Accidents happen, and sometimes crazy people are allowed to drive for some unknown reason. I was in a pretty bad accident a little over 2 years ago, and I still cringe at the fact that I told the police that I was okay.
I lost a lot of money when I told everyone that I was okay even though none of it was my fault.
The picture to the left is of my car after the accident. It looked A LOT worse in person and there was a lot of damage to the underneath.
The crazy guy for some reason had two metal poles that he attached to the front of his car (the police said this was another reason for why he’s crazy, because he could have ruptured my gas tank and I would have died instantly if he would have hit me any harder), and that is why there is a where hole-looking dent on my car.
The accident wasn’t my fault at all (even the police told me that this guy was crazy), the person hit me on the highway when they were going 65 miles per hour and I was in a dead stop in traffic. They were driving on the right shoulder of the highway and for some reason didn’t see my car sitting there complete still, even though I hadn’t moved in over 30 minutes.
I saw him coming from behind and about had a heart attack because I could see how fast he was going and the fact that he wasn’t stopping at all.
BAM, then the guy hit the back of my car. I gripped onto my steering wheel right before it happened, and I was told that made my injuries worse because I was extremely tense when it happened.
After he hit me, my car was pushed into the ditch on the side of the highway. He was going so fast that my car was pushed yards and yards away from where I was when I was at a complete stand still. He then ran into the person in front of me as well and totaled their car.
He then drove in front of both of us and he didn’t even have the decency to check on either of us. When the police showed up, they talked to him first. I was in complete shock that we were ignored in the beginning. The guy who hit us told the police that it was ME who hit the two of them.
The police asked me for my side of the story and at first thought I was lying. I was in disbelief because obviously the only damage to my car was to the back of my car. So how could it have been my fault? There are Philadelphia personal injury lawyers that I could have used, could have gone to the hospital and so on.
Then, before I knew it, a police officer ran over to me and was laughing. All I could think about was “WHAT THE HECK IS SO FUNNY!” I had just come from an interview at a national car rental company for their corporate offices, and knew that this accident would definitely eliminate me because NO accidents were allowed whatsoever. What would be the luck that I would get into an accident as I was driving home from the interview?
Anyways, the officer told me that he believed my story. Why? Because the guy who hit me’s license plate was IMPRINTED on the back on my car. You could read his license plate numbers completely clearly on the back on my car, so it was very obvious that he was lying.
I was hurt, but I’ve always been the type of person who hates dealing with any type of hassle. I feel deathly ill? I won’t go to the doctor because I’m lazy. My legs were bruised up, my neck hurt really bad because he hit me when he was driving insanely fast, my arms were in pain and I was extremely shaken up.
Lena says
Yikes, that's scary girl!! I've never been to a bad accident, just a small one with a couple of dents to our car. But some people on the roads really scary me (like the girls that put make-up on while driving on the highway etc.). What happened to the guy that hit you?
MakingSenseofCents says
I agree, some people are just such bad drivers! And I'm not sure what happened to him. The police accidentally gave me his address, and I'm not going to lie, I was definitely tempted to give him a piece of my mind!
The Norwegian Girl says
I`ve never been in a car accident, but my grandmother was in a really serious one in the 1980s, which had terrible consequences for her. She got really hurt, which later resulted in that she could no longer live at home by herself and had to go live in a retirement home where she literally whithered away.
MakingSenseofCents says
I'm sorry. That's really sad.
plantingourpennies says
I was rear-ended two years ago similar to you. I was completely stopped at a red light and the person behind me pushed me into the intersection. I'm not sure how it works where you live but in FL you have 3 years to settle claims – and we are still in the process with lawyers and insurance companies.
I have permanent damage to my back, so will have bills from it forever probably. If I didn't, I probably would have let it drop once my car was fixed… *sigh*
Anyhow, it might actually be worth pursuing if you have lasting medical damage.
MakingSenseofCents says
Wow that's crazy that you are still in the process! And I would attempt to deal with the guy, but he was super rich and lived in the of the richest areas around here, so I most likely would lose regardless because he probably would have gotten a great lawyer.
Leah says
I used to be an insurance agent – and it seems to me to you don't fully understand how accidents and insurance work. When an accident is not your fault, you file a claim with HIS insurance, his insurance will contact your insurance and THEY will work it out. Your insurance company will go to bat for you (their lawyers, their investigators) so they don't have to pay for your damages. If he doesn't have insurance, your policy should include "uninsured motorist coverage" – this coverage comes with a basic liability plan and is for the sole purpose of paying damages for a hit and run or accident caused by a motorist without insurance. Your insurance company would pay for damages and injures and then THEY would sue him. Basic liability coverage (which most states require a motorist to have) is for injuries and physical damage to the vehicle for the person who was hit. Meaning his INSURANCE should pay your medical bills. Unless you decide to personally sue him for some reason, his personal lawyers would never be involved. Note: I was licensed in most of the east coast, but all states do have slightly difference insurance laws.
MakingSenseofCents says
I do understand how insurance works, and I was talking about personally suing in my post. I did get money for the damage he did to my car, but my car still decreased in value since there was so much damage done to it. I also lost out on a lot of time and had a rental car for 3 months.
And yes, the insurance companies would handle most of it, but I was young and lazy at the time and just wanted to forget about the accident and not be involved in anymore phone calls than I already was. I was tangled in his mess for over an hour each day for around 3 months (yes I had a rental car at his expense for almost 3 months).
