Totaled My Tacoma!

This is my position also, outside of a huge weight advantage (tractor trailer) im not giving way but i will brake and hug my lane boundary to avoid a situation. Under no circumstance am I putting 2/4 wheels on grass at highway speeds knowing thats a recipe for disaster. Our weight and the imbalance of traction, road vs grass/gravel makes for a very unpredictable situation.

 

"No fault" has nothing to do with property claims except in Michigan under certain circumstances. No one is forced to carry "full coverage," whatever full coverage is supposed to be. "No fault" is a slang (and inaccurate) term related to PIP coverage.

Also, there is no such thing as "no fault" when it comes to liability. In any state, if you are at fault, you are at fault.

 

Glad you are ok. In the future, never swerve unless the vehicle in question is significantly larger than yours. Much better off in most cases hitting the other vehicle. Not swerving is easier said than done, of course.

 

Glad you are OK. Hell of a wreck.

 

How many accidents are from over correcting then pulling back to the road and getting thrown by the edge of the blacktop height difference ?
A lot !

 

I'd take the side of the road but hold onto the steering wheel real tight and slow down. Hindsight is 20/20. Years ago my cousin died in a similar roll-over accident. More recently my granddaughter did the same thing without rolling over
at 40 mph and would up uninjured 30 feet off the road on the other side.

 

i saw one happen right in front of me. Person in the left lane not paying attention and veered off the road. Over corrected and hit the person on the right when they over corrected into the right lane... The vehicle in the right lane lost control when it was hit and took out the car that initiated contact. All the while my wife was on her phone in the passenger seat and missed the whole thing.

 

Elite security guards undergo hours of training so they are never surprised. In short, they have "crashed" a hundred times before the real thing happens and they know in the moment how to manage it. Most people are lucky enough to never even go through it once and if they do they can only take a "best guess".

If you make it through, I say you just count your blessings.

 

We can all say what we will do in certain situations, but the brain often acts naturally based on training and intuition. I kept reminding myself not to overcorrect, but when I hit that washout, it all went haywire.

 

Interesting you say this because the cop didn't say "PIP", she said "No fault state". I'll replay it for you:
We both pulled over, I called 911 to report the accident. The police arrived. Once the officer came to my window, she asked for my license and registration and I complied; she then walked away. Once she returned she handed me my documents back and said "try to have a nice day". I inquired "Don't you want to know my side of what happened?" She replied "Hawaii is a no fault state. Contact your insurance company and they'll square up with you. Have a nice day."

You must be in the insurance business

 

I am in the insurance business. The cop is wrong. No-fault applies to PIP only, not to who is at fault/to blame/liable for an accident and the resulting property damages. If it were a true no-fault state, no one would have to carry liability insurance. For liability, Hawaii is a modified comparative 51/49 state, meaning the other party must be 51% at fault or greater for you to collect from them.

This is a good explanation of Hawaii PIP
https://fightforthelittleguy.com/is-hawaii-a-no-fault-state-for-car-accidents/

 

Glad you are OK, and good to know the Taco did it’s job.

It’s hard to overcome the instinct to swerve, to avoid an accident. I had an instance where the driver in front of me slowed down and pulled over towards the curb, appeared to stop, and then did a full-90 turn to the left to pull into a driveway. Instinct - I swerved left to avoid him, but ended up t-boning him. I got the ticket for “failing to signal before changing lanes”.

Lesson: maintain your lane, and… dash cam, dash cam, dash cam.

 

I would have plowed into her. I have a dashcam.

Reminds me of all the YouTube videos of people cutting off transport trucks, and that's what they do. Keep on truckin'

 

Glad you are OK. There are real tools on the road these days and the number of tools seems to be ever increasing. I think most of us have a "Just yesterday some a$$hat almost hit me!" story frequently.
My daughter was driving our 2nd gen from some moron running a stop sign, totaling the truck. She needed some time with a counselor to shake off the leftover replays and anxiety from the crash.

Take care of yourself first and foremost!

 

Dang man. Testament to the safety of these Toyotas. Glad you’re okay

 

I can’t say enough good things about how well built the cab is, and the airbag locations. The knee air bag definitely prevented me from fracturing my legs.

 

You're right. Last week, I went back to the site and searched for some of my electronics repair tools. I found a hole about 12-16 inches lower than the pavement right where it veered left. I hadn't noticed it before. I still have trouble sleeping. I managed to recover most of my equipment thanks to the wrecker service. He picked up everything he could find. All of it was in hard-side insulated cases, so I'm pretty sure someone took my oscilloscope and laser wattage meter. I doubt they knew what they were, but they looked expensive.

 

Rolled an 84 Ranger in a horrible storm / micro-burst one time. That still gets played back at seemingly random times in my head without provocation and without asking. You'll likely see similar. I think the Adrenalin burns it into the mind like a branding iron. But as horrible as that sounds, I'm glad and amazed that you walked away from this one. Simply amazing and quite a blessing that falls somewhere between the marvels of modern engineering and miracles from what ever deity you subscribe to.

 

Wow, I didn't realize how lucky I was until I insisted that my daughter send me some photos. It really scared me when I finally looked at them, especially when we went to remove personal items from the car. Toyota did a great job with airbag locations and protecting the cabin.

 

I don't know what they are either,, but I don't prey on people. Hopefully if they were taken, the person that took them meets karma.