Lets see those wrecked tacos!

Yeah, barrel-rolled like rusty wallace down the frontstraight, i was ejected out driver wondow . Truck landed on top of minivan, center of cab on point of a-piller. Roof was touching shifter. Not ten min earlier a naughty child was in timeout in said van. I was brought back three times enroute to hospital, havent touched a drop in nine plus years. PLEASE FOLKS DONT DRINK AND DRIVE!

 

Did you lose your license? If so, did you ever get your driving privileges back? Were you still able to walk after recovering from your injuries?

As you can see in my pictures, I was on the receiving end of a drunk driver's poor judgment. Luckily the only damage was to the vehicles. About $2,600 in damage to my truck and probably more than that to the Mercedes just because it's a Mercedes and parts for those cost a fortune. My friend who's an EMT and has seen her share of accidents thinks the guy in the Mercedes had to be doing 30 MPH or more, but it didn't seem like he was going that fast.

I have no problem with drinking more than I should on special occasions, but I always do it responsibly. When I know I'm gonna get drunk, I always designate a driver, or if I can't get a DD I call a taxi or Uber. I've had my license almost 5 years and have maintained a spotless driving record. I would like to keep it that way.

 

I was stopped and a woman was on the phone. She hit me at 40 never even hit the brakes, pushed me into the car in front of me. Truck was totaled. 2014 with only 8,600 miles. Sucks. Whiplash and a jacked up shoulder sucks even worse.

 

Sorry to hear about the injuries. Hope for a short recovery time.

I hate assholes like that. Makes me want to run a rear dash cam as well as my front.

 

I'm guessing there was significant front end damage and the airbags deployed? Possibly frame damage? Your damage doesn't look too bad.

 

@Brian007Taco has some photos like this

 

Actually the front front end damage was not to bad at all. Overall the truck did not look that bad. It was mainly the frame. On the other side I had to pry the bed off the rear wheel. But overall the frame was rainbowd, and the rear frame was pretty bad. Crazy, but the airbags never deployed.

 

Sitting at stop light a lady hit me at 50 MPH. She was drugged up on meds and who knows what else. I got whiplash shoulder and back injuries. My truck was totaled, it had 80,000 miles on it was in mint condition. I only did one repair on it a front wheel bearing. Insurance said it was $17,000 to repair it so they gave me $20,000 check with a loner car for two weeks. I struggled to find a nice tacoma so I ended up with a pos 2009 Tacoma with 85,000 miles on it and tons of problems with it. All because this loser was drugged up and not paying attention. It don't pay to own anything nice in New Jersey!!

 

I hit a deer with my Taco once, but there was no damage to either my truck or the deer. I was working at Dunkin Donuts at the time, and I was driving to work at like 6:45 in the morning in October 2013. A family of deer ran out in front of my truck and I slammed on the brakes. I caught one large deer on the hind leg and it fell over onto its left side. The deer got up and darted into the woods before I could get out of the truck, and like I said the truck had no damage.

Some non-Taco animal collision stories:

While my Taco was in the body shop for the Mustang incident, I was borrowing my mom's Nissan Murano and I hit a bird that flew up out of the bushes to my right. The Murano had no damage, but I had to be doing at least 30 MPH so the bird probably didn't make it.

When I was in high school (graduated in 2007, accident happened in 2005-2006), one of my teachers hit a deer with her 2003 Buick Century. The deer survived, and the Buick needed a new hood at a cost of like $3,000. There was no other damage to the Buick, and my teacher drove the car like this for a few weeks. There was a clump of fur sticking out of the grille.

A guy I know was driving home drunk one night and he hit a deer with his E60 BMW M5 going well over 100 MPH. The deer of course died on impact and actually got stuck in the front of the car. Not wanting to get a D.U.I., he just kept going. The airbags did not deploy and somehow the car was still drivable, though his insurance company of course totaled it out. The wrecked M5 was actually purchased from an insurance auction, repaired, and sold.

 

My 2010 Tacoma got hit by a drunk old man who was later found to have a BAC of .10 to .16. He was driving a 2002 Mercedes E320. His car had front end damage and a bent frame, and was totaled. My truck needed a new left rear fender and a new rear bumper. Cost to repair my truck was $2,600.

My truck totaled a Mercedes, and the Mercedes driver was drunk! Well, you know what they say about karma being a female dog...

 

@Iamraiderpower

I had a parking lot fender-bender and got an illegal $50 parking ticket in the same day! BAD DAY!

Gonna cost $1,011.20 to fix my truck. Deductible is a grand, so gonna pay out of pocket...

