Have you ever been involved in a motoring accident of some sort?

All Hail President Murphy

Sorry mods if this has been done or is not allowed for legal reasons and sorry if I offend anyone.

What type (if any) motoring accidents have you been involved in? Was is your fault?

I was waiting at a red light when a woman decided to drive straight across the road from the other side to join the queue at the lights rather than having to go to the end of the road and do a legitimate U-Turn at a designated spot :P She was too busy looking at the on-coming traffic from the other side to look ahead of her and crashed right into the side of me :P

B Post - crumpled
Driver door - destroyed
Rear door on driver side - panel beating needed :P

In fairness the poor girl was shaking with fear felt so sorry for her so I didn't call the guards and agreed to settle in cash and got the job done a few days after.

What are your stories?

ProudDUB

My car was hit three times in the space of 18 months, when it was parked and I wasn't in it. The first time, a work colleague saw it happen & gave me the other cars registration info. I was able to claim off their insurance when the boys in blue were called and the other driver was tracked down. The door on the passengers side was badly dented. It cost a fair bit of money to fix. I had to do a lot of running around to police stations to get police reports and insurance stuff and what not. My car was gone to be fixed for over a week and dealing with getting a rental was a total pain, but I wasn't out of pocket for any of it, which is the main thing I suppose.

The second and third time, the other driver left a note on my car about what happened and, we were able to settle privately to get it fixed. I got an estimate and, they wrote me a check. In both cases the damage wasn't that serious, just a dinged up bumper.

In all 3 cases, I was parked properly and safely and in a spot that I was perfectly entitled to park in. I can't quite decide if I have good car karma, or bad car karma, seeing as it happened to me three times in the space of 18 months, but I wasn't out of pocket for any of it, even though I wasn't there when any of the incidents happened.:rolleyes:

.red.

My dad came out of the chipper one night last year when an old lady came round the corner and clipped his back bumper. He jumped out in front of her and she apologised saying she would park up to see the damage as she had the road blocked. He turned his back for a second and she took off never to be seen again. He said she was about 80 and he didnt get the reg.
It was very funny in an unfunny kind of way. Thankfully the damage was minor.

toastedpickles

.red. wrote: »

My dad came out of the chipper one night last year when an old lady came round the corner and clipped his back bumper. He jumped out in front of her and she apologised saying she would park up to see the damage as she had the road blocked. He turned his back for a second and she took off never to be seen again. He said she was about 80 and he didnt get the reg.
It was very funny in an unfunny kind of way. Thankfully the damage was minor.

He could have walked after her so :pac:

goz83

A few actually.

*Firstly as a pedestrian when I was 15, a woman ran myself and my then girlfriend over. She wasn't looking where she was going on a straight road in a built up suburban area. She was looking in her rear view mirror at the taxi she had bumped into further up the road and tried to escape from. I don't have any memory of the collision, but I know she hit us at approx 40kph and my head smashed her windscreen. We both went over the front pillar and I ended up with a nasty head injury. My gf was very lucky, as I had taken the hit and shielded her. She was even kind enough to land on me when we hit the ground :P My gf was uninjured aside from a tiny cut on her ankle.
apparently the driver got out of the car and started screaming at my gf for being on the road. All the while, I was not consciously aware, but was struggling to get up. I reckon she had a difficult time with insurance after that one. The taxi driver was a good witness because he saw the whole thing and knew she was going to hit us because she was almost halfway over the white line.

*My next one was on a moped (Suzuki katana) and I had a lady friend on the back. I was going around a round about and slid on some loose gravel. Once again, the girl landed on me and had no more than a small graze on her hand. My right knee had a bit of a gash on it and I had some grazing on my arm. Lucky escape. I had a few other moped accidents, but nothing worth mentioning and no others involved.

*My first car accident was in my first week. Driving Opel Astra. I bumped into the back of a micra. Cost me €1000 as I damaged the micras light and bumper. My bumper was also damaged. I got lucky with the cost and it was a 5kph bump.

