!@*% inexperienced, distracted, teen drivers

[dfreeman616]

so last night around 6:45, my wife was driving the cherokee on a fairly busy road. she slowed to around 5-10 mph due to slowed/stopped traffic in front of her, only to be smashed into from the rear by a late model cavalier driven by a girl who was probably 16 or 17, in a car she had just gotten. what's more, she had 2 kids in car seats in the back and another girl in the front seat who looked a little older, according to my wife. i wasn't there and didn't see any of them. my wife didn't feel bad at first, but today i got out of work to take her to the hospital because she's having back pain and numbness in her arms. doc says strained muscles, gave her some meds, and a few days off work. other wise, she'll be fine. the girls in the other car, from what i know, were sore and had swollen faces from their air bags going off...so they must have still been going 25 mph +. smashed up the front of their car pretty good, windshield cracked from the bags hitting. our cherokee came out pretty good, the class I hitch took most of the damage, bent down and barely hit the gas skid. both bumper mounts are shot, but the bumper may be salvageable. no pics at the moment, but i may get some later. then when the other driver's dad showed up, he was pitching a fit and lying to the officers, who basically told him to shut up. end :mad: .

[tjbliley]

Hope oyur wife is OK. That does suck for you guys.

[CWLONGSHOT]

I feel for ya...I really do. I'm very glad your wife is OK!! But the bottom line is, vehicles can get fixed...lives cannot always. Be glad no one got severely hurt.

 

My wife was T-boned back in September. Rolled our Grand Cherokee two complete times and landed back on the tires. She was bruised from the safety belt and a couple small cuts her left arm when her elbow took out the side window. She is fine now and no serious injuries to either driver. Our Jeep was totalled. Other driver pulled a fast one... switched drivers and made a false report to officers...there bad. Two elderly people, snow birds from Florida. We are not legally pursuing this, but I'll bet our insurance CO will... Our insurance paid out a BIG chunk of change on our Grand!!! Only the vehicles where damaged and that's what insurance is for. I had just bought it for her last Christmas. (If you remember)

 

CW

[dfreeman616]

yes i do remember that cw. it certainly could have been worse, nothing like what a good friend of mine had happen to him (german guy working for a us company ran a flashing red light, totaled my friends saturn and broke his hand pretty bad. still remains to be seen how that will affect his future/career since he's a musician. his now fiancee was in the car too, and if my friend had swerved she may not be here today). my rant isn't about the car really, it's about the bad driver. insurance covers the med bill and lost wages, and michigan mini-tort law covers the damages to the truck. hey, might be a good excuse to weld up a steel bumper :brows:

[JeeperjohnfromPA]

My wife was Rearended in her 2002 XJ about 2 months after we got it.

Some ditsy lady in a Dodge Neon plowed right into her, directly in the rear of the Cherokee.

Did over 5,000 worth of damage.

My wife was upset, my youngest son, (was maybe 2yrs at the time) was in his car seat.

My wife was SOOOOO UPSET, she said she never wants to drive again.

All I had to do was point out to her, how she did nothing wrong, and look even a a moron smashing into her from behind and she walked away from it without even a scratch!

On top of it, she was able to drive the Cherokee home!

The other lady tried to bull$#!& the cop, but it was obvious what happend.

The Neon needless to say, was TOTALED.

[JeeperjohnfromPA]

I had a Toyota 4runner rear end me in my YJ years ago, (think it was like 1996?) anyhow I had smittybuilt double tube bumpers front and back at that time.

I was at a complete stop and this guy PLOWED into me at about 35mph.

 

I couldn't believe it, and neither could he.

The double tube bumper bent, but was stronger then his bumper, and pushed his bumper into his frontend, which made his front fenders bend/kink outwards. My Fullsized Spare tire tookcare of his Hood, grill, radiator etc,,,, The Smittybuilt tube bumper and spare even managed to save my back window!

 

The Guy couldn't even pull his Toyota over to the side of the road!

 

I was able to drive away from it.

When his insurance guy came and looked at my jeep, he couldn't believe how little damage I had.

I took his check for 900 and change, removed the bent tube bumper and drove it like that till 2003, when I got lucky and got a free tailgate. :brows:

 

One thing I'll never forget, the day of that accident the other driver is standing there, looking at my jeep, his 4runner, my jeep, his 4runner, then he looked at me pointed at his front end and said " The F%#king thing is made of tin foil!"

 

looking back I laugh about it, but I was stupid, I should have sued his @$$, and got some money for the possible vertebra injuries that realy won't show up till I'm old.

Hell It would have been the insurance that would have been sued, not him, and they prolly would have settled rather then fight it.

Oh well live and learn.

[dfreeman616]

that's why we went to have my wife checked out, just to make sure nothing serious :D i talked to the father of the girl who was driving (who, by the way, is 16) as well as insurance, should be getting $500 back out of the whole deal. one of the passengers in the cavalier, an 11 year old girl, also went to the hospital for shortness of breath and a cut on her face, but should be ok. funny thing is, i may now help fix their car :wrench: :teehee: