I just wrecked my car last night. Update with PICs

[runzwithsizorz]

Originally posted by: Injury

Originally posted by: evident
anything can happen when you are driving. you are aware that you aren't in control of things outside your car, right? don't be so naieve, even if you were driving slow, a spot of black ice can easily make you skid and lose control of your vehicle. it's happened to me before.

Right, but even a spot of black ice can't make something as heavy as a car carry on for 5 whole seconds directly into a pole without an excess of speed. Maybe you haven't driven in snowy/icy conditions that much, but even in the worst of slides don't last but a couple of seconds if you are driving an appropriate speed. I'd almost consider it a little difficult to MAKE the vehicle slide for 5 seconds without accelerating once you're in the slide.

WHAT??? a cop rearended me once,(just a tap really), and he had been sliding for over 200FT. Wheres my ticket book.

 

[rh71]

Down hills are no fun. Anyone who even touches the accelerator going down a snowy hill has a death wish. I was in my 4WD Rodeo and going ridiculously slow... like riding the brakes slow... but since it was an icy hill my vehicle started sliding sideways and I was going into oncoming traffic's lane (no vehicles thankfully)... I was headed straight toward a telephone pole. By some miracle I was completely 180'd at that point and was facing uphill... I floored the gas pedal and 4WD saved me from nailing the pole. I'm not patting myself on the back or anything, but that was the coolest thing I've ever experienced.

Last night there were plenty of cars stuck on roads. We had to take the side streets cause the main road had 1 car going per green light, if that. It took us 3 hours to get 15 miles. Quite a few cars were on the side streets and even the smallest incline the RWD vehicles couldn't make it. My X5 pulled through like a champ... and I couldn't help but comment RWD FTL everytime I passed one of them. My wife had to have been looking at me funny by the 2nd time but I didn't care. I know 4WD/AWD is not needed or even useful the majority of the time but when it helps you, you just can't help but think it was worth every g'damned penny.

 

[FoBoT]

yes, if you crashed because you were going to fast for the conditions (snow/ice) then you get a ticket

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
Bring a newspaper or print-out of the weather conditions that night to court.

what would that have to do with anything?

To show that the weather conditions caused the accident and not speeding.

i got ticketed for speeding and running a green light when i was a teenager. i was doing 10 under, went thru an intersection around a wreck that was clearing out. the cop decided i was going too fast, and went thru a green light that i should have stopped at. both tickets held up in court. the conditions gauge how you drive, but its definitely not an excuse for failure to control your vehicle.

 

[rh71]

Anyone even mention if this was a FWD vehicle damaged? Matters if he was turning a corner downhill and wrecked.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: runzwithsizorz

Originally posted by: Injury

Originally posted by: evident
anything can happen when you are driving. you are aware that you aren't in control of things outside your car, right? don't be so naieve, even if you were driving slow, a spot of black ice can easily make you skid and lose control of your vehicle. it's happened to me before.

Right, but even a spot of black ice can't make something as heavy as a car carry on for 5 whole seconds directly into a pole without an excess of speed. Maybe you haven't driven in snowy/icy conditions that much, but even in the worst of slides don't last but a couple of seconds if you are driving an appropriate speed. I'd almost consider it a little difficult to MAKE the vehicle slide for 5 seconds without accelerating once you're in the slide.

WHAT??? a cop rearended me once,(just a tap really), and he had been sliding for over 200FT. Wheres my ticket book.

I don't believe that the cop was driving a reasonable speed AND slid 200 feet. I'm no physics expert, but to slide 200 feet would have required him to be driving way too fast for conditions.

Simply put, he may have slid 200 feet, but you leave out the most important part about how fast he was going.

 

[Squisher]

Sometimes, 10-15 mph is way too fast.

Sometimes, things are beyond your control.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: Engraver
It find it hard to believe you skid into a sign and telephone pole at that speed too.

i dont, i had the same thing happen when i was in High School. I was going 10-15 around a turn and it was so icy my car didnt turn and just went straight into a guardrail. smashed up my fender petty good.

