner speed indicators are great. NZ especially has alot of seriously bendy roads in places. Like you said even if you don't know the road (which I didn't alot of the time) you can drive at a normal and safe pace without having to worry about getting surprised by a hairpin bend or in the opposite case you'll have indicators at 85kph in which case you know it's only a curve in the road as opposed to a bend.

It definitely should be implemented here.

peasant

padraigmyers wrote:

Aside from the surface of the roads, just the amount of bends on Irish roads is madness, and I would think a major factor in accidents.
I know there is noting that can be done about the bends, but a great idea I saw when over in New Zealand and Australia was these signs before you enter every bend giving the average speed the bend can be taken at (if that speed is less than the speed limit). It means that if you are driving a road you don't know, you always know how sharp the bend is before you enter it. As well as making the road safer it also saves time, because you are not unnecessarly breaking for what may be a very sharp bend but turns out to be a long sweeping one.
I don't know why something like that can't be implemented here.

Sure, didn't Ireland do one better?

When they put up the new km/h speed limit signs the eejits had waaay too many of them and they made damn sure that EVERY SINGLE dangerous bend / junction got a brand spanking new 100 km/h sign.

So just as you are about to slow down because there is a dodgy stretch of road coming up, that bloody 100 km/h sign almost "forces" you to speed up again ...and if it's not the sign, then it's the idiot behind you, who is convinced that 100 means at least 100 ...whatever the circumstances.

Whoever oversaw the placement for these signs needs to be beaten around the head with every single one of them that was wrongly placed ...he'd get a royal beating !!

BrianD3

Going back to the original post - bad luck, sounds like it was quite a genuine accident and not caused by stupid driving. Still, you can always learn from these experiences. You probably feel ashamed about what you've done but don't beat yourself up too much about it. Judging by the thread you are comprehensively insured which is lucky. When I started driving I was driving brand new cars as a named driver but only had 3rd party insurance as that's all my parent's insurance company would cover me for.

I don't know what it's like to crash a car but a few years ago I did have a couple of close calls on icy roads while insured 3rd party. So I know the sensation of losing control of a car and getting the "OH F*CK!" feeling before managing to regain control and breathing a sigh of relief

jamieh

Thanks for the encouraging words BrianD3, yes the insurance is fully comp. I got behind the wheel on my Dads car today, felt kinda weird but the sooner I did it the better I guess!! The spot it happened is only a mile from my house so I pass it all the time, its horrible to see where it happened, seeing the skid marks etc. I know it sounds bad but its better having skid marks there instead of flowers and a cross. The whole shock of it has worn of by now. Just have to put the last 24\36 hours behind me and move on...tommorows another day I guess!!