Your First Accident
Discussion
Blind spot. Every accident that I've had. Should learn really.
Shortly after passing test, queing for traffic at a roundabout on the A38 near Plymouth. I decided to change lane, and missed a yellow skoda flying down the inside lane, and caught his arch.
His car was a graze, my mothers fiesta a broken indicator and very faint crack in the bumper. Other driver shrugged his shoulder and went off. I bought a new indicator. Council reversed a scaffold lorry into the cracked bumper. Job sorted.
Shortly after passing test, queing for traffic at a roundabout on the A38 near Plymouth. I decided to change lane, and missed a yellow skoda flying down the inside lane, and caught his arch.
His car was a graze, my mothers fiesta a broken indicator and very faint crack in the bumper. Other driver shrugged his shoulder and went off. I bought a new indicator. Council reversed a scaffold lorry into the cracked bumper. Job sorted.
Drove my mk1 Fiesta into a gate on a RH corner not far from home.
Bit baffled at the time as I was just driving along behind another car, albeit on a wet day.
Turned out to have a bald inside edge to the OSF tyre that I wasn't aware of, later discovered said Fiesta's camber gradually altered itslef so inside of tyre wore first, so got into habit of checking tracking frequently.
Anyway the upside was that my 9-year-old Fiesta ended up with all new bodywork from the windscreen forwards as it turned out to be so rusty, so a minor accident followed by a major bill meant my first car's life was greatly extended - it lasted another ten years!
Bit baffled at the time as I was just driving along behind another car, albeit on a wet day.
Turned out to have a bald inside edge to the OSF tyre that I wasn't aware of, later discovered said Fiesta's camber gradually altered itslef so inside of tyre wore first, so got into habit of checking tracking frequently.
Anyway the upside was that my 9-year-old Fiesta ended up with all new bodywork from the windscreen forwards as it turned out to be so rusty, so a minor accident followed by a major bill meant my first car's life was greatly extended - it lasted another ten years!
Car pulled out of a side road into my nearside. Damage from the front wheel arch to the rear.
Good points.
I overslept for work, and this was a good reason for being late.
My door was rusty and needed to be replaced anyway.
It got written off and I got £1,500, and to keep the car.
Sold it for £220 (scrap value).
Paid £1,700 for it in November 09, got £1,720 for it in January 12.
Got to search for a new car (always fun).
Downside.
Dealing with my insurance company.
Good points.
I overslept for work, and this was a good reason for being late.
My door was rusty and needed to be replaced anyway.
It got written off and I got £1,500, and to keep the car.
Sold it for £220 (scrap value).
Paid £1,700 for it in November 09, got £1,720 for it in January 12.
Got to search for a new car (always fun).
Downside.
Dealing with my insurance company.
Last day of the first year of my Aero. Eng. course at college. Took the scenic route home. Sun was shining, CD was loud, no traffic. Going along a narrow B road, there's a tight-right hander with a lay by on the outside of it. Nothing parked in the lay by. I turn in and my right wheels are just scuffing the white line at about 40mph... I see a bin lorry coming the other way. Not really got enough room there, so I straighten out a bit... too much. There was some gravel further out on the corner. My outside wheels discover no grip. Car pirouettes and misses hitting anything more substantial than grass and the front end stays on the tarmac enough to pull me back onto the tarmac backwards... I think the car stalled but I'm not sure. I know I tried starting the engine a few times...
I drive to the lay by, pull over there, clear the grass off the road, and pedal home like there are eggs on my soles.
I drive to the lay by, pull over there, clear the grass off the road, and pedal home like there are eggs on my soles.
sometime in the first year after passing my test noticed a nice looking girl walking along the pavement, spent a bit long checking her out then returned gaze forward just in time to see a row of cars stopped at some traffic lights that weren't usually there. BANG...one very bent Renault 5 and a battered ego. Got it fixed on the cheap at a back street garage and had many happy years together.
My first accident was 2 weeks after i passed my test. Driving like a complete clutz, lost control, rolled the car onto its roof and hit another car whilst we were upside down. Terrified!
Arrested, 5 points and a 300quid fine, disappointed family members, ridiculous insurance premiums to follow.
So MTFU it could be worse
undoubtedly a really s
t feeling though. Like when you forget for a split second that you have done it then realise!
Arrested, 5 points and a 300quid fine, disappointed family members, ridiculous insurance premiums to follow.
So MTFU it could be worse
undoubtedly a really st feeling though. Like when you forget for a split second that you have done it then realise!I've only ever had a couple, both really stupid and fairly minor (1st gear or reversing) but enough to ruin my insurance and cost me a few quid to fix.
