I witnessed an odd accident a year or so ago. I was driving home in my (then) Liberty at around 2:30 am on a six lane interstate (3 west bound lanes, then a median roughly the size of 2 lanes and 3 east bound lanes) There was hardly any traffic on the road but I did notice a white SUV in the opposote lane of traffic about a hundred meters in front of me. There was a slight bend in the road and the guy driving missed it and headed across all three lanes and into the median, Now the median is lower than the road and the guy was [apparently] go so fast that when the front of the truck hit the low spot it rolled over, end over end two or three times. I couldn't believe what I saw, I immediately pulled over and dialed 911 as I ran across the median to the SUV, that I now could see was an 02-05 Explorer. When I got to the Explorer (which had come to rest back on it's wheels) The driver was in the passenger floor board, and what happened next I still can't believe. I yelled to the guy to see if he was hurt, and he crawled back into the drivers seat and drove off (I can't remember if he had to restart the truck or if it stayed running) He just drove off down the interstate, slowly mid you, as he had one tire completely off of the rim and he was dragging fascia parts...but still he DROVE AWAY. I figured he must've been drunk and didn't want to get a DWI. Funny thing is that other than car parts the median was littered with a guitar, school books tools etc. from the back windows busting out and letting the cargo escape. I was on the phone with the state troopers the entire time, and they thought it was a prank call at first because of the description of the wreck and then I told them the guy just drove away.

I was also very close to a wreck when I was a teenager, and this one I still sometimes have nightmares about.

I was coming home from work one day in the summer of 99 or 00. I was riding with a co-worker and we came across an accident right after it had happened, it was before the emergency responders got there and there still seemed to be smoke in the air from the collision. I looked down the highway and saw what looked like a green Mercury Cougar facing the wrong way on the highway and my heart sank. You see this was right when the new Cougars had just came out and they you didn't see them too much and I had a friend that had one, a very distinct green one with a spoiler. I just ran to see if this was my friends car, and while it was...that was nowhere near the worst thing I saw. My friend was very lucky only a concussion and a some soreness, The driver of the other cars both got much worse. This is what happened, My friend was racing with another guy I knew down a five lane highway (two lanes in each direction with a center turning lane in the middle) The cars were the new Cougar and a 91 Mustang GT that the other kids parent's just bought him (more on that in a minute) both cars were modified with the Cougar having N2O and a body kit etc. (F&F crap) the mustang, I honestly don't know how modified but there were plenty of performance stickers and chrome under the hood.) So They are racing with the Cougar in the inside lane, and came up to a curve in the road, the Mustang's right wheels left the pavement and the driver over corrected steering his car into the Cougar. The mustang clipped the Cougar right in front of the rear wheel and it sent the cougar spinning off, The Cougar did a few 360s but didn't hit anything else and never left the road. The Mustang however shot across the turning lane and was T-boned by a Ford Ranger in the first lane of the opposite traffic. The police estimated that at impact the Ranger (who's driver never had time to brake) was traveling at 60mph and the Mustang was traveling somewhere around 90. The guy in the Ranger (who was a guy in his forties heading home from work) was airlifted to the hospital after they cut him out of his truck, I remember he suffered lots of broken bones and such but I really don't know the extent of his injuries as I didn't know him. The driver of the Mustang died on the scene, in the arms of my auto shop teacher (who also saw the wreck as it happened just yards from our high school) I will never forget that sight, he was completly unrecognizable and I remember having to give the police his name because I recognized the car. There wasn't much to recognize however the only reason I knew it was his car is because of the temporary registration plate that I found on the road. The Mustang was literally split into two halves with the front half of the car (up to the rear of the front seats) on one side of the highway and the rear of the car was on the other side in the trees about 30 meters from the front. And right in the center turning lane was the driver. The debris field was also huge. I gave my statement to the police, and actually drove my stupid friends Cougar home from the scene as he was so worried about his precious car that he wouldn't go to the hospital otherwise.

As if the above accident wasn't bad enough I felt guilty for years because I somehow thought the accident was my fault. About 4 days prior to this accident I had a "run in" with the owner of the Mustang as we lived in the same neighborhood, although we wern't friends by any means. He had just gotten the Mustang and was trying to race everything in the world, including my car. The conversation went something like this:

him: Hey Tomme Check out my new Mustang, it's way fast.
me: Cool, whats under the hood?
him: lots of stuff I just beat this guy's Camaro and someone else's honda.
Me: well that doesn't take much, you've got a 5.0 against stock four and six cyl cars.