*Opel Astra again. I was pulling out of an industrial estate. There was a truck to my left and a car to the right. The car reversed a little to let me out and another car was pulling in. Woman on the phone, didn't see me and I reversed so she wouldn't crash into me, but another car had just pulled up behind me and I hit it :mad: costing me €2700 a week before xmas.

*Mitsubishi FTO. Stopped at lights at night time. Hand brake engaged. BAM!. Struck from behind and pushed forward by a couple of feet. Driver was on phone. Didn't see me.............or the other 10 cars in front of me...........and whacked into me. Car written off and I was left with whiplash. I bought another FTO, which has been hit a number of times while parked up. Happens every time I get it fixed.
*

Cleveland Hot Pocket

No word of a lie:
I was in an accident with a cyclist who got in my way. (he had a red light and was on the wrong side of the road, I had a green light)
Dodgy circumstances, went to court and all

jimgoose

Back in 2004 I think it was, I was trundling down the Eastbound approach slip-road to the Kinsale Road Roundabout in Cork. I was in a 1995 Mondeo at the time, which was around lunchtime. Those who know the area will know that there's an industrial area just to the left, with lots of things for idiots to look at. This very thing this idiot was doing, so in the built-up traffic at about two MPH I shunted into the back of a 2003 Alfa Romeo being driven by a very nice lady who absolutely did not deserve this sort of thickness at that hour of the day. We chatted, and agreed the thing to do was get her dented bumper repaired at her leisure, and send the invoice straight to me. That cost €200, and could have been a lot worse. :pac::pac::pac:

Fast-forward to 2006, and I've just bought a big shiny Jag. It's parked outside by the footpath one sunny evening, and the neighbour's young wan a few doors up, who's learning to drive, is reversing gingerly back towards it. I'm looking out, more and more aghast as she trundles gently into the front bumper. To paraphrase the great Victor Meldrew, I could not effing-well believe it! As it turns out in a little old Corsa held together mainly by dirt she might as well have backed into an M1A1 Abrams, and it didn't even disturb the Jag's front number plate. But that was a pretty fraught experience!

hidinginthebush

I've 2:

- Head-on collision in Waterford where I was the passenger. Driver in my car drove through a junction (on Galway hill, I believe) that had an obscured yield sign, and we took a range rover head on. Seat-belt impact to the chest that left me in a heap for a few weeks. Back seat passenger got whiplash. Car was written off. All in all we were very fucking lucky it wasn't worse!

- 3 years back on the icy winter I down shifted coming up to a junction and lost grip and sailed into a barrier on the side of the road. There was a very concerned pedestrian right behind the rail asking me if I was OK? My response was "Am I ok? You'd have been killed if not for the barrier!". Bent some rod connected to the wheel, safe and sound apart from that.

ButtersSuki

Skidded on wet leaves (it was generally dry, but there had just been a shower in the previous half an hour or so) doing less than 40mph and lost control to the point where I crossed the road and smacked head-on into another car (this was a fairly narrow country road btw). Thankfully, not a scratch on either driver. Both cars written off completely which scared the beejazsus out of me from a driving perspective since. As a result of that accident I never, ever speed. Seeing that level of damage on 2 cars travelling at a fairly slow pace will have that effect on you!

Saw a guy total a Porsche right beside me once, which was amusing in a weird way (again, no-one hurt). I've posted the story on here previously if anyone wants to look for it but can't be ar$ed re-typing the whole thing.

bbam

2009 I got hit by a large fully loaded Transit. Lad came out of an industrial estate and never stopped at the main road.
Hit the passenger front corner and came right up across bonnet to base of windscreen. I really thought he was going to come in on top of me. Pushed me over the road into footpath which thankfully was clear.
Both my passat an his van were totalled with his engine sitting out on the road.

He was fine but I'm bent since. Permanent neck/ shoulder and back injury

lollsangel

When I first started driving and was getting a bit cocky with meself. Went to take a junction a bit too fast, skidded on ice and slammed the car into a wall. Damaged the rad, front bumper, bonnet, all the front light, part of the front wings (thank god for scrapyards and the fact the car didnt have airbags) learnt to slow down and not to be so cocky

RangeR

I've had two.

