witnessed a car accident on my street...

[quietgal]

As I was walking across the street to my car yesterday, I witnessed this bizarre accident where a guy in an SUV hit a parked car and flipped.

I heard a loud BOOM and looked up to see this SUV literally in the air, belly-up, four wheels pointed towards the sky. It bounced once on its head like a tennis ball, and then flipped again, landing back on its wheels. I never saw anything like it before. I could clearly see through the passenger-side window that there was a person in there and I just took off sprinting down the street, hoping that the guy was okay though I wasn't really sure what I would do if he wasn't.

There were two other women on the street who were closer than me and called 911. Both cars were pretty much totaled but luckily, the guy was able to walk out of it. He was quite old (in his 70's I think) and seemed really dazed, and I think he suffered some head trauma though there wasn't any blood. I hung around until the police came but after they did, I left.

Have you ever witnessed an accident of some kind before? What did you do?

[KaiserNeptune]

Originally Posted by quietgal

As I was walking across the street to my car yesterday, I witnessed this bizarre accident where a guy in an SUV hit a parked car and flipped.

I heard a loud BOOM and looked up to see this SUV literally in the air, belly-up, four wheels pointed towards the sky. It bounced once on its head like a tennis ball, and then flipped again, landing back on its wheels. I never saw anything like it before. I could clearly see through the passenger-side window that there was a person in there and I just took off sprinting down the street, hoping that the guy was okay though I wasn't really sure what I would do if he wasn't.

There were two other women on the street who were closer than me and called 911. Both cars were pretty much totaled but luckily, the guy was able to walk out of it. He was quite old (in his 70's I think) and seemed really dazed, and I think he suffered some head trauma though there wasn't any blood. I hung around until the police came but after they did, I left.

Have you ever witnessed an accident of some kind before? What did you do?

I'm sorry about that! Fortunately, I've never seen a serious accident occur in real time, but I've seen the aftermath a few times and it makes me sick to my stomach as well as depressed.

[lyssado707]

Sounds scary. I've only seen someone bump into someone else slightly when I was on the greyhound. Hope the guy's ok.

[tutliputli]

God, that's terrible. The guy was lucky to get away without any bad injuries. I hope you're not feeling too shaken up by it.

One night, my parents and I were driving back from somewhere and we drove past an accident scene. There were loads of police and an ambulance, and two wrecked cars. It must've just happened because they hadn't cordoned off the road or anything. A woman was lying face down, in the road, her legs all exposed where her skirt had ridden up, and she wasn't moving. It was really upsetting. Thankfully I've never been in a serious car crash myself. I hope the guy is alright.

[Just Lurking]

That must've been quite the sight! I'm not sure what the proper protocol is if someone's badly injured. I guess you're supposed to leave them in place, just in case it did something to their back or neck... and wait for paramedics and fire department to arrive... unless the car's on fire in which case I would THINK you'd be best to move them...

I haven't seen any serious accidents happen in front of my eyes, only fenderbenders.

I've heard one happen, then turned to see its immediate aftermath. But I didn't do anything as there must've been about 70 people around it within seconds of it happening (was in our downtown core which has a TON of people-traffic). Plus this was just down the street from a hospital - I think the ambulance even beat the police to the scene.

[SilentLoner]

I haven't seen one happen, though in my freshman year of high school I was on the school bus going home when it crashed head on into another car (the other car went right through a stop sign). The entire side of the car was smashed up and just rolled off into someone's yard. I think the other driver had some injuries. Everyone on the bus just slammed into the seat ahead of them, no one was hurt (buses really do absorb shock well).

[Prakas]

When I was about 8 give or take, I didn't observe the accident. I was in one that was awful.

I was in the back seat, my brother and his girlfriend were up front. I wasn't buckled up either. I don't remember what happened except that we crashed at the entrance of a WAWA, and I looked in the mirror and saw my forehead covered in blood. I don't remember anything else, it was terrible.

I ended up having like 30 stitches or something in my forehead, and they were painful when they took them out.

I also had a minor accident a few years ago in a shopping center, someone was driving a van and decided instead of waiting behind me at a stop sign, she would drive around and litterally drive over the front left of my car causing alot of damage, no injuries though.

[Lonelyguy]

A few years ago I was driving home after work in the dark and was meeting a minivan in the other lane. Both of us were going about 60 mph and right as we met a deer came running out of the ditch in front of the van. I heard a loud pop when it hit, then I slowed down and looked back in my mirror. I was going to check if they were ok but by that time the vehicle behind me had already stopped so I figured there wasn't much I could do.

