[Carl Sims]

Well, I hope that none of you ever experience what I did tonight. A 40+mph offset front collision.

I was on my way out to meet a friend tonight and a woman made a left turn without looking directly in my path. All I could do was try to minimize what was about to happen. Luckily I was able to avoid the total head-on and I managed to move just enough to the right to contact mainly on the left front of my car which sent me up on to the curb and nearly into some people waiting to cross the street. A friend is taking me to get a rental car tomorrow and I will go to the wrecking yard to take pictures which I will post. From what I saw before I got in the ambulance, it was not pretty. Volvo bits all over the street...

This woman and several kids in the car with her and they had no seatbelts on. One kid hit the windshield, I don't know what ultimately happened with him. I have only a swollen left wrist, elbow and my back hurts some. In all, I was very fortunate to have walked away from this. Volvo safety is no joke.

 

[mike_c70]

quote:

Originally posted by Carl Sims:
Well, I hope that none of you ever experience what I did tonight. A 40+mph offset front collision.

I was on my way out to meet a friend tonight and a woman made a left turn without looking directly in my path. All I could do was try to minimize what was about to happen. Luckily I was able to avoid the total head-on and I managed to move just enough to the right to contact mainly on the left front of my car which sent me up on to the curb and nearly into some people waiting to cross the street. A friend is taking me to get a rental car tomorrow and I will go to the wrecking yard to take pictures which I will post. From what I saw before I got in the ambulance, it was not pretty. Volvo bits all over the street...

This woman and several kids in the car with her and they had no seatbelts on. One kid hit the windshield, I don't know what ultimately happened with him. I have only a swollen left wrist, elbow and my back hurts some. In all, I was very fortunate to have walked away from this. Volvo safety is no joke.

I'm glad to hear that you are ok. Try to get the car totalled if you can. Also, MOST DEFINITELY go see a doctor about your back. My friend got into a car accident a while back and he hurt his back. He just let it go thinking it was just sore. He still has that pain today. Finally, milk that ()itch for all she's worth (car, medical bills, rentals, etc). Good luck.

Regards,
Mike

 

[[email protected]]

Good luck with it. Sometimes if you hit them, as it sounds you did, you can get screwed when they say who's at fault.

I hate seeing people with kids in the car and no seatbelts. People like that should be fined....BIGTIME.

Glad to hear you are okay. Sorry to hear about your car.

 

[Kai]

quote:

Originally posted by Carl Sims:
This woman and several kids in the car with her and they had no seatbelts on. One kid hit the windshield...

Man...sorry to hear about the accident. Regardless who was at fault, it's still sad to see a Volvo get wrecked, and kids involved. Hopefully the kids are fine..............

 

[T5 Dave]

quote:

Originally posted by [email protected]:


Glad to hear you are okay. Sorry to hear about your car.

Ditto, except to say I'm really glad the car did what it was supposed to do -- protect you. Remember you can always get a new car; your body is a bit more difficult to replace. Besides, it gives you an excuse to get an S60r! (If you can stand the wait, that is.)

When my T-bird was smashed (rear-ended by a heavy pickup hit-and-run) my wife told me to go to the doctor that instant to get pain killers and muscle relaxers to help the back pain go away. Turns out people wait a day, the muscles start to spasm and stiffen up, thereby increasing the pain. She was right--I took the mega-ibuprofen (800 mg) and muscle relaxers and the pain was gone in a short while. It would have taken weeks if I hadn't gone to the docs straight-away.

Best of luck, hope it all gets sorted out OK. Were there any witnesses?

 

[Carl Sims]

Thanks for all of the sympathy.

I went to look at the car today and I took some pictures of it and the one I collided with. Unfortunately my USB cable is sitting on my desk in my office and I will have to go in later to get it so I can post the pictures.

The accident happened on a busy highway and there were at least five witnesses that told me that they saw what happened and were going to make sure that they talked to the cops on the scene. It was light where you get to make a timed left turn but then turns red when regular traffic gets the green to go straight. The light was green my way so it was red for her. I talked to the cop writing the report and he told me that this same thing happens all of the time there. People think that just because the light is green to go straight, they can make the left also. The speed limit in that area is 50 so that gives you some idea of the traffic and the impact.

I am upset about the car, but more happy that I walked away from it. The firemen did a number on my car though. Instead of disconnecting the battery, the cut all of the wires coming out of the fuse box. They didn't take the time to look in the trunk for the battery. I will post pictures later.

[This message has been edited by Carl Sims (edited 07-29-2002).]

 

[Carl Sims]

I tried to cut down the size for the bandwidth impaired, so the pictures may be blurry.

This is what wandered in front of me.

This is my car now.

I have others if anyone is interested. Both rims on the right side of my car a very damaged as I rode over a curb at a pretty good rate of speed. The left wheel is toed out and so is the right.

