Fatal Car Crashes

I have been driving for four years and I haven't even seen a crash, let alone a fatal one. I can't offer you statistics but driving in the UK is pretty okay, and you are like 3 years from even being allowed to drive so I wouldn't let this bother you.

When you learn to drive they will teach you safe practice and defensive driving. You will have the skills to avoid these types of situations so whether they happen or not providing you drive safely you will be able to protect yourself regardless.

They will also teach you about the car and malfunctioning, most of which is nothing like what is depicted. If you are driving and something messes up just let the car come to a stop naturally and you can sort it. Don't worry about something which hasn't even happened or may never happen, otherwise you will start worrying about everything.

Don't limit yourself because of fear. Get on planes. Drive a car. Do it.

 

Yep, the number of fatal car crashes is going down and I imagine it'll be even lower in a few years time. Modern cars are safer than ever. Every modern car has like 400 airbags, advanced braking systems and what else. This, combined with your driving lessons, should be more than enough. I've been driving for >6 years and trust me - you have to drive VERY recklessly to "suddenly lose traction", or something like that.

That said, I've never actually seen a huge car crash happen and I only know one person who got involved in one. And he's still very much alive, as well as everyone else involved.

You'll be fine

 

I saw one a couple of weeks ago.

Sorry, I'm not helping, am I?

 

Accidents and fatal crashes happen usually because of poor decision making or lack of SLOW THE F DOWN.

I don't know if a car can physically malfunction in a way that will increase speed. From my experience they just shudder and stop (only happened once!) :lol:
In a scenario that it did happen, rather let it escalate into something dangerous, I'd rather just use whatever means around me straight away (even if that meant hitting a wall at a slower speed) to slow it down/stop rather than going up to the 100s and hitting another car.


Losing traction is possible though, of course, especially in icy conditions. The fact is it related back to my original point. Slow down! You should do this anyway of course it's icy, but sometime it can catch us unawares. But if you don't go ridiculous speeds, nobody should get hurt.

Like Brodie said, go and drive.

 

The vast majority of fatal crashes are the driver's fault. For example the one I watched happen was when a woman ran a red light in a 55 zone at over 80 and broadsided a school bus that was turning left. She sheered off the entire top front-half portion of her minivan as well as ending her own life. That was completely avoidable: if she'd just stopped for the red light, this wouldn't have happened.

If you drive safely and defensively, you'll usually be okay. That doesn't mean you'll never be in an accident ever; I backed into someone once and got rear-ended another time, but obviously nobody got hurt.

 

I've been in 4 car accidents since I started driving at 16.

The first, I was T-boned by a guy who left a parking lot and merged all the way over to the left most lane, striking me. No injuries. Car was totalled and repaired by me.
The second, someone slammed on the brakes at a fresh yellow light, stopping mid-intersection. The car behind them hit them, and I hit the car behind the first. So 3 cars involved. The first in line took off, leaving me at fault for rear-ending the middle car. I repaired my car and ended up selling it to pay off my mptorcycle.

The third, I was going down the street at 10pm on my motorcycle (fully geared up). A truck coming the opposite direction took a left turn in front of me. I had no time to react and hit his passenger fender at 40mph. I fractured my left ankle, left tibia, shattered my left distal femur, ruptured my spleen, dislocated my right shoulder, bit a piece off my tongue, suffered a moderate concusion, and had road rash on my right leg and hand. He took off right away and was never found. My medical bills totaled over 1 million dollars. I still have trouble walking 2 years later.

The 4th I was a passenger. My mom came to a 4 way stop at a small rotary. We proceeded to go around the rotary to go left, when the person going the opposite direction departed the stop sign and collided with us. The car was new so it wasn't totaled, but it was pretty damaged.

I can tell you one thing, you are not going to get in an accident because your car malfunctioned. That is very unlikely. You'll get in an accident because either you or the other driver was going too fast, not paying attention, or didn't signal intent correctly. If you drive a turbo diesel car, the chance of a run away engine goes up a lot, but if you practice dealing with it it won't cause an accident.

Loosing traction is a valid concern. Make sure your tires aren't bald, make sure they're inflated correctly (sticker on the driver door jamb), and make sure you drive carefully. Be comfortable with your vehicle. I know exactly when and how my Mercedes will lose traction. I drift it periodically, so I have become good at making it loose traction and regaining it when I want to end the drift. I don't have ABS so I practice threshhold braking. I run wider tires than stock, so my grip is improved. I also drive a 5 speed, so engine malfunctions can be isolated from the drivetrain simply by disengaging the clutch.

My advice: Practice maneuvering with your car in a big empty parking lot. See how it reacts to hard braking, quick turns, and swerves. You won't flip a car if you keep speeds under 30mph. You won't oversteer much if you drive a FWD car. FWD has more traction on the drive wheels due to the engine weight being directly above them.

When driving, leave a 3 second gap between the car in front of you at all times. It takes .5 second to react to a situation, so the more room the better. Also, there is no such thing as right of way. I had the right of way when I got into my motorcycle accident. Did it help me? NO. There is no right of way when you're trying to avoid an accident. If you're driving in a parking lot and somebody cuts you off from one of the small lanes onto the major lane, you stop to avoid hitting them. Even if you have the right of way, you still stop because getting into an accident is way more troublesome than just surrendering your right of way.

I still suffer moments of PTSD when driving. I am a nervous, jumpy driver because of all the crashes I've been in. Just do your part to maintain your vehicle and be familiar with it, and be a safe driver on the road.

You'll do just fine.

 

My cousin who is pregnant was in a bad car crash about one week ago and she and the baby are completely fine thankfully. She actually went back to work today. The sadest part is that her puppy in the car didn't make it