# Your most memorable personal accidents?



## IanMGSmith (Apr 10, 2012)

Taken a few motorbike tumbles incl. low speed head-on with a truck and a tree (separate incidents) and a 60 km/hr into a car which swerved into my path.

Apart from falls, broken bones and some big waves the two which most stand out are these:


In my (bad old) drinking days I did this, no one hurt (believe it or not) 

View attachment 2797

View attachment 2798

...and then in England someone's Jaguar rolled backwards down the hill into our house 

View attachment 2799

How about you?


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## patskywriter (Apr 10, 2012)

During the summer following my 8th grade graduation, I twisted my ankle and broke a small bone on the side of my left foot. I had to start high school wearing a cast up to my knee!!!

Somehow that doesn't compare to your adventures, but that's all I got.  :rugby:


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## Bloggsworth (Apr 10, 2012)

Leaving Seagrave Corner backwards at high speed, looking over my shoulder at the approaching bank, and asking myself "_I wonder how much this is going to hurt_."


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## Gamer_2k4 (Apr 10, 2012)

Bloggsworth said:


> Leaving Seagrave Corner backwards at high speed, looking over my shoulder at the approaching bank, and asking myself "_I wonder how much this is going to hurt_."



Funny how brains work this way.  When I was falling down a mountain during the accident that broke my pelvis in two places (which, despite it being only five months ago, I'm completely recovered from), I remember thinking, "Boy, it's been a while since I've hit my head this hard."


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## IanMGSmith (Apr 10, 2012)

Bloggsworth said:


> Leaving Seagrave Corner backwards at high speed, looking over my shoulder at the approaching bank, and asking myself "_I wonder how much this is going to hurt_."



Would that be Brands Hatch, Bloggs? 

Until quite recently, our neighbour (Derek Wass - 283) drove stock cars and now his son's are racing. Wonder if you know Dereck?

Yes, the brain is an amazing machine. I too found myself speeding backwards down the M1 after being side-swiped by a petrol tanker. Everything went into slow-motion and I was able to force a 180 on the wet, regaining control and coasting to safety ...facing forward.

Dunno how the brain does that slow-motion thing, it's amazing.


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## Olly Buckle (Apr 10, 2012)

It seems the brain knows what has to be done and when it can simply hand over. I had a m/c accident where I broke my leg, but was completely unmarked. everyone thought I was a fraud until the x-rays came back and I had to deal with people who wanted to help me off with my leathers, move me to the side of the road, give me paracetamol or a nice cup of tea etc. etc. I was on top of it all and dealt with ituntil two hours later I found myself in a ward and relaxed.

Another time someone jumped a red light on the Old Kent road and took me out. I was concious, and the first person to me was a trained first aider, he must have been he did everything right, a paramedic turned up and took over, I remember thanking the guy as he walked away and then that was it, I simply handed over and passed out, I think because I knew it was okay to do so.


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## IanMGSmith (Apr 10, 2012)

Aaah Olly, you been there too.

I will never forget the illusion of low-flying 6 inches above the tarmac for an age and, just like Gamer and Bloggs, calmly thinking "Sh*t, this is going to hurt". LOL

My knee took the full impact into the car and it still troubles me to this day. Years of painful stretching and strengthening before I could run a 10K again. Probably should hate the old guy who swerved across my path but I don't. Somehow, conquering the knee just adds another purpose to life. LOL 

That was my very last bike accident because in the ambulance on the way to hospital I came to and had to ask them to slow down. Can you believe it! A fear of speed? Probably saved my life in the long run. 

No more bikes after that. LOL


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## IanMGSmith (Apr 10, 2012)

patskywriter said:


> During the summer following my 8th grade graduation, I twisted my ankle and broke a small bone on the side of my left foot. I had to start high school wearing a cast up to my knee!!!
> 
> Somehow that doesn't compare to your adventures, but that's all I got. :rugby:



Foot injuries can be a real pain in both senses of the word. Hope your foot is better now? 

If possible, keep it exercised and supple to prevent arthritis in later years.