He then proceeds to do a burnout and speed down the residential street I live on. About two hours later I run into him again as I am getting gas and he asks if I want to race, which I said something like of course not I drive an automatic 1995 Honda Civic DX hatchback...not a very fast car, but that doesn't stop him from trying to race when we leave the gas station. He was always a very reckless driver but this was just too much and I told him so when I got back into my neighborhood. He was in his driveway and I stopped my car and told him that he was going to kill someone with the way he drives and hopefully it would be him and not someone else. And 4 days later he was dead. That really screwed with me for a long time. Somehow I thought because I said it it came true

Indeed, that's unusual ; good that you didn't had problems with the police for prank call after that

About the other one, indeed it must be traumatic

I saw this

In 2008 this bad crash http://www.rp-online.de/panorama/deutschland/vier-tote-schwerer-unfall-auf-der-a31-bid-1.1944282 happened just a few seconds after I've passed the place in the other direction. Or it happened, when I'd been just there, no idea.

I must say, that I never felt any mercy with the four dead and two badly injured guys. It was totally their fault.

In the Audi were six(!) young guys, all Bundeswehr-soldiers, none of them was buckled up. It was still dark at half past five in the morning, but it was clear and dry and this Autobahn has not any curves or hills at all.
Shortly before a Polish Van had a rather light accident with a truck, which transported cooking oil. The damaged Van stood on the left lane, behind it a car with hazard lights on, the slightly damaged truck stood on the breakdown line.
Since the beginning of the Autobahn A31 the Audi drove with 200 km/h and more on the left lane. When the driver saw the accident, he tried to pass it via the breakdown lane. But there stood the truck. So the morons smashed into it.


Some month later I've witnessed a crash at the entry of our village. I've followed on the country road a Golf II, which went on the left turning lane. It indicated, stopped - and then drove on, despite the oncoming traffic, which I could even see from 200 meters behind! I thought "Hmm, this looks not really good", and in this moment the Golf smashed frontal into an oncoming Golf IV. Noone was injured, but boths Golfs were totaled.


My wife (btw., she is busy with car accidents the whole day. It's her profession in the claim settlement of an insurance. I'm in that business, too, but not for car accidents) once spotted a crash, which made all people around, incl. her really happy
When she entered the Autobahn 44 right besides the Düsseldorf Airport, there was an annoying asshole-driver in a VW Phaeton, whoc drove like a shithead. He entered the Autobahn via the breakdown lane, tried to overtake all other cars on the right side (forbidden in Germany), shoved the others, used the flash lights and so on. As of course he never hold an appropiate distance, he couldn't see, what happened before. Once, after he jerkily went behind a Van from the middle to the left lane (of course too narrow to the following car) he smashed fully into the the last end of a traffic jam.
In all cars around you could see only loughing faces

Similar thing near my office two weeks ago

The last one was not too far ago, last autumn (I already told it here): on the way back from a classic car pare parts market, I drove on the Autobahn A2 and saw, how a black 2006+ Ford Mustang suddenly starts slipping in the curve of the ramp, turns around and smashed with the front into the guardrails.

Aside from the time I rear-ended a Lexus RX at low speed in stop-and-go traffic, two come to mind.

Location 1: Sleepy Hollow Road x Dearborn Drive


Saw this one driving to high school one morning. I remember that the cars were a Ford Explorer and a Mercury Mountaineer (a neat coincidence, that), but don't recall which was which. I was driving south on Sleepy Hollow. Lady was waiting to make a right turn from Dearborn onto northbound Sleepy Hollow, but a steady stream of traffic was blocking her. A northbound minivan slowed to turn right onto Dearborn; lady waiting sees her opportunity and starts to make her turn. Driver behind the minivan, however, moves over to pass the minivan and ends up slamming right into turning lady's left front quarter.

Location 2: Sunset Hills Road x Wiehle Avenue


Saw this one driving to work one morning, waiting at the light on westbound Sunset Hills. Lady in a Toyota Corolla is waiting at the light on eastbound Sunset Hills. She's already past the stop line and at the crosswalk. She's creeping forward, and I remember thinking "What is she doing?" When her light turns green she starts into the intersection but cross traffic on Wiehle hasn't cleared yet. Sure enough, SCREECH! CRUNCH! AIRBAGS! Toyota Rav4 southbound on Wiehle (he must have entered the intersection when his light was yellow or even just turned red) slams into Corolla's left front quarter.