Before anyone criticizes my driving skills, please note the following...

I have had my driver's license for almost 6 years (I passed the test in May 2011).

I have NEVER gotten a speeding ticket, nor have I EVER been pulled over. That's NEVER, not once. I have gotten two parking tickets in my life, but very few people haven't gotten a few of those.

I have been involved in a few very minor fender benders and before I got my backup camera, I had a habit of backing my truck into things (like walls, fence posts, a pile of firewood, the side of a building, and even a parked car). No damage ever resulted from any of these incidents besides scrapes and dents on the rear bumper of my Taco. In November 2013, I was involved in an incident where my insurance company ruled 50/50. My foot slipped off the brake while the shift lever was in Drive, and long story short, my truck rolled into the side of a Lexus SC430 that was attempting to drive down a narrow alley between my Tacoma (on the left) and a brick building (on the right). The driver of the Lexus left the scene and is believed to have been drunk, though this was never proven, but the driver showed up later and tried to rip me off for for a lot of money, so I contacted my insurance company and they ruled 50/50 after reviewing the evidence and taking statements from me and the other driver. My Tacoma had $300 in damage to the right front fender that I had touched up to prevent rust but didn't bother to fix.

I had two accidents in 2015 that were 100% NOT MY FAULT, and one accident that was my fault. Pictures of the damage to my accident from all three accidents can be seen in this thread. In March 2015, I was rear-ended while sitting at a traffic light. My rear bumper had to be replaced at a cost of about $1,200. The woman's insurance company paid for everything. In August 2015, I rear-ended a Mustang GT in slow-moving traffic when the cars in front of me stopped suddenly. In October 2015, I was making a left turn and got clobbered by a drunk old man in a Mercedes who ran a stop sign.

Here is the story of my latest little fender bender. I was in the parking lot of one of MANY supermarkets in my area. I had pulled through and was thus able to pull forward out of the space instead of backing out. My truck has a backup camera now, so I probably would have been better backing out. I pulled forward a couple of feet, barely even moving, and for whatever reason I did not see a brand new Subaru Crosstrek coming from the left. In my opinion, the Subaru got it worse. Also, the guy in the Subaru was a jerk. He was a grumpy older man between the the age of 50 and 60. The first thing I said upon exiting my truck after the accident was "I'm very sorry, and I have really good insurance." He said the f-word at least two times, saying something like "You hit my f*cking car" or "This is a fucking brand new car!"

I have one word for him. It was an ACCIDENT! I swore at the jackass who hit my truck in October 2015, but that was totally different. He was DRUNK and tried to deny it right away. It was also the most avoidable accident I've seen.

I was obviously 100% sober, and I apologized to the guy and told him I had good insurance. By swearing at me, he made me more nervous, and all I could get out was "Dude, I'm really sorry." He then proceeded to became enraged that I was calling him dude. He also completely ignored me when I tried to give him my insurance information, and called the cops. At that point I just got in my truck, locked the door, and waited for the cops to come. Keep in mind that this was a man in his 50s or 60s, and an Army veteran no less, and he was acting absolutely disgraceful over a fender bender.

Again, I have a flawless driving record, and aside from backing into or otherwise bumping into stuff and the aforementioned "accidents," nothing bad or otherwise serious has ever happened.

That said, here are the pictures of my latest mishap...

At the scene of the accident...




The remaining 6 photos were taken in the parking lot at my work later that day. Remember how I said I got two parking tickets in my life? These pictures were taken only a couple hours before I got the 2nd one. The offense? Being parked in a private lot. I am friends with and work for the owner of the property where my truck was parked, not to mention I park here almost every day!

The headlight is undamaged, the grille can be repainted, and the fender can most likely be repaired. It seems the only part that will have to be replaced is the bumper cover...




The bumper itself was actually not damaged, just the bumper cover; The impact actually pushed the frame through the bumper cover...




The truck actually looks pretty normal from this angle...




The bumper got popped out a bit on the right side, as did the little plastic thing underneath the headlight...




This is the headlight that was replaced in September 2015 after I rear-ended the Mustang...

 

Hit while parked by the VW bus


Damage to the VW


No frame damage (it did have CBI frame plates welded on at time). Rear bumper was straightened out. New tailgate, and light assy. VW driver claimed I pulled out in front of him - I was in backyard with family at the time. I had to get witness statements attesting to that fact. VW was a total loss and towed away. Driver had sped down our street, blowing past stop signs - incl the one not 50 feet behind him - while driving on a flat rt front tire - hear the distinctive flap, flap, flap, flap coming down the street just prior to the collision. Toyota Tuff!

