Less than three miles from returning home from taking his GF home.
Yep... he ran off the road and hit a steep bank and then traveled about 100 yards more before tangling into the guide wires of a power pole. Snaped one of the guide wires and it flew up onto the power line and knocked the power out. The two gide wires almost cut half way into the front ot the car. Its totaled. No way around it. He says another car entered his lane and he swerved off to avoid and then over corrected coming back. Over correction is a common mistake but its almost natural reaction. However since the other car stopped but then kept going there is no way to substantiate it so he was ticketed for driving to fast for conditions. Thats a 2 point one so not as bad as it could have been worse. The chances of a 16 1/2 year old winning in court are probably not good especially since he realy cannot identify the other vehicle so we gonna have to eat it. I am uncertain if my Insurance goes up with this one or not. He is relatively unhurt except for a bloody fat lip. Air bags deployed which hit his face but probably kept him alive and in the car.
I got to be thankfull that he is not hurt. It coulda been much worse. I will try and get some pictures up later today. All in all he is an excellent driver. Passed his written and practical on first tries first day he was eligible. And this place is tough on teen drivers. As they should be. He is one of the few I know of that has passed first time out. And he always drives the speed limit. Apears he was last night too. He has a lot of behind the wheel experience too. He has had this car since he was 15 and has a year and a half experience with no ticker or problems. Drives every day. But...one moment of panic and overreaction in a split second and you have lost it. Seems that is what happened here. he should have been able to keep his vehicle under control. Thats the law. So you kids take a lesson. You can lose everything in one split second and even your life. You have to stay alert and you have to react FIRST by taking your foot off the gas and stepping on the brakes. He and I had many talks about this. And this is the number one cause of accidents is trying to just steer out of a problem. That is the most common mistake and he knew it when he called me. First thing he said was I swerved and over compensated. Even though he had rehearsed it many times in his mind his instinct was to swerve. Once you start into that your doomed. He knew it but did it anyway. And knows he screwed up the moment he started it.
My father in law owns a body shop so he came out and towed it to his place. I gotta go by there today and I will get some pictures up. I had just put all new tires and had a complete rework done to this car for him for Christmas. Ain't that the way?
So I will now be going and dealing with all this today. It was fully insured but now the real loss is the deductable was high ($1000) and I owed $3400 on it still. I will be lucky to get the note paid off and then get 2 grand outa it to buy him another one.
Pictures later...
Yep... he ran off the road and hit a steep bank and then traveled about 100 yards more before tangling into the guide wires of a power pole. Snaped one of the guide wires and it flew up onto the power line and knocked the power out. The two gide wires almost cut half way into the front ot the car. Its totaled. No way around it. He says another car entered his lane and he swerved off to avoid and then over corrected coming back. Over correction is a common mistake but its almost natural reaction. However since the other car stopped but then kept going there is no way to substantiate it so he was ticketed for driving to fast for conditions. Thats a 2 point one so not as bad as it could have been worse. The chances of a 16 1/2 year old winning in court are probably not good especially since he realy cannot identify the other vehicle so we gonna have to eat it. I am uncertain if my Insurance goes up with this one or not. He is relatively unhurt except for a bloody fat lip. Air bags deployed which hit his face but probably kept him alive and in the car.
I got to be thankfull that he is not hurt. It coulda been much worse. I will try and get some pictures up later today. All in all he is an excellent driver. Passed his written and practical on first tries first day he was eligible. And this place is tough on teen drivers. As they should be. He is one of the few I know of that has passed first time out. And he always drives the speed limit. Apears he was last night too. He has a lot of behind the wheel experience too. He has had this car since he was 15 and has a year and a half experience with no ticker or problems. Drives every day. But...one moment of panic and overreaction in a split second and you have lost it. Seems that is what happened here. he should have been able to keep his vehicle under control. Thats the law. So you kids take a lesson. You can lose everything in one split second and even your life. You have to stay alert and you have to react FIRST by taking your foot off the gas and stepping on the brakes. He and I had many talks about this. And this is the number one cause of accidents is trying to just steer out of a problem. That is the most common mistake and he knew it when he called me. First thing he said was I swerved and over compensated. Even though he had rehearsed it many times in his mind his instinct was to swerve. Once you start into that your doomed. He knew it but did it anyway. And knows he screwed up the moment he started it.
My father in law owns a body shop so he came out and towed it to his place. I gotta go by there today and I will get some pictures up. I had just put all new tires and had a complete rework done to this car for him for Christmas. Ain't that the way?
So I will now be going and dealing with all this today. It was fully insured but now the real loss is the deductable was high ($1000) and I owed $3400 on it still. I will be lucky to get the note paid off and then get 2 grand outa it to buy him another one.
Pictures later...
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