My second was the most serious. I was stationary on a 100Kph straight stretch, just past a hump in the road and out of view from behind traffic. Was rear ended by car going pretty much full speed as they couldn't see me until it was too late. Luckily I was in a Transit Connect but still thrown 30 to 40 meters ahead, and into oncoming traffic lane [two lane busy ish rural national road], with breaks on full [I noticed the car behind about half a second before it hit]. Luckily on coming traffic had passed literally seconds earlier or I wouldn't be here.

All walked away. Bump on head and sore neck was my worst injury. My passenger had to be cut out as they were in and out of consciousness. None of my airbags deployed.

Rear ender walked away after about 5 minutes as they took the full force of the blow. Both of their airbags deployed or it would have been a whole different outcome. Both vehicles were written off, I believe.

Had 999 rang within 45 seconds of the crash and looked after all parties although my passenger, by far, was most at risk. Two ambulances, two fire trucks and a garda car arrived and cordoned off the road. I was breathalysed and came clean [I don'pt drink and drive]

It was a surreal experience that put me off the road and out of work for 2 weeks. I'm still overly cautious driving now, 5 months later.

renofan

My now wife - was my gf at the time - rolled her car with me in it about 6 or 7 years ago. Thankfully we both escaped any serious injuries.

Witnessed a crash 3 or 4 years ago in which the driver was killed. Can't remember what he looked like but will always remember his name.

ba_barabus

Yep. I rear ended a girl in a KA. No arguments from me and I just settled through the insurance. I think her sister had problems with being hit by an uninsured driver shortly before so I just made it as quick and painless as I could.

I nearly had a bad one in my new car yesterday however after a Dominos Pizza car ran the red lights under the Dundrum bridge and narrowly avoided T-Boning me.

ba_barabus

renofan wrote: »

Witnessed a crash 3 or 4 years ago in which the driver was killed. Can't remember what he looked like but will always remember his name.

Came across a bad one as it happened outside Roscrea a few years back in which an Indian family was almost wiped out by an overtaking driver who poorly judged what he was doing. Multiple fatalities and not pleasant at all. I'd prefer to never see one again.

jimmii

When I was a kid we were driving to a hotel in Kenya then pow the wheel blew out and we did a full roll and skidded along the road on the roof I remember opening my eyes as we were sliding and it was just dust everywhere! When we stopped I was able to squeeze out a window and my mum said to turn off the ignition but being 13/14 and having grown up watching Hollywood movies I thought if I turn the key the wrong way the thing would blow up as there was oil/petrol/something smelly dripping around the engine. Luckily a couple in a land rover came along soon after and was able to pick a couple of the others up and take them to hospital. Despite the back seat not having any seat belts the only injury was a broken hip which seems a bit of a miracle! A couple of days later we went to the garage to see the how bad the car was and couldn't believe it when we saw the same land rover that had picked us up with the drivers side roof completely smashed in they had rolled in the exact same spot the next day luckily there was no one in the drivers seat as I doubt they would have got away so lucky as they didn't have a roll cage like we did. Not surprisingly the spot is now marked as an accident black spot.

TwoShedsJackson

Rear-ended at the lights outside the fire station on Belgard Road when we had the temerity to stop while they were flashing, to let a fire engine out. Some young fella went into the back of us. Out gets his girlfriend, complaining about neck pain etc., only for this to miraculously vanish when the Guards arrived and told him he was at fault for hitting us from behind :rolleyes:

Some scrote in a stolen Micra went into the back of us outside the Church on Clogher Road. No actual damage done due to low speed. He legged it when I got out of the car for a chat.

Woman took the front bumper half off whilst breaking a red light at the junction of Long Mile Road and Walkinstown Road. Begged me not to call Guards as she was 'driving on her own on a learner's permit'. Called them anyway. Couldn't prove we had a green light so that was 50/50.

