My wife just got her license last week (US immigrant). She's been driving excellent, as she should, since I trained her! Yesterday, it began raining while we were traveling across town. I let her drive. (My fault, since I should have known better than to put a new driver behind the wheel during sketchy road conditions). Immediately, the moisture and oil combination turned the road's condition ice-like.
We were traveling around 25-30mph, my wife made a left hand turn at the signal, the car began fishtailing to the right, then left, she lost control of vehicle, and then we impacted head on. Both airbags were deployed, and the car was totaled. We were both wearing our seat-belts.
Typically, in SWFL the roads are built with three lanes. To describe the crash, we were positioned in the far left lane during the turn, and ended up all the way on opposite end of the road. We traveled the entire breadth and then some, passed the sidewalk, and up to the guardrail. Luckily we didn't plow through the guardrail because on the other side was a massive man-pit (pond/swamp/ditch).
I remember feeling us begin to fishtail, as I exclaimed something unremarkable to my wife. I grabbed the steering wheel to try and help her correct the spin. It was no use. You see the car we were driving was a 1995 Mustang (16 years old), which is notorious for having an extremely disproportionate balance in weight (from front to rear). The rear end of the car is very light, and in combination with a rear-wheel drive-train, it's very easy to spin-out. I only stepped in to help control the vehicle after she started freaking out, unaware of what was going on, or how to correct the slippery situation.
Fortunately, neither of us were seriously injured. My wife practically walked away unscathed. She has a head/neck ache, and is working today with only a slight abatement in her usual zeal.
Aside from her luck with being uninjured, she's noticeably dismayed about the whole ordeal. You see, as a new driver, she's still unaware of specific feelings you get while driving. Specifically, the feeling of loss of control, whether it be from driving in the snow, spinning out due to rain/ice, or a flat tire, etc. On the other hand, most experienced drivers have this innate connection on some degree, so they are able to recognize and react in order to prevent accidents. Also, most experienced drivers (10+ years) have been in some form of auto-collision, where they are placed in very emotional states, and then forced to overcome such provocations and continue driving. This is exactly where my wife is right now. She's just had a semi-traumatizing experience that she'll need time to process and deal with.
I may sign her up for a driving class, so as to educate her further on the ways of the road. This may help her realize some of the feelings she had while losing control and promote a healthy way to recover form such an incident.
So, that's what's up. Oh, and I resemble the ever popular villain, Two Face. The airbag (which deploys at around 300mph) smashed my face and neck up. I was leaned over from the front passenger seat during the crash while trying to help her straighten the vehicle and buffer her from impact. My right eye and cheek have massive bruising and some small abrasions. I can barely open my right eye, and people have been looking at me strange all morning. I will heal though, I am a tough guy.
Anyway, that's all! Interesting day yesterday to say the least. I am mostly just worried about my wife. Take care all, and be safe out there!
We were traveling around 25-30mph, my wife made a left hand turn at the signal, the car began fishtailing to the right, then left, she lost control of vehicle, and then we impacted head on. Both airbags were deployed, and the car was totaled. We were both wearing our seat-belts.
Typically, in SWFL the roads are built with three lanes. To describe the crash, we were positioned in the far left lane during the turn, and ended up all the way on opposite end of the road. We traveled the entire breadth and then some, passed the sidewalk, and up to the guardrail. Luckily we didn't plow through the guardrail because on the other side was a massive man-pit (pond/swamp/ditch).
I remember feeling us begin to fishtail, as I exclaimed something unremarkable to my wife. I grabbed the steering wheel to try and help her correct the spin. It was no use. You see the car we were driving was a 1995 Mustang (16 years old), which is notorious for having an extremely disproportionate balance in weight (from front to rear). The rear end of the car is very light, and in combination with a rear-wheel drive-train, it's very easy to spin-out. I only stepped in to help control the vehicle after she started freaking out, unaware of what was going on, or how to correct the slippery situation.
Fortunately, neither of us were seriously injured. My wife practically walked away unscathed. She has a head/neck ache, and is working today with only a slight abatement in her usual zeal.
Aside from her luck with being uninjured, she's noticeably dismayed about the whole ordeal. You see, as a new driver, she's still unaware of specific feelings you get while driving. Specifically, the feeling of loss of control, whether it be from driving in the snow, spinning out due to rain/ice, or a flat tire, etc. On the other hand, most experienced drivers have this innate connection on some degree, so they are able to recognize and react in order to prevent accidents. Also, most experienced drivers (10+ years) have been in some form of auto-collision, where they are placed in very emotional states, and then forced to overcome such provocations and continue driving. This is exactly where my wife is right now. She's just had a semi-traumatizing experience that she'll need time to process and deal with.
I may sign her up for a driving class, so as to educate her further on the ways of the road. This may help her realize some of the feelings she had while losing control and promote a healthy way to recover form such an incident.
So, that's what's up. Oh, and I resemble the ever popular villain, Two Face. The airbag (which deploys at around 300mph) smashed my face and neck up. I was leaned over from the front passenger seat during the crash while trying to help her straighten the vehicle and buffer her from impact. My right eye and cheek have massive bruising and some small abrasions. I can barely open my right eye, and people have been looking at me strange all morning. I will heal though, I am a tough guy.
Anyway, that's all! Interesting day yesterday to say the least. I am mostly just worried about my wife. Take care all, and be safe out there!
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