My home seems to attract accidents

[Bubba1]

I've had 3 big car accidents occur within 150' of my house in the last couple months. None of them involved me or anyone in my family. I live on a fairly busy 25mph 2 lane road with many intersection but all the stop signs are on the side streets

Accident 1. Woman in a Pontiac G6 stopped on the street at the corner with her left turn signal on waiting for traffic to clear so she could turn left onto the side street. Some idiot travelling about 40mph in an old but clean Pathfinder, was having a heated phone conversation, failed to notice the stopped Pontiac until the last second, swerved onto the sidewalk and literally drove over a fire hydrant. Destroyed the Pathy and the hydrant. Curiously, the airbag never went off. I was in my front yard when it happened but one of my neighbors was walking her dog just feet away, not only saw it happen, but narrowly avoided getting hit by the idiot. The idiot leaped out of his car and began to berate the Pontiac owner, when my neighbor screamed at the guy to STFU, that she saw the whole thing, he's completely at fault, and she intends to tell the cops. I loved it. I was disappointed that the cops didn't allow me to take the damaged fire hydrant as a souvenier to use as a backyard display for my dogs.

Accident 2. Trio of drug impaired siblings from Trenton in their "borrowed without permission" Excursion from their uncle. It was unregistered, uninsured and uninspected. From what I was told, they were doing 50mph, when the driver, a 20 something woman, and her brother in the front seat got into an argument when the brother reached over and yanked the wheel, making the huge SUV swerve into oncoming traffic, over the sidewalk, thru an 18" retaining wall and slammed into my neighbors house, cracking the foundation, and wiping out his wooden steps/railings. The sister finally regained control and swerved back toward the street at the other end of his property. Not before jumping down what was now a 24" retaining wall. She flattened all 4 tires, ruptured the radiator and crankcase. Amazingly the truck didn't stall, so the trio decided to drive away. They got about 4 blocks leaving a nice fluid trail before they shredded the tires and seized the motor. They abandoned the destroyed Excursion leaving behind drugs and an unregistered handgun as well as their uncle's expired registration and walked home to Trenton. The cops were called and they were all arrested upon arrival at their uncles home. Turned out 2 of them had outstanding warrants.
The excursion was completely ruined. Not one single panel escaped damage. I'm sure the uncle was proud.

Accident 3. Last night. Female Drunk driver in a Suzuki Samarai, doing about 40mph, sideswiped a parked car, lost control, jumped a low curb, obliterating her front suspension and drove onto the lawn across from my house stopping when she tapped a tree. The air bags never deployed here either. I was first on the scene as she was frantically revving the motor trying escape. Once she answered she was fine, I told her shut it down, she ain't leaving. She picks up her cell phone and instead of calling 911, she calls whom I presume was the actual owner of the car and advised that the car had a blow out and none of it was her fault. So I asked my wife to call the cops and to dispatch a tow truck. I warned the woman after she hung up that she might want to tell the cops the truth because none of her tires were flat and the hubcap of the car she just hit was wedged in her wheelwell. As a typical drunk, she ingored me and stayed focused on her story. The cops saw right thru it and performed a field sobriety test on her on my sidewalk. She flunked quickly and got handcuffed and driven away.

Is it me or have drivers gotten worse over the last few years?

[Jesda]

I fully expected the G6 driver to be at fault. STEREOTYPE SMASHED!

I don't know why drunk drivers lie. Being drunk is a rather difficult thing to hide no matter what the BS accident story is.

[frapjap]

Accident 2. Trio of drug impaired siblings from Trenton in their "borrowed without permission" Excursion from their uncle. It was unregistered, uninsured and uninspected. From what I was told, they were doing 50mph, when the driver, a 20 something woman, and her brother in the front seat got into an argument when the brother reached over and yanked the wheel, making the huge SUV swerve into oncoming traffic, over the sidewalk, thru an 18" retaining wall and slammed into my neighbors house, cracking the foundation, and wiping out his wooden steps/railings. The sister finally regained control and swerved back toward the street farther at the other end of his property. Not before jumping down what was now a 24" retaining wall. She flattened all 4 tires, rupturing the radiator and crankcase. Amazingly the truck didn't stall, so the trio decided to drive away. They got about 4 blocks leaving a nice fluid trail before they shredded the tires and seized the motor. They abandoned the destroyed Excursion leaving behind drugs and an unregistered handgun as well as their uncle's expired registration and walked home to Trenton. The cops were called and they were all arrested upon arrival at their uncles home. Turned out 2 of them had outstanding warrants.
The excursion was completely ruined. Not one single panel escaped damage. I'm sure the uncle was proud.