OP: i feel for your pain. I was in my first accident (where somebody hit me) 2 weeks ago. It was my fault and i got the ticket with a mandatory court date for feb 20th. My car is out of the body shop and looks brand new they did a great job and my insurance covered about 2/3rds of my rental car.

i hope the judge just fines me and not make me go to some stupid drivers ed class.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: Aikouka
Well, pretty simple. Got pulled over for doing 82 in a 65 with light rain and the cop let me go. If I were to be a speedy speed boy still, it'd be like slapping said cop in the face and I won't do that for someone who did something kind to me. Also, I'd rather not pay $100+ to save 1 minute . Five over is like a courtesy to other drivers that don't want to go the speed limit so you're satiating their need for speed~.

What a crappy story. I got pulled over for doing 84 in a 55. He told me I was probably going faster but any faster and he would have had to take me to court. I knew I was doing 85 so I thanked him took my ticket and went back to speeding.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: Injury
I don't believe that the cop was driving a reasonable speed AND slid 200 feet. I'm no physics expert, but to slide 200 feet would have required him to be driving way too fast for conditions.

Simply put, he may have slid 200 feet, but you leave out the most important part about how fast he was going.

On ice, 1mph can be considered too fast, especially when you start gaining speed while trying to stop down a hill. I don't know what you are trying to argue but real ice conditions are basically the driver forfeiting to chance.

 

[Jugernot]

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: Engraver
It find it hard to believe you skid into a sign and telephone pole at that speed too.

Have you ever driven in the snow before? Sometimes you just keep sliding, even after you bounce off of something.

And clearly he was "going to fast", but come on, if you're going 10 and you can't stop, it's not like you were being reckless and deserve a ticket.

That said, OP, if your car was actually "smashed" I do find it hard to believe that you were only going 10-15. Maybe you WERE going to 10-15, got to the hill and didn't slow down to maintain those speeds?

Living in Alaska.... I can tell you that I have never been in a situation where driving 10-15 miles per hour I could not stop or lost control in snow or ice. I know a little bit about snow and ice driving. I've been driving here for 12 years....

OP, Sorry dude, sucks to be you, but it was your fault.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: Engraver
It find it hard to believe you skid into a sign and telephone pole at that speed too.

Have you ever driven in the snow before? Sometimes you just keep sliding, even after you bounce off of something.

And clearly he was "going to fast", but come on, if you're going 10 and you can't stop, it's not like you were being reckless and deserve a ticket.

That said, OP, if your car was actually "smashed" I do find it hard to believe that you were only going 10-15. Maybe you WERE going to 10-15, got to the hill and didn't slow down to maintain those speeds?

Especially if there's ice. I was on a highway once when freezing rain started falling. I was moving so slow that the speedometer didn't register anything, and the car was still slipping. Tapping the brakes, just enough to make the brake lights turn on, would cause slipping. To stop the car involved careful coordination of both the regular brakes and the emergency brake, to slow or stop all 4 wheels.
A truck up ahead was having trouble - the back end of the trailer kept slipping side-to-side. Sometimes "Moving at all" is too fast. Traffic proceeded for about an hour at a walking pace, intermittently coming to a complete stop. A few cars slid completely off the road, as did a whole tractor trailer - off the road, and then jack-knifed against some trees at the bottom of a short embankment.

Sometimes the conditions just change too quickly to do anything. The roads will be fine, but then you round a corner where there's a tree. Underneath the tree, the road never got heated by the sun during the day, so there could be a big patch of ice there, on a road that's otherwise just wet.
Or near campus, there's a steep hill. One side of it is generally clear, due to traffic patterns, but past the peak, suddenly it goes bad. So you're driving up a pretty clean hill, but then once you can see down the other side, you're moving fairly fast, with no way to slow down, because of the layering of caked snow. On the left, opposing traffic. On the right, a 10-15 foot embankment. Ahead, a traffic light.
The only way to know what's coming is to have driven the local roads through a few months of winter, to know what's usually plowed, and to know where traffic usually backs up.