 

He seriously tried to say you pulled out in front of him when your truck was parked with the engine off and nobody in it? Was he drunk or something? Did he at least have good insurance?

 

We suspected he was 'incapacitated' in some form or another. Cops didn't think so, but he did earn an ambulance trip to the ER - No apparent physical injuries due to the accident. And family members don't count when it comes to eyewitness accounts. Because I was in the backyard with my wife and 2 daughters, they were denied the opportunity to substantiate my location at the time of the accident. Luckily, the impact did bring all the neighbors out and they were more than happy to make statements to the insurance co. Cops were nonchalant about responsibility, uninterested in any witness statements, and neglected to file any kind of report. My complaints to the police supervisors fell on deaf ears. His insurance ultimately covered the repairs - and only because I did the legwork to get witnesses for my ins. co to talk to. For something so 'cut and dried', the assignation of responsibility took way longer than one would think.

 

@Iamraiderpower

Current status of repairs to my truck after the low-speed supermarket parking lot incident...

The owner of the body shop will also install my intermittent wiper switch for an additional $25. Should get her back by the end of the week...

 

Pictures of the intersection where the accident took place...

Today (March 7, 2017), I was in the area and took some pictures of the accident scene with my phone...

This is a picture of the 3-way intersection where the accident occurred:


My stop signs and the spot where I stopped my Tacoma are both marked in red; The other driver's stop sign and the spot where his Mercedes was stopped are both marked in blue:


A closer look (Again, my stop sign and where I stopped marked in red; Mercedes driver's marked in blue:


Right after the guy hit me, I pulled over to the curb in the area circled in red, got out of my truck, saw the damage he had done, and immediately started cussing him out:


The area circled in red is roughly where the old man pulled his Mercedes over. At least one of the responding officers parked their police SUV where the Verizon cherry picker truck is parked:


The night I got hit, I was doing exactly what the black Jeep is doing in this photo, though unlike the Jeep driver I actually stayed far enough to the right that the guy in the Mercedes had no excuse to hit my Tacoma:


Once again, the area where I pulled over immediately after the guy hit me is circled in red, and the location of the Mercedes when I starting making the left turn is marked in blue. The red arrow marks the approximate location of my left door when the guy slammed into the left rear corner of my truck:


The approximate location of my Tacoma's front bumper when I stopped at the stop sign is marked in red. The approximate location of the Mercedes from the time I stopped until I was almost through my left turn is marked in blue (the Benz was not that visible):


Path of my Tacoma marked in red; Path of Mercedes marked in blue:


The approximate location of the Benz's bumper while stopped is marked in blue. He just floored it while the back end of my truck was still in his path:


Another POV showing the paths of my truck (red) and the Benz (blue) with the approximate location of my truck's left rear corner at the time of impact marked with a gold "X":

 

(Insert bad word here) crossed the center line going around a corner and drilled me. We were probably doing about 30 MPH each before I slammed the brakes. My truck was a total loss. He had a late 90's / early 2000's Pontiac Grand Prix and it tore the whole driver's side upright straight out of the car....the coil spring was actually sitting beside the car on the ground.

I was not found at fault and have my new 2016 now.

Less than 6 months later I was driving my wife's 8 month old Mazda CX-5 when someone came flying out between two parked cars in traffic from a side street into my lane. They knocked me up on two wheels and I ended up banging into a telephone pole and that was a total loss. It was a rough year for vehicles for me.

 

Sounds like the other driver was the Masshole, not you. I'm surprised they totaled it. Looks like it would still run without overheating, and the A/C would still blow cold, etc..

 

Needed a new frame as it was diamond shaped. The cab to bed gap was different on each side as well as the rear bumper gap side to side. It tore apart the LCA, ripped the axle out of the front transfer case. The whole upright was bent out of shape. I've had needed a new hood, fender, door, grill, headlamp, ARB, etc, etc. The initial estimate was something like $7,000 worth of damage and then the frame alone added another $10,000. I wish I saw the actual final pricing, but the high salvage value of the Tacoma made it a total loss. Honestly, it was for the best as I know the truck would have never been the same.

I wish I had my winter wheels on at the time, because I'd have loved to have immediately swapped the beadlocks onto the new truck. I have a set sitting in my cellar, but I can justify purchasing new tires at the moment.

 

Man, and sometimes I complain about the fact that there is a slight gap between the tailgate and the left rear fender after this happened... I should really keep my mouth shut!