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Simple Finance Blog says
Never been in a bad accident – thankfully. All my accidents tend to happen in parking lots. I'm wondering if you ended up not getting that job for exactly the reason you explained in this post?
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MakingSenseofCents says
I actually ended up getting the job, but I turned it down. The pay wasn't high enough and they weren't willing to negotiate to where I wanted to be.
renel says
Summer of 2011 I was in a head on collision as a passenger. The person that hit the car I was in was going 50-60mph on a 25, ran a stop sign, turned the wrong way onto a highway and drove right into the car I was in. I saw it happening and blacked out. The driver at fault broke her toe. Her passenger was fine and so way my driver. My driver tried to avoid the accident by veering left which caused the accident to primarily hit passenger side at a rightward angle. It pushed our car over a lane into the guard rail which punctured my door and seat missing me. I broke my back and have part of ky spinal cord severed. I spent two weeks in a trauma unit, had massive back surgery fusing part of my lumbar together, then spent my summer vacation going through rehabilitation. I was 20. Best part….driver at fault had no insurance and it is required in ohio. She also didn’t have a license. She went to jail for a while and now owes a lot of money to insurance companies and the state. My care was around 300,000. My surgery was over 100,000 by its self.
Canadianbudgetbinder says
No and I hope I never am. I posted on my Saturday Review Blog Post yesterday about some donut that nearly got Mrs.CBB and I and themselves killed the other day. She ran a red light onto a highway and I was coming at her at 80km, lucky there was no one in the left lane but I only had seconds to move over a bit whilst hammering on the horn. We were so close to her car if Mrs.CBB rolled the window down she could have touched it. I would have plowed right into her drivers side and probably killed her and potentially ourselves, and all because she failed to stop at a red light. Sometimes I wonder why people don't have a minute to live. There's nothing more important in this world than life itself.. not work, not an appointment, not a text message, NOTHING! Anyhow, glad you are ok… you had an angel watching over you, and so did we! Cheers Mr.CBB
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Jason Clayton says
Man.. very scary – and thankfully you are OK. Its one thing to run into someone, its another thing altogether to lie about it and try to get out of trouble by being a deceitful person. I remember when I was in downtown Chicago, and the valet driver ran my VW into a pole. I wasn't very happy when they lied about it, but that doesn't come close to your situation.
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Corinne says
yikes! That sounds and looks awful! How scary to see him approaching and know that there was going to be an impending hit! And it is sad and scary how many people are allowed to drive that clearly shouldn't be!
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Brian says
I was in a accident in June 2006. My car was pretty much folded in half. I was sitting at a stop light when I glanced into my rear-view mirror and saw a flatbed truck coming and thought to myself "holy s***! this guy isn't going to stop." I started to look to my left so I could just blow through the red light and BOOM! Next thing I remember is someone reaching into my car and turning off this ignition asking if I was alright and not to move. In the end I was able to walk away without a single scratch on my body and a minor concussion. I took some pictures with my camera phone and when I look at them today it shocks me how lucky I was since I had thought about riding my motorcycle that day….
CrazyTragicAlmostMagic says
I've never been in an accident luckily. Also, just happened to see your twitter comments – you shoudl NOT be apologizing for this post. Accidents are traumatic no matter how big or small, and I'm sorry, but from the looks of your car this was not small. I know about the tensing issue so you definitely could have been severely injured. Fortunately you're ok, but you're crazy for not persuing this when you could.
Allison says
Yikes, that's really scary. I've never been in an accident this bad, but sister was in a similar situation when she was hit while stopped at a red light. In her case the car was only going ~45 mph, which made a huge difference compared to 65! Her car was totaled, but she wasn't hurt at all beyond minor bruises. Her car was pushed into the car in front of her, but fortunately there were people walking by on the sidewalk (and fortunately they were not hit!) who stuck around to tell the police that my sister had been completely stopped behind the other car.
The accident I was in when I was 16 was pretty minor, but caused "social damage", if you will, because the other driver was a very popular girl at my high school. I was driving down the road, and she failed to stop at a stop sign (she was on her phone) and just drove right out in front of me. I slammed on the breaks, but it was too late. Obviously I didn't get a ticket because I was just driving down a road and had no stop sign, but she told everyone at school that I hit her and somehow talked my way out of a ticket. Luckily, a few of my friends and some other students had been driving behind me or her (we were all on our way home from school) and stood up for me, but most of her friends were rude to me, called me a bad driver, a liar, etc, for the rest of high school. Fun times. (of course, neither one of us was hurt, because I was going so slowly at the time, so things could have been much, much worse. And everyone around was paying attention and also managed to stop without causing any other accidents)
edwardra3 says
I've been in a grand total of 8 accidents of varying degrees of fault. Once, I was even the victim of a hit-and-run accident with a UPS truck!
My worst accident was when I was 18 and working 2 jobs. Driving from job 1 to job 2, I fell asleep behind the wheel, ran across what is usually a very busy road and hit a telephone pole. Created a U-shape crater 2 feet deep in my 68 Beetle! 68 was before retractable seatbelts, so I always wore mine a bit loose so I could lean forward to look around a curve. When I hit the pole, I slid forward and hit the steel dash with my knees and the steel steering wheel with my chest (and face). The responding paramedic's first words were "how are you not dead?" I was banged up pretty bad, but nothing broken. But I now have chronic pain in my knees.
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krissy says
In March 2015 I was hit by a ups trucks he totaled my car my neck is broken and permanently dislocated I’ve lost use of my arm lost memory. He hit me at full speed I was at a complete stop. He stated that he was looking around getting familiar with the area and did not see my car.