On Monday I had a serious accident. I collided head on with a van travelling at high speed
in a cross road. My car completely smashed (front passenger side was non existing after
crash) yet I survived with bruises and muscle sprain and could walk of my own. Paramedics
and doctors said no broken ribs. Still has pain in chest which will take weeks to recover.
Seat belt and airbag saved my life. During the moment of impact, the seatbelt tightned
automatically so much to keep me positioned on seat that I got bruises on ribs and waist.
Both airbags were also deployed. My speed was ~25 mph and van's was ~40 mph. So combined
speed was ~65 mph. After hitting me, the van hit a railing at roadside which bent on impact. The van (VW Transporter) had crumpled front but was still drivable though it was making terrible mechanical sound and was recovered by truck along with my car.
The whole impact happened in less than a second. The impact hit my car (2006 Suzuki Ignis)
so hard that it turned 180 degree! I still can't remember how exactly it happened. At that
very moment I felt severe jolt, saw airbag opening in front of me, felt severe pain in parts
of my body (due to jerk/seat belt tensioning) and thought I am dying. May be that's what
called 'g' force effect. No word can explain this experience. It is only felt by who has
actually been involved in a high speed accident.
Initially I was so trumatised that I thought I'd give up driving forever. Then recovered and
realized that won't solve any problem and I have to drive again anyway.
I have to buy a new car now. Decided to buy a newer car (against an older but luxury car) as
much my budget allows because I think car safety has made good progress in recent years. Had
I been a banger, I might not have survived to type this. In fact I dropped the idea of old
banger after some of you recommended against aruging newer (albeing small) cars are safer.
Glad that I followed your advice.
Those who are regular here may recall that earlier I posted a thread for an old auto to do
my 40+40 miles daily commute. But recently I changed job so that I can commute by train
instead. Unfortunately on first day of new job, I thought we'll go by car first week and
then use the train from next week. But accidents do happen! I am using train now BTW.
I have started my normal life again (though only driving is from home to rail station). Not
taking any pain killers as I can bear the chest pain. Sleeping at night is painful at night
when body makes a particular angle. Can't walk fast. Just hoping things will improve over
time.
PS: I have been told by doctors that seat belt tensioning can actually break bones!
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Very glad to hear you have survived. Modern motors definitely safer than older ones. I'm sure time will ease your aches and pains. With luck your insurance will pay out quickly so you can buy a new motor and 'get back in the saddle' again. Good luck to you.
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So glad you're not too badly injured, Movi.
Everything seems to have done it's job well. better a few bruised or broken ribs than an involuntary flight through the screen !
Hope you improve over the next few days.
Ted
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That must have been a terrible shock, but it's good to hear that you are still in one piece.
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I hope you're ok. The cars are just metal the fact you are ok is the important thing. It will probably take a few weeks for it all to properly sink in though.
I remember when my cousins Astra went out of control and hit a tree at 40mph the police said it was only due to modern safety he survived.
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Extremely pleased that, despite all, you're well enough to post here...which, by a large measure, is more important than anything else. There will be all sorts of issues for you to deal with - and you'll sort them out in due course. The vehicle you were driving obviously kept you safe enough despite the combined impact speed, so credit to be offered there.
Sincere good wishes for full recovery.
Post further with progress when you're able.
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Sounds like you had a lucky escape Movilogo..... far better to have a few bruises from seatbelt and airbags than flying through the windscreen and hitting the road though....
I'm slightly confused by your account of the accident though.
Who was at fault or the cause of the accident? You say you had a head on collision but in a cross road???
If it was a head on then you must have seen him coming - if it was a cross road , who had priority?
Anyway I hope the pain is easing......
Last edited by: retpocileh on Thu 27 May 10 at 12:13
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Glad you came out of the crash no worse than walking wounded, time will heal the aches and pains. I bet you are one person who will never "forget" to use your seatbelt.
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What a horrible experience, ML, and I'm glad you're OK. I hope the after-effects are short-lived and you can get back to enjoying the new job.
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My commiserations: I hope that you make a speedy recovery. A very good job indeed that you were going no faster than 25mph. What was the speed limit in the area?
