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My second crash and first in a car.

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RobWarren

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In April 2006 years ago a friend of mine came over from England to visit me for my 30th birthday and on the very day he landed I had my first ever vehicle accident - I high-sided on my beautiful Ducati and despite it being a low-speed crash I injured myself horrifically (and learned a lot about cornering on uneven roads).

3 years later, I picked the same friend up from Sydney airport in Ruby and while we were driving up a road in town, I had my second vehicle accident.

A woman in a huge 4x4 exited from a side street on the far left (I was in the far right lane) and without looking properly, indicating or checking her blind spot, crossed 3 lanes of traffic and smashed straight into the side of me, pushing me up onto the median strip. Again, a slow-speed accident but this time there was nothing I could do, which is so frustrating.

Everyone was fine thankfully but Ruby is in terrible shape, the poor girl - the grill is buckled, the whole front end crumpled, even the bonnet is buckled and passenger door mis-aligned - it'll be 2 months with the smash repairer who thankfully, is an experienced British Classics restorer and this isn't his first Healey. He even has a 100M under his belt which is comforting.

So, while the owner of the 4x4 certainly feels embarassed for what she did and the repair bill will all go on her insurance, she'll still get away with it and won't be charged for negligent or dangerous driving...and that worries me as what she did was so remarkably stupid.

I guess it's good that we're all fine. I told my mate not to come and visit me again though. I just can't handle the stress.

Thought I'd write it down for the sake of catharsis and post it here for some sympathy!

Rob
 
:nopity:------Mate did you say!!

----------------------------------------Keoke-- :laugh:
 
Geez Rob,
I'm glad you and your friend weren't hurt. It amazes me how people just don't realize how dangerous they can be by not paying attention. Good luck getting Ruby back together. Do you still have the Ducati?
 
Rob -

Glad to hear you were ok. sounds like the fright I had when I got hit by a double car accordian style bus in San Francisco (i.e. the biggest thing you'll ever see in a city!) and this jerk ran a red light ... thankfully I slammed on my brakes and he only managed to take off my bumper and smashed the front shroud. If I hadn't been paying attention I would have been dead because he would have T-boned into me on the driver's side at full speed.

Makes you think... and drive defensively!

Cheers,

Alan
 
Sorry to hear about your mishap. Hopefully she will be repaired good as she was before the accident, or better. I've been to Sydney a bunch of times and I must say, I've witnessed more accidents there than anywhere else I can recall. People seem to drive really fast on those city streets. Beautiful city though, can't wait to get back!
 
Thanks guys.

GregW, I sold the Ducati after the accident and decided to get into the hilarious yet frustrating love affair that is Classic British Sports Cars. She sure was a beautiful bike but not a patch on Ruby for out and out character.

Sydney is indeed a beautiful city Nevets - possibly the most beautiful natural harbour in the world too - but the place is crawling with people who don't know what blind spots are, who manouevre before they indicate (if at all) and never, ever keep an eye out for other road users.

I think that if I hadn't seen what she was doign and expected the worst, I woudln' have braked so hard and potentially that would have resulted in the passenger door being hit rather than the front of the car - so I can sleep soundly in the knowledge that I did all I could.

On the upside, I no longer need to buy a new radiator fan or do an oil change and brake fluid bleed next week and some of the paint chips that I was going to cover up will no longer be there. Every cloud has a silver lining.

Rob
 
Sorry for mishap but delighted you are all fine. Ruby will be okay and maybe better than okay. I might be thinking that perhaps your friend is giving you bad karma. Just kidding. Stay strong the both of you.
 
As one of my jumpmasters used to say when I was a skydiving student(1200 jumps later and only one broken bone, and there are NO perfectly good airplanes), "Remember, there's a planet out there and it's pointed right at you". Glad you weren't hurt. Our cars really don't serve as early examples of automotive safety engineering do they? I always imagine that the way my car will be destroyed is when I park it between two huge SUV's and a third monster truck comes down the row and turns to park inbetween them because they can't see the poor little brute. Hope the panel beating goes quickly.
 
RobWarren said:
I think that if I hadn't seen what she was doign and expected the worst, I woudln' have braked so hard and potentially that would have resulted in the passenger door being hit rather than the front of the car - so I can sleep soundly in the knowledge that I did all I could.
Click to expand...

My wife thinks I'm a jerk because I expect every other motorist on the road to do something stupid. I can't count the number of near misses we've had over the years that wouldn't have been near misses if I'd not been paying attention.

I'm sorry to hear that your girl got wrecked. At least no one got hurt and you'll get her back in a couple months.
 
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