Got Run off the Road (PICTURES!)

[AmbrosiaWriter]

So, on Friday I had to work.

Get on the road, get on going. The roads are pretty clear, except for the annoying habit of most drivers to drive down the MIDDLE of back-roads because the middle is far more clear than the edges... which only compounds the problem since the middle is so clear because of people driving on it.

There is a DOUBLE blind turn on a road connecting to mine. You follow the road left and then immediately right (DOUBLE BLIND!!)

I get around the first turn, going about 25-30 mph and then;

OMG WHAT!? GIANT BLACK SUV CRUISING DOWN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD AT 50 MPH. THEY AREN'T EVEN MAKING AN ATTEMPT TO GO TO THE RIGHT AND GET INTO THEIR OWN DAMN LANE!

So I have to jerk hard on the wheel to my right, go through the slush and fresh snow, and immediately the car loses traction and goes out of control. I end up sliding horizontally up the street before the wheels suddenly get traction again and send me shooting up over the curb, sidewalk, threading between a lamp-post, a tree, a cable box, and an electric transformer, before the car settles into four-ish inches of snow and gets stuck.

SUV does not stop.

I lost my passenger side mirror.

Called AAA to get me out.

A bunch of my neighbors ended up driving by, some stopping to see if I was ok, one even went and got me hot chocolate from a local Dunkins. I called my dad and he came up the street to check it out and make sure I was okay too.

It sucks so bad. It's going to cost me at least $200 to replace that damn mirror.

[Arcus]

Holy crap! I'm glad you are okay. Good job threading the needle. I know a $200 mirror sucks, but you were lucky. One foot to the right and you would be looking at thousands in repairs.

[Cia]

You are so freaking lucky!

I had the same thing happen to me except the road was covered in snow. The idiot in the black SUV, relative of the one who ran you off perhaps, was lucky my daughter and I had switched places, it was her first time driving in snow and she got a little panicked so we switched. I was already figuring out our location and who to call as I was trying not to run into the ditch and into/up the side of the hill the road was cut through. Plus we were out in the middle of the woods on Brownsville Road and cell coverage is spotty.

[protege]

Holy crap

Glad nobody got hurt, but still. What the hell goes through the minds of people when the white stuff starts falling? Still, cars can be repaired. Instead of forking over $200 for a mirror, you might look at scrapyards. Who knows, you might find a working mirror (if it's powered) for less than $100.

[Shalom]

SUV does not stop.

I lost my passenger side mirror.

Did you catch the license plate of the SUV?

That could be interpreted as leaving the scene of an accident. (Even if the other driver didn't touch your car, seems to me that s/h/it was involved in it.)

Oh, and check spAmazon for car mirrors. And eBay.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

No, I didn't catch the license plate of the car. I get a little annoyed when people ask that question though. No, I don't make a habit of looking at license plates (stationed at the bottom of cars and tend to be pretty small) especially when I have mere seconds to react to get my car moving in a safe(er) direction.

Just not something that crosses my mind when trying to survive. :/

[Chromatix]

Here's another vote for fitting dashcams.

[bhskittykatt]

That could have ended up so much worse. Glad you were okay! I second the notion to check out local junkyards to see if there's a mirror there. They're hit and miss, but when you do find something it's notably cheaper.

[mhkohne]

I've had pretty good luck lately buying aftermarket and used parts on eBay for my wife's 04 prius. I've needed a visor, a tail light assembly (LEDs are built-in and not changeable!) and a mirror (I have no idea how she did that). They aren't perfect, but you'd have to really know your stuff to tell the difference.

[wolfie]

I hate the type of SUV driver you encountered - the ones with the attitude "I've got 3 tons of steel to protect my family, so get the eff out of my way or get squashed". If I'd been in an encounter like the OP's, I'd have probably caught the SUV's license - in one of the foglight openings of my bumper. As for his attitude, my response is "I see your 3 tons and raise you 37 - your call". Note that the general rule for trucks is that you NEVER make a sudden swerve to avoid a crash - due to the high center of gravity, you're likely to roll, which is worse than a head-on. Also, if you swerve and still crash, there's no evidence that another vehicle was the root cause of the crash, so it's all on you. If you go head-on with a moron in your own lane, he's not going to leave the scene, so it'll be obvious that the root cause was another vehicle driving where he shouldn't have been.

[sms001]

Wow!

SO glad you're ok, that was a close one.

mmmmmm..... hot chocolate.

Had a similar happen recently, except fortunately, it was on a straightaway, and I was paying attention. Enough time has gone by that the snow is only a few feet onto the road, not everything but the center. There are drifts in multiple places though. Other car and I see each other and we both move to the right edges, no problem. Other car comes up to a drift and instead of slowing to go through it, or stopping, moves COMPLETELY INTO MY LANE! wtf, lock 'em up, and then I get the CBF for preventing a head-on. Just another instance of the unreal selfishness in the world today.