Originally posted by: bababooey
Pics of car will tell how fast ...

Indeed.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: skace

Originally posted by: Aikouka
Well, pretty simple. Got pulled over for doing 82 in a 65 with light rain and the cop let me go. If I were to be a speedy speed boy still, it'd be like slapping said cop in the face and I won't do that for someone who did something kind to me. Also, I'd rather not pay $100+ to save 1 minute . Five over is like a courtesy to other drivers that don't want to go the speed limit so you're satiating their need for speed~.

What a crappy story. I got pulled over for doing 84 in a 55. He told me I was probably going faster but any faster and he would have had to take me to court. I knew I was doing 85 so I thanked him took my ticket and went back to speeding.

The whole point of fines and penalties should be to get you to realize it is not worth it. I got a red light camera ticket and have not run even a yellow light since. They can be anywhere and you can't just look for a cop car on the side of the road. It's simply not worth $125. Not to be a dick, but I think the penalty was too small in your case. 30+mph over is excessive and you should've had to face reckless... I don't think you'd do that again anytime soon. The cop sucks for failing to do his job. Instead by giving you a break, he did nobody on the road a favor except you, for which you're taking advantage.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: rh71
The whole point of fines and penalties is to get you realize it is not worth it. I got a red light camera ticket and have not run even a yellow light since. They can be anywhere and you can't just look for a cop car on the side of the road. It's simply not worth $125. Not to be a dick, but I think the penalty was too small in your case. 30+mph over is excessive and you should've had to face reckless... I don't think you'd do that again anytime soon.

Red light cameras must be fun in the winter. I've already run a red light in the winter because there was a patch of ice across half of the intersection. I was slowing down in anticipation of a light change to yellow; it did turn, so I braked more. No dice, just ice. I wound up skidding most of the way through the intersection before getting any traction again.
If you've ever slid on ice while walking, or gone skating, you should know what it can do to your coefficient of friction. A car's got a fair amount of momentum, even at very low speeds. If it's on really smooth ice, it can keep going for a long distance. And if it's on a hill, good luck.

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: skace
What a crappy story. I got pulled over for doing 84 in a 55. He told me I was probably going faster but any faster and he would have had to take me to court. I knew I was doing 85 so I thanked him took my ticket and went back to speeding.

Well, I could've added that the only reason I got out is because of my meticulous nature. Where I used to live, my mailing address listed the city that was 9 miles away (as it had a large mailing coverage radius). He asked me where I was from and I said the town that was listed, but then I said "but it's really such-and-such town... it's kind of weird how they do that." Then he was telling me how he was from the same town and that he couldn't write me up because of that .

Last night was kind of crappy out but I still had no problem with my super awesome (/sarcasm) Conti-Pro-Tract tires! I actually had more loss of traction this morning while raining than I did last night in the snow. It was actually kind of fun last night, because I posed a challenge to myself.... There were lines of blacktop where cars had been driving, so the game was to see if I could stay within those lines no matter how thin they got. Was actually rather fun, but there are some people that just go too damn slow. At one point I was a bit worried when going up a hill that if they started going too slow that just like a night filled with whiskey, I would've had some trouble getting up. But yeah, this morning I felt the car slip a little once and then it slid a little bit later. Wasn't really an issue as once the car loses traction, the car begins to control the throttle. Braking would've been bad and so would turning. I also elongated the turns by usually pulling the car toward the outside and turning less at an earlier time.

