For those who get distracted easily while driving..........

knife7knut · Post by **knife7knut** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:03 pm

Enclosed you will find a couple of pictures that hopefully will make you think twice when you are driving.

My son John who is 37 and a pretty responsible guy was driving home from work Wednesday afternoon on his usual route.Conditions were dry and clear,there was no problem with sun even though he was traveling west and he was doing the speed limit(55 mph) on a very lightly traveled road.

His cel phone was laying on the center console and started to ring.He glanced over to see who it was and suddenly felt that he was drifting.He looked up and saw he was starting to cross the center line.He over-corrected and got off into the soft gravel at the roadside,could not get back onto the pavement and struck a rather large pine tree head-on.

Luckily he was wearing his seat belt and the air bag deployed as advertised.He was driving a 2004 Avalanche.There were several people who stopped to help and the State Police were there within minutes as was an ambulance.

His injuries consisted of a broken left clavicle(from the shoulder belt),a broken sternum,two broken wrists,and a small puncture of the lung.In the 3rd picture,that bubble in the upper left corner of the windshield is the result of his left hand contacting it.

Recovery is expected to take several months.

I post this only to remind others that one of the most dangerous things you can do is take your eyes off the road(even for an instant)while you are driving.I make it a policy to NOT answer the phone while driving and let the answering machine do it's job. I cannot count how many times(3 in one WEEK!)I have nearly been hit by some idiot babbling away while cruising through a red light or stop sign.

Luckily John survived THIS time. I think he may have had an epiphany about driving because of this incident. I truly hope so.

jonet143 · Post by **jonet143** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:10 pm

i'm glad he's gonna be ok. good advice, hang up and drive, and live.

griz1200 · Post by **griz1200** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:00 pm

Glad to hear he wasn't injured more seriously than he was. He's a mighty lucky man. The Good Lord was with him that day.

Griz

sunburst · Post by **sunburst** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:39 pm

Thank you for sharing this with us its very much appreciated. And give your son an extra hug, he's a very fortunate man.

Sunburst

Hukk · Post by **Hukk** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 2:59 am

California started or starts a distracted driver law, I believe it went into place at Jan. 1. You can be heavily fined if you are using a cell phone while driving. The fine increases with every infraction. Bluetooth and "Hands Free" units are OK, actually a must, even though research shows no incedent rate between cell phones and "Hands Free" units. You must also have your headlights on if you are driving with the windshield wipers on.

Ringmaster · Post by **Ringmaster** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:24 pm

Similar incident....

July 4th, 2005 - I was driving up a hill, Almost to the top, when a truck came over the top, in my lane. It was so close, I had about 3/4 second to react, and I went to the ditch.

End result, I rolled my SUV 3 times, landed in the middle of the road, where it caught fire and burned to the ground. I had a world-class case of whiplash, when the top mashed down on my head. The other driver was trying to dial a cellphone, never knew where he was.

Turn the durn thing off, or pull over and stop, before using it !

Been there and didn't even get the T-shirt. I hope your son recovers easily,

JR

OLDSMOKE · Post by **OLDSMOKE** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:12 pm

Sounds like the GOOD LORD has been watchin over a few of us in this forum, I am so very glad to hear that none of you have been hurt anyworse than you have and that John is going to be well soon, My granddads Name was John and I have seen a lot of wrecks in the last 50 years I learned how to drive in an old 1936 ford 1 1/2 ton wrecker and it is still running, the longest it has ever been down was back in 1987 when I completely rebuilt the ole flathead V-8, I was draggin tractors and combines to my grandads service station at ten by myself, and stayed in the biz with my granddad got my commercial licence at 14, at about 18 I just had to hit the road on my PanHead, I needed gas a good wrecker driver can get a job in nothing flat even faster if you have a class A licence and 24 years and over 3,000,000 miles accident free and uncounted miles in a wrecker, Heavy Duty and Roll Back flat beds I have a bunch of pics that I will spare you all.
You can not only drive for yourself, you have to drive for everyone else on the road and you have to do it ten different ways just as far up the road as you can see.
I hae bent your ears long enough so I will just say MAY GOD BLESS and Enjoy The Day!!!
Rusty
P.S. Had that bed about an hour when I took that photo, on my way to pick up a propane tanker that had rolled.

justold52 · Post by **justold52** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 4:59 pm

Well some here know I drive a school bus. A new law just this year for IL school bus drivers. We can not use a cell phone wail the bus is moving. I for one like this law. Then this year IL-DOT came up with a new law too.
We have a large white and black sign on the rear of our bus that reads "call this number if you see any erratic driving." The number is that of the bus transportation department (or my boss). Now I wounder if this is making a person wanting to use their cell phone in their car right after I cut them off? I am sure that some one will call in on me some day...

Just as sure they will never be asked if they are parked at the time they are calling in to complain....

Sorry to hear of your sons error and pain and all the extra cost he will have.

Gunsmoke47 · Post by **Gunsmoke47** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 5:34 pm

Hey K7K, I hope your son recovers swiftly and completely. I believe God threw a great big pillow in front of him, and I ain't talkin about the airbag either. Kelley

gringo · Post by **gringo** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:24 pm

well, just got home safe and visited the forum...on monday, just minutes after i passed through the area, one hundred drivers decieded to run into each other....damn...it was a light snow. yes it snows in arizona, and suddenly ' white out'...two killed...thank god...there are still parts of trucks and cars along the road...
worst thing is i drive that area every day at the same time as the accident...talk about angels...
big signs all over the place blinking "WINTER DRIVING CONDITIONS, DRIVE SAFE"
so the first two or three cars were an accident...how about the other 98?

knfcollector · Post by **knfcollector** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 2:32 am

Glad to hear that your son wasn't hurt more severely. As well thanks for the reminder of our responsibilities as drivers to both ourselves and others. Hoping he has a speedy recovery!

OLDSMOKE · Post by **OLDSMOKE** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:31 am

Man those are some nasty lookin pics of that truck, I wish I had some pics of what this ole wrecker has brought home.
Never to late to start prayers.
Rusty

: 36Ford78Firebird.jpg (72.03 KiB) Viewed 2665 times

The 78 Firebird has a 455 Olds sitting under the hood and the ole 36 helped to put it in there, one heck of a engine puller, dont even need too unbolt em hahaha

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For those who get distracted easily while driving..........

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