Worst was a few years back when my neighbour's son turned up to show off his brand spanking shiney new motorbike (some kind of harley copy) to his parents. It was parked in a funny place on the road one morning and I admired it out of the window as I ate my cereal. Then 10 minutes later I reversed off the drive and smacked straight into it ramming it onto the curb - guess I just wasn't used to something so small/low being in that spot.
It fell over and scraped a load of nice chrome parts and I had to go next door and tell the guy that his bike, that he was yet to show his parents and was on his way to Wales to show off to Uni friends, was in bits on the ground outside (and subsequently failed to even start)
Ruined my insurance and I'm pretty sure the neighbours think I'm a moron
Worst was a few years back when my neighbour's son turned up to show off his brand spanking shiney new motorbike (some kind of harley copy) to his parents. It was parked in a funny place on the road one morning and I admired it out of the window as I ate my cereal. Then 10 minutes later I reversed off the drive and smacked straight into it ramming it onto the curb - guess I just wasn't used to something so small/low being in that spot.
It fell over and scraped a load of nice chrome parts and I had to go next door and tell the guy that his bike, that he was yet to show his parents and was on his way to Wales to show off to Uni friends, was in bits on the ground outside (and subsequently failed to even start)
Ruined my insurance and I'm pretty sure the neighbours think I'm a moron
I borrowed my mums fiesta, I'd never driven fwd before went around a bend too fast and got into a skid, couldn't control it and bounced off the side of a bridge, car was wrote off, police car coming over the bridge did me, when I got home I had to tell my mum what I'd done, she was a single parent struggling to bring up two kids and I'd wrote off the car shed saved up and bought six weeks previously, then we discovered I wasn't insured, I still cringe about it 23 years later.
So cheer up OP, at least you haven't had to go home get your mum out of bed and told her that one, she wasn't happy, she didn't know I'd taken the fking thing, oh well you live and learn.
So cheer up OP, at least you haven't had to go home get your mum out of bed and told her that one, she wasn't happy, she didn't know I'd taken the f
king thing, oh well you live and learn.Edited by rumple on Wednesday 21st November 22:18
Yep, sickening isn't it. I'd had a run of bad luck with my Focus ST, quite a few door dings etc. that had cost me a fair bit to get sorted out (orange paint looks lovely but is a tad expensive) then I had a bump (I won't go into specifics as it was a non event), totally my own fault I did learn from it and I am far more observant now.
What it did do is nulify that years no claims bonus (the rest was protected) so it alowed me to escape the policy three months early when I bought my Mustang (churchill don't really like insuring heavily modified LHD cars to be honest) it allowed me to get the car earlier than I thought and meant I didn't miss the frankly cracking car I have now.
So chin up OP - worse things happen at sea!
What it did do is nulify that years no claims bonus (the rest was protected) so it alowed me to escape the policy three months early when I bought my Mustang (churchill don't really like insuring heavily modified LHD cars to be honest) it allowed me to get the car earlier than I thought and meant I didn't miss the frankly cracking car I have now.
So chin up OP - worse things happen at sea!
My first and only accident to date was in my vx220, in 20 years of driving. (touches wood)
No I wasn't speeding
No I wasn't taking a corner too quickly
I was crawling along at perhaps 10mph, not really concentrating too much (there was my error). Car in front 'suddenly' braked - I didn't and hit the car in front.
Now the car in front was also a vx220. Two clam shells, various lights and bits later we were both back on the road again...
Much embarrassment for me crashing on my first owners club run.... doh!
Mike
No I wasn't speeding
No I wasn't taking a corner too quickly
I was crawling along at perhaps 10mph, not really concentrating too much (there was my error). Car in front 'suddenly' braked - I didn't and hit the car in front.
Now the car in front was also a vx220. Two clam shells, various lights and bits later we were both back on the road again...
Much embarrassment for me crashing on my first owners club run.... doh!
Mike
Driving home, decided to take the scenic route I usually took rather than the A3.
Went to turn around a left hand bend, car lent to the right, and turned right instead. Went up the embankment at the side of the road, tilted onto its roof and then slid down the road on its roof for a bit.
Turns out the Punto wheels and tyres I had fitted were much too big for a Cinquecento and when the car tilted they came into contact with the inside of the arch and stopped, hence the car spearing off to the right.
Car was written off, as it was munted. Suprisingly given it had been on its roof, it was still in reasonable condition. Even the glass sunroof didnt break.
Went to turn around a left hand bend, car lent to the right, and turned right instead. Went up the embankment at the side of the road, tilted onto its roof and then slid down the road on its roof for a bit.
Turns out the Punto wheels and tyres I had fitted were much too big for a Cinquecento and when the car tilted they came into contact with the inside of the arch and stopped, hence the car spearing off to the right.
