I Got Rear-Ended Last Night

[DoveTurnedHawk]

My car, that is.

:evilgrin:

It was kinda shocking, to be at a full stop, waiting for traffic to flow again, and then BAM. I had a moment of complete disorientation as I slammed back into my seat, and another moment of disorientation as I tapped the car in front of me.

The three of us got out of our cars in wonderment, before I urged everyone over to the side of the road. The guy who hit me seemed in a daze, he couldn't believe he'd daydreamed and spaced-out so badly that he'd hit a stopped car.

Even though his car looked fine, the guy in front of me was complaining about back pain, and I admitted that I felt some neck AND back pain. The guy behind me said he was fine. Wow, was his car thrashed, though. He was in a small import, and the entire front of it was crumpled. My own rear bumper was dented in and cracked.

But my Clark bumper stickers remained intact and legible.

:-)

DTH

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. A former boss once got rear-ended by a cop car.

And then ticketed for "damaging city property". True story. And it was a one-week-old car. He was rather upset, to put it mildly.

[trotsky]

5. WTF?

The only way I can see that being even remotely legitimate is if he was in violation of some ordinance when the cop hit him. Or maybe didn't get out of the way during a pursuit. Do you know, were either of those the case?

[greatauntoftriplets]

10. He was sitting at a stoplight.

Cop claimed to be in pursuit -- but neither lights nor sirens were flashing. This was the City of Chicago -- abuse of power, etc.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

8. What BS

Power and corruption.

:puke:

DTH

[Rainbowreflect]

12. A friend of mine was charged with failure to yeild when she

was rear-ended by a sheriff. She heard him behind her & pulled into the right line to get out of his way & to stop. He pulled into the right lane & ran right into her. She did take it to court & lost.

[Xithras]

24. Heh, I once rear ended a police car and DIDN'T get cited!

I was driving a 1966 VW Bug in the rain, and as any former Bug owner can tell you, their wipers stink! To make things worse, I'd had a flat the previous day and was driving around with my bald spare on the front-passenger side. As I was headed home from work, I suddenly saw a pair of bright brakelights loom out of the murk in front of me, I jammed on the brakes, and predictably slid into the back of the stopped car.

To make a long story short: There was no damage to the police car, and almost no damage to my car. The police officer made me stand there soaking in the pouring rain, with no umbrella or jacket, for more than 20 minutes while he lectured me on the importance of having good wipers and good tires (HE was under his umbrella, of course). After he'd finished, he let me go without a citation. When I asked him why, he looked at me and said "Are you kidding? Do you have ANY idea how much paperwork I'd have to fill out if I wrote you a ticket for this?"

I guess you could say that I was saved by red tape :)

[bicentennial_baby]

2. Well thank god for that!

The bumperstickers, that is. :P

Glad to hear you're ok, DTH. Car accidents suck, I've been in far too many.

Have a great weekend!

[Kathy in Cambridge]

3. Go to the doctor-seriously-aches and pains often take a few days

to develop. Happened to me two years ago. I was fine right after the accident. The next day I was in pain.

My sister still has neck pain from an accident last year. She was sitting at a stop light and got rear-ended too!

[DoveTurnedHawk]

4. Thanks for the Advice

I'm going to try to get in to see someone today.

DTH

[dkf]

13. I'm so sorry to hear that.

I got rear ended a few years back and the area a few inches below my next was throbbing for over a week.

Went to the doctor a few times, but really, he didn't say anything helpful. Thank goodness it went away after about 10 days.

DTH: I know we've had some skirmishes in the past. After reading your post on supporting Dean if he gets the nom I feel pretty bad that I let myself go off on your guy like that. He is the best of the rest of the bunch and I am glad he has not let those advisors of his, who I still think do not do him justice, talk him into their yucky tactics. That actually shows he IS in control despite my earlier fears to the contrary.

The other guys in this race are becoming so poisonous that it is actually making me feel physically sick and nauseous. I've lost 6 pounds just on all these negative vibes and I'm not sleeping well lately. Thank goodness for Clark and Carol Mosely Braun.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

15. Cheers, Friend

It's good to have passion. We're going to need every ounce of it to beat Bush in 2004!

Thanks for your post! And glad to hear your injuries subsided. I'm curious to see what the doctor will say.

:toast:

DTH

[RebelOne]

7. Yep, I've been rear-ended twice.

Luckily, no injuries, but my cars sure got dented up.

[eyesroll]

6. I've been in the middle car in a crash like that

Not fun. The car in front of me stopped suddenly. I stopped suddenly. The car behind me stopped suddenly, but only after smashing my car and propelling it into the one in front of me.

No injuries, thank fully, but you described the disorientation well. I was out of it for a day or two after that.

Glad everyone is OK -- and don't be afraid to go to the doctor if you're still in pain.

[Drifter]

9. Same happened to me ...

about 8 years ago.

I was at a red light not paying attention to much (expecially behind me). WHAM, no attempt to stop. No scretching tires. He was going about 30MPH. I was not hurt at all, and as I got out of the car, I could feel him back away from my car (no big deal yet). He then proceeded to backup up into a car load of college girls behind him, and pulled out out and sped off (to everyone's disbelief). Everyone involved (as well as several witnesses) took note of his plate number. One guy actually followed him for a while to get his plate number.