Not an accident but some other scrote robbed our fu<king number plates on Sunday.

blastman

I've only had one serious incident, driving to work one morning about ten years on a back road I knew well, I took a bend in the road at a speed that under normal circumstances wouldn't have been a problem. However, this morning there was a coating of slick mud on the road (which, hands up, I really should have accounted for). I went round the first part of the bend, felt the car twitch slightly and then all grip disappeared. Instead of taking the second part of the bend, I went across the road and hit the ditch side-on which caused the car to flip and roll into the ditch where it landed back on its wheels in the field on the other side. I got out with just a sore finger for my trouble, the car was written off and to this day I'm grateful that I didn't take anyone else with me, and that there was nothing more solid than a hedge in the part of the ditch I hit.

I've had a couple of rear-enders (where I've hit someone else) at very low speed (<10km/h) which I mention only to allow me to call one of the people I hit scum again for making a personal injury claim to the tune of almost seven grand when there was nothing wrong with the little turd!

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Copied from my earlier post in AH:

This railway bridge over a road near my house, you have to inch around it because it's on a blind bend, and only wide enough for 1.5 cars, so you've to check for oncoming traffic before proceeding.

Bit easier at night because you'll see the headlights.

Didn't take me long to cop that if I knocked off my headlights as I approached, then I wouldn't even have to slow down, as I'd know straight away if there was oncoming cars. My dad was in the passenger seat one night, and he was horrified, said how dangerous it was, and not to do it.

Being young and thinking I was a great fella I kept it up. Then one night, came through it, screech of breaks, skid, BAM.. fender bender. Hopped out, hoping I didn't injure anyone, other driver got out. Both of us stared at each other.

There was my feckin dad, with HIS headlights off too.

Ardennes1944

Yes.

dgt

Rolled on roof at high speed

Ran off road by a combine

Idiot reversed into me in a car park

A fella crashed into my door as I was opening it

I think thats it....

Greenmachine

I was a passenger in a workmate car. He was giving me a lift on the n4. An artic lorry was drifting in his lane quite a bit. We ended up getting side swiped on the outside lane.

A Lovely(read crazy) Spanish lady crashed into at a set of traffic lights from behind. Minor damage to mine but her car was pretty smashed up. She was blabbing on the phone when she hit me.

mel.b

Yep. I was travelling home after a day scuba diving (when I lived in Oz), along a straight stretch of road, at the speed limit of 100km. There are a couple of cross roads on this stretch of road and sure enough, someone coming from my right failed to stop at their stop sign and I T-boned them at 100km/hr. They were towing a trailer which whipped around and also hit the car. I could see what was about to happen but only had a second or two to react and I remember tucking my legs up, as my car, a Honda Jazz only has a small bonnet and I thought my legs would get stuck! However as I discovered the car has great safety features and inbuilt crumple zones so even after the accident I could stretch my legs out
The car unsurprising was a write - off, however I didn't sustain any injuries thankfully. I still flinch though when I see cars coming at me from the side and I think they're not going to stop.

Boskowski

Twice.
The one time I was running down an inner city street laid out as a dual carriage way in my Renault 4 van at about 60ish (km/h) approaching a small junction without signals. At the junction a Mercedes E class was waiting to turn onto our street. There was a whole bunch of cars approaching together with me as we had just been coming off the previous junction where we were all stopped waiting for the green light, me in the front row. So there he sits stopped in broad daylight looking at all these cars he has to wait for and I could swear we had eye contact and all but just when we came close he shot out onto the road. Must have been a brain fart or a slipped foot or something, was an older guy, we will never know, but I had no time to react at all and went straight into his side no chance for braking. I wasn't wearing a seatbelt and I was right up against the windscreen but nothing happened except a little excitement. The guy just held up his hand and said sorry and couldn't offer any explanation. The R4 was shot though.