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## Potty (Apr 10, 2012)

Having owned my first classic mini for 3 weeks I decided to take it for a little spin in the countryside. Little did I know a farmer had spent the day trailing mud in and out of his field and I lost control of my prized possesion on a corner. Failing to correct the fish tail, the love of my life flipped onto its roof and slid 40mph into the hedgerow. Below is the result. (I'm lucky to be alive)

View attachment 2805


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## patskywriter (Apr 10, 2012)

IanMGSmith said:


> Foot injuries can be a real pain in both senses of the word. Hope your foot is better now?
> 
> If possible, keep it exercised and supple to prevent arthritis in later years.



Thanks, so much Ian.  :joyous:  That little injury happened way back in 1969! I'm in my 50s now and am suffering no ill effects, thank goodness. I do have a (sort of) bad back though, thanks to a couple of bad spills on the ice (in the 5th and 6th grades, respectively).


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## IanMGSmith (Apr 11, 2012)

Potty said:


> Having owned my first classic mini for 3 weeks I decided to take it for a little spin in the countryside. Little did I know a farmer had spent the day trailing mud in and out of his field and I lost control of my prized possesion on a corner. Failing to correct the fish tail, the love of my life flipped onto its roof and slid 40mph into the hedgerow. Below is the result. (I'm lucky to be alive)



Aaah POTTY!!! What have you done!!! (smile)

Feel for you fella but to be honest I personally hated minis after too many cut hands and knuckles from working in the impossibly-cramped engine space. Dunno about later models but the 70s ones kept breaking CV joints, exhausts and engine stabilizer rubber, to mention just a few. Phooey!

I know some folk hoist the body off the engine but I was never that sophisticated.

Very interesting garage/shed/workshop you have there Potty?

Take care and I'm sure you'll have much better luck with the next one.

Ian


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## Bloggsworth (Apr 11, 2012)

IanMGSmith said:


> Would that be Brands Hatch, Bloggs?
> 
> Until quite recently, our neighbour (Derek Wass - 283) drove stock cars and now his son's are racing. Wonder if you know Dereck?
> 
> ...



No - Thruxton. My accident at Paddock was a lot more dramatic for the spectators, though not for me. The RH rear suspension, engine & gearbox were the only usable major bits afterwards. We used them to build the car in my avatar.

Self-preservation does wonders for the speed of brain function!


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## Bloggsworth (Apr 11, 2012)

On a wet day hospitals refer to motorcycle riders as *doners*...


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## KangTheMad (Apr 11, 2012)

I have yet to get in an accident while I was driving. Yet.

When I was about 8 or so, maybe younger, we rear-ended some lady who stopped suddenly at an intersection with no stop sign to put on make-up. The keys ended up in the backseat near me. I wasn't scared, nobody got hurt, so I guess it wasn't bad. Don't remember it too well.


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## Writ (Apr 11, 2012)

Potty said:


> Having owned my first classic mini for 3 weeks I decided to take it for a little spin in the countryside. Little did I know a farmer had spent the day trailing mud in and out of his field and I lost control of my prized possesion on a corner. Failing to correct the fish tail, the love of my life *flipped onto its roof and slid 40mph into the hedgerow.* Below is the result. (I'm lucky to be alive)
> 
> View attachment 2805




@ bold:

:lol: I would love to have seen your face when that was happening.


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## Potty (Apr 11, 2012)

Writ said:


> @ bold:
> 
> :lol: I would love to have seen your face when that was happening.



Honestly the only thing that I was thinking at the time during being upside down in a speeding tin can of death was "The girlfriend is going to _kill_ me!" as it was her car too. I was a little supprised at how unworried about the actual crashing I was... I guess it just wasn't registering that I was probably about to die. (Might sound over dramatic, but a general rule of thumb when flipping a mini with no roll cage is: Bye bye life)


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## popsprocket (Apr 10, 2013)

Hands down my most memorable accident was the time I met the wrong end of an angle grinder. Super-duper lucky for me I was using it with a wire brush attachment at the time. If it'd been a cutting wheel or a flap disc I would have lost far more flesh off my wrist than I did.

