165 replies to this topic

[Teapot]

Great work, Gav. I couldn't do your job, that's for sure. Anything you can do to make people think twice before driving recklessly, drunk or sober, must be worthwhile.

[bananaman]

A little off track I know, but we had a guy do a d&d presentation to me and my mates a few years ago. He started telling us about his family, showing us photo's, and movie clips of them all at parties, birthdays, on holiday, all those kind of things. Then told us a story of the day it all went so terribly wrong, a crash involving someone who was over the limit from the night before, the accident killed his wife, two daughters and his son. he was in hospital for three months and lost his left leg below the knee and his right eye.
He showed us photo's of everything, the accident scene, the fire brigade cutting them out, pictures from the mortuary and the hospital. (we were soldiers here so believe me, we saw everything)

Afterwards, he told us what the courts did to the guy who caused this, which made us all angry as we thought it wasn't enough (5 years for death by dangerous driving). And then finally, he showed us a photograph of the driver.


It was him!! He'd been out at a do the night before and had a skinfull, and was driving his family on holiday the next morning when he clipped the central reservation and flipped the car down the motorway.

This presentation is the reason I never drink and drive, not even the next day. If everyone could see this, believe me, it would work.

The Northern Ireland Road Safety Commitie do some amazing adverts that make you think, but they are classed as too graphic for the BBC and ITV to show, don't want to upset people.

[coop]

coop looks like a lovely mini you had before the crash aswell.

Yea, reminds me a bit of my old mini, my crash and the damage is similar

it's heartbreaking isn't it? red is my favourite colour but i couldn't bring my self to have the same colour for my next mini sappy!

[Mini bullet]

again like bananaman, i am a soldier, when i do my driver training i have seen some horric RTC's which have really chilled me. i dont drink and drive and i get really angry when i hear or see people hurt or killed by someone elses stupidity. it doesnt take a lot to impare your judgement, 1 pint is enough. IF YOU DRINK, YOU DONT DRIVE!

simple as!

[charlie_the_miniboy]

so far the minis seem pretty standard, on 04/04/04 (<--- i know what a day) i'd taken my K series hillclimb mini to sandown park for the mini45 show, (i only went for the sunday) had a great day, on the way home (just 10 miles from home) just outside colchester some PIKEY in a white F reg ford fiesta over took then lost control and wiped me off the road, i was doing 60MPH in the rain in a two mini convoy, he wasn't, he was doing at least 80mph when he hit my drivers door, now my car was fitted wit a full FIA spec rollcage with doorbars and roof bars and two dash bars, i was in a FIA bucket seat mounted to the floor, i had a 6 point harness (even had the crouch straps done up) yet a ford fiesta managed to nearly kill me.. the drivers seat (and floor) got pushed on to the passenger seat (and passenger) the roof buckled the door came in, the GRP front got wedged between a red hot exhaust and a tree, so went on fire, i had to climb out of the burning car and up a 20ft bank to the A12, when i got to A&E i found out i'd broken my pelvis on the right hand side, i'd also hit my left arm on the the dia bar on the rear cage, broke four ribs and collasped my right lung, but the bit that nearly killed me is the internial bleeding,

i spent the worst 9 days of my life in colchester hospital. came out and started rebuilding my life, metal you can replace, people you can't


sorry i don't have any pics due to the fighting for my life thing....
i never did see that car again, my insurance company sold it off when i was still in hospital...
after 4 years tomorrow i'm now looking like i am getting my compo, £4000 for all the above

p.s the driver got 3 points and a £60 fine, once they found him, as he fled the scene with his four mates after rolling his fiesta, leaving me for dead....!

Edited by charlie_the_miniboy, 03 April 2008 - 09:35 PM.

[mini_turbo_pete]

My friends brother was killed by a drunk driver in December 06, he was driving on the A13 in a Ford Fiesta, the part of the road he was driving on was duel carriage way with central reservation when a drunk driver in a 4x4 was driving down the carriage way the wrong way and they had a head on collision.

The guy that caused and killed Sam got 2 years and a fine...

If anyone from around southend basildon areas are driving on the A13 london bound between Saddlers Farm roundabout and the Pitsea turn off look out for the car seat on the left side of the road with flowers around it....

[666junky]

oh my, this whole topic has been a real eye opener.. and turbo pete, i see that seat pretty often and wondered the story behind it

I really hope this teaches some people to behave when driving.. we arnt indestructible!

[biggav]

thanks for these stories.

Lets not forget, we've lost forum members in car accidents too!!

A high percentage of the pictures shown are of low speed "Fender Benders" which although they can cause injuries (whiplash, neck etc) which can be very dangerous) they would not be what I personally would call "Serious" or "Safety Related". In my job as a fire fighter, I only usually attend incidents where people are trapped inside the car (either due to imobilising injuries or physically trapped by car parts or both) or where a car has caught fire following an accident.

