Accident nerves

muckybutt

I had a biggie when I was 21, oncoming car decided to pull into a petrol filling station, he cut straight accross in front of me - absolutely nothing I could do to avoid hitting him, stood on the brakes for what seemed an eternity but in reality was probably a split second as he was only 20m or so in front of me.

My saving grace was it was a fairly new car after driving bangers since I passed my test 2 years earlier. Car was wrote off but the very next day I made sure I hired a car for as long as I could and drove as much as I could despite being in a lot of pain with whiplash.

I suppose its like the saying if you fall off your horse get back on and ride it again.

Ive had a few near misses since as does everyone and yes it makes you sit up and think what if ? but you just have to put your mind back to what you are doing and carry on, I would certainly recommend some advanced driving lessons.

patman99

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

After years of troble free driving I had two clashes in the space of a week.
Neither was my fault and both were resolved through insurance and a bit of paintwork.

But it left me with a feeling that every other motorist was out to get me and that the next coming together could be around the next bend, even though both the incidents I mentioned were in town traffic.

It wore off after a month or 2, and in the 20 years since only 1 other accident, again thankfully not at fault;)

You forgot to mention reversing into a roadworks sign.

CrazyRatLady_2

I think you've had some sound advice on here and I would back that up by saying you just need to force yourself to keep driving. If you stop for a little while, you'll just find it harder to get behind the wheel again.

I sometimes think it's a miracle I ever wanted to learn to drive - from the age of 11 I was involved in one accident a year for 3 years. Each time my my was driving and some other idiot wasn't paying attention coming out of a side road and into our car (first hit bonnet on drivers side, second hit drivers door and third hit my door) all were in the same car and said car although fairly badly damaged, took it well and was repaired by the insurers rather than written off. Each accident left my feeling very shaken up.

What was my first car (and one I still technically own) when I passed my test? That's right the same VW Golf that I'd been in those accidents in. I loved and do still love that car, it means a hell of alot to me (but is currently SORN'd).

Since passing my test just over 3 years ago I've never had any accidents but an awful lot of near misses - the worst being about 6 months into my licence when I was driving down a fast country road (double lane) that leads to my town. There's a farm on the opposite side of the road to me and a tractor had come out of it and was driving along at I imagine about 30mph (half the allowed speed limit of the road). Some idiot in an audi decided that he didn't want to go that slow and floored it out from behind the tractor without being able to see what was coming on the otherside. Unfortunately I was coming and the road wasn't wide enough for all 3 vehicles to pass each other - as I was only about 20m away from the tractor in the other direction I knew both our cars wouldn't be able to brake to a halt so I decided I had to go 'off road' there was only a small grass verge less than a metre wide and I pulled the car over to that at a speed of about 50mph by that time - I knew there was a chance I could have ended up crashing through a hedgerow but I thought that was much more preferable to a high speed head on crash. The audi made it passed but he must have missed my car by a whisker and I hope he sufficiently scared himself that he hasn't done anything that stupid again (then again last week there was an audi ahead of us that also overtook on a bend and lost control fishtailing it across the road, we really thought he was going to crash but he recovered it - hope it wasn't the same person!)

A week after that I got run off the road again at significantly lower speeds when a bus came around a corner on the wrong side of the road.

Then about 2 months ago while in my capri I turned down my nan's road and there were some gas works going on - on the other side of the road there was a transit van parked which meant that anyone travelling in the opposite direction would have to go past in my lane. What happened? A guy in a huge digger pulled out from behind the transit without looking or signalling, as I was driving past said transit and I had to yank my car hard to the left (bearing my mind it's a capri they have terrible turning circles) and mounted the pavement fully. If there had been any walkers on the pavement I would have had to decide to hit them or get smashed into by a digger (obviously the latter but I shouldn't have top make that choice!) Again he narrowly missed me, we both slammed on the brakes and I was already shaking (barely had my nice classic car more than a month and it was almost just written off) - all I could think to do was lean out the window and 'call did you miss me?' he said 'yes are you ok?' I said I was fine and we both moved off.

Despite all these near misses I feel much better when I'm driving rather than a passenger - although as a driver I'm not in control of other people's actions, I'm still in full control of the car I'm in and that is comforting.

OP keep on driving and maybe as someone else said have a couple of refresher driving lessons to make yourself feel better. Maybe also try working on your reaction times? Not that I'm saying you could have prevented the accident, but again if you know you can think and act in a split second in that situation it might make you feel an awful lot better.

Mrs_Imp

When I had a nasty prang in my car (drunk pedestrian stepped/stumbled off the pavement in front of me while I was doing 50mph) the policeman who attended the scene made me get back in my car and drive 100 yards down the road (once everything had been sorted, obviously). It was the best thing for me. I was a bag of nerves every time I drove after that, but not as bad as I would've been if he'd not made me drive.

As others have said, get back in your car and have a drive around at quiet times. It's normal to feel a bit panicky after accidents, and by tackling it now, it'll improve quite quickly. It'll probably make you a better driver too, as you'll be that much more aware of potential dangers.

cyclonebri1

patman99 wrote: »

You forgot to mention reversing into a roadworks sign.

Oh here we go again, another internet troll/stalker, + that was last year, 25 years later than the time mentioned.

Can I ask why my reply made you troll through all my back posts to enable you to post that? You pathetic person.

Grow up girl.

And I have to ask, I posted to aid the op as they had a similar experience to me and I thought mine might help, why did you post?

Johnmcl7

It can be surprising how much this sort of thing can affect you, I would agree with the recommendations above to just keep on driving and the feeling will fade.

I was driving down a small single carriageway road a few weeks ago, the conditions were fairly wet and I didn't have to be anywhere so I was taking it easy. The road is very up and down so even though it's straight oncoming cars appear and disappear as you go along the road. As I came up a section an oncoming car appeared down the middle of the road which I thought he was doing to keep clear of puddles on his side but then as he kept going wider I realised he was going too fast, had lost control and was skidding across to my side of the road. I was then faced with the choice of sticking with my side of the road or swap sides and pass each other on the wrong side, I couldn't go off the road due to the high sides. My immediate thought was he's getting grip back so I should stay with my side so I straight away slammed on my brakes to do an emergency stop. While he was making it back over to his side I didn't think he was going to make it in time so I braced myself for the impact (he was still doing a good speed) but it never came and was passed without contact.

My immediate thought was 'Phew, that was a bit close' and I carried on a bit but kept thinking about how close it had been and if I'd been going slightly faster, I wouldn't have made it by. I felt surprisingly shaky so stopped at nearby shop and got out of the car for a bit to calm down although didn't want to go back in. The next day I still felt quite uneasy in the car and didn't really want to be in it despite usually enjoying driving and having been driving many years. Over the next few drives which were entirely without issue the feeling faded and now is completely gone.

John