How about a dramatic near miss?

Saturday morning, Lanham, MD, couple years ago. I was coming off the night shift, really not very happy or very awake. I want to go home. Driving black 1998 Honda Civic, westbound on Route 50 at the interchange with the Beltway (I-495).

The interchange is kind of a weird one, and it will confuse you if you're not paying attention or just not used to it. To get on the outer loop, you get in the lane all the way to the right; to get on the inner loop, you get in the lane second from the right. All other lanes to the left of these two are through lanes (Rt 50). The two exit lanes split and are separated by a low raised median and a shoulder-type lane. I want to get on the inner loop, and I'm familiar with the interchange, so I get in the correct lane.

In the dividing shoulder-type lane there is a disabled flatbed semi, not impeding traffic, got his orange triangles out, etc., doing everything he should.

Three cars ahead of me in the inner loop exit lane, driver in white Suburban/Tahoe SUV suddenly realizes they want to get on the outer loop. White SUV slams on the brakes and turns right, cutting over in front of the parked truck, jumping the low raised median into the outer loop exit lane. Two cars ahead of me directly behind white SUV, Chevrolet pickup slams on its brakes. One car ahead of me, green SUV veers over one lane to the left. I slam on my brakes. As the word CHEVROLET on the pickup's tailgate is growing rapidly larger in my windshield, terrified I won't stop in time, it dawns on me...

The last time I looked in my rearview mirror, there was a semi truck behind me.

I look in my rearview mirror and sure enough, he's there. Semi veers into the lane to the left, barrels past me and the pickup, no time or space to slow down hardly at all. Ahead of us he kicks up a cloud of dust and gravel, still at a good speed, cutting back from the main road to get back onto the inner loop exit ramp.

I'm awake now.

THANK GOD it was early on Saturday morning and traffic was light, and that there was no one in the lane to the left.

Near misses? Yeah i can tell two as well.

Number One:

Waycross, Georgia, USA

I was driving down McDonald Street southbound and i wanted to cross straigt over US-82, also called South Georgia Parkway at that point.

The traffic lights were red for McDonald Street and a big truck was waiting and he wanted to turn left on US-82. When i approached the intersection the lights turned green. I was going at the limit, so maybe 35 mph.

Actually i saw the truck that wanted to go left. It seemed like he wanted to let me pass so i accelerated over the limit so he wouldnt have to wait so long. But at the same time the truck driver started accelerating and turning into US-82. As i had no way out, i slammed the brakes as hard as i could. My rental car (a Dodge Journey) stopped just inches away from the front of the truck. The truck driver continued his turning and nothing happened.

What might have been the cause? As it is very unusual to cross US-82 coming from McDonald Street (there is an industrial district behind the intersection) the truck driver might have thought i wanted to turn left onto the S Georgia Parkway. Maybe he underestimated my speed as well. Thank god the brakes of the rental car worked fine.

Number 2:

Berlin, Germany

The borough of Schöneberg has very few cyclists and many accidents with cyclists aswell. Most cyclists drive reckless and risk their life. But in this particular incident the female cyclist did everything right.

I wanted to turn left on the intersection and i waited to let oncoming traffic through. Left-Turn is protected if the green arrow is flashing. However usually the arrow comes a bit late so you can already drive if its not on.

So at one point a slow car was approaching the intersection and it seemed like he was going to stop at his red light. Then i accelerated to turn left. But suddenly i noticed the other car wasnt stopping. So i wanted to avoid an accident and put the pedal to the metal. What i wasnt expecting: A female Cyclist (which also still had green) was going on the bike path over the intersection. When i saw her, i braked as hard as i could. She swerved around my car and nearly fell off her bike but she could continue her ride.

Another crash: one day about, about roughly 20,000 meters away from my school, Mom and I had a pewter Golf VI. We were driving along normally when suddenly, there's a muffled "whump" as the mirrors of our Golf and the mirrors of a parked Golf II contact each other. Fortunately, there was no damage to both Golfs.

I had a close-call today which could have ended really badly.