Barely even a scar now.


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## Ariel (Apr 10, 2013)

As a kid a girl pushed me down on the sidewalk and I bounced on my knee.  I'm missing part of that kneecap.  I ran into a fence on my bike and have a long scar from the top of the fence.

  I also dislocated the left knee while working at a video store--I was the only person on duty and we were busy.  I turned from pulling one movie to grab another but my foot stayed in place.  I heard a loud pop and there was a grinding feeling.  Almost lost my balance and ended up working on a dislocated knee for a week.

I ran into a house at 15 mph when I first got my lisense.  I still have the door I hit and it's perfectly serviceable.  No one was hurt but myself--I had bruises from the seatbelt.

Then I sprained my ankle by stepping wrong in the backyard at night.  Dad had a bunch of metal he was going to scrap and I stepped down right on it and sprained my ankle.  I was the only person home and it's a large backyard.  I didn't have my phone and the parents were out of town.  I managed to hobble to the back door and get inside to ice it.  The bruising was spectacular.


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## JosephB (Apr 10, 2013)

Geez, amsawtell, I don't know if it's the same thing, but I dislocated my kneecap. Tore whatever holds it there and my kneecap was all the way over on the side of my knee. I've had a few breaks and a torn ACL --  and that was the most pain I've ever felt. Plus, when I looked down and saw where my kneecap was, I almost threw up. The EMTs gave me a shot of morphine on the spot when they saw it. I'd love to say it was from a sports injury or that I did it mountain climbing or something -- but I was simply having a game of catch with one of my kids and my foot got caught in a divot -- I twisted my knee as I fell. It still hurts just thinking about it. My daughter also heard some choice words for the first time and so did my neighbors.


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## Pluralized (Apr 10, 2013)

Crap, you guys are hardcore. 

I'm not sure this qualifies as something I "remember," since I was stupid inebriated, but some friends and I went out on a frozen lake in Wyoming once, and actually drove the car out on the ice. We were sliding around, cackling like jackasses, and drinking hard liquor as the snow fell. 

When we arrived back home and my friend was dropping me off in his super-ghetto Grand Prix, I slipped on the curb and broke out the car window with my face. Cheekbone, I s'pose. I went in the kitchen to cook up a pizza, left 'er cooking in the oven, and passed out. Luckily my dad woke up and turned it off. I awoke in a cold bathtub, with bruises from head to toe. Must have been a fun night.


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## patskywriter (Apr 10, 2013)

IanMGSmith said:


> Foot injuries can be a real pain in both senses of the word. Hope your foot is better now?
> 
> If possible, keep it exercised and supple to prevent arthritis in later years.



Thanks so much for your kind concern! My foot is fine. I think kids recover more quickly and completely than adults. Now that I'm 57, I'm starting to notice a tiny twinge of pain in my right knee when going up the stairs. I'm too young for arthritis, so I'm going to take this very seriously and get to work on it right away.


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## patskywriter (Apr 10, 2013)

Pluralized said:


> … When we arrived back home and my friend was dropping me off in his super-ghetto Grand Prix, I slipped on the curb and broke out the car window with my face. Cheekbone, I s'pose. I went in the kitchen to cook up a pizza, left 'er cooking in the oven, and passed out. Luckily my dad woke up and turned it off. I awoke in a cold bathtub, with bruises from head to toe. Must have been a fun night.



And a fun sight! Ouch!

I'm amused by the phrase "super-ghetto Grand Prix." As a casual fan of over-the-top cars, I wish I could imagine what this car looked like!


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## Travers (Apr 10, 2013)

I had a pretty rough time of it when I was 9, I fell off my bike speeding down an enormous hill, going face first over the handle bars and breaking my nose and a few of my teeth and scraping a large amount of skin off of my arms, legs and chest.
A few months later I was running down my friend's driveway when I fell over, landing on a small piece of copper plumbing pipe that was sticking up. It took a perfect circle out of my knee. I have a nice 22mm chip gouged out of my kneecap. 
Apart from those I've lived a pretty injury free life thus far.


