Boy did I ever crash my car!

Dang, I rode in that car to lunch. Sweet little machine.

Glad you're vertical!
 
Having spent many years working on IndyCar's we saw our share of cars against the wall. While setting up the pits or working in them we watched many a sports car trying to occupy space already in use by concrete or other cars. Its amazing how well the cars can be repaired by those who know how. I guess its probably not worth the cost for most of us though. Be glad that crumpling metal absorbs amazing amounts of energy and keeps us from turning to jello. Glad to hear you're ok.

Frank
 
Michael,

Glad you're ok, cars can be replaced no matter how attached we are.
 
Last edited:
I once had the right front wheel lockout hub on a 4X4 suddenly 'lock-up' at ~45 mph on a gravel road about 3 miles from home, one morning... I did the most graceful pirouette - going right at oncoming traffic - while busily spinning the steering wheel from lock to lock... I did manage to avoid dropping into a 10-12 foot deep ditch on the right filled with water and some how shuffled right past the first car on my left going backwards as I went past her. - much like two waiters with full trays passing through the kitchen door back to back by timing the swinging trays - .. The gravel stones were just like ball bearings on that frosty Michigan morning...
After it stopped I found by trial that the wheel would rotate when backing up (but not forward) so I backed up the miles to home and took the car to the the hospital and office for the day...

Had I hit that econobox with the bug eyed lady driver I would likely have been OK, but 7800 pounds of 4X4 smushing her tin coffin would have been bad news...
 
Mrs. Steingar got a few shots of my crippled convertible on the wrecker. Sorry it's sideways.
 

Attachments

  • poor car.jpg
    poor car.jpg
    47.7 KB · Views: 68
No, just a ball cap when the top's down. But the car drives like you would expect from the batmobile. If it's totaled, if will be missed.
 
bbchien said:
Glad you are Okay. ?Miata in your future?
Click to expand...

Really really good question, and a complicated one at that. I can't buy another mid-engined sports car for anything I can afford. I am in no way interested in a Miata (with heartfelt apologies to Miata owners).

Then again, I really don't need a car at all. I walk to work. I use a car on the occasional weekend. I drove the car to the airport because I hadn't driven it in awhile.

On the other hand, if I want to go anywhere during the winter sans Mrs. Steingar, a car would seem a necessity. But why sink a ton of cash into something I'll only use on occasion? But if I buy an old scab car for the occasional use, I haven't the time or mechanical know how to keep it running.

All this presupposes my convertible isn't coming back. Then again, even if it does it will never drive the same ever again.

This is all very depressing. Oh well, at least I work the same pre and post accident. Lots of folks get into crashes that aren't' their fault and have far more pejorative outcomes.
 
You might consider an older S2000. I realize that's heresy coming from a Miata driver but they are fun cars.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2
 
I wrecked my car monday night. Was returning from a CAP meeting so 9:30 at night. We were on the highway coming up on an accident so I slowed down when a truck (dodge dakota) came into my lane and proceeded to stop instead of accelerating. I slam on the brakes, ABS comes on and 2 hours later Im cited 4 points on my license because the damage was to the front of my car. 50/50 chance its totaled. It was a miracle the airbags didnt deploy both of the sensors were literally crushed.
 
Henning said:
Consider switching brands to the Honda S2000?
Click to expand...
People I trust recommend not to bother with S2000 and get an MX-5. They say it's heavy and gutless. Ragtop is inferior to Mazda's, too. If you mod the heck out of it, it's ok for Auto-X, but that's about all it's good for.
 
Seanaldinho said:
I wrecked my car monday night. Was returning from a CAP meeting so 9:30 at night. We were on the highway coming up on an accident so I slowed down when a truck (dodge dakota) came into my lane and proceeded to stop instead of accelerating. I slam on the brakes, ABS comes on and 2 hours later Im cited 4 points on my license because the damage was to the front of my car. 50/50 chance its totaled. It was a miracle the airbags didnt deploy both of the sensors were literally crushed.
Click to expand...

Glad you're ok too.

Driver in back always gets the ticket unless there's evidence and witnesses to reckless behavior.

Anyone else see him cut you off? You'll still have a hard time with it. The general rule is, if they can stop, if you've aggressively kept a safe distance (braking heavily at the first sign they're moving over), you can stop in that distance also.

