Ryan, boy, do I feel your pain! Yes, you're very lucky you were in a newer
car, and all the "lessons learned" that you've mentioned are certainly true.
BTW, don't be too anxious to sign off on the medical - I'm still feeling the
effects of the whiplash from my very similar accident, and that happened in
August! Don't let the insurance company pressure you.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of Ryan Bird
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2003 9:22 AM
To: datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net
Subject: Ouch!
A week ago I was driving home from school in the evening, heading south on
I-17 just a mile before the first I-10 exit. Traffic generally slows down
at that point, and I came to a halt. Within moments of stopping, I felt /
heard a large CRACK/BANG, I was knocked a bit silly, and before I could
figure anything out, I had rear-ended the car in front of me and was idling
slowly... After a few moments, I regained my wits and pulled off to the
side of the road.
This just happened to be the first time in five months that I had taken my
'99 Mitsubishi Galant to school instead of my 67 1600.... Wow!
I had a pretty nasty case of the jitters, a few days of an extremely sore
neck, and now my ribs are tender, but one the whole, everything turned out
alright. A full size, extended van had rear-ended me. The police report
claimed 15mph, but I swear it was more than that. The van had the radiator
shoved up into the engine, while my Galant only had a few minor dents and
the driver seat railing is a bit off. The car (truck) in front was not
damaged at all. To add insult to injury, the van was uninsured. My
insurance company extorts $500 from me before they will do anything about
it, so as the damage was minimal, I just dropped to liability insurance on
the Mitsu and will be receiving a check from them anyway! (Renewed for 6 mo
just 2 weeks ago.)
What I got from my first accident? My head-rests were not extended to match
my 6' body, thus I got more whip-lash than I would have should they have
been properly adjusted. I was wearing my seat belt, or things could have
been much worse... Time to install the lap-belt in my roadster I guess. I
also quickly understood how important the seats are in an accident, while it
has been stressed in the past, those four bolts holding your seats in your
cars had better be secured nicely, I'm thinking about doing "one-up" on that
large washer, as adding the 200lbs of a securely strapped human with all
sorts of G forces going at them is something that I am not that comfortable
with right now. Head rests??? Don't want to think about that one right
now. :(
Anyway, it has been an interesting week. The good news is damage to myself
was all minor, damage to the Mitsu was minimal, and I consider myself
incredibly blessed to have been in the other car that day.
Ryan Bird
Tempe, AZ 67 1600
www.azroc.org/ryan
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