My mother was driving on the Autobahn and i was in the passenger seat. We were moving in the center lane. As we reached an on-ramp acceleration lane, i noticed a row of three cars in that acceleration lane. The first two cars moved to the right lane normally. But the third car (a dark blue or black Golf) drove from the acceleration to the center lane - at once (forbidden in Germany)! As he was about to crash into the passenger side and thus crashing exactly where i was seated, i frantically screamed "Dont cross into the center lane!" which was quite stupid because the other couldnt hear me of course. However my Mother miracously had a good reaction time and moved to the left lane just before the Golf could crash into our car.

I am so glad that nothing happened. The speed of the Golf and our car was so high - plus the slight left turn and the wet asphalt would have mixed into a bad cocktail. My guardian angel(s) saved my life another time. God must have something planned for my future.

To understand this i painted it with the satellite photo showing the exact location. The Golf REALLY drove this line, with a sudden hard move to the left.

About 20 minutes ago there was a dull thump as my mom and I in our white Golf VI Cabriolet were hit by a white 2011+ Mercedes Actros 2542 with DHL trailers...in the exact same spot where our E-Class coupe had been hit 2 years ago. My mom was already seriously agitated at the traffic jam, and drivers crawling to green traffic lights (which were like every 50 meters) at 30 km/h.

A few minutes later another guy nearly crashed into us again: "Tell me, are you nuts?!" the cop yelled. Turns out it's my mom's fault...just like the last crash.
[pic=16833/image.2.jpg]

I saw a crash today but it was in the far distance on the other side of the Autobahn. A postal car rear ended a Ford Fiesta. The postal driver got out of his car, went to the front and looked underneath his van. Jokingly i thought he looks under his car if he run over somebody on the Autobahn.

But in the same moment i also noticed that the Ford Fiesta was empty, no driver or passengers seen. That gave me goosebumps. Could the Ford Fiesta have a break down on the middle lane? Went the driver outside to get out the warning triangle off his trunk and at that moment the postal van crushed into his car?

However there were no news about it, so i guess just a normal rear-ender.

nearly saw 2 today in a 5 mins span. first one was a student driver in a Nissan Versa ( ironically, exactly like mine except for the driving school name and the big dent in the rear bumper ) that almost bumped a Honda Fit out of its lane while trying to change the one it was driving in and less than 5 mins later, as i was waiting for my left turn light to be green, there was a truck ( Hino style, saw it only from behind )that had stopped to let pass a car ( some cars were parked in the right lane of the boulevard )and the 1998-2004 Chrysler Intrepid that was following it saw it a little too late and hit it at about 20-30 km/h. looks like it was only material , both drivers were looking ok but i saw some plastic fly away even from my position

And this http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle.php?id=799637 almost got me in 2003. Was my 1st winter as a driver. it was a little snowy and i struggled to do my stop. as i was about to leave the corner, still got in snow so i did not went really far when suddenly on my left came that huge thing
full of snow and the driver just decided that stop signs were none of his business and just passed thru probably even without touching the brake pedal. i slammed the brakes, my Tempo skids a little bit but no collision....funny thing is that i catched up the big Ford at the next stop and i don't know if he was shaken about it but it took him at least 1 min after i got behind him to finally take off

A few weeks ago my mother was parking out the Mercedes so we could leave for school, and she very lightly nudged into the Skoda Citigo's license plate behind her. I saw it happen, but didn't say anything as it was very minor and we didn't want to waste time; i'd have been late for school otherwise.

Yesterday I was very very close to the running gag:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCkouDUnAOY

But I was in the running car, not the door-opener A lady in a Nissan Qashgai from robi-country (BOR = really countryside blokes) opened the door just milimeters next to my front bumper.

More than I can remember off hand.

One that I saw from my school bus around the age of seven was a Jeepster Commando that plowed into an early-1960's Chevrolet Suburban or Panel Truck based school bus and sent it flying around in a circle. I told the bus driver about it, and she turned around to see what was what, There were a lot of kids injured and both vehicles were a total loss. That Jeepster sat at a garage on NY 112 until around 1980!

In more recent times (early-1990's) I've also seen a guy from Massachusetts cut off a couple while making a turn onto the westbound Long Island Expressway service road as they were driving south on NY 112. The couple's convertible was totaled, the couple themselves were severely injured, and I later found the guy broke up with the girl. The Massachusetts guy said he broke his arm in the accident, and I wasn't sure he was telling the truth.

