I agree to a point.... I think the problem is the parents. I see too many parents that don't give their kids the structure and discipline necessary these days. they just let their kids do whatever and never hold them responsible for thier actions. Case in point, my neighbors. the daugher is 15/16 and had a graduation blow out party. I see a bunch of kids drinking alcohol. So i call the cops and they bust the party. The mother comes home in the middle of it. I know her daughter is not dumb enough to throw a party with parents coming home.... so the parents knew about it. So the next day (sunday), the daughter is hanging out with her crew and they all head out for the day.

If that was my kid, his A$$ would be doing hard manual labor around the house. He'd be digging holes for no reason, filling them back up, and digging them again.

CR&PW&JB.... you sound like a responsible parent too. that's what is going to make the difference. When our kids do get to have the responsiblity and freedom, they will have earned it and our trust.

My son is 3. this past weekend being a long one... we were at the lake. I was on a Sea-Doo with him and I was teaching him to press the throttle and let go and to turn. He did pretty good... but my point is that I will make sure that when he's ready to drive, he's going to KNOW how to drive and he's not getting a license until he's ready.

well... that's my monday...er...tuesday morning rant.

Have a good weeks folks and sorry about your MINI Steve

 

Although I agree that new drivers are negligent, if you raise the age you also raise the age of negligent drivers. I feel the amount of accidents would not change it is still something new and the driver is still unexperienced. I think a better solution is a driving test that actually test the driver on real life needs not parallel parking and turn signal usage. I am talking a hazard course maybe even a autoX type course to see how the driver reacts when under stress and how they recover the car in a spin. The course could have pop up pedestrians, other cars cutting in front I don't know what else but you get the idea.

It would be better to better train new drivers than make older drivers less experienced. I feel the same way with the drinking age when it moved to 21 all it did was move the issues to older drinkers. The one benefit is taking the drinking age out of high school (which is good) so I say Canada has it right at 19. Btw I am 25 so I am not just saying this for my own needs.

This all being said, that sucks about your car I was in a little bumper accident and I was depressed until I got my MINI back. It will all work out in the end.

Good for you parents for knowing your children and being responsible. I am a teacher and so many of the children do not know how to act and it isn't their fault, they were never taught how to behave.

 

Or they can just do it like Germany.

 

I'm sorry for your accident, but glad that you weren't seriously hurt. I hope that the repair is completed quickly and that you get back on the road soon.

One side note - when "neighborhood crazy old man" ran a stop sign and at a very low speed, plumb drove right into my MINI last year, I experienced a severe loss. Even though the car was expertly repaired by the shop, my passion for all thing MINI was damaged. I literally used the car as "just a car" for over a year. There is a happy ending to my story. Thanks to some new wheels/ties, the awesome stage 1 brake kit from Detroit Tuned and the Helix short shifter, I have (just this weekend) rediscovered my love for the MINI. Be aware of this horrible syndrome, and be prepared to do something about it! Don't be like me and wait a year...

 

I was thinking the same thing. There are several schools around that do an excellent job of helping new drivers learn about car control and accident avoidance. One is the Tire Rack Street Survival school. (http://www.tirerack.com/features/mot...t_survival.jsp) It is sponsored by both BMWCCA and SCCA. I am part of the Colorado SCCA club that puts on several of these schools a year and it is always amazing to see the change in the students with only one day of training. I believe that all new drivers should be required to take at least this level of training before they are allowed on the streets on their own.

 

I will agree that there are negligent drivers of all ages. But I believe younger people are more easily distracted(especially when in a car with friends of the similar age) than one in their 20's and up. I also don't think my father should be driving either, at his age I can tell his reaction time is getting slow so he might not be able to avoid a situation where a younger person could.

In my Province, driver's education of any form is not required at all. All you have to do is take one multiple choice test and a couple easy road tests and you get your license. An in depth course should be mandatory.

It's scary how little is needed to be able to get behind the wheel of a car. I had to get far more training to be able to drive a forklift, that is governed to a very low speed, operated in a private facility than one needs to drive a car on public roadways. I also need to get retested every few years to maintain it.

I think part of the problem up where I am is that alot people believe that driving is a right and not a privilege.

 

I have always thought retests should be used for driving also. Why does a test you take when you are 16-20 validate you as a competent driver for life. Most other skills require updated training and validation.

 

Steve-- you are SOOOO right. I for one, learned this VERY quickly-- I got two speeding tickets in one week and then a letter saying that if I got another one I would have to appear in court. That was 6 years ago. Holy crap-- do I EVER drive differently now. People are always passing me and I HATE it but wow-- I would be screwed if I could not drive. I live in the country and the closest "real" city is half an hour away from my house.

Driving is a privilege-- that much is true. Happy I cleaned up my record and have super cheap insurance now with great coverage. It took a LONG time to get to this point though!

 

I'm very sorry for your loss my friend, but I'm sure they will fix your MINI good as new.

I have some general commentary to make regarding things I've seen here in this thread, I read through quickly so I won't reference specific posters, just the subject material.

Younger drivers often are distracted, but I also agree with the posters who've said that raising the age limit to 18 won't significantly change that. What will change it are driver restrictions. Here in WA, they issue restricted driver's licenses until you reach 18 years of age. Under 18 drivers are only allowed to have 1 passenger in the car without a driver over the age of 25 providing supervision in the vehicle. Also, under 18 drivers are not, under any circumstances, to be using their cell phone when the car is not parked, with or without bluetooth. There are several other regulations, but all of them add up to providing fewer distractions for the younger drivers so they can get comfortable with the process of driving a car. More states should have these, IMO.