Not sure what you drive, but it likely has a much better stopping distance than a Dakota with properly maintained tires, brakes, etc. Depends on the specific vehicles, of course.

If your car has a longer stopping distance than average, you're also required to maintain a much greater distance to the next car ahead.

So, if they cut you off and nearly clipped your bumper and they started braking in the other lane before moving and didn't signal... it's pretty tough to anticipate that move. But you probably won't get out of it, anyway.

I've thought seriously about adding a video recording system to my truck for this and other stupidity. Driving a big heavy truck in darting lane idiots is not fun. I really feel for the real big rig drivers.
 
Seanaldinho said:
I wrecked my car monday night. Was returning from a CAP meeting so 9:30 at night. We were on the highway coming up on an accident so I slowed down when a truck (dodge dakota) came into my lane and proceeded to stop instead of accelerating. I slam on the brakes, ABS comes on and 2 hours later Im cited 4 points on my license because the damage was to the front of my car. 50/50 chance its totaled. It was a miracle the airbags didnt deploy both of the sensors were literally crushed.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear, I at least avoided a citation (damn crash wasn't my fault anyway!). Insurance adjusters said they're totaling my little convertible. Sniff sniff. Might forego a car altogether and let Mrs. Steingar redo our floors, she's been on about that lately. I think I'll try one winter without and see how it goes. I suppose I can always pick up an old scab car somewhere.
 
denverpilot said:
Not sure what you drive, but it likely has a much better stopping distance than a Dakota with properly maintained tires, brakes, etc. Depends on the specific vehicles, of course.
Click to expand...

IME Dodge Dakota's have pretty crappy brakes.
 
denverpilot said:
Glad you're ok too.

Driver in back always gets the ticket unless there's evidence and witnesses to reckless behavior.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily - I was on the interstate in Missouri pulling a heavy trailer in traffic moving 70mph, in the right lane. Elderly couple merged on in front of me at about 30 mph and didn't speed up, I had vehicles to my left and couldn't move, couldn't slow down in time, and hit them in the rear. They got the ticket for unsafe merge. No witnesses stopped, the old couple told the cop which entrance they had merged at (which agreed with what I said) and the cop wasn't an idiot, figured it out. This was in 2009.
 
Last edited:
EMT's said there was nothing I could do and it was a miracle that I managed to slow down that much. (they were already on scene at the other accident and watched) Im still cited for it. Tires were almost worn out so braking wasnt as good as it should be

The shop is waiting to hear back from USAA but they believe they will call it totaled.
 
Seanaldinho said:
EMT's said there was nothing I could do and it was a miracle that I managed to slow down that much. (they were already on scene at the other accident and watched) Im still cited for it. Tires were almost worn out so braking wasnt as good as it should be

The shop is waiting to hear back from USAA but they believe they will call it totaled.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you have your first witness for court. ;)
 
Well part of it may have been that a week ago today a soccer buddy of mine died in an accident less then 10 minutes from where I was. He was 17 and Ill be attending his funeral today.

I dont think we will be going to court. Ive already paid the ticket with my personal money. And will be taking an online class to get the points off my license.
 
Seanaldinho said:
Well part of it may have been that a week ago today a soccer buddy of mine died in an accident less then 10 minutes from where I was. He was 17 and Ill be attending his funeral today.
Click to expand...
Not to hijack the thread...sorry for your loss of your buddy and your car.
 
denverpilot said:
Glad you're ok too.

Driver in back always gets the ticket unless there's evidence and witnesses to reckless behavior.

Anyone else see him cut you off? You'll still have a hard time with it. The general rule is, if they can stop, if you've aggressively kept a safe distance (braking heavily at the first sign they're moving over), you can stop in that distance also.

Not sure what you drive, but it likely has a much better stopping distance than a Dakota with properly maintained tires, brakes, etc. Depends on the specific vehicles, of course.

If your car has a longer stopping distance than average, you're also required to maintain a much greater distance to the next car ahead.

So, if they cut you off and nearly clipped your bumper and they started braking in the other lane before moving and didn't signal... it's pretty tough to anticipate that move. But you probably won't get out of it, anyway.

