Have you ever been in a serious car crash?

[Anonymous]

Yes.

1. I was 21. Driving a country road. Bunny rabbit shot across it just as I was approaching a curve. I swerved and just at that time a car came around the curve. We hit each other at about 45 MPH. Heads on collision. Both cars completely totaled. We both walked away with nothing more than soreness. If it hadn't been for airbags I'd have died. I can still remember the moment of impact, 20 years later.

2. In the back seat of a taxi in Doha, Qatar, when I was working there a few years ago. Had settled in the back seat with my Starbucks coffee and was reading emails and looked up just in time to see the taxi smash head on into a car in front of us that had suddenly stopped. Taxi was totaled. We all walked away. Sore fore weeks. Came down with a flu a few days later, which I'm sure I got from the hospital visit after the accident.

I recovered from the first accident well enough but ever since accident 2 I've had anxiety when driving. I have it largely under control but it's tense for me to be on the beltway in rush hour so I avoid it as much as possible. I have to sing to myself to keep myself in control. I'm still working on defeating that anxiety. I have no issues driving on local roads or pretty much anywhere under 50 MPH.

[Anonymous]

I was 11 or 12 and traveling with my family with an ‘88 suburban towing a 30 foot RV. It was a long trip and I was in the way back laying down on the bench seat so had taken my seatbelt off. My mom suddenly screams seat belts so I sit up and scramble to buckle up and the trailer jack-knifed and crashed into the window next to me. We were on a highway in western Virginia and ended up crossing the grassy median and doing a 180 so we somehow faced the right direction. We all walked away, but I have literally never not worn a seatbelt since then. I can’t even not wear it sitting in the car.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Totaled my SUV 6 months ago. I hate driving long distances and really avoid it usually especially with kids in the car. This time was on a 4 hour drive, kids were arguing in the back seat even though I had just stopped at a gas station and attended to their needs. Was pissed and tired of driving. Turned back to look at what the heck was going on in backseat and give them the Mom look to knock it off when the car in front of me stopped and by the time I turned back around I slammed into them so hard. Whole front of the suv was just gone. Airbags deployed. Kids were fine thank god. My chest had bruising from the seat belt and my right knee hurt. Some neck and back pain for a month but overall we all walked away from it. I still get flashes of the seconds before impact, feel guilt as if what if my kids were hurt and financially our car insurance rates are so high now. But we are all alive and without any lasting disability

[Anonymous]

I was in a rollover in a VW bug in the mid 70s. No seatbelt. I was passenger. Walked away. I was in a rollover in a Chevy sedan landed upside down in a creek. No seatbelt. Walked away. Passenger. Was broadsided making a legal turn by someone going through light at high speed. Spun car around hitting another car. Walked away. I suppose that’s three lives.

[Anonymous]

I was hit head on by a drunk driver flying over an island median. Paramedics arrived assuming they were going to process a fatality accident and were shocked I was able to get out of my car. Thought I would get away with just a month of whiplash but found out I had a major concussion due to force of impact. Took months of cognitive and visual therapy before getting back to normal.

[Anonymous]

It happened at an intersection well known for big car crashes with fatalities. I didn't know about it, not familiar with area. The stop sign was situated in such a way that people didn't notice it. I didn't notice it, and drove into the intersection. A truck was driving on the intersecting road at ~55mph and we crashed. By the grace of God I walked away, and the guy walked away. My doggie was thrown around in the back of the suv, but he was okay as well. Today, more than a decade later, I drive past that intersection once in a while, and shiver. They removed the stop sign and placed a traffic light there. It was the right move. I can still see the look of horror on the face of the truck driver in the moment before the crash.

