Been in an accident? - Any lessons learnt?

Front car in a 3 car pile up. No injuries and the middle car took the most damage. But never a nice experience to hear the brakes screeching, look into your rear view mirror, seeing smoke and a car moving waaayyy to fast to stop in time. Looking forward, knowing you can't move forward because the highway is a parking lot in front of you. And yes, everything happens in slow-mo. S
 
I was on the right hand lane driving 120km with a safe following distance on the highway. The guy started braking in front of me I did not start to brake which meant my safe following distance became not so safe quickly. When I actually realized I had to break it was to late. I rear ended the guy in front of me. I did not expect to go from 120 to 0 in the fast lane on the highway and my car did not have ABS. I was still able to drive away but the damage was unfortunate enough to scrap my car.

Lesson learned, if I see a break light in front of me I will make sure to reduce my speed to still have enough time to stop and I now have a car with ABS. If my car had ABS back then the accident would not have happened. I still drive as if I do not have ABS, just to be on the safe side.
 
Taxis are deathtraps and anybody in a more expensive car drives like an a$$

Taxis i think are pretty self explanatory, they do whatever they like and dont give a hoot
Red/green all the same to them.

People in expensive cars love tailgating to try pressure you to move faster, if your not in the rightmost lane, their just being a$$,
Dented my sentra once with some guy in a z4
Easily could have avoided me, instead drove into me just for fun.....
 
I have been in one recently, and will probably make a thread detailing my idiocy and related costs when I know what it all amounts to. :/
 
Insint said:
Lesson learned, if I see a break light in front of me I will make sure to reduce my speed to still have enough time to stop and I now have a car with ABS. If my car had ABS back then the accident would not have happened. I still drive as if I do not have ABS, just to be on the safe side.
Click to expand...

Dude, you know that ABS is there to save you from crashing, not for use in regular driving, right?

If you're driving happily with your brake pedal pulsing as the ABS desperately tries to keep your brakes from locking up, I suggest you re-think your strategy :P

In my case, a guy like you crashed into me while he wasn't paying attention. I'm just happy that I'd been keeping a decent following distance from the car in front of me, because my car was shunted into that one, but ultimately not hard enough to deploy the airbags. The rear crumple zone took most of the impact, and my insurance is now sitting with the R24 000 bill that has been quoted by the panelbeaters.

Lessons from this:
1: I used to drive with my headlights on during the day, just so that I'm more visible to cars ahead of me when they quickly check their mirrors before trying a rapid lane-change (happens ALL the time in Cape Town). I've since gone back to driving with my lights off during the day, because my new theory is that people who're only barely paying attention while driving don't notice the difference between tail-lights being on because the headlights are on, and tail-lights being on because you're actually braking. Now they at least have the full off/on range to see.

2: Pay as much attention to the cars behind you as the cars in front of you ... accelerate slowly, brake extremely evenly, and SCREW them if they decide to start tail-gating (a behaviour I discourage by rapidly tapping my brakes).

3: Keep a big following distance at all costs, even in slow moving traffic (when the tendency is to draw up closer to the car ahead of you). Not only will this give you more time to make a decision if things go to pieces ahead of you, but it reduces the sandwich effect if somebody crashes into you from behind.

4: Always have full insurance. The last two accidents I've been in have both been the other driver's fault, and they've both been insured anyway, but neither was cheap and I'd have *hated* to even consider paying for those repairs myself. Also I pat myself on the back for having a low excess (only R1 000) which I can at least afford when other people drive into me (there's a good couple months before the whole insurance claim wraps up and you get that excess refunded!), and have always paid that little extra for a rental car (R60/month for that option is *so* worth it, for two weeks of a rental car at no cost).
 
This^^^^
Excellent piece of advice, especially no2
I hate tailgaters, what is it about some people that try to pressure you into driving faster?
When i try discourage them here in jhb, they get all aggressive with me, flash lights, hoot, ovretake and try crash into me, crazy stuff....

And 9 times out of 10 its a luxary car or a taxi..
 
I was in an accident on December 1st last year.

Was driving along De Waal into town and as the road bent to the right, I passed a slow moving bakkie on my left. He then turned straight into me and pushed me into the right barrier.

He had no indicators on, and was sitting in his lane as I approached. Nothing I could've done differently to prevent this, but luckily he was in a company car so they were charged with the R28k repair bill.
 