Another time I was driving on a city street and I was meeting a car in the other direction that was waiting for me to pass so he could turn. As I was passing that car, another one approached the rear of it...distracted by a yard sale going on along side the street and didn't notice the car in front of him was stopped. He hit right as I was passing them both by, must have been doing at least 30 mph. Plastic and glass went flying everywhere and the impact was strong enough to lift the rear wheels of both cars off the ground. There were people everywhere so I didn't bother stopping, but I don't think anyone was hurt.

About 40 years ago my uncle was standing in his yard and witnessed a small airplane crash nearby, which killed the pilot and his passenger. He says he still has nightmares about it.

[markx]

I once saw a kid get run over outside the school, about 20 feet from where I was standing. There were about 100 witnesses though and some of the parents took over almost immediately. The kid survived, although after that he wasn't so keen on running across the road without looking.

The only time that I got involved in the aftermath of a serious accident was when a forklift truck turned over outside work, trapping the driver's leg under the roll cage. While he was laying there screaming, I was running around like a headless chicken trying to find some way of lifting the weight from his leg. In the end we used a scaffolding pole as a lever. He had to have a couple of toes amputated due to gangrene but we probably saved his foot.

[zomgz]

It's actually kind of dramatic to witness that kind of thing! Especially if it's sad and the person dies =[

Anyway, one time I was in spokane and I was waiting for my family to get out of the restrooms that were in the park. I saw a car drive off a parking garage like 20 stories down and crash into the road. I was like OMG!!!!!@@Q!@#!$! It seemed like forever until the emergency services got there!! she died though it was really sad =( she drove right over the concrete barrier though, it was nuts.

[FaintOfHearts]

Oh wow, thats crazy. Glad their ok though.

Earlier this year a man on a motorcycle was hit a couple of feet in front of me by a Honda. He was hit so hard that he skidded up the road farther than his bike and his helmet broke but he was still able to walk it off. It was so weird because my neighbors had just been talking about this newly installed fence that blocked our view of oncoming traffic and how there would be an accident when boom... it happened.

[kkluv20]

I was on a greyhound bus and we were turning onto the interstate when we had to stop because there was a motorcycle crashed in the road. I was looking out my window in shock to see this man get up and his head and face was all bloody. He already had people helping him, so the bus driver eventually just kept on going.

[kkluv20]

Originally Posted by zomgz

Anyway, one time I was in spokane and I was waiting for my family to get out of the restrooms that were in the park. I saw a car drive off a parking garage like 20 stories down and crash into the road. I was like OMG!!!!!@@Q!@#!$! It seemed like forever until the emergency services got there!! she died though it was really sad =( she drove right over the concrete barrier though, it was nuts.

OMG

[coldmorning]

The worst one I've seen was when a car was stopped at a crosswalk and an SUV plowed right into it from behind. I was in the next lane over and didn't hear brakes so the driver may have been distracted. Luckily no one was hurt but if the pedestrian had been further along the crosswalk it might have been a lot worse as the stopped car got pushed through the crosswalk.

Other than that I've seen a few minor fender benders. One of the weirdest ones was at a stopped light... suddenly one car just lurched ahead and hit the car in front of it. It was just inexplicable. The car that got hit turned out to be an unmarked police car as it turned on its lights after getting hit.

I've never actually seen anyone get hurt though I've driven by many serious wrecks. I also lived in Santa Monica several years ago when a rather infamous accident happened there (it was national news for a while). An elderly driver got confused hitting the accelerator instead of the brakes and drove through a farmer's market killing many people. I was living just a few blocks from where it happened at the time.

[inna sense]

woah!...never seen anything like that happen and yall have some crazy stories

[fern]

I've never seen a car accident but my parents live out in the country where there are a lot of Amish people, and I'm pretty sure I witnessed a drive-by-smiting. Apparently nobody double crosses the Amish Mafia and gets away with it.

[quietgal]

I just found out that my mother was in a car accident last night - she was going 65 miles per hour on the highway and suddenly, there was a deer. She swerved to avoid it - her van spun twice and she saw the headlights of oncoming cars coming towards her before somehow ending up in a ditch on the side of the highway wedged between two trees.

She's very badly shaken up, but otherwise unhurt. There was a bus driver behind her who saw the accident and stopped to call the police. He told her "God was in that car with you today, 'else you wouldn't be standing here."

And this coming the day after I saw that SUV roll on Monday...

Please, please, please stay safe on the road, people. Seriously.

[John_in_SF]

A long time ago in L.A. I happened to glance in my rear-view mirror just after passing through an intersection. At that very moment, a shady looking Camaro rocketed out of the cross street, against a very red light, and T-boned the car behind me. Had I been 3 seconds late, it would have been me.

[TheRob]

Other than being rear-ended and rear-ending someone myself, the only I accident I've seen in person was someone being t-boned exiting a Rax restaurant about 25 years ago. Obviously I was just a kid, but it left an impression on me.