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## Brock (Apr 10, 2013)

Car accident:  I was 20-years-old.  Heavily intoxicated on the way back home from a party one night, I had my recently purchased Acura Legend closing in on 140 mph.  I hit a dip in the road that made me start fishtailing.  My next memory is waking up in a cornfield angry that my car wouldn't start.  The door wouldn't open so I climbed out the driver's side window that was shattered.

I would later find out (from the police) that I must have rolled my car at least eight times.  I had no seat belt on and my airbag did not deploy (I purchased it with 100,000+ miles on it).  When I eventually saw it at the junk yard I was in shock.  I didn't understand how I lived, let alone walk away with only a few cuts and bruises.


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## Ariel (Apr 10, 2013)

Oh and I also ended up with a concussion when I stood up into a cast iron and stained glass chandelier at a restaurant.  I had a concussion for three days.

I'm incredibly accident-prone.  I'm lucky that I haven't broken any bones.

I get all kinds of aches and pains in my joints when it rains and I won't be thirty for another year.


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## Morkonan (Apr 10, 2013)

Hmm.. Accidents..

While driving, a tree ran out in front of me, once. "Thou shalt not accelerate into a turn during a rainstorm."

I've had over a score of dislocations on each knee. I put it up to too much exercise. Exercise is bad for you...

I once fell about ten feet onto a piece of sharp iron, which pierced my bicep... while I was still several feet off the ground. So, I hung there until I managed to wriggle myself off. Gotta nice scar for that one.

I closed my thumb in my car door, once. I shut it behind me as I was getting out of the car and left my hand there too long. Of course, it was locked... It was my right thumb and the car keys were in my right front pocket. That was fun. 


I'm a pretty careful, observant and safety-conscious person. So, I don't have many "accidents" that I can attribute directly to something I have done. As far as things other people have done, I've had my fare share of sharing in the results of _their_ accidents.


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## patskywriter (Apr 10, 2013)

Brock said:


> Car accident:  I was 20-years-old.  Heavily intoxicated on the way back home from a party one night, … I didn't understand how I lived, let alone walk away with only a few cuts and bruises.



It's because drunk people are all loosey-goosey. That's why it's so maddening when they wipe out entire families and walk away unscathed. A good friend of mine died when a drunk driver hit him while speeding down the highway in the wrong direction. My friend's car was literally split in half.


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## Brock (Apr 10, 2013)

patskywriter said:


> It's because drunk people are all loosey-goosey. That's why it's so maddening when they wipe out entire families and walk away unscathed. A good friend of mine died when a drunk driver hit him while speeding down the highway in the wrong direction. My friend's car was literally split in half.



I'm sorry for your loss.  I was in a very dark place back then.  I'm very thankful that I did not hurt or kill anyone else while I was there.


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## WechtleinUns (Apr 10, 2013)

I've had a few accidents, though most of them we're more story fodder than anything hard-core. Here's a selection of some of the best:

1. During a monsoon, I hesitated at a green light. My Oldsmobile Cutlass Cierra was side-swiped by an F-350 Truck with a Cast Iron Grill. Because I only had liability insurance, only damage to his truck was covered. The twist? There was no damage to his Truck.

2. On a winding South Texas road, I came over a crest, only to see a small-green Ford Taurus about 30-40 feet away. I pitched the wheel and careened off the tarmac, bypassing them completely, but losing traction. I over-compensated on the return(there was a small ravine several yards ahead, so I needed to get back on the road *fast.*), and slammed into a Black Ford Explorer SUV. The twist? There was a pregnant woman and a nine-year old cancer patient in the back of that green Ford Taurus.

3. On a cold winter night, filled with thick, pea-soup fog, I was racing along in my new Blue Ford Taurus(Old Bessie had had enough, it seems.). The stero blasted rock-music and I was head-banging to Marilyn Manson and White Wedding when another Truck veered into my lane with bright lights. I swerved to the right, and then swerved to the left, and suddenly smashed into something in the dark. I blacked out momentarily, and then woke back up to the sound of the unmistakable 'woop woop!' of a bexar county police cruiser. That's right. I had hit a parked deputy's police cruiser.