This used to be such a nice neighborhood.



That second story is awful. Did the neighbors have to pay for all of that damage on their own dime? If so, thats awful.

How has your house managed to escape damage? Are you further off the street than the other homes?

[Heavy]

drivers are getting worse joel, the things I see everyday really make me wonder how people acquired their liceneses, heres a prime example...

last night I was driving back to NYC on the saw mill and this lady was doing maybe 40mph in her subaru forester merging onto the moshlou parkway, she continues to ride her brakes and then when I went to go pass her on the left and she just blocks me, her turn siganls are non-existent. After a little back and fourth in the lanes I FINALLY get around her and low and behold shes giving me this snarling look eating yougurt with both hands and steering with her legs. LOLDIEINAFIRE

Sounds like your neighboorhood is full of dumb people and trash from trenton. Put bars on your windows and a moat around your house.

[Bubba1]

That second story is awful. Did the neighbors have to pay for all of that damage on their own dime? If so, thats awful.

How has your house managed to escape damage? Are you further off the street than the other homes?

Yep, my neighbor ended up paying the damage, but he's a handyman, so he was able to do the repairs himself, so the cost wasn't too bad. All the houses on my block are about the same distance (30-40') from the street, and we're on a slight hill. I have a 4' grassy embankment that begins at my sidewalk which shrinks as you progress up hill. My neighbor that got hit put in a stone retaining wall ranging from 24" down to 12",

My house got hit just once about 10 yrs ago. a Nala like teenager in a pickup truck was showing off for his passenger trying to drift up the street at 50mph in the rain and lost control. Hejumped the 5' grass embankment of my neighbor on the downbhill side, went airborn over her steps and landed on my lawn (cracking an underground water pipe). He ended up wedging his truck between my front porch steps and a 100 yr old maple tree I had there at the time. Took two tow trucks to get it unstuck which destroyed my lawn. No injuries, but it was amusing to answer the door bell seeing a pickup wedged against my porch. Fortunately it was his mom's pickup and was fully insured so I got all repairs covered (about $4000 worth)

Heavy, these were all NJ drivers. I like the moat idea.

[frapjap]

I wonder if her insurance also paid for the cracked pipe?
When a drunk driver hits a telephone pole and knocks down lines, their insurance is responsible for replacing them, right?
If not, the state would probably sue the person and/or their insurance. That could get really expensive, really quickly.

[Bubba1]

I wonder if her insurance also paid for the cracked pipe?
When a drunk driver hits a telephone pole and knocks down lines, their insurance is responsible for replacing them, right?
If not, the state would probably sue the person and/or their insurance. That could get really expensive, really quickly.

It did. The water pipe replacement came out of my pocket. There was no visible leakage. I didn't know it had crackd until I received my next water bill months later, which was over $35,000. The local water company was nice about it and cut me a break by agreeing to charge me an "average" quarter based on the last 4 if I fixed it within 30 days. Then my plumber did the job at such a good price that it didn't seem worth the hassle fighting the insurance company.

[frapjap]

Glad to hear you made out pretty well. Man, you gotta wonder why the water company doesn't come out to investigate a $35,000 bill in a residential area. Just, business as normal around the office.
What happened too the 100 year old tree?

[300ZXttZMAN]

Can we see pics how your neighborhood is setup this is crazy it seems like there is just something about your neighborhood that makes stupid drivers do stupid things... Do you have any pics of the damage??

[Bubba1]

Glad to hear you made out pretty well. Man, you gotta wonder why the water company doesn't come out to investigate a $35,000 bill in a residential area. Just, business as normal around the office.
What happened too the 100 year old tree?

I ended up taking it down, but not as a result of that accident. The accident just knocked off a little bark. The main trunk (about 5' in diameter) was beginning to rot out as well as some of the major branches. I replaced it with another maple tree which has been growing beautifully.

I'll see what I can do for pictures. It's a straight traditional suburban road with old colonial homes on either side, with intersections not that far apart. It's also the first main road once you cross the Delaware River into PA via Rt 1, so a lotta people who live in neighboring towns use it as there are very few traffic lights. It's also the smoothest street in town because it's a snow emergency route, so the state resurfaces it regularly.

