Seatbelt saved my life!


Dash cam footage of the accident…

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Warning: Explicit Language…😎


Happy to hear you are OK. Sad to hear Jeep not so much. I liked your color commentary at the end of the video. I was thinking exactly the same thing!


In the early '80s the seat belt law was just coming out. I took flying lessons at that time. It didn't take long in the airplane to figure out you had to wear a seatbelt always lol. That habit passed over to cars. I never drive without it now.

I went offshore fishing in a 23 foot open boat with some buddies ten years ago. Ten miles out seas 5-7 feet and waves close together. When i got back on the dock I could hardly walk and maintain balance. I got in my jeep cinched the seatbelt tight and drove around for 45 minutes. Googling now I see that is a recommended method for getting your land legs back!
 
When my father in law had his cataract surgery, he commented on how much peripheral vision he gained. He shouldn't have been driving but didn't realize how bad it had gotten as the change was gradual.

We rode with him once and my daughter and mother in law back seat drove the whole time. Then made him an appointment.

Too old to drive is a hard thing to determine. They may drive beeter than cell phone users and drunk drivers out there.
 
My wife's grandmother still drives some, but is slowing down. When she was 92 she was taking the old ladies in to their doctor's appointments in the bigger city 20 miles away. The "old ladies" in their 70s.

When she got to 96 her back hurt too much to drive.

Her biggest complaint is people drive too slow and don't pay attention.
 
I guess I should stop driving now then. Doctors said I have arthritis of the spine, degenerative disc disease and totally screwed my spine up from years of lifting heavy weights. :unsure: Powerlifting was my thing for many years until I hit 50. Five hernia surgeries, detached bicep tendon, Rotator cuff surgery, torn tricep muscle and many other issues caught up to me at 55. I wouldn't have changed a thing. You only live once. Some people just exist.

Wow, I always had you pegged as mid - 30's guy. your old like me!
 
So any photos of the carnage? Is it drivable or total wreck?

I haven’t been out to look at it yet, hadn’t felt like it, I figure it’s totaled… I know that the passenger rear tire was rolling down the street with the axle shaft still attached, the roll bar was twisted and the driver side was mangled from sliding on the pavement… I figure the frame is warped
 
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Maybe it 'tis but a scratch.

monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-black-knight.gif


 
I was a volunteer firefighter for 10 years in Southampton County (VA) for a small rural town. Lot of older country folk with older vehicles. Seen accidents where I just knew the occupants were toast but ended up walking away with just a few scratches - wearing seatbelts.

Seen others that weren't wearing them in wrecks that they should have walked away from we had to call in medevacs - no seatbelts. Head vs windshield - YOU LOSE, every time. Roll over and get tossed? Nice to know ya. I wear mine now just running to the local dump (3 minutes away).

They work.
 
Dash cam footage of the accident…

Viewer discretion is advised
Warning: Explicit Language…😎


I hated that type of roadway. So many things can happen with lots of options for traffic to flow. The 2-way traffic. The exit ramp/get on ramps next to each other.

Not sure I can express the cringe feelings that roadway gives me.
 
No pictures to show but the jeep is totaled!… just got home from the hospital, nothing serious, some road rash on my arm and sore… could’ve been a hell of a lot worse!… A little old man didn’t stop at a stop sign and clipped me on the passenger quarter, rolled the jeep over on the drivers side with me in it and slid me about 75 feet down the road… tore the passenger rear tire and the axel shaft out of the axle…. Rear axle and Frame are warped… Drivers side is tore up from the slide…. seatbelt and rollbars saved my life! My wife is balling like we lost a member of the family… Insurance will never pay me back what I’ve got in that vehicle… oh well!

I’d die after all the work I’ve done to mine. Sorry for your loss, at least you’re able to sue the old man’s insurance and hopefully buy another one lol
 
Sidebar: My mother was a professional driving instructor for several years in New Jersey back in the 60's - she worked for the Taggart School Of Driving, and was even voted "Instructor Of The Year" one year. She taught me a VERY valuable lesson when she taught me to drive; to wit: Put your left foot VERY lightly on the brake pedal (and I MEAN "lightly"; not hard enough to engage the brakes, but JUST enough to significantly cut down on reaction time, which doing so DOES) at all times - Automatic AND Manual transmission vehicles. I can't EVEN begin to count the # of times that I've avoided an accident using this method (over 1 million miles driven in 50+ years with ZERO accidents). Funny: When I went for my Driving Test in New Jersey, a NJ State Trooper is who administers the test; not sure if it's still that way. He saw my left foot hovering over the brake pedal and scolded me; when I told him that my Mom taught me to do so, he replied: "If you want to pass THIS test on THIS day, you'll brake with your right foot, young man!" I switched, passed the test, then told him that I was going back to left foot braking, for which I received a curt scowl, LOL...
 
Sidebar: My mother was a professional driving instructor for several years in New Jersey back in the 60's - she worked for the Taggart School Of Driving, and was even voted "Instructor Of The Year" one year. She taught me a VERY valuable lesson when she taught me to drive; to wit: Put your left foot VERY lightly on the brake pedal (and I MEAN "lightly"; not hard enough to engage the brakes, but JUST enough to significantly cut down on reaction time, which doing so DOES) at all times - Automatic AND Manual transmission vehicles. I can't EVEN begin to count the # of times that I've avoided an accident using this method (over 1 million miles driven in 50+ years with ZERO accidents). Funny: When I went for my Driving Test in New Jersey, a NJ State Trooper is who administers the test; not sure if it's still that way. He saw my left foot hovering over the brake pedal and scolded me; when I told him that my Mom taught me to do so, he replied: "If you want to pass THIS test on THIS day, you'll brake with your right foot, young man!" I switched, passed the test, then told him that I was going back to left foot braking, for which I received a curt scowl, LOL...

In drivers Ed in the year 2000 we were not allowed to use our left foot to brake. I never tried it until I had a taillight out and would drive with my foot on the brakes if a cop was behind me lol
 
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As a Trucker I heard of that as "covering the brakes"

Motorcyclists do the same thing, covering the brakes/clutch. But it's obviously a lot less physically straining to leave a finger in the air versus keeping your left foot in that awkward position.

I can't stand being behind people braking with their left foot

Why?
 
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I can't stand being behind people braking with their left foot

I worked as an EMT for around 5 years. There was one guy (luckily not my permanent partner) that drove that way and was damn proud of it. Everyone that rode in the back with a patient absolutely hated him. I've never been so car sick in my life. Very jolting and just awful.

Maybe there's a reason to do that in a big rig, but don't do that in a regular car (or Jeep).

Glad the OP is ok. Sad about your Jeep though.
 
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