The second time I don't like talking about, but here goes anyway. I was totally pissed out of my brains at 5 in the morning and in my drunken stupor too lazy to come back for the car the next day. So I drove and I ran into about half a dozen parked cars on an icy bridge. Could have easily happened while sober but thats immaterial, I wasn't and it wasn't just a tiny bit over the limit. Nasty business and my only excuse is I was young and stupid. I paid the price - 10 months without license and a hefty fine - and considered myself lucky that no one was hurt. Never ever drunk and drove again.

Alanstrainor

I crashed into a wall. Destroyed a wheel and quarter panel. Wasn't so bad.

Autosport

Had a guy rear end my then new car as I only had it a month as I was stopped at a pedestrian crossing thankfully didn't hit the pedestrian, the driver tried to blame me but the Gardai advised him otherwise.

D_turbo

Slid on black ice into the rear of some one.
Kinked there boot floor and damaged my bumper bonnet and Rad.

Was knocked down when i was 16 i think it was.
Snapped my humerus Bone, Had a few blood cloths, Back of one of my calfs has a lot of dead muscle, Few minor scars

No real lasting damage, So alls good

Killinator

A couple,

In my first car, a 98 Polo, I was driving on a typical country road,
At one point is what's best described as a chicane with high ditches(high because there is a wall behind on one side), one which is at this stage is notorious for people straight-lining through it despite the fact that it has a blind spot on either side as you enter meaning if you do straight-line it you won't see the car till it's too late.
Anyway I was driving to work, my dad as a passenger as I was on a provisional, came into the chicane and normal pace sticking to my side when another car came flying around at least half way across my side of the road.
There's no hard shoulder so I had to dive towards the soft margin(about a foot of buffer between the high ditches/wall) and dived on the brakes while waiting for the impact.
The other driver managed to take my mirror clean off but that was it.
The irony being she had almost caused a serious accident as she was on her way to a funeral!
I'm fairly sure had I been driving anything bigger I would have come out much worse.

I had a bigger accident in my next car, a 00 Polo,
I was driving along normally towards a blind bend(again with high ditches) and unbeknownst to me, only several meters around the corner a Mondeo had been forced to a stop by a pig headed farmer pulling straight onto the road infront of him,
I came around the corner and knew what was gonna happen, it was just a case of slowing as much as I could before hitting, so again I dived on the brakes and I'd say it was about 15 or 10kmph that I hit the rear of the Mondeo.
The driver of the Mondeo jumped out shouting, 'what the hell we're you doing, there's a child in the car!'
Initially I thought he was yelling at me but he was actually screaming at the tractor driver who just said, 'f*ck off, he's (me) the one who hit you!' and drove off.
We pulled up to assess the damage, he had a damaged rear bumper and slight damage to one light, I had a dented front bumper and a damaged front light.
He took my insurance but said he'd get a price of repair and see whether I wanted to go via insurance or not.
Sent me the bill for a few 100 euro which I gladly paid and that was that.
My brother one day when the road was quite came around the bend and tried, but said he couldn't hit the braking point I had,(my tyre marks were still there) even though he was ready to brake coming around the bend:)

tayto lover

Was a passenger in a car accident where my two good friends died.
Not an experience I would want again.
Often wonder why I was spared.

Boskowski

tayto lover wrote: »

Was a passenger in a car accident where my two good friends died.
Not an experience I would want again.
Often wonder why I was spared.

Sh1t. Sorry to hear that.

vandriver

5 car pile up in Newbridge,I was car 4.Reversed into a police motorbike and broke his indicator.Sideswiped by a 30 ton gravel truck,writing off my van.Lady reversed into my passenger door,whilst drinking out of a bottle of vodka(!)

knipex

Back when I was young and stupid I had a blow out when going too fast and rolled a mk2 escorts over a wall. walked away with a graze on my knuckle but car was totalled.

About 3 months after passing my test was overtaking 2 cars when the one in front swerved across the road in front of me to read a sign (house for sale). Hit him hard, put my head through the windscreen (like an idiot no belt). Was driving an Opel Ascona, he was driving a new Corolla. Both cars written off. I had a pretty bad concussion, grazes on my forehead and banged up knees from bending the steering wheel.. He had whiplash. To this day I have no memory of the accident just know what I was told. He was done for dangerous driving..