There are others, but these are the most famous ones. I get along good with the police in San Antonio. They're all really nice. XD


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## Kryptex (Apr 16, 2013)

Great, a place to put my endeavours. Alrighty, here we go.

When I was 9-10ish, I split my head open when an idiot of a troll pulled me and threw me into a wall corner, resulting in massive blood loss.

When I was 3ish, I fell off the back of a sofa, and a plug wedged itself in my forehead. To this day I still look like Harry Potter.

When I was 12-13ish, I was on my cycle and I was going to ride down a ramp - or so I thought. Instead of a ramp, it was a set of very steep stairs. I fractured my leg and arm, and was in a cast for a long time.

When I was 15ish, I fractured my hand by falling off my bike. I was wearing a Rolex watch, and somehow instead of my safety I thought it better to protect the watch. Figures.

When I was 16ish, I fell over and my foot was run over by a car, I went to A&E, and miraculously, it was a small fracture, which repaired double quick, but I still needed a cast. I played football in that cast *insert chuckle here*.

When I was 14ish, my father thought I was in the car when I wasn't and that resulted in running over my foot. Couldn't move for days.

When I was 16ish, I got into a fight and I tried to escape it as it was 4v1. I jumped o'er my school gate, and I twisted in a way I landed on my back. That put me in bed for a few days.

When I was 14ish, I was part of Scouts. We had gone camping, and we needed wood. I had a double edged saw, and as I was the oldest - I was sawing wood. I sawed away, and then damn near sawed my finger off. I still have a scar on my finger, funnily enough, and I didn't feel pain then either. Somewhat elated I'd say.

These are the only ones I can think of at the moment, but I'm sure there are plenty more - all before the tender age of 18 (To which I turn next week).


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## Morkonan (Apr 17, 2013)

Kryptex said:


> ...These are the only ones I can think of at the moment, but I'm sure there are plenty more - all before the tender age of 18 (To which I turn next week).



If you're not careful, you'll be hard pressed to make it to 36 with all your originally installed components ...


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## Unconsoled (Apr 19, 2013)

I broke my right hand twice. The first time I was five, the second time, twelve


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## Kryptex (Apr 19, 2013)

Morkonan said:


> If you're not careful, you'll be hard pressed to make it to 36 with all your originally installed components ...



The most recent one, me running into a tree and getting concussed and blinding pains throughout my facial and upper head 'components' :lol:

I am really a walking health and safety hazard ](*,)


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## Dictarium (Apr 19, 2013)

I got a button from a girl's jean jacket stuck in my cheek when I was in Preschool. I have no idea how. All I know is it happened on a playground, and I had a crush on the girl so it was all very embarrassing. Scar still visible (and highlighted for your viewing pleasure): http://i.imgur.com/pr2psdN.jpg

e: Would've posted it as an image but I took it with my iPhone so it's super big.


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## raines80 (Apr 21, 2013)

I think it was the summer of my junior year. I was playing backyard football with about 20 buddies at the park. Our football coach had found out we were playing tackle football at the park a few weeks prior and wasn't too happy with us. We decided to play anyways.

There was a fumble and I jumped on it. Suddenly, a large mass started to fall my direction. This dude named Chris, who never really played he was just another body to make sure the teams were even, decided this would be his moment of glory and tried to jump on the ball that I was already on top of. After the 350 lb idiot got off me I tried to swing at him, but my shoulder hurt something fierce. Everyone looked at me and faces started to turn pale. I asked what was wrong and my buddy Chase said "Dude, your collar bone is sticking out of your skin and I think you stabbed yourself in the shoulder with it."

There is more to this story (A VERY long night in the ER.. a doctor who couldn't see me because the nurse said he was drunk.. etc... etc..) but I think the accident itself was what you were asking about.


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## hamster892 (May 20, 2013)

My school used to stretch a rope across the gate where the buses came in. I once pulled in on my bike and it took me out. I landed on my ass and got ropeburn on my neck. My dad politely inquired why they were using techniques they used to take out motorcycling soldiers in World War Two


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