Was sitting waiting for a older couple to get in their car and pull out, so I could park. Meanwhile guy comes out, gets in his car which is at a direct angle to my drivers door. Starts it up, no biggee. Puts it in reverse and starts backing up at a decent rate. I lay on the horn, and he keeps coming! Finally he gets the hint and stops, couldnt have been more than 2 inches away from my drivers door. I told my wife I kept waiting for the mini to go sideways from the impact. Sheesh! Scared the bejesus out of me!

 

maybe its time for an air horn
some people are off in their own little place

 

I hear ya!

I was just at a Barnes and Noble. When I was ready to pull of out my space, I noticed that the woman on her cell phone in the SUV next to me was getting ready to back out while another woman in an SUV behind us was also getting ready to do the same.

I decided to wait a minute and let the two of them back into each other before moving my MINI.

Sure enough. . . they did!

 

Isn't multi-tasking great!
Glad to hear no harm was done to the mini's

 

Oh that would have been a prize winning video!

I was backed into when in a BMW one time - the old man simply stopped in the middle of the street, decided he wanted a space we'd passed, then proceeded to back up with no heed for us or our blaring horn and high beams. Get this, he kept backing up until one of us got out and knocked on his window then had to actually open teh door to get him to notice. Neither he nor his also older passenger could comprehend there was a car behind him and they were pressed into it (gee, why can't we move? never occurred...)

Sure enough later on they lied and said we rear ended them - not only shouldn't he be driving be they were both dishonest.

 

Same thing happened to me in my wifes saturn.

Pulled in to a parking lot off of the street. This guy in a BAV (big A$ $ Vehicle) started backing up so I stopped.

I must have been 20 feet away from him and he kept backing up and backing up. The thing is, I wasn't that familiar with where the horn was so I was hitting the airbag instead of the buttons. No horn. Then I tried to get it in to reverse and start backing up and BAM. He ran his bumper up over the hood.

He got out and started yelling at me asking why did I just hit him. This lady walked over and said to us. " I saw the whole thing...you backed up right into him".

He looked at me gave me his business card and insurance info and asked if we could take care of it without contacting his inurance co.

I think the fix was around $1000. And he took care of it too.

I got the lady's name and number and she said to call anytime if I needed her help.

My wife said it was pretty funny watching me trying to honk the horn.


Glad to hear that you didn't get bang up!

 

Yeah, it would have been.

Ever notice how many extra large SUV's are driving around with scrapes, scratches, dents in the corners of their rear bumpers??? I don't think many people have any idea how big their vehicles actually are. . . .

 

True. We are a nation filled with inattentive, average drivers behind the wheels of commercial-sized rigs. Only problem, though, is that none of these goofs have commercial-grade driving skill. On occasion I pick up and drop off my grandchildren at their elementary school's "carpool" lanes. On occasion I have to drive one of their "soccermom" cars, a Volvo SUV (x90?). Holy sh2ips ahoy! It's stylish looking, but a complete barge with umpteen blind spots. You cannot see over your shoulder because of the huge B pillar three inches from your face. You cannot see through the back of the cabin because of the 4-6 headrests. It is so tall that you cannot see a 6 year old child standing 2 feet from the grill and there's absolutely no vision out the back if you need to go in reverse (they don't have the back-up camera option). No wonder schools have car pool lanes. What principal would want idiotic parents parking these humongous beasts in the lots, followed by backing over half of the students as they attempted to leave the lots?

Ok-- my rant is over. Somehow, I can't convince even my own family that they're idiots and that they would be better served with a station wagon or mini van--versus a behemouth SUV for shuttling their kids. In my extended family, I'm regarded as the daredevil/village idiot who would drive such a small car--and they're refering to my MINI--not a classic.

 

LOL

 

Agree except they are INNATTENTIVE SUB-PAR DRIVERS...

 

Actually had the driver's door of my Miata hit in the same way. Bought an air horn the next weekend and it more than kept me out of the same situation again.

 

A few years ago I was sitting in a loooong line waiting for a red light. I was about twentyfive to thirty cars back in the line. The light finally changed and cars started to move, after some time the car in front of me finally started moving. By this time the light had turned to yellow and was going back to red again. The car ahead of me went thru the red light, I slowed and stopped. Then I felt a nudge from behind my car. I look in the mirror to see the grill of a SAV (Surbaban Assult Vehicle) against my rear end. I was not in my Mini thankfully!

I get out to see if there is any damage and the woman driving the SAV jumps out an begins screaming at me!! "WHAT ARE YOU DOING STOPPING?" I'm slightly setback by her reaction and for a moment I just stand there looking at her in disbelief. I then respond to her saying "Its a Red Light" as I ponit to the light. She looks at me and screams "THAT DOESN'T MATTER WE WERE IN LINE BEFORE IT TURNED RED YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE STOPPED!"

