Robinb's diary

Some people should not be let on the roads, and I wonder why and how they passed. For some, there is no hope.

My driveway to where I am living on placement is off a main road, and on my 21st Birthday I thought I would go get my car checked out (it was making a noise like a drag racer - IE my silencer has gone). Fair enough, a hole had appeared in my exaust, costing me £110 to fix. The parts were not in, so I decided to head back home for a few hours whilst they got the parts from a local dealer.

It wasn't to my suprise that people speed down the main road. Usually motor bikes, high end cars, or stupid drivers decide to do 80mph in a 40mph zone during the night. Thankfully for me, it was during the day, and some cars were cruising 10  over the limit. Nothing major. This is, of course, as long as you still watch the road...

When I was indicating right to get into my driveway, I had to stop on the main road due to oncoming cars. Fair enough, I do this every day. When a blue van drive fast caught my eye, I made nothing of it.  Still catching my eye, it wasn't stopping. It didn't take long before I realised I was fecked.

Put it this way: I am in the middle of the road, stationary with my wheels pointing to the right to get into my driveway. Cars were oncoming at a pace, and a van was about to hit my backside with a thump. It doesn't take a genesis to work out that if I was hit, my velocity would match the van with extended weight and push me into the direction of my wheels. With incoming cars, it didn't look good.


The choices:

a) I hit the breakes hard, wait, and possibly cause a 5 car pileup. Nope...

b) Shoot forward attempting to dart between cars. Only if I had a decent car...

c) abandon car. nice....

d) attempt to avoid... So I did.. try anyway.

i shot forwards to try to minimise the damage if he were to hit. It was the sound of the scrape, the buckling, and the jolting that... well... yea...

It didn't look too bad. A 35mph hit to the break lights, buckled bumper and side, and.. oh. it rippled, folded and buckled the bodywork, the internal chassie, and god-knows-what-else. Just the bodywork alone would cost £1800 to repair. I got specialists to check the car soon for a more detailed inspection to see if its a write off.

Still I should not complain. I know a lot of people that have been in worse. I know people that have died in crashes that were not their fault. I suppose I got of lucky. Just don't blame me if I don't trust the car behind for a while.