Got rear ended at a roundabout by an old Rolls once.. Dented my rear bumper but destroyed his front grill. (not a very good rolls).

Got T-boned at a junction by a guy who rolled through a red light..

Parked a car in a car park of a pub going in to pick up my brother. Some guy pissed out of his brain reversed straight into the car parked beside me and drove it up on top of me.. did 600 punts worth of damage..

Was driving up a quiet country lane just outside Limerick at night. Suddenly spotted 2 pairs of legs sticking out on the road from the ditch. Swerved to avoid them and went up on the other wall. Ripped off a brake line but was almost worth it to see the look on the faces of the two young ones. Him with his trousers around his ankles and she with her skirt pulled up over her waist. Even funnier when he got up to run away forgetting his trousers were around his ankles and landed face first in the road.. He did pay for the repairs..

Back a few years ago during the first of the very bad winters lost traction and skidded into a loveley steel bolster which as designed snapped off an inch over the ground. Unfortunately as the kerb was high it was still high enough to rip the air con rad, the oil cooler rad and the main rad.. plus it lifted the bumper enough to snap the head light tabs and split the bumper.. It was a new Insignia (one of the first sold) and cost over 3k to repair.. was only crawling along in second gear so under 10mph impact.. really passed me off..

kirving

Rear-ended twice as a passenger. First when I was about 12 and my Mam's escort was hit by a Vectra as we were stopped in traffic just over the brow of a hill. Don't remember being hurt.

Second time was a few months ago. In my friends '98 Mazda 323 on the Lough Atalia road in Galway. Just about to turn right, waiting for traffic to clear and a young lad in a Focus smacks into th back of us, pushing us into the other lane. Lucky for me as a passenger the oncoming traffic had passed. Both of his airbags went off, and only bollard prevented the Focus from going in the water. Had quite bad whiplash for a week or so, and still feel sore the odd time. Although I know plenty of people who've been in worse crashes, Volvo's marketing worked on me after that!

Lurching

jimmii wrote: »

A couple of days later we went to the garage to see the how bad the car was and couldn't believe it when we saw the same land rover that had picked us up with the drivers side roof completely smashed in they had rolled in the exact same spot the next day luckily there was no one in the drivers seat as I doubt they would have got away so lucky as they didn't have a roll cage like we did.

How did it roll if there was no one in the drivers seat?

renofan

ba_barabus wrote: »

Came across a bad one as it happened outside Roscrea a few years back in which an Indian family was almost wiped out by an overtaking driver who poorly judged what he was doing. Multiple fatalities and not pleasant at all. I'd prefer to never see one again.

The accident I witnessed was only a mile or so up the road from that. I grew up in Roscrea and that road had a lot of accidents, too many fatal.

piston

Was the front seat passenger beside my Mum in a Mk4 Cortina when I was about 6 on a narrow country road when a drunk guy in another Cortina came around the corner far too wide and hit us basically head on. Speeds involved weren't very high really. Pre child seat era so head butted the dashboard but nothing apart from bruises.

Overcooked a corner in an Escort van when I was about 20, ended up half through a hawthorn hedge but didn't do too much harm. Was very lucky as I missed a huge ash tree by a matter of a few feet.

Sitting at a red traffic light about 6 years ago in my beloved 205, got rear ended by an Astra who claimed he didn't see me.

martingriff

Got knocked down crossing a pedestrian crossing a few years. Got thrown off my wheelchair a few yards luckly nothing broken but very bad tissue bruising

murphym7

1) Ran my Moped into the back of a Securicor van, I lost.
2) Narrow road, my right of way, other car kept coming. We both stopped, I moved first and was told it was my fault??
3) Car rear ended me at around 40mph, pushed me into several other cars, had to climb out window to get out. Nasty enough one.