[alms24sebring]

Why does it not surprise me that all the drivers were females. I think #2 was obviously the most entertaining. I dont know, there is no reason to speed down a residential street and F drunk drivers. I think Ive only seen 2 accidents in front of my house in the 20 years Ive been there. I was outside but just missed the impact of one of them.

[ricebike]

Why does it not surprise me that all the drivers were females.

that's kinda sexist

these were all NJ drivers.

This... i know all about NJ drivers; driving for 10-12 hours a day in the Garden State, you have to be defensive all of the time. drivers are worse as you go from south to north

All Good Kids Like Milk

[PapaSmurf2k3]

I fully expected the G6 driver to be at fault. STEREOTYPE SMASHED!

HAH! Agreed.

I didn't know it had crackd until I received my next water bill months later, which was over $35,000.

WOW. $35,000 worth of water didn't flood anything?

Is your lawn perma-watered now?

[alms24sebring]

Why does it not surprise me that all the drivers were females.

that's kinda sexist

:

Wasnt meant to be offensive, just an observation

[Razi]

That statement wasn't just an observation.

[nissangirl74]

There is all sorts of stupid on the roads these days. I think a lot of it comes from the fact that there is so much "distracted" driving (talking on cell phones, eating while driving, heated arguments with passengers) with minimal penalties. Sadly, I don't think we'll ever completely get rid of drunk drivers. The penalties there aren't bad enough either to stop it.

I like the moat idea. Can't wait to see the draw-bridge.

[Bubba1]

[WOW. $35,000 worth of water didn't flood anything?

Is your lawn perma-watered now?

Nope. French drain. Lawn was dry.

[Heavy]

[WOW. $35,000 worth of water didn't flood anything?

Is your lawn perma-watered now?

Nope. French drain. Lawn was dry.

you figure they would of atleast called and informed you something was up when your $200 montly bill skyrocketed to 35k in less than a month. Has there ever been any talk to putting speed-bumps on your street?

[Bubba1]

Good question. You'd think they would have noticed the discrepancy and said something before billing me. But I found their reasonableness about adjusting the bill once I brought it to their attention made that much pretty much a non-issue for me.

No discussion about speed bumps as it's a major thoroughfare for the town, a snow emergency route, plus the firehouse located on the same street. A few neighbors and I have talked with our police periodically about their setting up speed traps. and they've done it a few times. I have no complaints with our cops. They do a very good job.

[alms24sebring]

Sadly, I don't think we'll ever completely get rid of drunk drivers. The penalties there aren't bad enough either to stop it.

They are not playin around over here. its a mandatory 6 mo. suspended license and a few days in jail I think with heavy fines. 2nd time is like 30 days in jail with even more fines in the 1000s of dollars range. You would think no one would do it a 3rd time but it happens.

Actually a friend had to go to court yesterday for his 2nd DUI and I think hes in the slammer for 30 days. Another friend of a friend got his 3rd or 4th DUI (hes a complete drunk) and people are saying he lost hos license for 25 years. I dont know if its true or not but it should be.

[Bubba1]

Sadly, I don't think we'll ever completely get rid of drunk drivers. The penalties there aren't bad enough either to stop it.

They are not playin around over here. its a mandatory 6 mo. suspended license and a few days in jail I think with heavy fines. 2nd time is like 30 days in jail with even more fines in the 1000s of dollars range. You would think no one would do it a 3rd time but it happens.

Actually a friend had to go to court yesterday for his 2nd DUI and I think hes in the slammer for 30 days. Another friend of a friend got his 3rd or 4th DUI (hes a complete drunk) and people are saying he lost hos license for 25 years. I dont know if its true or not but it should be.

Unfortunately a suspended license won't prevent a drunk from getting behind the wheel he/she's determined enough. with the penalties getting more or more expensive, I'm surprised so many still do it.

[nissangirl74]

Unfortunately a suspended license won't prevent a drunk from getting behind the wheel he/she's determined enough. with the penalties getting more or more expensive, I'm surprised so many still do it.

My ex was a shining example of this brilliance. Didn't matter if he had had 2 drinks or 20. He had a complete disregard for his own life and everyone else's. Idiot.

[alms24sebring]

Unfortunately a suspended license won't prevent a drunk from getting behind the wheel he/she's determined enough. with the penalties getting more or more expensive, I'm surprised so many still do it.

That was exactly my point. I dont get it. Oh well hopefully they will soon