So my run of over 16 years of excellent "defensive" driving has come to end, and sadly it had to happen in my baby (Halle was her name, yes pathetic that I named my car, but she was black and beautiful!!). She was an 03 coupe with every option chosen, with the exception of the manual trans, blk on blk.

Here's the jist of what happened:
I was driving on a 3 lane road (speed limit of 40 MPH) in the middle lane going 37-40 mph. It was 2am in the morning when the second driver comes out of no where into the middle and far left lane. Not sure what he was trying to do, but he was basically perpendicular to the flow of traffic with his headlights off. We (the police and I) think he was coming out of a parking lot attempting to make a RT into the far left lane.

Since it was dark, the color of the car being burgundy (Camry 91-92), and the street lamps not helping much in terms of visibility I didn't see him till it was too late. I hit the brakes at the last second (i had about 1-2 car lengths to work with) and smashed my front end into the middle of the driver side section.

I was amazingly ok, at the time. Meaning I was able to free myself from the car, run over to the other driver to check on him, and immidately called 911. Both airbags deployed, a ton of liquid came flowing out of the front of the car...well you'll see in the pics.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, and HERE'S WHERE I'M LOOKING FOR SOME FEEDBACK, but legally, isn't he supposed to 1) check for on coming traffic 2) only enter the road using the right lane closest to the curb and 3) have his headlights on since it was late and very dark?

I'm also curious to hear your opinions on how this could have been my fault.

Last question, and this one might be best answered by those that have been in an accident before, do you think the car is going to be calssified as"totaled" by the insurance adjuster. Figure the going cost of a simialr G35 to be at 28-29k seeing as how I only had 30k on it and it was in MINT condition.











And there's something to be said about the G35 and how it can take a collision and let the driver walk away from it. The police officer looked at the G35, looked at me, looked at the G again and said, "You got out of that car, and you're not hurt at all? Man someone likes you!" Now that's a solid car!

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Glad that you were able to walk away. It looks like you are likely to be labeled as totalled though. Probably for the best anyway though.

 

was the lo0ser drunk or something? geeeez... wat a sad way to end a G's
life. sorry to hear. glad to hear you're physically ok.

yep, that looks like a total loss.

 

it does look like a total. but it is def HIS fault. you are required to check traffic, AND headlights MUST be on...you are compeltely fine

 

Usually when the airbags deploy and there is that much damage to the front end it should be a total loss. And no, that should not be your fault

 

Wow, those pix make my stomach hurt. I'm glad you came out of it okay. Being in the insurance biz for a few years now, I would say it's definitely gonna be a total loss. And from your description of how the accident happened, the driver of the other vehicle was totally negligent. Good luck.

 

First off, I'm glad you're ok, just thank God no one was hurt. Yes the pictures are very painful to look at, but cars can be fixed or replaced. I'm really sorry it happened.. That looks like a heck of a lot of damage for a sub-40mph impact. It's hard to tell if the car is totalled, but there is a very good chance it might be, if both wheels and driver side door have to be replaced as well plus the airbags and the obvious damage.

Did anyone get a ticket? I hope the other party had insurance.

 

wow thats pretty hard to look at..........important thing is that your ok

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I really appreciate it!

To answer your question Finiti35, no tickets were issued as far as I'm aware of and I'm not sure if the other diver even had insurance. The poor guy was in a strecther and was taken to the hospital and you can't exactly say...excuse me, think I can grab your license and insurance card before you take him to the ER?

They did make me take a breathlizer test, because I told them I had two beers that night (well before midnight), so I passed with flying colors (but it was still the scariest moment of my life).

The police did the best they could to capture my story, but they couldn't get much out of the other driver. He apparently had a mild concussion.

So I'm really curious to hear his side of the story, because as we all know, there are always two sides to every story. It was weird though, he had dorito's, some shoes, a leather man, all kind of crap flyout of his car. Both windows were open and it was just a really weird scene.

 

from the way you described how it happened it's obviously his fault being hit broadside like that. Even if you change lanes when he pulls out its still his fault. Wow thats a lot of damge for such low speed, especially if you hit the brakes, PM me with how fast you were really going

Glad you walked away, sorry about the car man! You probably sick of hearing that you are lucky to be alive but it's true, cars don't mean anything when you're dead. Good luck with everything!

 

Just glad your alive to tell the story... i think the G held up quite well... the better cars are designed to crush like that to absorb the impact... looks like it did its job. for you to walk away is a blessing. Thank got noone was killed. Hope your behid the wheel soon...... and in another G too.....

 

Yay for crumple zones. Glad to see you are ok sir. I'd like to see how this gets resolved.

 

painful to look at. your okay, that's a good thing.

His fault (no lights) = his fault

Yes, he was suppose to be turning to the lane near the curb.

Good luck.

 

i'm glad to see you're ok.. it was definitely his fault. you have the right of way no matter what. sorry about the car. good luck with insurance.

 

his fault no question about that
good luck