How would you react?

Question

I was in a car accident last night. I was coming around a steep curve at a very low speed and I glanced back into my rearview mirror because I thought that I seen something moving in my back seat....I was the only one in the car...but I glanced back only a split second and the next thing that I knew...I was trying to pull my car out of the ditch and I over correct and about hit the guard rail on the other side and I over correct again. my car fish tailed and hit the bank; rolled over and I was inside the car upside down but I managed to get out with no marks on me. I called my parents and the only thing that they could think about was the car and if it was salvagable or not? Keeping this in mind...what would you do?

I tried to tell them that I was fine and stuff like that but they sort of own the car. I do know how to drive and I was lucky to get a nice trooper who didn't ticket me for the whole thing. I am only 17 and I have had my liscense for a while but records clean. the only issue is that now I am stuck without a car till mine gets fixed. luckily most of the problems can be fixed. It turned out to not be as bad as we thought that it would. the car has a couple of caves in it and the rear windsheild is gone, my driver side rearview is smashed and it's scratched all to pieces. passenger head light is out of line and the hood is too. the winsheild wiper joystick is broken. I guess that I broke that when I fliped the car and my hand came down. I don't really know. But the good thing is that I am ok.

The only other thing that got me off the hook is that the cop said that he trusts that I was not speeding. which I wasn't. I was just pulling out of a perking lot so I was only doing about 5 or 10 miles an hour. I may be younge but I don't pull out like most teenagers do. I have learnt to not do that. the only thing that saved my life was the seat belt and thank God that I have the habbit of putting it on when I climb into a vehicle.

I did learn something form this but but still......If you seen the raod then you would know what I am talking about. I think that the police said that there had been 3 or 4 recks there that day, I don't know but I can say this. I am alive by the grace of God and I will regret everything for a long time. I still can't get the sounds of that night out of my head. I can't sleep and I can't eat. I just keep thinking about what happened and and stuff like that. I don't know what to do.

Answer 1

My thought is cars can be replaced, people can't. That is why cars have insurance on them. Honestly, that would ____ me off (fill in the blank).

Answer 2

Well thank goodness you are OK--a car can be fixed or replaced but a person?? he you can't replace them. You seem to have made a few booboos--hopefully you learned a few things. First off--none of that can happen at 5 or 10 miles perhour--no one in their right mind can tell me you did all that at such low speed--a person can walk at a brisk 5 miles per hour--...so that does not wash with me. And if the car was doing 10--there is no way it covered that much ground and did all that action unless you did absoluetly nothing to try and stop it. I mean find a parking lot and do ten--see how slow it looks--do you think you would believe what you said?? To get a car to roll over takes a lot of energy---it is called kinetic energy and no reconstruction expert would say a car will roll at 10 miles per hour. Now defensively you know the road has curves at that spot--seems as if you said you fishtailed--I will bet a million dollars you couldn't get the car to fishtail at 10 mph. I don't know what you are asking--but you are OK and it is a VALUABLE lesson for you. I think the trooper was happy you weren't hurt--probably did not have to issue a summons because there were no injuries--but had you hit another car---hurt others or yourself--you would have had a summons. Well better luck next time--driving is an adult, mature job--please do not be mad at what I said--I have seen accidents and taken bodies away for 35 years--I know what 10 mph can look like...believe me I know the difference.

Answer 3

failure to control is what u would get in ohio at the very minumum. also sounds like speed is involved also reguardless of u saying u were at 'slow' speed. i've been driving 24 years, so i know better.
u dont wind up in a fishtail unless u were going at a high rate of speed; trying to take a turn at 40 or 45 that was actually rated at 15 to 20 would do it if u were not paying attention...and u wasnt cause u were more worried bout the mirror.

u never ever take ur eyes off the road when u are about to commit to any turn. that is beggin for trouble, and u found that out the hard way. some curves look 'tame', and wind up being a reduced radius curve. these are particularly evil...they tighten up the further u go into them. these kind of turns is what typically kills rookies on street bikes. steep curve is another term for a reduced radius. these will kill u very easy.

consider urself lucky ur not dead. this could have easily became a lethal head-on situation; those are the most deadly wrecks to get into. after further review, u would have been tagged on reckless operation, left of center, excessive speed, and failure to control....and u would be saying bye bye license after court. ohp doesnt play games.

if the roof got caved in, the insurance will typically total it. enjoy being on the 'shoe leather express' for awhile. i suggest u use that time to learn respect for the road. there's an old saying.......u might know the road, but the road doesnt know u.

Answer 4

plan on walking for a long long time.LOL
This type of accident has a name,it's called in attentive driving. It's one step below reckless driving as far as severity. You don't say how old you are, or what your driving record is like. But, if a new driver, you could lose your license till your 18. or you could get lucky and get a friendly judge who will just fine you.
Good luck.

Answer 5

I would be ticked that they were apparently more concerned about the car. Is it insured? Is it their car or yours? If it's their car and they are concerned about it, then maybe they should have been a responsible car owner and thought about possible situations before letting you drive it. If it's your car then they should let you deal with it and worry more about you! Talk to them and tell them that you possibly could have died! It's great that you made it out without a scratch!