Be Careful

[Danman8520]

Friday afternoon I was driving to pick up some wheel weights at a local automotive garage. As I was stopped waiting for traffic to clear so I could take a left hand turn into the garage parking lot, I looked up into my rear view mirror and saw a pickup coming towards me fast. I realized that he did not see me and I got on the gas. I got moving a little bit but he nailed me. He did not hit the brakes or attempt to swerve.

The speed limit here was 55mph, but most people go 65. Fortunatley nobody was seriously hurt in the accident. I am very sore right now, but I think i will be just fine. This serves as a good reminder to be careful during all aspects of casting boolits.


This is what is left of my truck.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y266/Danman8520/Accidentgif.jpg

[pathfinder]

Wow man, your lucky to just be sore. It seems it could have been much worse by the pic of your truck.

[randyrat]

Wow! and yer alive! and able to talk about it. Lucky you were aware of whats going around you, including in back of you. By giving it a little gas you may have saved your life. You used up one life right there.

Trouble is none of us know how many chances or lives we get. I've used up 3-4 and i don't take chances anymore.

God is not done with you yet.

[docone31]

Looks like Floriduh. Not only is it common, but you are lucky.
I have been rearended multiple times down here. One backed up and rear ended again.
A Blue Hair.
If you had been in one of the Green machines, we wouldn't be talking now.

[waksupi]

Dang! That left a mark! Glad your not banged up as bad as the pickup!

[dominicfortune00]

Yikes, Glad you're okay!!

To do that much damage to your truck, it's a wonder the guy that hit you isn't in the hospital.

[fryboy]

wonder what the guy's distraction was ( bet i could make an educated guess....) glad ur ok amigo !

[StarMetal]

Glad you are okay. The truck is replaceable, you are not.

What is the blue object in the foreground?

[DLCTEX]

See, they've been trying to tell us lead is a health hazard.:bigsmyl2:

[GLL]

Pleased to hear you are okay !!!

Where is the gas tank in that truck? I am amazed it was not ruptured !
I bet there is a cell phone stuck in the drivers ear !

Jerry

[Danman8520]

I was hit by a Chevy 2500 HD. The guy was texting on his cell phone from the minute that he hopped out of his truck to the time he left. I can not prove that he was texting while driving, but it seems very likely. The blue object is a kayak, my buddy and I were going to do some fishing after picking up the wheel weights. There were two in the back of my truck, They are both toast.

The gas tank in that truck is right in front of the rear axle, I do not know how it did not rupture either. The rear axle was pushed forward a few feet.

I was spun and pushed into a car in the oncoming lane also, but it was just a very light hit. If that was a solid hit, I would not be here.

[JesseCJC]

That's crazy, glad you are ok bub

[jonblack]

Man, thank God you are OK. I will put in a little prayer for you and your family.

jonblack

[Fly]

I hate cell phones!

Fly

[bdbullets]

Good to hear your ok. I bet you will have, or had, a very sore neck the morning after. I know I did when same thing happened to me a number of years ago.

[jonblack]

Well since you are going to be OK, I think it's safe to talk about the truck. As they say "It'll buff right out!"

jonblack

[dragonrider]

Wow, you one lucky guy,

[Ernest]

Wow How did you walk away from that???

[gray wolf]

I just showed the Pic to Julie, she said wow also.
Thank God your Ok, that had the potential to be a fatal.
So happy you are ok, Now stay that way.
You other men also--and me included--lets watch our 6 all the time.

Sam

[stang68]

Thank God that you're OK

[wistlepig1]

WOW, you were VERY lucky, by a loto Tic it's your day!

[HangFireW8]

If you take time off work to handle any aspect of this accident, including doctor's visits, make a PIP (Personal Injury Protection) claim to cover the costs. Don't use your up vacation time/money when it is his fault.

If the other guy's insurance company hesitates even a moment, get a lawyer and get one fast. Don't worry, they'll pay you and they'll pay your lawyer.

Oh yeah, that's what I like about pickup trucks- 6 feet or more of crush space.

-HF

[exile]

The Lord had his angels looking out for you on that one. Glad you are o.k..

exile

[tward]

Glad you're ok! Hope you feel better soon, keep casting!
tim

[Mk42gunner]

Like I told my daughter when she totaled my new to me truck on ice the first day of Spring, (I had it three weeks). "Things can be replaced, people can't."

Glad your okay.

Robert

[Bret4207]

What an idiot! Driving with his head up his...rectum. #1 cause of accidents, bar none.

[kbstenberg]

I'm glad your OK. You just never know when things like this will happen! Thats why everyone should live like there is no tomorrow.
Kevin

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

Glad your OK!

Have a pic of his truck?

[WILCO]

get a lawyer.......

Best advice! Shop around and ask folks in the know for a referral. Not to be greedy and sue, but to protect your self interests. More than likely, you’ll have some chronic or residual medical issues from this accident.
Glad you’re okay. How did your passenger make out?

[trapper9260]

You said that you think the guy was texting? Have the cops check his cell phone history it will tell if he was on it. My brother just told me about that to find out if he was.

[Danman8520]

The police suspected that the guy was on his phone, but I really think he did not want to do any more work than he had to. My passenger is also very sore, but not seriously injured. We both have a lot of back and neck pain. Hopefully it goes away real soon.

This is the other truck, it held up really well for that amount of impact. You can guess that I will replace this with another truck and not a "green machine" as stated before. That 8 foot bed really soaked up most of the impact before it got to the passenger compartment.

I always complained about 15mpg, but now I am alive which is much better than 35mpg and dead.