[Anonymous]

well, I was hit by a car crossing the road. I blacked out. Broken bones, concussion. Yes, I recovered, but I think I have some after effects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Totaled my SUV 6 months ago. I hate driving long distances and really avoid it usually especially with kids in the car. This time was on a 4 hour drive, kids were arguing in the back seat even though I had just stopped at a gas station and attended to their needs. Was pissed and tired of driving. Turned back to look at what the heck was going on in backseat and give them the Mom look to knock it off when the car in front of me stopped and by the time I turned back around I slammed into them so hard. Whole front of the suv was just gone. Airbags deployed. Kids were fine thank god. My chest had bruising from the seat belt and my right knee hurt. Some neck and back pain for a month but overall we all walked away from it. I still get flashes of the seconds before impact, feel guilt as if what if my kids were hurt and financially our car insurance rates are so high now. But we are all alive and without any lasting disability

Were the people in the car you hit okay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone crashed into the back of my car on the beltway. The tailpipe was laying on the ground and the guy said no need to call the cops since it’s just “cosmetic”. Obviously I called the cops. 10 grand in damage. His insurance paid for the repair. I felt fine the day of the accident but the next day my neck and back were really sore. The doctor prescribed muscle relaxants and anti-inflamitories. Even with those, my neck and back were hurting for a full month.

I was rear ended while at a red light by a driver going 50 (speeding) coming up over a rise who didn't see that traffic ahead had stopped. Same reaction as you -- initially I felt nothing from the shock and by the next day I could hardly move. 20 years later and my neck still isn't the same.

I was in the back seat of a car that was rear ended while in motion by a drunk driver, spun out, and almost went off a bridge. They used the jaws of life to get me out of the car (which was terrifying). I have permanent nerve damage to my arm from that one. Neither driver was insured, nor were they driving their own cars, nor did the plates on the car match the vin number of the vehicle. Basically all the information given to the police was wrong. The drunk driver was arrested obviously.

I know a child who was thrown from a vehicle and killed. I know a man who was paralyzed from the neck down in what looked from the car to be a minor accident -- barely a dent on the vehicle.

I'm very risk averse when it comes to cars and driving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never recovered -- died on the spot.

lololol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never recovered -- died on the spot.

lololol

Not funny.

[Anonymous]

These are interesting - and scary - stories.

[Anonymous]

My scariest non-accident was stopping at the bottom of a hill in the rain to let a pedestrian cross. She was in the crosswalk in front of me and and 18 wheeler came barreling over the hill. No way it could stop in time. By some miracle nobody was in the on-coming direction and the truck was able to cross so it passed me in the on-coming lane. The pedestrian and I locked eyes as this all happened and I just stood on my breaks. I never stopped at that crosswalk to let someone cross again (it was on the route to my college from home).

My mom was in an accident when she was 7 months pregnant with my sister and my brother was 2. I wasn’t born yet. Apparently they flipped multiple times and ended up upside down in a ditch. They were cut out of the car and covered in blood. When they got to the hospital they determined it was all scratches / they didn’t need a stitch. My brother had terrible bruises on his shoulders from his car seat holding him in. (He’s lucky he had one - he’s 45 now.). My mom wrote a letter of gratitude to the car seat company. My sister was also fine - they didn’t know the sex of the baby but apparently the ER doctor told her that females have a higher in-utero survival rate and he was guessing she’d have a girl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in college driving somewhere and the leaves from a tree above had grown over the stop sign below. I didn't see the sign until I was right on it. Slammed on my breaks but it was too late and I hit a larger car. My little Ford Escort spun from the impact and hit a truck. I was fine, just bruised from the airbag and in shock. Both the people in the big sedan and huge old transport truck I hit were fine, although there was quite a bit of damage to the sedan. My insurance paid for everything. My car was totaled. I had points taken off of my license. I was afraid of driving for a while and didn't drive at all for about 6 months. I didn't get another car for 10 years.

You are very lucky, this is exactly the way an uncle of mine died. The car that hit him was a huge truck after he ran a covered stop sign. I'm glad you're ok.

I feel blessed that I and everyone else involved walked away okay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in a rollover in a VW bug in the mid 70s. No seatbelt. I was passenger. Walked away. I was in a rollover in a Chevy sedan landed upside down in a creek. No seatbelt. Walked away. Passenger. Was broadsided making a legal turn by someone going through light at high speed. Spun car around hitting another car. Walked away. I suppose that’s three lives.

WTF with not wearing a seatbelt, though!?