Fortunately there was no damage to my car. This and the many other examples of poor driving make me wish for testing at every drivers license renewal...

 

I watched the same thing back when I was in high school, was spring and some kid pulled the fire alarm toward the end of the day, still had some time before my next class and was hanging by the window chatting with friends (no A/C this was a valuable spot in May ) looking down into the parking lot watched to girls with early release put their bags into their boots get in the drivers seat and back right into each other, fortunately for them they no blocked the exit of two fire trucks and the squad car there for the false alarm, and trying to leave, didn't need to wait for someone to show up to take the report (Yes I can laugh because they only broke some lenses and bent bumpers and had new cars by the start of the fall term)

 

Got rear-ended once bay a SAAB. Pulled over and got out to look at the damage when the rather young driver got out of his car and proceeded to say:

"Its really poor driving to stop so quick!"

I just went across the street to a business and called the police. Wasnt much use talking to him.

 

Gotta be careful out there especially right now around the holidays. People are in a mad rush and driving like crazy!

 

Geez ACEkraut11, thats just bad manners to stop so quick.

 

Sadly, there is not enough space for me to rant and rave about the lunacy I've seen on the roads here.

I fix wrecks for a living, and the stories I've heard about these accidents are sooo far fetched at times, you have to wonder how the police can ever figure it out.

First off, I believe everybody either lies about the situation, or weren't paying attention in the first place then try to figure out how it all came about. Ya know, both drivers agreeing to some conclusion!

This is one driver of both MINI/Mini who prays that one day SUVs will be outlawed. 98lb women driving a 3 ton vehicle to get a pair of shoes is about all I can take. When will it all come to an end (the craziness that is)?

 

You'd be amazed at the amount of people that "was cut off and the other car drove away and I ended up in the ditch" not to mention the ever sneaky jumping walls, the hop out into the road hit their prey, and fall back into formation before the police show up.

 

I was rearended one time and I was in a 94 Merucry Sable, I was leaving high school for lunch and coming down the road I was 2 cars back from a car that stopped in the middle of the road, no left or right places to turn and he just stopped. It had been raining out and Im hitting the brakes, knowing Im going to rearend the guy in front of me, I drive into the yard on the side of the road and the jeep behind me does the same, in doing so he also drives up my trunk. After a long drawn out process the guy that hit me, his dad was a lawyer and ended up buying me a 64 Dodge Dart Convertible. I didnt mind!

 

My mother-in-law drives a Ford Explorer...an older one, and it's really not THAT huge compared to a lot of the stuff you see on the road these days.

She CONSTANTLY has at LEAST one of the taillight lenses knocked out. I mean ALWAYS.

The best part is, she has the same thing on her Mustang! It's like she has no corner vision. Or just doesn't look, which is probably more likely

 

Was it YOU driving that SAAB?

 

Here's one more from this summer. I parked at a business in my 71 TR6. I was careful to pull into a spot with no one on my left or right. A woman pulled in next to me in a big SUV, even though there were empty spaces on either side of me, too close for her 9 year old daughter to get out of the SUV on the passenger side. She conducted her shopping at the store next door and as I was standing there, talking to another business owner she came out, put her daughter in the car and proceeded to cut the wheel so she backed out and her right front bumper turned into the side of my car, hitting right between the door and front fender. She literally could not see my car over the bottom edge of the passenger window and just plain forgot it was there. I watched the whole thing.

Now the kicker. Since it was less than a $1000 dollars to repair the damage she wanted to pay me directly instead of going through insurance. I received two estimates and faxed them to her. I then called her to make sure she received them and she said she had called her insurance company because she didnt think my fender had been hit. I explained to her the fender was the metal part of the car that goes over the front wheel, next to the door and that the bumper was what was on the front of the car. She paid me an hour later.

 

Is this for real? I just have trouble believing there are people like this on the road, but I guess I shouldnt be surprised.

 

The problem is American drivers and not necessarily the SUV or whatever they are driving. Of course, wrecking a big heavy vehicle does cause more damaged, but to simply say that SUVs are the issue is incorrect. I lived in Germany for 3 years and the driving over there was great. Germans are taught how to drive from a young age. They have to go to school for their license, which includes defensive driving and first aid skills. It is a felony in Germany to not stop and help a motorist in an accident. It actually costs money for them to get their license and keep the car on the road. They are forced to obey the traffic laws - i.e. no passing on the right, left lane for passing or driving fast, etc. If you give someone the finger, all they have to do is call the Polizei with your license number and you will get a ticket (I know). Driving in Germany is nice because you know what everyone is going to do. You are not going to get cut off, grandma isn't going to be in the fast lane and no one ever passes in the right lane. We just don't know how to drive over here.

That is my .02 from a Mini owner, Saab owner and SUV owner - who knows how to drive and so does my wife!