By the time the police came, and the word got out, this guy had already been pulled over by a cop who noticed that he did not have any headlights (they where under the back of my car).

I had to be taken to where he was pulled over, so that I could identify him (as I was the only one to get a look at his face.

this guy was all dressed up in a very expensive suit (he lived in rich area), but his car was a beat up peice of shit. I suspect that this guy is a serious alcoholic, who has a beater car for when he goes out boozin.

Cheers
Drifter

[alfredo]

11. Do go to the doctor, do get a work up. symptoms can show up weeks,

or months later. A friend is in that situation now. Luckily he lives in a civilized nation that has national healthcare. His symptoms mimic MS.

[_NorCal_D_]

14. Glad to hear you're OK.

As are your bumperstickers. B-)

[proud patriot]

16. Scary , I'm glad you are okay

once you've been rear ended the rear view mirror takes
on a whole new meaning . I've been rear ended twice .

[radwriter0555]

17. Same thing happened to me last year. I got SCREWED. Get a good

lawyer, is all I can say.

I was unable to work for 4 months, and have permanent nerve damage in my hand from the pinched nerves resulting from the whiplash.

Total compensation? $3000.

Thanks Allstate.

[hlthe2b]

18. Those are some of the worst crashes... for the simple reason...

that there's not a damned thing you can do and usually never see it coming. For years afterwards (and mine was minor), I'd have that anxious feeling whenever I was stopped at a light-- I'd hear the horrendous sounds of crunching metal and squealing tires.

Recently, I was witness to one that just left me aghast. I was in the far right lane and could see a red sports car about to speed through the center lane intersection behind me, despite a line of cars stopped at the red light. The car never even slowed down, hit the first and went airborne to land on the third in line. Miraculously, no one appeared to be seriously hurt. The teen in the red sports car had apparently dropped his cell phone and reached down to pick it up, flooring the accelerator as he did. THough people were kind to him when they pulled him out to sit on the shoulder of the road while the police came, that level of wanton negligence just left me :mad:

[cally]

19. Glad the bumperstickers survived!

;-) And I'm very glad you are mostly OK. I agree that you need to see a doctor. The neck pain does linger.

[pmbryant]

20. Glad you appear to be ok, DTH

Hope the doctor verifies that diagnosis, too. :hi:

I was rear-ended once, back in 1987 in Chicago, and it was definitely not a fun experience (especially since I was only 18 years old at the time), though I too emerged unscathed.

The fellow was in a fully loaded van and was probably still going close to 30 mph when he hit me, stopped at a red light on northbound Lake Shore Drive right next to Soldier Field. The only door of my car (my parent's car actually, a 4-door hatchback) that could still be opened afterwards was the drivers door. The rear of my car was pretty well smashed in and it is a very good thing no one was back there. The driver of the van turned out to be uninsured.

At least I got a good story out of it, because the fellow's name, believe it or not, was Bond. James Bond.

:-)

--Peter

[CO Liberal]

21. Get Thee To a Doctor or Chiropractor ASAP!!!!!

I was rear-ended twice - once at high speed on the Interstate in 2000, and once while I was stopped for a red light in 2002. The first accident herniated two disks in my lumbar region - the second agravated the injury. I wear a TENS unit and take painkillers to try and manage the pain, but it looks like I'm stuck with it from now on......

[davsand]

22. I'm happy to hear you walked away from it...

...however, I'm very happy to hear you are being checked out today by a care provider. This is nothing to mess with and you are doing the right thing.

Hope all turns out well.

Laura

[Rowdyboy]

23. Glad you came out okay

The stiffness may get worse over the next couple of days. Take care of yourself.

[geniph]

25. I can't believe how many of us have been hit while

stopped at a red light! I had a dork plow into the back of my Saturn at about 35 - like others have said, no attempt whatsoever to stop. I got pushed clear through a busy intersection - how I avoided being T-boned was a pure miracle, according to the cop. I had no idea what had happened, because I heard an explosion (I thought), pieces of my dash and my coffee cup banged me on the head, then my seatback latch broke and left me drifting down the street, staring at the roof of the car, wondering how my brakes had managed to explode. I didn't even really understand that I'd been hit until I got out and looked at my car...I'd drifted a long way down the block. Then I was so shocky that I wandered into the busy intersection and started picking up my tools that had gotten blown out of my trunk, right into traffic. It never even occurred to me to go to the other driver, which is just as well - according to the cop on the scene, there was no one home at that address. His eyes were open, but there was no link light on that transceiver. I never did find out what his problem was.

My car was totaled, and I was out of work for several days. Fortunately, he had decent insurance. They gave me reasonable compensation for my car and a few thousand for my injuries. I never did get my cable tester replaced though (it got run over before I picked it up) - they kept trying to insist my homeowner's policy should cover that. I liked that cable tester, it worked much better than the fancy-pants ones.

The seatback latch on the Saturns eventually became a recall issue, but my lawyer talked me out of trying a product-liability suit - she said consumers virtually never win those unless it's a class action suit. I did file a complaint with the NHTSA, though. Never heard anything back about it, but I've since heard of many others with Saturn SL series cars whose seatback latches broke in collisions. I don't think I'd have had any injuries at all (except the bruises on my head from my coffee cup bonking me) if it hadn't broken.