sappatoti
Posts: 14844
Joined: 10/30/2006 From: the edge of darkness... Status: offline
|
I have answered "I am something else, drive and have had a car accident." Three of them actually. All in sleet/freezing rain conditions on upstate NY roadways at night. All happened about twenty years ago or so. #1 - Hitting a semi's trailer while it was jack-knifed across the roadway just on the other side of a blind curve. I had about 50 feet with which to respond and with the road surface slicked up from freezing rain, I aimed the car for the trailer's rear wheels. My car's nose crumpled; there were small explosions as the battery exploded; I bounced backwards into the air and came to rest about 20 feet away. I had a sore neck but no injuries otherwise. The driver of the rig received 17 citations that night (they basically threw the book at him for every safety violation they could find, like bald tires, no trailer brakes, non-functional clearance lights, etc.). I received a brand new car as the one that was lying in the road, crumpled, was brand new to begin with and no payments had yet to be made on it. #2 - I got side-swiped by a deer who bounded out of the forest, hit me in the driver's door, then bounded back into the forest, less about three or four inches of its hide. The impact pushed me off the road and into a nearby field, as it was sleeting and the roads were nothing but water over ice. No injuries to me, the car had $3500 damage (on a car that cost me $8000 to begin with) and the deer... no one could find it, though they did track it through the forest for a while by following a trail of blood. #3 - I was hit from behind by someone trying to outrun the law on yet another slippery night. The accident took place on the entrance ramp to a local interstate when I was hit from behind, the force of which broke my car's rear wheel mounts, causing them to lay down flat on the road like pancakes. I spun around and bounced off the center guard rail for a while and when the car stopped, I got out and watched the pursuit continue on down the highway. Again, only a sore neck were my injuries. Needless to say, I do not drive when the forecast calls for sleet or freezing rain. Not because I have issues with my skills (for I don't; as with a previous poster, I practiced my spin and slide skills the first chance I had) but because I have no faith in anyone else's skills.
_____________________________
Never mind the man on the edge of the darkness... he means no harm... "Community, Identity, Stability." ~ A Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, 1932 If you don't like my attitude, QUIT TALKING TO ME!
|