3loader posted one accident that made me think of something similar; Around the time Florida Department of Transportation was widening State Road 50 at US 41 in Brooksville, some old lady who had no idea that she could no longer enter the shopping center on the northwest corner from eastbound SR 50 tried to make a left turn over the then future divider and got stuck there.

There have been plenty of other, including those that I've been in, but I don't really feel like writing down the ones I can remember right now.

One near miss was in the early 2000's. i was with my mom and her boyfriend in his 1995 Chrysler New Yorker. it was in April ( on my mom's birthday ) and there was a late snow storm ( not that big , but for the ones who changed their winter tires, was a little more difficult ). we were driving as the road conditions were requesting ( a little slower than the speed limit ) then a young show off dude ( the kind who learns to drive with Gran Turismo and Need for Speed )in a 1995-1999 Chevy Cavalier Z24 passed us then started losing control because of the snow. my mom's boyfriend slammed the brakes. With the help of ABS he managed to avoid the Chevy, which ends up in a concrete barrier ( we were under an overpass ) .
There was also a pick-up truck from Ministere des Transports in the right lane ( we were in the center one ) who stopped to avoid the Z24 and to call 911.
later on the radio we heard that the pick-up had been rear-ended by another vehicle and there was a 4th one that hit them.
Now i know that ABS really works ( had the proof a few years later when i avoided another stupid driver who did not pressed hard enough the brake pedal of its 1999-2004 VW Golf GTI so the car did not really stopped at the stop sign ( i was coming from his left and did not had stop sign on my side )

Also got one with my Tempo. A woman and her 2 daughters forgot that there was a trunk behind her brand new 2002 Toyota Camry's rear window and cme into my lane ( her idea was to get in the Galeries Laval parking lot, which has an access on the boulevard St-Martin too ). I slammed the brakes and catch a little patch of ice and get back into the Camry. as she was braking to get in the parking and i was to avoid her, we had a slow speed ( 10 km/h ) that gave her only a cracked wheel cover and me a little crack on my front bumper...

The Mazda wasn't spared either. it was coming from Ontario so it had to pass an inspection before i could put a plate on it ( but still was allowed to dive it while it had the transit ) on the day i went on inspection, i got hit by a 1993-1998 Golf and the girl just went away as the ligt turned green ( at least , there was no damage, low speed impact , the VW was manual and she did not hold it back ) 2nd one was in a convenience store parking lot. there was a section of it that had the lines in a 45 degrees angle. A 1996 Chevy Cavalier ( Z22 this time )was on the 1st 45 degrees spot and me on a straight one, waiting for a couple of fiends who were inside the store. The Chevy backed up and while turning ( was a show off guy who wanted to do like movies ), its left front corner touched my right rear corner .

Got close calls with both 2010 Camry and Regal when they were new to me because of brake lights being in the clear part of the taillights instead of the red one like i had expected.

Witness also 2 accidents on the same corner but in opposite directions and few years apart. A 1990-1991 Honda Acoord wanted to do a u-turn on Boulevard de la Concorde and another car clipped its front end, luckily witohut injuries and a funny one years before as a 1986-1988 Buick Century wagon gave a push to a 1982-1984 VW Jetta because the light turned green and it wasn't moving. maybe the drivers knew each other. the fun part comes here as the Jetta was having a trailer hitch and the Buick's bumper got stuck on it. The Jetta turned right to clear the boulevard, towing the Buick. they parked on the street but i don't know how this ended up as my bus was coming ( i did not had a driver licence at that time ) .

With what happened with the brand new 2002 Camry and what could happen with the brand new 2010 one, each time Toyota changes the Camry, i'm giving a little extra attention to them now...

Does it count if we don't see the accident occur but we see the result of it ?

Just went out of my home to mail some letters and near the corner of the street was a 2006-2012 Toyota Yaris sedan, over the sidewalk, on the wrong side of the road. In the Yaris grille was a 1999-2001 Hyundai Sonata. Both were forming a 90 degrees angle, the Sonata being across my street.. ( i don't know exactly what happened since both cars were not facing the side street yet ) . there was also a 2009-2011 Volkswagen Tiguan parked near the crash scene but i don't know if it was involved ( it wasn't damaged ).
So i went to mail my letters ( there was already a bunch of people and i don't have any medical training, so i would have been useless ) and when i came back home , there was an ambulance and 2 police cars ( but no Tiguan anymore ). Didn't knew it was that hard , even if the Yaris was partially redesigned