Near Accident

[buzzkillwill]

Let me start by saying I feel very lucky today. So lucky in fact, I'm gonna play the lottery.

I was on my way to work this morning around 645, it was dark out and raining (what else is new, it's been raining here for at least a week).

I was headed down one of the busier streets in my small town, following behind an older Sebring-we were doing between 30 and 35. The speed limit is 35, and I was probably a 'good' two car-lengths behind him when out of a side street comes this lilttle Civic, sliding right into the side of the Sebring. This of course pushed the Sebring to the right, and leaves me very little room for an evasive maneuver, but I try one anyway. My first instinct was to go around to the right. The only problem, that's where the Sebring was headed to, and our streets are narrow. I have gone around cars there before, making right turns, and it's tight. But to try in the rain, while a car is slding at you is TOUGH! But I managed not to get hit by the car, and as I turned to the right, directly in front of me was a telephone pole. Now, I'm screwed...

But I managed to only clip my passenger side mirror on the pole as I squeezed through the small window of opportunity. At that point, I was problaby doing around 20 mph. I turned the wheel back to the left, and got off the sidewalk and came to rest in the street, shaken, but okay. Ironically, someone came over to ask me if I was okay. I said yeah, but my truck isn't!!!

Believe it or not, the mirror survived! It was folded in, of course, and the mirror "lens" popped off, but the wires held it up. I checked the truck out a little later, once I got to work and daylight came. The mirror is pushed up and in slighlty, and it's got a slight dent and a scratch, but otherwise fine. I was really surprised it held up.

Anyway, it was a little nerve wrecking to see that pole suddenly appear in front of me.

The other thing, the Titan did amazingly well in the hadling and repsonse department. I feel the GY's are avarage at best, plus the weight and height doesn't make for a good manuevering vehicle, but it did well...


Oh, everyone else was okay too. The Sebring took a pretty good hit to it's front fender, and the tire basically bent under some. It wasn't dirveable. The cuplrit, a 16yo girl who just got her license and wasn't used to driving in the rain.

[Helinut1970]

Glad you or your baby didnt get hurt to bad. Count your lucky stars or lotto #s in your case!!!!

[P's Titan]

Originally Posted by buzzkillwill

The cuplrit, a 16yo girl who just got her license and wasn't used to driving in the rain.

Typical... glad to hear everyone was ok and your truck handled well.

[Papa_D]

Drivers education on a wet road course should be required before teenagers get a license.

[Bill Rubenstein]

When #1 daughter was 16 and learning to drive, I took her out on an empty, icy parking lot and made her mishandle the car to see what would happen and showed her the right way to do it. She was crying before it was over but she learned a good lesson.

She had one accident that first year -- she was on a through street and was hit from the side by some woman who ran a stop sign -- not our daughter's fault although a more expreienced driver might have avoided the accident. In our town the Fire Department trucks are first responders to accident reports and, as it happened, the captain on the truck which covered it was our neighbor.

Several weeks later I got a letter from the lawyer for the woman at fault with some kind of c*** and bull story about how it was our daughter's fault. I called them, told them who my witness to the accident scene was, and told him that I'd be happy to spend $10.00 to keep his dumb client from getting $1.00. Further, the fireman said that she had no tread on her tires.

I never heard from them again, our insurance company collected from her company and I got my deductable back.

[tnbowhunter]

Whew, if that had been me I would still be picking the seat covers out of my arse.
Sure glad you were unhurt, and the truck handled so well.

[1bigtexastitan]

That just goes to show us that we never know what lies ahead of us in our daily lives. Glad you and your truck survived.

[buzzkillwill]

Thanks guys...

I'm gonna treat the pig to a good bath and a lil' interior detailing tomorrow, since it finally stop raining here. I feel its' earned it.