Distracted Driver Tried to Kill Us -- Nearly Succeeded
 

We all know distracted drivers are dangerous and should be boiled in Mobil 1, but the danger became a little too personal for my wife and I yesterday. If you were on the FDR Northbound in Manhattan yesterday afternoon, my apologies but I was just a victim of stupidity.

Anyone who's ever driven the FDR knows that you can go from space shuttle speed to a complete stop in no time at all. Consequently, anyone who has more than two brain cells realizes that this is no thoroughfare on which to be f*cking around with your g*ddamn phone.

As expected, right around 96th St, traffic went from 60 mph to zero in a heartbeat. I had a safe following distance and braked while hitting the flashers. Just as I came to a stop -- big crash. I've been in a couple of on-track incidents, but boy did this hurt, and we're both stiff and sore today. Thank heavens we were in our little Toyota, and not either of our Porsches (which we NEVER drive in the city), or there might've been a murder following the accident.

The offending idiot in a Chrysler 300 rammed the back of a Hyundai, propelling the Hyundai into us. Pretty sure the Chrysler is totaled as well as the Hyundai. The idiot was OK, except for a few airbag burns. The poor guy in the middle was taken away in the ambulance with back and neck pain. We were able to drive our car home -- we'll need a new bumper cover and rear hatch.

The idiot admitted to the cop that he was trying to call his wife when he hit us.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here on this forum, but the cretins who do this, and I see them every day, should be given the same legal treatment as drunk drivers. They are equally as dangerous.

And that's all I have to say about that. :mad:

Sorry that this happened. Glad it wasn't too bad for you and your wife.

I see this almost daily on my commute on the Loop 101 here in the Phoenix area were some inattentive driver rear ends some one hard enough to push multiple cars together. Just happened to a co-worker the other week were the driver admitted to being on his phone testing. I've been rear ended four times (including in my Boxster) but have never rear ended someone! I've stopped riding my motorcycle because of the risk and from the vantage point of my motorcycle I just saw way too much going on with the driver doing something other then driving. I recently leased a Jetta with 1.4 L TSI motor just for my 12k a year commute because not only is it cheap to drive and gets 40 + mpg it has the highest IHS safety rating possible. It's got lots of crush zone between me and the rear bumper and if I do get hit I won't care about the car. Some people just suck and only think about themselves. In in some ways I don't look forward to autonomous cars but when it comes to inattentive drivers bring it on.

The statiitics bear this out with accident and death rates relates to the automobile going up over the last few years for the first time in decades.

You know, in some ways it is worse than drinking and driving. Don't get me wrong, driving after drinking is 100% wrong and bad decisions are often made after drinking, but actually texting or checking your Facebook while driving is an insane choice while supposedly in a clear frame of mind. Driving a vehicle requires 100% of your attention. For those who don't think so call Uber.

Glad you are ok. I've been running a dashcam on the Toyota FJ and I have so much video of distracted driving it is crazy. People making left turns into oncoming traffic from my direction, I can see the eyes going down and the driving at 1/2 speed... Aggravating!

Sorry to hear of this and glad that you and your wife are ok!

I see the bobbing head syndrome (BHS) almost daily in LA (where the driver's head repeatedly goes up and down as they alternate between looking up at the road and then down at their cell phone) and steer clear of those drivers.

The best part is when you honk and say hi and they give you a stare. Hey if everyone actually bought cars they enjoyed they would pay attention.