Foxhound5366 said:
Dude, you know that ABS is there to save you from crashing, not for use in regular driving, right?
Click to expand...
ABS, yes that only kicks in when the wheels lock up due to braking. Depending on the road surface you might also need EBD and CBC. On dirt roads especially CBC is quite handy if you are driving and braking hard.
 
Twice my car this year had to engage the auto braking system (city safety) ... I need to pay more attention to the road!
 
Foxhound5366 said:
Dude, you know that ABS is there to save you from crashing, not for use in regular driving, right?

If you're driving happily with your brake pedal pulsing as the ABS desperately tries to keep your brakes from locking up, I suggest you re-think your strategy :P

In my case, a guy like you crashed into me while he wasn't paying attention. I'm just happy that I'd been keeping a decent following distance from the car in front of me, because my car was shunted into that one, but ultimately not hard enough to deploy the airbags. The rear crumple zone took most of the impact, and my insurance is now sitting with the R24 000 bill that has been quoted by the panelbeaters.

Lessons from this:
1: I used to drive with my headlights on during the day, just so that I'm more visible to cars ahead of me when they quickly check their mirrors before trying a rapid lane-change (happens ALL the time in Cape Town). I've since gone back to driving with my lights off during the day, because my new theory is that people who're only barely paying attention while driving don't notice the difference between tail-lights being on because the headlights are on, and tail-lights being on because you're actually braking. Now they at least have the full off/on range to see.

2: Pay as much attention to the cars behind you as the cars in front of you ... accelerate slowly, brake extremely evenly, and SCREW them if they decide to start tail-gating (a behaviour I discourage by rapidly tapping my brakes).

3: Keep a big following distance at all costs, even in slow moving traffic (when the tendency is to draw up closer to the car ahead of you). Not only will this give you more time to make a decision if things go to pieces ahead of you, but it reduces the sandwich effect if somebody crashes into you from behind.

4: Always have full insurance. The last two accidents I've been in have both been the other driver's fault, and they've both been insured anyway, but neither was cheap and I'd have *hated* to even consider paying for those repairs myself. Also I pat myself on the back for having a low excess (only R1 000) which I can at least afford when other people drive into me (there's a good couple months before the whole insurance claim wraps up and you get that excess refunded!), and have always paid that little extra for a rental car (R60/month for that option is *so* worth it, for two weeks of a rental car at no cost).
Click to expand...

Am not surprised you have been rear ended.
 
Foxhound5366 said:
3: Keep a big following distance at all costs, even in slow moving traffic (when the tendency is to draw up closer to the car ahead of you). Not only will this give you more time to make a decision if things go to pieces ahead of you, but it reduces the sandwich effect if somebody crashes into you from behind.
Click to expand...

Much easier said than done on our road - big following distances are quickly filled up with other cars.

Another thing to do when driving is to never assume anything.
 
A sibling of mine was involved in a rear end accident. The lady behind her was talking on her phone and had no attention on the road. Thankfully the damage my sibling's car was not too bad. Tow-bar FTW

Moral of this story. Get off your f*****g phone and use a hands free kit.
 
silent_wolf said:
I looked into that cause I wondered and everything I found said they would go off regardless
Click to expand...

An airbag only goes off when seat belts are on. They are an ADDITIONAL safety mechanism that works with a safety belt.

If the airbag went off and no seat belt is on it would most likely kill you.
 
I was rear ended in Jan 2013. All of us stopped at some roadworks in Hillcrest. Except the old lady(76 years old) in a Tazz behind me. She claimed she did not see us stop and probably rammed into me at around 45-50kmh.
My car only need a new rear bumber(Audi A3). Her car was totaled. Her insurance paid for everything.
Lesson learn't: Watch out for old ladies at all times.
 
Foxhound5366 said:
Dude, you know that ABS is there to save you from crashing, not for use in regular driving, right?
Click to expand...

More specifically, ABS doesn't (necessarily) help you stop any quicker, but what it does is gives you control while braking hard.
 
Claymore said:
More specifically, ABS doesn't (necessarily) help you stop any quicker, but what it does is gives you control while braking hard.
Click to expand...

For the average driver, ABS absolutely decreases stopping distances. Unless you think that the average driver can modulate the brakes as effectively as ABS
 
Claymore said:
More specifically, ABS doesn't (necessarily) help you stop any quicker, but what it does is gives you control while braking hard.
Click to expand...

Dude, just Google videos. Half the stopping distance or less at speed, easy, with ABS.

Datsun Go thinks it's not necessary.
 
ABS should be standard equipment in all cars. I can stop a lot of accidents from happening and also reduce the number of write-offs insurance companies have to deal with.
 
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