I've thought seriously about adding a video recording system to my truck for this and other stupidity. Driving a big heavy truck in darting lane idiots is not fun. I really feel for the real big rig drivers.
Click to expand...

The one time I rear ended a car on the freeway (about 30 years ago), the car I hit "cheated" by running into the car in front of him first. We were both stopping at the same rate with several feet of separation until he ran into the other car. From my perspective his car appeared to "bounce" back towards me but I believe in reality that was just my perception of the sudden rapid increase in closure rate. His car sustained very little damage but his trailer hitch rode over my front bumper and punched a hole in my radiator (my car's nose was down and his tail was up). I don't think we bothered calling the cops and no citations were issued.
 
2 seconds... That is the minimum distance you should leave in front of you, 2 seconds. With that you can avoid near all accidents including those involving people cutting you off because they will not do it as close.
 
Henning said:
2 seconds... That is the minimum distance you should leave in front of you, 2 seconds. With that you can avoid near all accidents including those involving people cutting you off because they will not do it as close.
Click to expand...

Yup, that will work just as well as leaving the car in the garage, and you'll get to your destination about the same time, too, at least if you're traveling a congested highway. People will take that as a slot to cut into, so you'll have to back off. That'll keep happening to the point where you'll be about stopped on the highway. The "expressways" simply don't have enough capacity to move all the people trying to use them if the vehicle density is that low!
 
gprellwitz said:
Yup, that will work just as well as leaving the car in the garage, and you'll get to your destination about the same time, too, at least if you're traveling a congested highway. People will take that as a slot to cut into, so you'll have to back off. That'll keep happening to the point where you'll be about stopped on the highway. The "expressways" simply don't have enough capacity to move all the people trying to use them if the vehicle density is that low!
Click to expand...

That is the part that is untrue and used as a justification for aggressive driving techniques that end up in accidents where nobody get home on time. It is a **** poor rationalization for poorer thinking and bad behavior. Justify it to yourself as you please, but don't try to pawn off bull**** on me. The average you will lose is 2mph for a few seconds as the gap opens back up. You will not lose more than a few minutes in the average commute with an aggregate lifetime time savings because just one accident will cost you more time than all the time you will ever spend increasing the gap in front of you. People who do not leave that gap will have more than one accident in their life attributable to it. It's dumb logic you're using and it will result in a dumb accident because you don't want to give up even space in traffic to another person. As I have said elsewhere, our general societal selfishness is our downfall as a nation, and we are getting more selfish and mean by the day it seems. In this case the selfishness is of the suicidal variety so it doesn't bug me much. BTW, my favorite method of assuring the 2 second gap behind me is application of the parking brake to make sure people are minding the gap, not just my brake lights. When people don't trust your brake lights to work, they back off right to about 2 seconds.
 
Last edited:
I'm w Henning on this one. No reason to follow closer than 2 seconds.
 
I'm with Henning on this one. I wish I could provide a citation, but what I heard a number of years ago was that the Washington State Patrol (not one of my favorite organizations) ran a test where they drove across the state with a pair of vehicles. One kept a safe following distance and the other did not. Made about a 2 minute difference in a 300+ mile trip. Granted, our traffic densities aren't that high, but the point was made.
 
zaitcev said:
People I trust recommend not to bother with S2000 and get an MX-5. They say it's heavy and gutless. Ragtop is inferior to Mazda's, too. If you mod the heck out of it, it's ok for Auto-X, but that's about all it's good for.
Click to expand...

For the brand new current models, this is probably true. But for older models (comparing the NB Miata it's rival S2000), the S2000 probably has an edge.

And believe me, as the owner of a '91 NA, it's hard to admit that Honda made a better Miata than the Miata for a while. But they did.
 
Oh, and the two second gap? That's 176 feet at 60 MPH of 150 feet at 70 MPH. It's adequate for many situations but not at all for the situation the OP described where someone pulls in front and then stops or radically decelerates. The act of pulling into that gap reduces it, perhaps below the threshold of reaction time.
 
If you leave 2 seconds the gap is large enough that people don't have to 'stand on the brakes' right in front of you, plus any extra gap that is there when it happens is a benefit to you, not a draw back. There is NEVER a good reason not to leave more space than less, never.
 