EDIT:

Originally posted by: rh71
The whole point of fines and penalties should be to get you to realize it is not worth it. I got a red light camera ticket and have not run even a yellow light since. They can be anywhere and you can't just look for a cop car on the side of the road. It's simply not worth $125. Not to be a dick, but I think the penalty was too small in your case. 30+mph over is excessive and you should've had to face reckless... I don't think you'd do that again anytime soon. The cop sucks for failing to do his job. Instead by giving you a break, he did nobody on the road a favor except you, for which you're taking advantage.

What if he stopped after it like I did? The cop "failed" to do his duty in my case and I don't speed anymore.

 

[runzwithsizorz]

Originally posted by: Injury

Originally posted by: runzwithsizorz

Originally posted by: Injury

Originally posted by: evident
anything can happen when you are driving. you are aware that you aren't in control of things outside your car, right? don't be so naieve, even if you were driving slow, a spot of black ice can easily make you skid and lose control of your vehicle. it's happened to me before.

Right, but even a spot of black ice can't make something as heavy as a car carry on for 5 whole seconds directly into a pole without an excess of speed. Maybe you haven't driven in snowy/icy conditions that much, but even in the worst of slides don't last but a couple of seconds if you are driving an appropriate speed. I'd almost consider it a little difficult to MAKE the vehicle slide for 5 seconds without accelerating once you're in the slide.

WHAT??? a cop rearended me once,(just a tap really), and he had been sliding for over 200FT. Wheres my ticket book.

I don't believe that the cop was driving a reasonable speed AND slid 200 feet. I'm no physics expert, but to slide 200 feet would have required him to be driving way too fast for conditions.

Simply put, he may have slid 200 feet, but you leave out the most important part about how fast he was going.

It was a long downhill icy road with a four lane intersection at the bottom that already had about 6 cars banged up sitting in it. I saw this at the top of the hill, and managed to pull to the side and stop. The cop however, did not. Could he have stopped? maybe, (I did). Do I blame him? heck no, he probably wanted to get down to the intersection to assist, BUT, HE LOST CONTROL. I'm just sayin, that things can happen, regardless of speed, I once saw a car stopped on the side of the road, get blown back into traffic. Sorry, should have explained.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: rh71
The whole point of fines and penalties is to get you realize it is not worth it. I got a red light camera ticket and have not run even a yellow light since. They can be anywhere and you can't just look for a cop car on the side of the road. It's simply not worth $125. Not to be a dick, but I think the penalty was too small in your case. 30+mph over is excessive and you should've had to face reckless... I don't think you'd do that again anytime soon.

Red light cameras must be fun in the winter. I've already run a red light in the winter because there was a patch of ice across half of the intersection. I was slowing down in anticipation of a light change to yellow; it did turn, so I braked more. No dice, just ice. I wound up skidding most of the way through the intersection before getting any traction again.
If you've ever slid on ice while walking, or gone skating, you should know what it can do to your coefficient of friction. A car's got a fair amount of momentum, even at very low speeds. If it's on really smooth ice, it can keep going for a long distance. And if it's on a hill, good luck.

What's funny is that a week after I got that red light ticket, I got rear-ended at an intersection during rain. I definitely wanted to stop because there was a cop waiting for his green light on my left. I managed to brake-pump stop, just a bit over the white line. But a second later I got nailed from behind. The driver's husband claimed I was being indecisive and it caused them to rear end me. The cop said to him that I probably saw him (the cop) and stopped. I didn't say a word. At that speed in the rain, I probably should've gone through. I just didn't want to risk another ticket. But it was still the guy's fault for rear-ending me / following too close / running a definite red... in the rain.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: Aikouka
What if he stopped after it like I did? The cop "failed" to do his duty in my case and I don't speed anymore.

That cop failed because he continues to speed (and we can guess at the same rate) - the penalty was not harsh enough. It didn't teach him anything. Worse yet, he is openly admitting he'd do it again the next chance he gets.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Modeps
If your car slid, and you hit a sign... you were going too fast for the conditions. I don't see where the issue lies. At least you didn't bust the telephone pole, you'd have to pay to have that replaced too.