[This message has been edited by Carl Sims (edited 07-29-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Carl Sims (edited 07-29-2002).]

 

[Kai]

quote:

Originally posted by Carl Sims:
This is what wandered in front of me.

Wow...from the damage of the other car I saw in the first pic, I was almost scared to scroll down and see how your car looks like now....but it's actually not THAT bad. Now people gotta have some respect for the Volvo cars...the other car was a complete goner while yours still looks repairable!

The other car looks like it had hit a brick wall......or a BRICK.

 

[Kaizai]

Wow, sorry to hear about that. Glad you are fine. Such a bummer when a sexy car gets hurt, even more so when its someone else's fault.

How tall are you? Only reason I ask is that I walked away from a worse crash, all my fault, and I wasn't sore at all. The only thing I got was a little air-bag rash on one of my arms. I am 5'10

My crash.
http://www.sonic.net/~db/crash/crash.html

Welcome to the club.
http://new.volvocars.com/whyvolvo/why_save_my_life.asp

 

[S.R.]

Carl,

Glad to hear that your okay & safe. I too am sorry about what happened to the car, damn that really sucks! Although, the pictures don't seem as bad as I first thought they would be, maybe it is fix-able?

I really really hope everything turns out your way, as it sounds like you have some good witnesses.

-Drew

 

[Carl Sims]

quote:

Originally posted by Kaizai:
Wow, sorry to hear about that. Glad you are fine. Such a bummer when a sexy car gets hurt, even more so when its someone else's fault.

How tall are you? Only reason I ask is that I walked away from a worse crash, all my fault, and I wasn't sore at all. The only thing I got was a little air-bag rash on one of my arms. I am 5'10

My crash.
http://www.sonic.net/~db/crash/crash.html

Welcome to the club.
http://new.volvocars.com/whyvolvo/why_save_my_life.asp

I'm 5'11". My back in the shoulder area and neck are really bothering me now but I am trying to keep from taking the prescription I was given because I don't like the idea of taking narcotics.

Here's the right front wheel.

[This message has been edited by Carl Sims (edited 07-29-2002).]

 

[T5 Dave]

quote:

Originally posted by InDy:
Carl,

Glad to hear that your okay & safe. I too am sorry about what happened to the car, damn that really sucks! Although, the pictures don't seem as bad as I first thought they would be, maybe it is fix-able?

-Drew

You really won't know until you pull off the left front fender and the bumper and see what the real damage is. You might be OK, but I'm guessing by the time you get a new hood, new left fender, new bumper & headlights (lamp assy alone is $500), new rims, new suspension parts, & what not I'd say you're looking at close to $15k to $20k worth of damage.

but it looks like you merely grazed her by doing the avoidance maneuver and didn't hit full frontal, which is why it doesn't appear to be as bad as we first thought. Still, if the frame is seriously bent you want to have it totalled because if they straighten it then it won't protect you as well the next time this happens.

Best of luck.

 

[Carl Sims]

Here is an excellent pic. Notice how the right wheel is so off compared to the left in an above picture. That can't be good news.

[This message has been edited by Carl Sims (edited 07-29-2002).]

 

[NJ850N/A]

Carl,
Really ouch! Hate to see a busted up Volvo, but glad you are fine, of course I hope the other party is fine also. The Buick, if I see the emblem clearly, is a goner. Yours look repairable, but the question is, how much it's gonna be? Keep us posted on this incident.

 

[snoogans]

CARL
Keep up up to date with what your going to do with the car, I might be interested in some parts from the car if you'd be willing.

Thanks.

[This message has been edited by snoogans (edited 07-29-2002).]

 

[snoogans]

if you could, drop me an e-mail - you dont seem to have one posted in your user profile.

thanks

[email protected]

 

[[email protected]]

Oh man, that's ugly. I agree with Kai that I'm surprised it did so well considering the Buick, but it's still ugly. Glad to year you are okay.

 

[yacoub]

Man that Volvo really took the impact well. Glad you're (mostly) okay. Get checked out just for insurance purposes. If anything is wrong her insurance will pay for it.

 

[mike_c70]

Wow! Your car held up pretty well considering the amount of damage on the other car. Looks like there might be some frame damage to the car given the nature of the accident. If you take it to a high-end and very reputable body shop they should be able to straighten the car out if they don't total it. I had frame damage to my car about 2 months ago and they realigned it to spec. No problems with it so far. Granted this body shop just fixed a GT2 and a 360 Spyder, so I knew my car was in good hands. Get this, the damage on the 360 spyder was $85K!!!

 

[Crowly]

If the frame is bent you want to have the car totaled. Once the frame gets messed up the car will never be the same, there really is no way to correct a bent frame.

Glad your Ok. Seeing the difference in the two cars' damage reafirms my decission to purchase a S60 soon.