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Well, 20 milles into my new tank....
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/medium/scary.jpg


But it was just a little truck that did it.
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/Truck.jpg

I was driving home from work on I-10. Next thing I know I look in the rearview to see it filled up with an eighteen wheeler. I was pushed across the next lane, across the grass median and into oncoming traffic, luckily with noone coming, so I put it in reverse and backed back into the median (which is a bit funny, cause that is the first time I have used reverse in weeks. Actually the next vehicle that came by in that direction was an ambulance that stopped by. The driver was cited for failure to control speed. My car is still driveable but I no longer have a rear window or passenger side tailight. I'm trying to convince my wife to let me just put a boattail on it now.

So I guess tomorrow I get to call the insurance company and get the claim process started. I feel fine for now, but my back is starting to feel a bit stiff. We'll know more tomorrow. And I had just caught up with Mr. Pancake and VegasDude in the FE challenge....

Oh no!!! :eek: :ccry:

I'm so sorry you had to go through that. :( Be sure you get in to be checked out very soon -- effects from trauma like that can take a little while to show up and can be much more severe than you might think at first. Psyshack just went through something similar. :(

Take it easy and hopefully you can recover quickly! I'm glad it wasn't worse. It could have been WAY worse. :( :( :(

:eek: So glad you're ok. Sorry about the car. Take care of yourself, and get the paperwork going.

Glad to know it wasn't too serious. but without a doubt get your back checked out. I was in an accident in February and my back was a little sore the day of, fine for a few weeks, then ended up having to go to a chiro for a while. Best to get it looked at now before anything gets worse.

P.S. When reading the title I figured you were having a bad tank or something.

My neck and back are a little stiff today, but overall I feel fine. I had to take the wife's Mazda 3 to work today. It surprised with 50+mpg over the 40 mile route (but scangauge is still calibrated to my ZX2, but even if it is still off by 10% or so, I'm still happy). I get to deal with the insurance today, which is always such a pain in the neck. I hope all goes well with that, which it should, because the trucker was cited which puts the blame solely on him. I'm just glad it wasn't worse. I've been thinking about how bad it could have been with that much weight bearing down on my little car. I will say though that my car is a trooper. It has survived a 300 lb hog, two front-end collisions, one side-swipe, and she is still running and driving fine after this. The cop looked at me like I was crazy when I said I would drive it home. He didn't think it was still driveable, so he asked me to drive it over to where the trucker was in the ditch across the road. She started back up like it was nothing and drove right on over. At least now I have a bit of extra ventilation....

You lucky you made it. I am surprise escort still drivable.

One thing.

You drove 55 mph in high traffic highway?


Maybe you should have drove 65 in high traffic that my suggested.


I could drive 55-60 mph in none busy highway but if I am in traffic which everybody push us to 70-90 mph then I go 70 until traffic gone.


I don't understand of people who try save gas in HIGH traffic highway you could get rear ended.


This is why I sold my geo tracker and stick to Ford F250 for now. Can't trust anyone not to hit me.

I have notice that if you travel too close to the speed of traffic you can cause more of a back-up because you don't stand out enough. The local speed limit here is 55 MPH. I usually travel between 50-55. If there is traffic I will go slightly faster and keep a closer eye on traffic behind me and hit my hazards if I see someone coming up too quickly.

tpmjr2004, glad you are ok. Hope you get your car fixed up or a big enough check from the insurance company to buy something even more efficient. Hopefully this incident acts as a wake-up call for the "professional" truck driver that ran into you before he kills someone out there.

:eek:

I'm sorry you have to be going thru this.

Foremost on my mind is your health.

These days, you can never look away for a moment. :(

Makita: I don't drive 55 in high traffic. I left work late to avoid traffic, so traffic was pretty light. The trucker admitted that he had looked over at another truck pulled over on the access road. He said his cruise was set at 68 mph. I saw him just b4 he hit me and it didn't look like he was slowing until prolly bout half a second b4 he hit me. I'm not sure how fast he was really going, but it was quite an impact. I called the ins company, but the person that is handling the claim was out, so I'm going to try back again after lunch.

Hi tpmjr2004:

Do not worry about Makita as he has no idea...

Anyway, I am really glad to hear you came out of this alright and that darn truck driver was not paying attention at all. He had to have at most a 10 mph differential which is less than parking lot speed so I suspect he either fell asleep at the wheel or was texting away to a honey bunny somewhere...

He will pay dearly for that mistake but in the mean time, how did your insurance come through and what are you getting next? A 2003 or 2004 HCHC-I with a stick can be found for bargain basement prices right now ;)

Wayne

I haven't been on here in a while. I'm still pretty upset about the loss of my car. I am still sharing a car with the wife until I get all the insurance mess taken care of. I had to get my attorney involved after the insurance company failed to respond to calls or emails for the first two weeks. I have also been seeing the chiropractor since the accident and hopefully will be done with that soon.

I think for my next car, I might just get another ZX2 to replace the one that died. I really liked that car, and I know how to fix just about everything on it. The ZX2 will be my daily driver, but hopefully I can soon afford something a little bit different for a bit of fun. I really like the Mazdaspeed3. It definantly isnt the most fuel efficient, but it is fast and fun, yet still practical with four doors. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how this insurance crap is gonna work out...

I don't understand of people who try save gas in HIGH traffic highway you could get rear ended.



And I don't understand why people always think you have go faster than the posted speed limit just to "stay with traffic." Shouldn't speeders be the one to slow down? Also, isn't a speed limit supposed to be a limit and not a minimum? Why don't people focus on the people that weren't paying enough attention to keep their vehicle under control?

Wayne is right-
THE DRIVER WAS TEXTING OR PERHAPS FOOLING WITH HIS COMPUTER LOOKING FOR ANOTHER LOAD.

No way did he just turn his head for a second( 13 mph differential is just 20 feet a second closing speed). If he looked away for a "half second" it meant he was just 10 feet from your bumper when he looked away.

10 feet at 60 mph??

He looked away for perhaps 3-5 seconds (as much as 100 feet of closing) while fooling with a phone or a computer.

Lucky you weren't killed.

He totaled out your car. Make sure they don't try to offer you some CS book value- maybe $1500 or so. A reliable FE car is worth much much more than they will offer.

I quit riding motorcycles because of cell phones-too dangerous!
Glad you are ok. This is obviously lawyer time for you. They will try to screw you on the value of your vehicle!

Luck
Charlie

PS I drive across TX- from new Orleans to Flagstaff AZ every year or so. We have taken the all I-10 route twice. Folks drive fast( outside San Antonio speed limit is 80 mph!!) on I-10. It also has very heavy truck traffic. I usually set the CC to 62 when the limit is 70 and 66 when it is 75-80.Trucks should be limited to 60 mph-everywhere! They just have too much energy at 70 mph-too dangerous!

They-manufacturers- need to block cell phone interaction when the vehicles are moving.Just have a "leave a message I'm driving" on the phone.

Charlie