QFT...speed limits are limits not recommended speeds.

 

[Jassi]

The state of Michigan apparently has a law on the books that covers exactly this condition. A family member got a ticket when they were going the speed of traffic on a freeway (about 30 MPH) and lost control of the car and ended up in the ditch on the side of the road. It was snowing heavily and visibility was poor (no damage to the car, soft landing but the wheels got stuck in the snow bank). Not one but 3 cops cars passed by without offering any help (no lights on so emergency is not an excuse) and the fourth pulled over just to write a ticket. If the tow truck driver had been a few minutes early, nobody would have known. No offer of help, just ticket and points. Judge took the points off but increased the ticket amount. Yay for public servants. Yet another reason to get the hell out of Michigan.

 

[ViviTheMage]

shoulda taken pics of ice, or anything like that.

 

[Casawi]

Update

 

[erikistired]

Originally posted by: Casawi

Originally posted by: BlackTigers91

Originally posted by: Casawi

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: Engraver
It find it hard to believe you skid into a sign and telephone pole at that speed too.

Have you ever driven in the snow before? Sometimes you just keep sliding, even after you bounce off of something.

And clearly he was "going to fast", but come on, if you're going 10 and you can't stop, it's not like you were being reckless and deserve a ticket.

That said, OP, if your car was actually "smashed" I do find it hard to believe that you were only going 10-15. Maybe you WERE going to 10-15, got to the hill and didn't slow down to maintain those speeds?

Yeah true. When I tried slowing down around the corner .... the car slid and hit a pole. Absolutely nothing I could of done.... I HAD ABOUT 5 seconds to think before I hit the pole.

Wouldn't it have been better to use those five seconds to apply the brakes before you turned? l ol

Get out of here man... I had my foot on the break the whole time I was turning ... I keep repeating as soon as I pushed more on the brake paddle my car started going faster onto a telephone pole.

drifting in the snow is not a good idea.

 

[erikistired]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
Bring a newspaper or print-out of the weather conditions that night to court.

what would that have to do with anything?

To show that the weather conditions caused the accident and not speeding.

The ticket is for "driving too fast for the conditions."
Showing that conditions were bad does not help his case... all it does is show that, yes, conditions were bad and he should have been driving slow.

The cop did not witness the accident. The OP by providing evidence that the conditions were bad backs-up his defense that it was the weather and not his speed.

edit - in case of a possible surcharge from your insurance company, I would also provide weather condition evidence to avoid a surcharge for the incident to your insurance company.

if he can show the conditions were bad it just means HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN DRIVING SLOWER. hence the ticket for too fast for conditions.

 

[Casawi]

Originally posted by: rh71
Down hills are no fun. Anyone who even touches the accelerator going down a snowy hill has a death wish. I was in my 4WD Rodeo and going ridiculously slow... like riding the brakes slow... but since it was an icy hill my vehicle started sliding sideways and I was going into oncoming traffic's lane (no vehicles thankfully)... I was headed straight toward a telephone pole. By some miracle I was completely 180'd at that point and was facing uphill... I floored the gas pedal and 4WD saved me from nailing the pole. I'm not patting myself on the back or anything, but that was the coolest thing I've ever experienced.

Last night there were plenty of cars stuck on roads. We had to take the side streets cause the main road had 1 car going per green light, if that. It took us 3 hours to get 15 miles. Quite a few cars were on the side streets and even the smallest incline the RWD vehicles couldn't make it. My X5 pulled through like a champ... and I couldn't help but comment RWD FTL everytime I passed one of them. My wife had to have been looking at me funny by the 2nd time but I didn't care. I know 4WD/AWD is not needed or even useful the majority of the time but when it helps you, you just can't help but think it was worth every g'damned penny.

I don't think I had mine on AWD ... I know I know how dumb, but I had to drive like 5 blocks and I seriously thought it was on AWD but I realized it wasn't when I was looking at the pole.