Car was written off, as it was munted. Suprisingly given it had been on its roof, it was still in reasonable condition. Even the glass sunroof didnt break.
Mine took about 18 years to happen, bloke in a Mondeo just slammed on in front of me, nothing in front whilst crossing a junction, was half way across and I was to eager to catch the lights, he stops and I slam into the back of him, my fault, he was apparently looking for some shops, there were some on the left, no indicator, just stops dead, then indicates after being, I told someone at work and apparently there is an alarm shop and above it a massage parlour, I reckon he was going there, he looked dead shifty and didnt move until I had gone.
mike9009 said:
My first and only accident to date was in my vx220, in 20 years of driving. (touches wood)
No I wasn't speeding
No I wasn't taking a corner too quickly
I was crawling along at perhaps 10mph, not really concentrating too much (there was my error). Car in front 'suddenly' braked - I didn't and hit the car in front.
Now the car in front was also a vx220. Two clam shells, various lights and bits later we were both back on the road again...
Much embarrassment for me crashing on my first owners club run.... doh!
Mike
Similar to mine.No I wasn't speeding
No I wasn't taking a corner too quickly
I was crawling along at perhaps 10mph, not really concentrating too much (there was my error). Car in front 'suddenly' braked - I didn't and hit the car in front.
Now the car in front was also a vx220. Two clam shells, various lights and bits later we were both back on the road again...
Much embarrassment for me crashing on my first owners club run.... doh!
Mike
I don't think the other car will cost more than a few hundred pounds to repair so I might decide to pay myself - though I bet insurance companies will still overcharge me despite settling the claim myself and retaining NCB.
Cheers for the responses all. Time heals (even in doses of a few hours!) and at least my car is still fine and the accident not too severe. Trying to find a silver lining and channel the anger/motivation to be able to afford tasty cars while I'm still young into developing business ideas
2 weeks after my test I was driving up to Manchester for the uni open day....
Left from Orpington that morning (first time on a Motorway) and was on the M6. Friend pointed out a load of water coming from the back of a lorry (L1). I look, then turn back forward to brake lights in front (in L3). I thinking that they are stopped (in reality likely slowed to 50ish mph) I slam on and move into L2, as i do this the back lifts off and am fishtailing along the northbound carriageway at about 70mph even after some braking and still doing some more, moving across all 3 lanes. I some how catch it (after thinking the 206 would roll) and begin to accelerate back to speed (now going substantially slower than traffic, 20ish mph) only to find that same lorry couldn't slow and had imbedded itself into the rear of my car, crunching everything to the back axle.
I managed to limp it to the services a mile away and peel the crumpled rear wing off the wheel (bent suspension) and taped the boot closed with the aid of a HATO before continuing to manchester and back again that evening.
The next day the insurance company collected the car and repaired it (2 years old at the time and had everything from the hatch to the back axle, mainly NS). With it being a square front to rear accident, as I had caught it by the time of collision, it went down as a non-fault accident.
I didn't help that 3 months later I was stopped at the lights and rammed in the same way by a 4x4, although not quite as bad, necessitating the same repairs to be undertaken again....
Left from Orpington that morning (first time on a Motorway) and was on the M6. Friend pointed out a load of water coming from the back of a lorry (L1). I look, then turn back forward to brake lights in front (in L3). I thinking that they are stopped (in reality likely slowed to 50ish mph) I slam on and move into L2, as i do this the back lifts off and am fishtailing along the northbound carriageway at about 70mph even after some braking and still doing some more, moving across all 3 lanes. I some how catch it (after thinking the 206 would roll) and begin to accelerate back to speed (now going substantially slower than traffic, 20ish mph) only to find that same lorry couldn't slow and had imbedded itself into the rear of my car, crunching everything to the back axle.
I managed to limp it to the services a mile away and peel the crumpled rear wing off the wheel (bent suspension) and taped the boot closed with the aid of a HATO before continuing to manchester and back again that evening.
The next day the insurance company collected the car and repaired it (2 years old at the time and had everything from the hatch to the back axle, mainly NS). With it being a square front to rear accident, as I had caught it by the time of collision, it went down as a non-fault accident.
I didn't help that 3 months later I was stopped at the lights and rammed in the same way by a 4x4, although not quite as bad, necessitating the same repairs to be undertaken again....
Turned the wheel to turn right on tea-biscuit sized tyres. Traveling too quickly for conditions - those being a wet, diesel-slicked off-camber corner - meant a journey to beyond the asphalt resulting in a Golf-sized hole in a fence, front wheels and steering ripped from the car and a write-off.
The clincher? It was right outside my house.
Young and foolish. You learn from your mistakes and try not to make them again.
The clincher? It was right outside my house.
Young and foolish. You learn from your mistakes and try not to make them again.
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