I also think that driving classes with a pro should be mandatory. I realized that I was in over my head when I was attempting to teach my son how to drive. The kid has the hang of the basics, but as far as traffic safety and all the rules of the road... I really felt more confident about letting him out on the road after we decided to sign him up for driver's ed. Yes, it's expensive.... and yes, it's worth it. The school we're taking him to teaches defensive driving tactics and will use a specially rigged car to teach him how to drive on ice.

Finally, regarding the repair, a lot of those "feelings" that people have about the integrity of a car after it's been in an accident like this are psychological. It's totally understandable that your baby has been broken and no matter how good repair technology as gotten, it's hard to get the image of your twisted car out of your mind.... it's hard to feel safe in it again after it has been repaired...

... but the reality is, it will be okay. Damage to modern cars has to be pretty bad in order for them to be unable to put the metal back into its original shape and as long as the car is structurally sound and functions well mechanically, everything else is just eye candy.

If you have continued concerns about how the car's repair has been handled, take it back to the shop until it works like its supposed to.

Good luck!

 

steveski,
I have had several run ins with this very senario, Once in traffic where everyone was slowing down except the guy behind me.? (Ouch)and another where I hit a deer in the road and then the guy behind me plowed into me. Both time in the same Honda Civic Si hatchback. Both times the car was repaired like new. I used to race that car in Autocross so if there was a problem I would have uncovered it for sure racing and twisting the car. You MINI will yours soon.

On a happy note, you will have your MINI twice before I ever even see mine. It is out on a boat in the Atlantic somewhere

 

Now I'm sorta happy it's "not that bad" afaik, b/c after talking to my MA yesterday, I can't say enough good stuff about all the help he's been since the day we first emailed him, that people who order MINI's now are getting an expected delivery in August!!! According to him they're only making cabrio's for the whole month of June. So if it was a write off I'd miss the entire summer

Everyone here should give themselves a pat on the back. This has to be the friendliest message board I belong to.

 

My grandfather wouldn't ever stand for this kind of stuff. When my dad was old enough to drive, he was once shipped off to boot camp on some tiny island in the Caribbean. Didn't even know there were boot camps out there! He hated every minute of it and said the worst memory was trying to shoot an M-14 when he didn't weigh much to begin with. A 7.62mm rifle hurts pretty badly after shooting it all afternoon in the hot sun!

 

i noticed you had an "S". I'd be pissed and want a new car not a repaired one... sorry just my two cents. And if the insurance company thought the Mini had too much value to total, I would have them sell it for what they could get out of it and still take a new one. It is what is damaged underneath that really counts. If the sub-frame and unibody are pushed in and they plan to repair it... they are going to bend the metal back into place and cover the damage with paint. But the metal has still been stressed. Mini's are performance vehicles and after a significant accident, I wonder if they would perform the same. A weakened portion of the body is a perscription for a performance failure in the future. The insurance is not going to want to compensate for replacement value for the mini, but if the repaired mini can't perform to the same characteristics of a new vehicle, it would not be acceptable to me.

I am not trying to get you all worked up, but I'd be pissed and want a new car.

 

Almost three weeks to the day of the accident I just got her back!!

Well, I'm impressed.

The MINI was clean, and ready to go when I got to the shop. Every thing seems good right now. Too much traffic here right now to open her up, but so far it's like nothing happened. Which is great!

They even fueled her up for me. I only had around 3-4 corns of gas and now she's full

I don't have the bill handy but the total came out to 11,3XX.xx.(Canadian$) Within what I predicted but still .

It feels good to be back

 

Welcome back Steveski! I can almost see that smile / grin on your face!

Hope your body is feeling as well as your MINI's!

 

Have a friend whose 06 MINI was side-whammed and it displaced the rear axle a few inches. After the fix, it drives great. Tracks straight. No pull. Can't tell.

 

Congratss on Getting the MINI back.

I had something like this happen but not as bad. 36 hours after I got my MINI it was parked on the street at my girlfriend at the times place. We came out the next day and went to get coffee in the morning. When i turned to lock the car I saw the back hatch punched in. I knwo there was nobody behind me as I pulled back to get out because the car infront of me parked right on top of me. The whole back hatch had to be replaced and the bumped needed to be painted. I never saw the bill. I went to a body shop that a regular of my restaurant uses with is very high end cars. He didn't charge me my $500 deductable I just bought him and his wife dinner at my place. When I walked in the first time he asked where i work. he had forgotten to make a reservation for that Saturday and it was his wife's birthday. I got lucky as I didn't have the $500 bucks.

Sorry to here about the accedent, glad you got your car beck and it's driving good.

 

I was just looking at you pictures form the accident again. Did the van in front of you have the window broken on it? It doesn't look like it was that hard of a hit to the front van.

 

Not too much damage to the van in front. Looks like the quarter panel took the most damage to her vehicle, I actually saw the window pop right out at impact.

The initial impact of the van rear ending me was by far the worst of it. That driver was determined to be 100% at fault and I didn't pay any deductible either.

I went on an extended road trip yesterday. Let's just say with the way I drove yesterday I can say confidently that her performance and handling are identical from before the accident

 

Good to hear everything is back and you didn't have to pay anything. I was at the front of a 3 car rear ending about a year ago on the DVP and about a month after I got a call from the guy in the middle saying his insurance was giving him 50% at fault for the damages to my car. I told him my car had already been repaired and if he wanted to contest the at fault decision then I would support him, but never heard about it again.

 

The girls are hot.