No others, thank god. It can be stressful time during and after.

biko

Intersection in Germany, me passenger in an old 80s Volvo. Green light for us and oncoming.
Driver goes into junction out to turn after oncoming traffic has stopped.
Suddenly we are jolted, the Lada behind has rear-ended us.

A tiny scratch on the Volvo rear bumper, Lada was a write off. We spoke to owner and he admitted it was his fault. We drove off leaving him with a Lada with a wrecked front and water pouring out of the radiator.

bear1

Most serious accident was on my 18th birthday.
I had at the time a Fiat Tempra which only had 3 gears. 1st, 2nd and 5th.
We decided to go drinking/camping at the top of a pretty high hill where there is a windfarm and we could space out underneath them.
The road was extremely tight to get there and just barely enough room for one car to drive on it.
I remember flooring it in 1st and 2nd just not to let it die when popping it into 5th.
Going around a very small bend at 40mph the back tire caught the wet verge and began fishtailing.
I was a very bad driver at the time, feck all experience, in other words a moronic teenager.
Tried correcting the fishtail which only ended up making things worse and the car swung left, smacked into a wall and the car flipped over twice and landed back on it's wheels hanging over a stone which a river just below.
I will always remember the look on my friends faces as I looked in the rear view mirrow when the car went over. Scary stuff.
We all had our belts on which is what definetely saved us.

Ginny

In 2001 had someone drive into my front passenger side in Maynooth Village, I had right of way, he said he just didn't see me. Demolished the front of my car, a 91 Suzuki swift. I got a quote and he paid privately and we sorted it, I didn't know at the time but I had hit my head off the windscreen. At the time I thought nothing of it, but I had a greenstick fracture in my neck that should have been checked over, after a game of football a few months later I snapped the bone completely. So stable fracture in my neck, but it's never going to heal, caused some about of muscular pain and it will eventually freeze up with arthritis, moral of the story, always get checked over!
I was a rep for a few years, with a shiny new Passat, stupidly on my bluetooth pulling into the drive one day and swung too sharp and took the rear driver side door out. Same car, stuck in traffic on M50 during the big roadworks, had the handbrake on and was rear ended. A woman 2 cars back had just missed the huge lane of traffic and ploughed into the Jag behind me. That in turn hit me and the Jag was in bits, I drove away no bother, except for the Jags number plate being embossed backwards on my rear bumper. No hassle with insurance, turns out there was a rake load of damage to the Passat when it was checked over.

ba_barabus

renofan wrote: »

The accident I witnessed was only a mile or so up the road from that. I grew up in Roscrea and that road had a lot of accidents, too many fatal.

A lovely, long, wide, well surfaced and very misleading stretch of road. It's claimed many lives.

HiGlo

I have had bumps and scrapes a single car incident and a VERY near miss.

My first was a small fender bender when I wasn’t long driving. I was rear ended by a girl as we were merging on N81. I had moved a little forward and realized I wouldn’t make it in time. She was looking right at oncoming traffic so missed the fact that I hadn’t pulled out and hit the back of me. Low impact and we both walked away with nothing further said or done.
Second was as I was driving through town one night (again in my earlyish days of driving). I was stopped in traffic at Trinity College there (just at back of Westin) and some dick in a Jag came up the inside of me (in the bus stop/lane) and was planning to undercut me. In my attempt to prevent him I came off the clutch too quickly and jumped forward into the Lexus taxi in front of me. The taxi man was soooo good. He said that we’d keep it out of insurance as me being a provisional driver it would crucify me. He said he had a mate who would look after re-spraying the bumper. He got a price and charged me €300 and told me I could pay him when I had it. He was very good about it all. Coincidentally I was in a taxi home one night with friends and the driver mentioned that he recognized me. Through conversation we realized it was him, the guy I’d hit! He was now driving a Jag!! Hahaha

