Actually got rammed in the old Subaru the other afteroon...

[DonDavis]

Heading out to run a few errands at 6:30pm. Happened about 1.5 miles from my home.

Very, very light traffic. I was in #2 lane of 3 heading south. Seriously, one other car near me but they were way ahead of me. Saw traffic waaay behind me. Open road, straight, wide, plenty of daylight.

I'm a Smith System Driver and am always on my mirrors as needed.

Speed limit 45, my cruise was set for prob 47ish. Just a nice evening, rolling along.

I glance into my rear view to see it filled with a rapidly approaching Dodge truck grill.
I could do nothing. Not even time to brace for impact.

WHAM

Then I realized I has seen smoke in my mirror. He was in a full skid when he hit me. Tires smoking.

I rolled into the Circle K, he followed.

I sat a minute or so, gathering, evaluating. No injuries. I'm fine.
Adrenaline dump, hands start trembling. Gotta get moving. I got out. Walked around the front of my car. Didn't look at damage yet.

I was madder than Janet Reno's blind date.

Look over at the driver...he's walking toward me. "You're a Fcking MORON!" just flew out of my mouth before I even thought.

"Don't come any closer..." I said much more calmly.

After about 90 sec or so. I walked up to my passenger side and look at him over my car. He's on the driver's side.

Crap...he's 17-18 yrs old. Just a stupid kid. I dial it all back in.

Then he says "We can handle this like adults." With a bit of attitude.

"Adults? Oh, there's an adult here, it damn sure ain't you." I replied.
"Call your parents. You have insurance?"

Hands me his Insurance. It's expired. But he apparently grabbed the wrong info, then he hands me valid Lib Mut info, I called and reported it. Spoke with Ins, I'll arrange to have it eval'd.

To recap, he hit me when I was at 45mph. His skid is 135ft long. I know there are skid calculators, but those generally tell you speed to full stop. I need one that tells me "skid 135' ending at 45mph.

Carnage is essentially light. Bumper is easy fix, rear quarter is pushed in about 3/8", no broken tail lights, doors open fine. Even the hatch appears ok.
Have not looked under at the exhaust yet.

[DonDavis]

Here's his skid.

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by DonDavis

I was madder than Janet Reno's blind date.

Excellent line, I'm going to steal it.

I was rear ended once, quite violently.
Thought the back of my car would be pretty much gone, but was able to drive away with no problems. Actually didn't look too bad.

Sorry you got whapped like that. Cars are tougher than neck muscles.

[DonDavis]

Yeah, I was really lucky. Use that line whenever, but heads up...the younger folks don't know who she was.

And thank you not quoting the entire post to comment on one line. Nice work.

[unclebilly]

Dodge drivers doing Dodge driver things...

Go easy on him, I had a similar incident when I was about 17. My insurance was pretty expensive for a few years and I learned to dial back the stupid.

We were all 17 years old at one point.

[ted]

Kid needs to learn accident avoidance.
He had either a left or right option?
Guess its time we all get dash cams.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by DonDavis

Here's his skid.

Do I see two skid marks or one? If there is a second it's on the left and is longer. May not be associated with the one on the right.

[bkreigsr]

..for those not familiar with the Smith System...
(....I took driver's ed in 1963 )

Five Rules of the Smith System:
1. Aim High. The first rule for this method is “Aim high in steering”. ...
2. The Big Picture. “Be aware of your surroundings at all times” may seem obvious to say, but distracted drivers are. ...
3. Keep Your Eyes Moving. ...
4. Leave Yourself an Out. ...
5. Make Sure They See You.

Don - consider yourself very lucky the Dodge was able to lock up the brakes on that monster.

Bill K

[Arizona_928]

In az.... lucky he followed you into the parking lot.

Usually when you pull into a place they take off

[DonDavis]

Originally Posted by Bob Kontak

Do I see two skid marks or one? If there is a second it's on the left and is longer. May not be associated with the one on the right.

The right skid is celarly visible. The left is there, hard to see on the vid because there's some tar filler in the same place. The filler line is very, very long. When driving by, the left is just as clear. Both skids are about the same length.

And yeah, as I pulled in, I thought "oh crap", then I saw he was following. Got very lucky.

[Arizona_928]

I'm going to say poorly adjusted rear brakes.
That 5.7l turd box wont be able go that fast to get those lines with front brakes alone

[Seahawk]

Glad it worked out in terms of no personal injury...the car is important but number two in my book, a distant number two.

As a former pilot, I am the Smith System and taught my kids all the tenant of Smith plus good tires, brakes, weather impacts, etc. If everyone on the road...never mind.

Again, DD, not the best outcome but it looks fixable.

Best.

[Baz]

Ouch! Sorry to see this happen to you, Big Don. So glad you yourself were not injured. Glad the other guy wasn't too.

I wonder if a cell phone was involved in his inability to drive properly.

Seems to be the biggest highway safety issue we have nowadays.....

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by bkreigsr

..for those not familiar with the Smith System...
(....I took driver's ed in 1963 )

Five Rules of the Smith System:
1. Aim High. The first rule for this method is “Aim high in steering”. ...
2. The Big Picture. “Be aware of your surroundings at all times” may seem obvious to say, but distracted drivers are. ...
3. Keep Your Eyes Moving. ...
4. Leave Yourself an Out. ...
5. Make Sure They See You.

Don - consider yourself very lucky the Dodge was able to lock up the brakes on that monster.

Bill K

How the hell am I supposed to remember all that? It's not like it's in any sort of catchy mnemonic. Do you have an app I can download for quickie reference, or maybe have that in meme form?

[DonDavis]

I was actually a Certified Smith Instructor for over 10 years.
The training included ~38 items to mention during a 12 minute Demonstration Drive.

The "keys" are...
Aim high in steering
Get the big picture ( this is where I failed in this case. Had I checked about 3 seconds sooner, it prob would've had a different outcome. )
Keep your eyes moving
Leave yourself an out
Make sure they see you

Mnemonic...
All
Good
Kids
Love
Mom

Or my fav...
All
Gorillas
Kill
Little
Monkeys

I think follow on Driver Training is one our country's biggest shortcomings. Just look at lane merging. How is the zipper approach so lost on so many drivers?
New drivers get "trained" and let loose at 16 yrs old. They have 1000 other more important things than listening to "how to drive". "Whats so hard? Turn key, push gas!"
Then never, ever get any additional training.
Yet, everyone says the same thing. "People can't drive at all! They all suck!" and things like "I'm an excellent driver."
Well, where do the folks that say that fit into that statement? I'll say it, they suck too. And just because a guy is car enthusiast does not automatically, in any way, make them a "good" driver.

And don't confuse being a master at "operating" a vehicle with being a "good" driver.

Lastly, Smith is for seasoned drivers. Not newbees. Takes real dedicated practice to master.

[porsche930dude]

Thats a big skidmark i wonder if only his rear brakes were working maybe he crimped the front line for some reason because he didnt have the money to fix it properly

[WPOZZZ]

Light damage, but taking the age of the vehicle into consideration, insurance may try and total it.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

The important thing is you are OK Don, so let's all be thankful for that.

Never understood how anyone can buy a Dodge.

[rusnak]

Thank God you're OK. The rest of it is secondary.

[pmax]

Originally Posted by DonDavis

I was madder than Janet Reno's blind date.

Doubtful, that's a high bar there bud

Carnage is essentially light. Bumper is easy fix, rear quarter is pushed in about 3/8", no broken tail lights, doors open fine. Even the hatch appears ok.
Have not looked under at the exhaust yet.

Looks like a fender bender to me.

You'll be fine !