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Glad to hear you survived what could have so easily been a much worse outcome. I hope you fully recover quickly and don't suffer pains too long.
Even though i have a bit of a libertarian streak (definitely i'm more centre left rather than AC-esque L.E.F.T. though! :-P), i'm glad we do have legal requirements for car safety, forcing new technologies and techniques to be devised, proven then adopted.
In the grand scheme of things, road travel is just transport, it's not comparable to life. Sometimes i'm guilty of getting a bit hung up on things that just really don't matter all that much really.
It's not really the end of the world if tyro the heretic chooses to do 40mph where i fancy 60mph but can't get past safely. I'll ease off a bit after reading this.
I'm reminded of what Humph said a while back and it struck a chord -- something along the lines of "i try to drive in a way people wont remember i've been there". Maybe that's my new driving motto rather than demanding 100% perfection from myself and others.
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Sorry to hear about your accident, but glad to hear you are OK - I hope the other driver was also OK ?
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All the best, ml. Delighted to hear you're OK.
I've had that "Oh no, I'm going to die here" feeling when I rolled off the M40 in a Metro, getting coated with petrol spilling in through the missing windscreen. I know how you feel.
Get well soon.
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Keep well Movi. Nasty experience that.
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Best wishes chap, speedy recovery.
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Yes big accidents, when they happen, happen in the blink of an eye. Glad you're OK. Cars are replaceable, people less so (although SWMBO might disagree ...)
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Everybodies nightmare comrade!!! Get Well Soon.
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>>
>> I have to buy a new car now. Decided to buy a newer car (against
>> an older but luxury car) as
>>
>> much my budget allows because I think car safety has made good progress in recent
>> years. Had
>>
>> I been a banger, I might not have survived to type this. In fact I
>> dropped the idea of old
>>
>> banger after some of you recommended against aruging newer (albeing small) cars are safer.
>>
Good to know you did well in the crash, and best wishes for a complete recovery.
Re. buying cars, I'd rather buy a 3 year old safe solid Vectra or Mondeao than a brand new tiny safe Panda Corsa or Ka any day even though I do not need any more space or performance than a Panda Corsa or Ka would give me.
Last edited by: John H on Thu 27 May 10 at 14:48
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I'm glad you survived to tell this tale - a testament to modern car design.....
All modern cars are far superior to their older brethren in a crash, I remember a top gear program maybe 5 or more years ago where a Fiesta was compared to a Freelander, the Fiesta being a circa 2001 design and the Freelander being more like a 2006 design, the myth that bigger is better was exposed when the passenger cell of the Fiesta was undamaged (so the doors opened normally) whereas the (older) Freelander's passenger cell distorted - possibly in the 30mph NCAP test but I can't remember.
Before you buy your next car, go and look at the NCAP website and don't assume that bigger is necessarily better.
Good luck and I hope you make a speedy recovery, it does change you - I won't travel in anything without wearing a seatbelt because (in my youth) I experienced a roll-over in a friends car. I won't drive anything without ABS and a full compliment of airbags either for that matter (which is why I harp on about Skoda omitting curtain bags on most Octavias).
Last edited by: idle_chatterer on Thu 27 May 10 at 15:40
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>>I'd rather buy a 3 year old safe solid Vectra or Mondeao than a brand new tiny safe Panda Corsa or Ka any day<<
S'like insurance ... ya don't need it until ya need it :)
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There is the argument that you're more likel;y to crash a bigger car though because its harder to steer away from objects. My Panda is only 3 star NCAP but that was because when tested it had no ABS or passanger airbag, all standard now.
Still if I was doing a lot of motorway driving I still think I would prefer a bigger car.
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Glad to hear you're pretty much OK. Personally I'll be sticking to big, old cars as even 'old' luxobarges have abs, airbags and seatbelt pre-tensioners. Bear in mind that NCAP ratings are relative to the size of car as well. I recall a survey from somewhere ( can't remember source) that reckoned that large executive cars had the best overall accident survivability; presumably on the basis that they have larger crumple zones.