Mini's are now quite rare on our roads, as are most older cars. Which is why i have hardly ever been to a crash involving one and they are statistally less likely to be involved in an accident than a MINI because of this.

Manufacturers now design cars to be safer than ever before and Seatbelts, Airbags, crumple zones, testing and development have seen a huge reduction in fatalities and serious injuries over the last few years. They are now making cars which can warn you (and stop you) if there is a stationary object infront of you and the car feels you are not reacting quickly enough to avoid a collision you are therefore at a considerably greater risk in a crash situation than if you were in a "modern" equivilant.

I have been to an incident which was a New Mercedes Vs a Rover Metro. The metro had taken a bend at around 80mph and lost control heading straight into the other lane where the merc was doing around 60. The metro was completley (and i mean completley) destroyed. The engine, front subframe and wings came off as one, both doors came off and went in different directions, the drivers seat was torn in half and what was left of the rear end was wedged in a tree. The Merc was still on the road and had moderate front and off side damage where the metro had hit it almost head on and then spun around and away into the woods. The drivers compartment was not really compromised in any way and airbags and seat belt tensioners had all fired off correctly. The driver of the metro was taken to hospital with a suspected broken leg. He had not been wearing a seatbelt and was thrown clear of the accident when the metro started to spin. The driver of the mercedes has serious internal injuries casued simply by his body going from 60-0 in a hearbeat. The ligament which holds the liver in place like a seat belt had effectivley split his liver in half and he needed several operations to put it right. We had to cut the doors and roof off and get him out on a back board, nearly 2 hours after the other driver had gone to hospital.

I guess what i'm trying to get at is that even with all the technology in the world, we are still at the mercy of the laws of physyics and the limits of our own organs, bones and tissues. If i had to have a car accident and could choose a car out of the two to be in, it would be the merc every time.

Don't be fooled by Ncap ratings and government statistics.. a recent piece of garbage suggested that the safest place to sit in a crash is on the back seat of a car and the worst is the drivers seat, when we looked at the figures, they seemed convincing until someone pointed out that the statistics were based on every serious crash in 2005 and that Every car has to have someone in the drivers seat, not every car has passengers. when we re-assesed it using only crashes where back seat passengers were in the cars, it became aparent that you are no safer in the back than the front. NCAP only test on SET criteria, therfore, manufactures make cars that behave well when driven into a deformable concrete block at a set speed, ditto side impact and pedestrian safety. A five star rating doesn't make you invincible.

[techno-steve]

Heavy Fog + dark + rain + tight corner + rolling down a 4ft drop =








Cant remember what category write off it was, but uit had to be squished. I think Molly went to mini heaven though....

Then when someone goes into the back of you this happens . Cat D write off

were u ok

[Joshmini]

Biggav i would hate your job.
Can you get some more pictures of bad crash's really does make you think

[biggav]

I have lots... and lots of pictures. To post them requires consent though which takes time

[*Raz*]

coop looks like a lovely mini you had before the crash aswell.

Yea, reminds me a bit of my old mini, my crash and the damage is similar

it's heartbreaking isn't it? red is my favourite colour but i couldn't bring my self to have the same colour for my next mini sappy!

Yea it is lucky it wasnt worse though. Yea thats the same as me, Id love another red mini but I cant ''replace'' Molly!!

Cant remember what category write off it was, but uit had to be squished. I think Molly went to mini heaven though....

were u ok

Yea, I was ok, just shock/whiplash, and lots of acheyness but i was lucky!

[Trace]

I am a nurse, so obviously work in a hospital. I worked for a while in Intensive care, and we had lots of people come in with serious injury from RTC's. The worst part of it was having to deal with the family, something which the patients do not see as they are sedated and ventilated. The worst case I saw was the family of a boy aged around 8 or 9, who was in the passenger seat whilst his older brother was driving, they crashed and the driver walked away however his little brother was left with severe head injuries amounting to 24hr care for the rest of his life. Not nice.

On the brighter side, we did manage to fix a few people, including a russian lad who rolled his car down a bank into a tree (sadly killing his friend)...he was ventilated for about a month and it was touch and go, then one day all of a sudden he decided to support himself so we woke him up and all he wanted was a doughnut! lol

edit: i cant see the video about the girl

Edited by Trace, 18 June 2008 - 09:31 PM.

[Joshmini]

Trace that must not be a nice job would hate having to deal with the family and that.
and i just noticed you joined same day as me haha

Edited by Joshmini, 19 June 2008 - 06:22 AM.

[Trace]

Trace that must not be a nice job would hate having to deal with the family and that.
and i just noticed you joined same day as me haha

believe it or not i have the best job in the world asside from the staff shortages and all the other C**p we have to put up with (mainly from patients expecting too much from us)....we arent superwomen...i can't see myself doing much else to be honest!