As Grey Ghost said, watch your 6. I saw him coming, floored it, and got moving a bit. I have no idea how fast I got going but there is no doubt that it would have been much worse if i was just sitting there holding the brakes.

Hopefully by seeing this, somebody on this forum may watch their mirror when stopped in traffic and avoid an accident or maybe somebody will put the damn phone down while driving and avoid this.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y266/Danman8520/Accident2gif.jpg

[45nut]

Wow,, your truck got hammered bad and his looks quite repairable in comparison!

Glad you are ok in relation to what it could have been!

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Glad to see you are doing good. I work on the highways daily and the things that I see would scare a ROCK! People texting, reading a book that is on the steering wheel, watching TV, passenger steering for the driver cause he is asleep. Be very careful out there. The highways and Interstates are getting crazy and very dangerous. I wish there was a way people could experience the violence of the impact you sustained.

You can prove the texting. There will be a record of the event that his phone company has. Your lawyer might want that. It will show if the recieved a text or sent one. The problem is pinning down the time the accident happened.

[WallyM3]

Big iron counts, even when hit by big iron.

My ex was driving a Tahoe with our 2 y-o. Doing the speed limit (50). At a blinking light cross road, a woman didn't look to see the Tahoe coming and pulled out right in front. A Saturn.

The left side of the deceased's car was pushed past the center line. The Volunteer FD guys let me through to the blocked off scene because it was the quickest way to the hospital. The Tahoe looked like someone had stopped and the passengers bailed, leaving the doors open. No anti-freeze, nothing that was obvious to someone driving by.

I couldn't tell what the other car was, but you could tell it was a fatal. The passenger's side was draped with a tarp. It took hours to get the passenger out.

When the dust settled, the flat bed came for the Saturn (full tarped this time), took a crow bar to the fender of the Tahoe, which had been pushed back against the tire and drove it off.

My daughter's worst injury was a little belt rash from her car seat restraint.

Both the State Police and the Insurance Companies declared 100% fault to the other car within 24 hours. I'd never heard of that happening before.

It is best to get some legal advice. Insurance companies are sleazes when it comes to this sort of thing. Let them know you've retained counsel or they'll run you over in a different way. Now it's business. Don't be a nice guy.

And, man, am I glad you and your chum are OK! :grin:

[DIRT Farmer]

I pulled up to several crashes with simular impacts in my career, When you look for pts and find them walking around, kinda causes the pucker factor to go up. You have some serious sloshing of organs let alone C-Spine. Any time you sign the release for the medics it is a good day.

[ghh3rd]

Glad you are still here to write about it. You deserve an extra helping of WW for that one!

[MtGun44]

Looks like a kayak in the foreground.

Wow, looks really bad. I guess you were wearing your seatbelt. Modern vehicles do so
much better in crashes, it is just amazing. Glad to hear you are OK.

Bill

[HeavyMetal]

First glad to hear you and your buddy are O.K.!

Thisa is the major reason I'd like to see texting banned from the phone, not texting the ability to text needs to be removed!

Don't know where you are at but here in L.A. the odds are the guy wouldn't have stopped if his truck was still running!

Tell your insurance company the guy was texting! Sadly most police depts won't pursue these issues because no fatality and the insurance companies won't pay any attention to the reports they write in most case's.

Not the P.D.'s fault and why should he waste three hours writing a report some adjuster will toss anyway?

The insurance co. will have a vested interest in proving this guy at fault and they will be able to subpena his phone records. Now if he is a contractor or working for someone, I see a ladder rack of some kind on his truck, his company needs to know what was going on here.

Sadly the only way to make that point may be to sue them as well.

I'm no suggesting this for the money but if you make a big enough stink perhaps, and he's employed by someone else, this can serve as a wake up call for all the employer's in the state!

[Wayne Smith]

With the pain you are experiencing you almost certainly experienced whiplash, and so did your passenger. It can take days for the symptoms to become clear. Get yourself and him to a MD and get this checked out. From seeing the pictures I'd say it's impossible for you not to have whiplash, if you don't it qualifies as a miracle.

Thank God it's no worse.

[jonblack]

Everything I have ever heard suggests that whiplash pain shows up later not sooner. Don't settle anything with the insurance company right now. Both of you should visit a doctor and get some professional advice.

Go out and buy a journal, and keep notes about your pain: how long it lasts, intensity on a 1-10 scale, etc. Take notes about how the pain affects your ability to work, complete chores and simple tasks, hobbies (kayaking, casting, lifting buckets of lead), have relations with your spouse (seriously!) etc. The more documented information you have will be beneficial to you in the future.

The sad thing is, people who are involved in these types of accidents wind up on pain killers, and a lot of times become addicted to them. I am familiar with several instances of this. If you can bare the pain, avoid the painkillers as much as you can. I see doctors almost pushing them on patients. The whole deal is a double-edged sword.

Move real slow with any legal action. You have a long road of recovery ahead of you, so don't most too fast with anything.

Good luck and I will put in some more words with the Good Lord for you and your passenger.

jonblack

[mtnman31]

Make sure and pull the wheel weights off the truck before the insurance company takes it. :razz:

[KCSO]

How fast was he paddling the Otter when he hit you? He sure didn't slow up much before he hit, talking on a cell phone by chance?

[qajaq59]

talking on a cell phone by chance? I'd lay 100 to 1 odds that he was!

[The Dove]

Dadgummit, I bet the ole boy that hit you has a hellufa headache!!!! Glad to hear you are well amigo!

The Dove