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spamcan, you are right about NCAP ratings being for a class of car. A car the size of say a BMW 5 series with 4 stars is probably significantly safer than a small car with 5 stars. Comparison can only be done between cars in a class.
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Blimey Movi, take it easy old chap you'll have bruises and aches and pains just about everywhere.
Glad you walked away from it too.
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NOT,
check youtube for crashes between various ncap ratings of cars and different sizes.
The orginal poster has had a serious accident, if he wants a car with higher NCAP ratings to feel safer then thats fine by me. I know how he feels, having been in the same boat.
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"having been in the same boat"
Is there anything you haven't crashed?
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took the airbag off a 2001 punto today
its sell by date is next month
movilogo glad you are ok
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Didn't someone set one off as a dare in the days of HJ ?
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>> Didn't someone set one off as a dare in the days of HJ ?
I'm still waiting for the video. ;>
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>> Didn't someone set one off as a dare in the days of HJ ?
>>
but some others have many many times as in
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPSJrK5a1UU
or the popular ( beware swearing content) domestic example.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vppxu70Wojo
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>> spamcan, you are right about NCAP ratings being for a class of car. A car
>> the size of say a BMW 5 series with 4 stars is probably significantly safer
>> than a small car with 5 stars. Comparison can only be done between cars in
>> a class.
>>
Yes and no....
There is some substance to this but the NCAP data about passenger cell distortion, loads (forces) exerted on passenger's bodies, harm from dash and trim etc is comparable between classes of cars. A modern supermini is still (probably) as good (if not better) than a 10 year old luxo-barge. Also the NCAP standards are increasing over time so a new-ish 4 star is better than a 10 year old one.
The fact still remains that many 4x4s do not offer the superior protection 'assumed' by their buyers and can actually perform worse in a crash than their smaller counterparts.
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Gee, pleased that you are OK!
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I couldn't see the Suzuki Ignis shown in the NCAP results?
Current Golf is looking to be among the safest by NCAP's reckoning.
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>> A modern supermini is still (probably) as good (if not better) than a 10 year old luxo-barge
I think I am right in saying when the previous BMW 5 series came out it did not get 5 stars for NCAP. Some super-minis would have had 5 stars for NCAP. I was not referring to a 10 year old car. The Fiesta I got rear ended in by an HGV back in 2006 (? was it that long ago!) proves small cars are strong. And they do not test rear end collision for NCAP.
I feel bad for not saying earlier: Glad you're okay Movilogo!!
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>> >> A modern supermini is still (probably) as good (if not better) than a 10
>> year old luxo-barge
>>
My point was to compare a brand new mini or small car with a "nearly new" used modern, i.e. 3 years old, medium or family sized car costing about the same to buy as the brand new small car.
Last edited by: John H on Thu 27 May 10 at 23:35
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Sounds terrifying. Glad to hear you are ok.
Reminds me of a crash that I was involved in more than 20 years ago.
Friend had a mark 2 escort that had a blow out going round a corner.
The car took out a school metal railing and ended up on its roof. The engine of the car was ripped clean out of the car and ended up 100yds up the street. Police turned up and thought we where all dead. They could not believe we had all survived and where out of the car and walking about. Spoke to the officer later and he told us that if any of us had not been wearing our seat belts we would have been dead or another 6ft up from where we hit the fence was a very large tree and we would not have stood a chance.
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Sorry to hear that, but very glad that you are (relatively) OK.
When I chose to go with a Mondeo as my first car, a very large part of the consideration was trying to buy safety.
I suppose if I had more experience I might have let safety take more of a back seat but then, as your experience shows, the other guy might be the problem and so you can't just bank on your own abilities.
Last edited by: SteelSpark on Fri 28 May 10 at 16:40
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Movilogo,
Thoroughly unpleasant experience.
Seems like you're starting to come to terms with it already, which has to be a good thing.
I had a much less serious crash many years ago and suffered from what I would call 'delayed shock', that is I felt reasonably OK straight afterwards, but felt fearful, upset and generally ill a few days later.
We are all different, but my mind was just not right for a while, even though I might have thought it was.
So I would be inclined to avoid making any big decisions for a few weeks - about the accident or anything else.
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Had a serious accident - percy