I had a scary near miss on the M50 at the time it was being redeveloped. They’d added the new concrete meridians but it was still 2 lanes and 60kph speed limit with heavy rush hour traffic. I was in the outside lane doing almost 70kph with the flow of the traffic. I noticed a car about 2 in front of me pulling in to the right and I was thinking he must be crazy trying to pull in there on this road but as quick as I thought this I realized what was happening. He had pulled right to avoid hitting the car in front as we’d started braking. I immediately hit the brakes (I’m pretty good with keeping decent braking distance) and instinctively looked in my rearview mirror to see what was behind me. To my horror a FedEx van was headed straight for me at about 70Km! I genuinely thought this was it. I was about to be pulverized. He def didn’t have enough breaking distance. Pure luck we were at a patch of the M50 that had that bit of space to the right to pull in and he did the same as the car I’d see in front of me and pulled right. Once he’d stopped I looked over my right shoulder out the driver’s window and could see the driver just beside me. That was so scary. I had a little panic attack and my legs were shaking like jelly but I had to keep driving. Luckily I was coming off at the next exit so didn’t have far to travel.

Then, as I’ve posted about recently, I was coming off the M50 at the red cow just 3 weeks ago and my car went out of control in some oil that was on the road. Spun 360 and hit the kerb and crash barrier (or whatever it is). I was (again) very lucky that there was nothing coming behind me or they would most certainly have hit me… The front wheels were destroyed. I didn’t think there was much damage, but actually there was over €3k worth and the insurance company chose to write off the vehicle. Just did the transaction with the scrappage company today…. Very sad to see that car go.

Am car shopping at the moment.

vwhead

had a bad one about 4 years ago when i was 15 , passenger in a mates car (00 citreon xciantia d turbo with the hydraulic suspension that was so stiff it would bounce on pebbles) on a hot summers day driving around the county when we came to a road that we knew was straight but a small bit bumpy so we decided it would be a bright idea to see how fast we could get it!

eventually reached 130mph ( surprised it would get that speed) we then hit a really bad dip and as we were going into the dip the front tyre blew but we got airborn straight away due to the speed we lifted about a foot off the ground and as soon as we touched down the car shot off to the right (still doing 130mph) my mate instantly tried to pull it back straight but the back wheel caught the gravel on the side of the road and started fish tailing.

we fish tailed for a good 100metres fighting it to try and keep it out of the ditches (full of trees) and then realised that there was a car coming towards us further down the road so my mate decided to let it go and hope for the best we ended up going into the left handside ditch sideways on my side doing between 60 and 80 mph and just centimetres before the crash barreir began.

we slide along the ditch for another 20m leveling the guts of about 10 smallish trees (behind the crash barrier) when we stopped we were in complete shock as to what happend as it happend so fast (altho it felt like forever) i tried to open my door but was jammed shut so tried to burst the passenger window to get out as there was smoke coming from the car ended up having to crawl between the seats and get out the back passenger side door to hop over the crash barrier and run down the road a little away from the car

after checking ourselves over the car coming up the road had stopped beside us to see where we ok he then went to drive up the road only to drive across bits of our engine that was sitting on the road.

went out the next day with the oul pair to have a look as i still couldnt get my head around it how i was still here turns out the damage was all on my side and there was a tree trunk that burst true the floor write were my feet were and the door was pushed in on my side about a half a foot but the front on the car was nearly non exhisting. turns out it was the exact same bad dip in the road that a young girl was killed when the jeep her father was test driving lost control and rolled it a few times a couple of months before.

walked away from it without a scratch and a whole lot wiser about speeding and a better value on life (althought still love cars). the funny thing is after looking at the car i hopped my kneecap off the barrier trying to cross back over to get into the car to head home and was in agony for days :P

Foxhole Norman

I T-boned a Suzuki Jimny at a roundabout at around 11pm on a horrible November night in 2011 when I was a learner. Wrote off the Jimny but our 2011 Clio only had some plastic panels to replace and a headlight. I didn't see him coming at all and I'm pretty sure he only had his parking lights on. The driver of the Jimny, and older man was fine but a bit shaken, he was very nice about the whole thing. I too was pretty shook up about it as I did quite a number on the passenger side but luckily he had no passenger.