Well, at the ripe age of 30, I had my first accident

[Dfeeds]

In traffic on a 4 lane highway, it was recently snowing so everything is wet and frosted. The person on my left decided to, what I'm assuming is, accelerate to try to get infront of me. They ended up swerving right into me so I swerved to the right to dodge. The back end spun out, and it took every ounce of experience I had to not t-bone another car. Cars were coming from the oncoming lane so I tried to spin in place instead of launching over the median and head first into traffic. It spun 180° and smacked the median while being parallel to it. I'm not sure if it bounced over the median or I went through the break in the median (where the turn lane starts). Regardless, I slid across the road, and into the ditch. It may have gone much worse if I didn't have winter performance tires.

Another driver stopped and gave me their information to be a witness. I have a police report and an insurance claim. No air bags were deployed. Both the cop and tow truck driver weren't shy to mention their amazement at the lack of damage to the car itself, given the situation.

Those of you with more experience, how do things look?

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[Unas2k5]

Wow, glad you’re ok. At least the body isn’t damaged and you have insurance. I don’t get how the wheels just broke off like that

 

[nnnnnn]

Something similar almost happened to me on the highway last week when a dumb uhaul diver served into my lane and caused me to drive off road but lucky for me I was driving a truck that day with proper tires for off road. Scary suff. I caught up with him and I didn't say nice things for sure. I was beyond angry.

Hope you can show the video to your insurance company by uploading it if you have a dash cam video of the event. Another reason why dash cams are good to have.

OP if it's not an at fault accident and you have full coverage, that will help because it won't raise your rate. Make sure you have the police report too.

 

[Dfeeds]

Wow, glad you’re ok. At least the body isn’t damaged and you have insurance. I don’t get how the wheels just broke off like that

Thanks. Fortunately not a single soul was hurt, if we exclude my pride. I had a good bit of momentum when I smacked the median and the rims weren't expensive.

 

[Dfeeds]

Something similar almost happened to me on the highway last week when a dumb uhaul diver served into my lane and caused me to drive off road but lucky for me I was driving a truck that day with proper tires for off road. Scary suff. I caught up with him and I didn't say nice things for sure. I was beyond angry.

Hope you can show the video to your insurance company by uploading it if you have a dash cam video of the event. Another reason why dash cams are good to have.

OP if it's not an at fault accident and you have full coverage, that will help because it won't raise your rate. Make sure you have the police report too.

Good thing your outcome wasn't the same as mine. No damage to the truck, I assume?

It's probably for the best that I wasn't in a position to confront the driver... they definitely didn't stick around. It is scary. I keep playing the whole thing through my head trying to see how I could've saved the car but I guess it's futile. And I don't have a dashcam, unfortunately.

I do have full coverage but I'm not sure how things are going to be labeled. The cop said I'm not at fault but there's no other vehicles involved. I vaguely remember my plan having a one time forgive and forget, so I guess I'm about to test that out.

 

[ice445]

Awful. Glad you weren't injured at least. I'm sure the guy who spun you out disappeared real quick as well. That's the bad part about swerving to try and avoid a fender bender, it becomes he said she said.

 

[Jasonb543]

Glad no one was hurt... biggest problem is not having your first accident until 30.

You're gonna want to start wrecking cars around 15 with your temp license, then get a dozen or so under your belt, then by 30 you know 99.999% of driving situations.

I'd drive a 3500HP pro mod in snow now at 40.

Gl brotha..GOBBLESS!

 

[WD Pro]

First up, I am glad you are OK and I hope the car can get fixed up OK

Wow, glad you’re ok. At least the body isn’t damaged and you have insurance. I don’t get how the wheels just broke off like that

Thanks. Fortunately not a single soul was hurt, if we exclude my pride. I had a good bit of momentum when I smacked the median and the rims weren't expensive.

I was wondering about the rims before I got down to these posts.

Hopefully the ‘non expensive’ (surmising maybe weaker … ?) rims might have helped you here, acting as a sacrificial component and taking energy away from from other harder to fix areas … ?

WD

 

[ice445]

First up, I am glad you are OK and I hope the car can get fixed up OK





I was wondering about the rims before I got down to these posts.

Hopefully the ‘non expensive’ (surmising maybe weaker … ?) rims might have helped you here, acting as a sacrificial component and taking energy away from from other harder to fix areas … ?

WD

Unfortunately with that rear wheel I'd bet $10 the control arm and wheel bearing are probably toast. Hopefully rear subframe is okay. It's definitely all fixable at least!

 

[WD Pro]

I wouldn’t disagree, but the more energy that wheel took out, the better for the car overall - it’s a replaceable crumple zone

WD

edit for bad grammar

 

[RagmopInKona]

Glad you were not hurt, and the car is isn't totaled.
This is why I have a winter beater. I know not an option for everyone.

 

[Andy13186]

Did you have tcs and advancetrac on? I guess they may not be fully effective in these conditions.

 

[Bikeman315]

Glad you’re OK Dan as that is really what’s important. The wheels took quite a hit so it will be interesting to see how much damage the suspension sustained.

 

[Cobra Jet]

Glad to hear you're ok and nobody was hurt.

Unfortunately, looking over the pics, I'd guess there is probably quite a bit of damage under the car - especially seeing how damaged the rims are in those photos. Granted there may not be any body panel damages, but that rear sub frame had to have shifted and/or snapped some hardware there may be some bent/damaged hardware up front too. You won't be able to really tell until the car is on a lift.

But again, glad you're ok.

With those road conditions, did you have it in the Rain/Snow mode setting? Tires alone won't always be the end all, the Rain/Snow mode does work quite well, even if it is a "nanny".

Time to invest in a dash cam too - there's some good threads on here with many, many recommendations and user DIY's.

 

[Dfeeds]

First up, I am glad you are OK and I hope the car can get fixed up OK





I was wondering about the rims before I got down to these posts.

Hopefully the ‘non expensive’ (surmising maybe weaker … ?) rims might have helped you here, acting as a sacrificial component and taking energy away from from other harder to fix areas … ?

WD

That's what I was implying, yeah. They weren't super cheap, but definitely one of tirerack's cheaper offerings when I got them bundled with the winter tires. I had the same thoughts; that the rims just snapping saved more of the car from feeling the wrath of Newton's third law. It's definitely wishful thinking, but I won't know anything until Monday at the earliest.

Unfortunately with that rear wheel I'd bet $10 the control arm and wheel bearing are probably toast. Hopefully rear subframe is okay. It's definitely all fixable at least!

For the driver rear wheel, especially. I was able to get a quick glance when it was on the flatbed and it appeared that the wheel/suspension took the hit. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Replacing those can make it good as new, a bent frame or subframe... not so much.

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