Henning said:
That is the part that is untrue and used as a justification for aggressive driving techniques that end up in accidents where nobody get home on time. It is a **** poor rationalization for poorer thinking and bad behavior. Justify it to yourself as you please, but don't try to pawn off bull**** on me. The average you will lose is 2mph for a few seconds as the gap opens back up. You will not lose more than a few minutes in the average commute with an aggregate lifetime time savings because just one accident will cost you more time than all the time you will ever spend increasing the gap in front of you. People who do not leave that gap will have more than one accident in their life attributable to it. It's dumb logic you're using and it will result in a dumb accident because you don't want to give up even space in traffic to another person. As I have said elsewhere, our general societal selfishness is our downfall as a nation, and we are getting more selfish and mean by the day it seems. In this case the selfishness is of the suicidal variety so it doesn't bug me much. BTW, my favorite method of assuring the 2 second gap behind me is application of the parking brake to make sure people are minding the gap, not just my brake lights. When people don't trust your brake lights to work, they back off right to about 2 seconds.
Click to expand...
I actually tried to look up traffic studies before I posted that, but I admit the effort of trying to understand articles like this and this and even this was more than I was willing to put in. I can't come up with verifiable evidence, and could be wrong. Or not!:dunno:

In light traffic like this you can do a 2 second delay:
 
Last edited:
You can even do it in heavy traffic. Heck, if you can get all the lanes abreast to have one line that will do it, you can get stop and go traffic jams smoothly flowing at a low but steady speed within 10 minutes! It's the *******s that have to stand on the gas and slam on the brakes that keep everything ****ed up.
 
Henning said:
That is the part that is untrue and used as a justification for aggressive driving techniques that end up in accidents where nobody get home on time. It is a **** poor rationalization for poorer thinking and bad behavior. Justify it to yourself as you please, but don't try to pawn off bull**** on me. The average you will lose is 2mph for a few seconds as the gap opens back up. You will not lose more than a few minutes in the average commute with an aggregate lifetime time savings because just one accident will cost you more time than all the time you will ever spend increasing the gap in front of you. People who do not leave that gap will have more than one accident in their life attributable to it. It's dumb logic you're using and it will result in a dumb accident because you don't want to give up even space in traffic to another person. As I have said elsewhere, our general societal selfishness is our downfall as a nation, and we are getting more selfish and mean by the day it seems. In this case the selfishness is of the suicidal variety so it doesn't bug me much. BTW, my favorite method of assuring the 2 second gap behind me is application of the parking brake to make sure people are minding the gap, not just my brake lights. When people don't trust your brake lights to work, they back off right to about 2 seconds.
Click to expand...

To begin with, if you're paying attention to the traffic in front of you (ideally several cars ahead) two seconds (about 200 ft at 65 mph) is WAY more than what's needed. I normally shoot for one second but will accept half that if traffic is tight. And while you may be able to maintain that large a gap ahead of you when the "competition" is grey haired old ladies in Florida, it won't work in any major metro area north of the Mason Dixon line that I've been to (i.e. most of them). On my current daily commute, if I leave more than two car lengths (about 30-35 ft) it's pretty much guaranteed that someone will slide into the gap if they think my lane is moving faster than theirs or they just like it better there. As to your handbrake trick, with a manual transmission I've found it far more effective and safer to drop into the lowest gear available for my speed, drop the clutch, then mash the gas a quarter second later. That makes my car appear to jump about 20 ft closer to the guy behind and just as he's starting to smoke tires I'm zipping safely away. Of course this rarely improves the other driver's appreciation of your need for space behind and it's probably illegal so I've kinda weaned myself from that particular bit of entertainment.
 
When someone pulls into the gap, it costs a couple seconds to open it, it's not a real problem, it's an emotional one. It costs very little in time but it leaves people feeling cheated and beaten. This is because we are a self centered society and nothing else, same goes for the guy pulling in in front of you. Personally I like getting rear ended in traffic since I drive cheap junk cars. Even if I didn't it's still a good way to get someone to buy you a new car every 3 years, kinda fun even watching them boil waiting for the cops to come. One day I'll get really lucky and someone will start to shoot at me and I'll get to kill them if they don't get me first.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top