...really piss me off. About 12:30 this afternoon a guy in a Mazda truck blatantly ran a red light and slammed into me at about 35 mph. Completely totaled my car; he t-boned me on the drivers side, so it's a minor miracle I'm not in a hospital right now. His excuse? He had a sneezing fit and didn't see the light. I'm still stunned over this; I loved that car more than I love myself. Unbelievable.
I feel your pain... back in July of 2001, I was on my way to work and some ******* ran a red light and T-boned me too - only he did it on my passenger side.... But you know what the icing on the cake was? I ONLY HAD THE CAR FOR 29 DAYS! I just bought the damn thing, and not even a month later, my car is in the shop for 2 weeks with $2600 worth of damage cuz of his crap. And at least you got to talk to your *******... Mine gave me the pleasure of experiencing a hit and run.
One thing I'll give my a-hole credit for, he knew he screwed up big time and was totally cooperative. Plus I have witnesses
Terrible accident, sorry to hear about it. I hope you are doing ok and the injuries are minimal. I've narrowly escaped getting slammed into by red light runners many times, usually because I have a tendency of 'racing' out of the light. Nowadays, I make it a common habit to look both ways before I even think about entering the intersection, especially if the intersection is not staggered where the left turn light turns green first. What is even more amazing to me is that once the light turns red, usually about 1.5-2 seconds go by before the other lights turn green. Given that it takes most cars about 2-3 seconds to actually enter the intersection, it is amazing that people are dumb enough to run a light that badly to hit another person, although it happens every day.
I did; they charged me $107 and told me I had a headache. Seriously, they said I had minor whiplash (plus a headache) and that I'd probably be feeling pretty lousy for the next couple of days. They gave me painkillers though, which are already making a difference.
Yesterday, I was going through an intersection near my house and the intersection happens to be where a couple of busy streets meet and there is often a lot of traffic from big trucks because of a number of businesses in the area that get deliveries from them. The trucks have a tendency to go through yellow lights there. This has always bugged me because the intersection isn't all that wide and when they turn left (as they invariably do), it takes them a while to get through. Well, if you turn on friggin' yellow, the rest of us have to sit and wait for your fat ass to get through the intersection. Yesterday, a truck managed to squeak through and I proceeded through the intersection when the 18-wheeler that was following him decided he'd make a go of it also. Fortunately for me, he stopped about 1/4 of the way into the intersection. Granted, it blocked traffic for an entire lane of traffic coming the opposite way from me, but it kept me from getting squashed. I kept thinking, "Damn, does this idiot really think it is ok to run a red light with an 18-wheeler???"
I once held up traffic at a busy Chicago suburb light because I had grown sick and tired of people running the turn left red light. The day before, on my way to work, so many people ran it that I missed my green light. So, once my light turned green, I sped out into the intersection, slammed on my breaks and nearly got t-boned by two cars (two left hand turn lanes) and there were at least four other cars in the intersection trying to run the red light (it's a big intersection). I looked at them, laughed, and drove off when my light turned yellow. Looking back, that was pretty stupid, but it gave me good initial satisfaction though.
Man...I would always race out in to the intersection and lay on the horn at people like that while my car was all ragged out, but now that I've fixed her up, I take extra care to make sure nobody gets even close to my little Pony.
I think that, after drunk driving, running red lights is the #1 killer in traffic accidents. It's so damned stupid. And, what gets me is that it seems like running reds is Houston's pet sin. Someone will do it at every intersection. I'll see people driving 5 mph below the speed limit, trailing the next car by 100 yards, thinking they're a saint on the road, and then coast through a red light like it didn't exist. I think in Houston, the fact that there is a second or two delay between changing lights encourages the practice. People know that they have a little extra time after the red, so they'll try to push it.
I never run red lights, but... I wish lights were timed better. How many times have you sat at a red light when there's not another car in sight. Then, just as a bunch of cars approach the green light, their light turns red and your's turns green. Then you drive another 50 feet just in time to catch the next red light right at the beginning of it's cycle. That light was green the whole time you were waiting at your red light. We can put a man on the moon, but we can't figure out how to make traffic lights match up better? And don't even get me started about the Downtown traffic lights...
Here in Plano, there are signs on a bunch of light poles near intersections talking about all the red-light tickets they write. I guess the point is to look like they are tough on red-light runners. I don't know if the signs make any difference. I was surprised that in Amarillo, they installed a bunch of red-light cameras all over town. I guess they're cracking down (and, of course, finding a new way to get more revenue for the city). I just hope they aren't doing what was done in Arizona where when red-light cameras were installed, the yellows were made considerably shorter, leading to more accidents in those intersections with cameras.
Most important is your not in the hospital and at home chilling becuase if somthing happined to you **** that car wouldnt matter any more bro
Thanks bud, I appreciate it. And as much as I loved that car, it's the truth. Accident update: Talked to my friend at the collision place I towed it to and it will cost over $13,000 to fix it, not counting putting new seats and a new axle in where the truck hit. Since the bluebook is less than that now (it is/was a 1996 Acura 3.2 TL), the insurance people will probably total it, although I may decide to claim salvage rights and pull the engine out, since the engine is in cherry condition. So if anybody has a use for a 225 hp Acura engine, I might have a deal for you (although note my location first)
Jeebus. I was just there last weekend.....and you're absolutely right. Not just the timing, but I couldn't remember the last time red lights lasted so long. I'm a laid back driver most times too, and I wasn't in a hurry at the time. But man! It was just weird.
I thought houston was bad, but after being in nashville a while these people are a lot more insane than houstonians about it.... im talking 3-4 people going thru the light after it's red and all you see is the number 3 sticker on the back with the halo over it....
Sorry to hear about your accident. On thanksgiving of last year, my wife and I were t-boned by a drunk driver who ran the light at Shepard and 59. Totalled our Eclipse Spyder and drove us into the telephone pole. Cops and insurance company said that we shoulda been injured a lot worse than we were. We were very sore, I got knocked out, got to visit Ben Taub because the loser who hit me didnt have health insurance. Great emergency room, very good docs, but what a freak show. Dude ran away from hospital without paying bills or talking to cops, eventually went to jail. Good riddance.
