So on my way to work this morning, I am waiting for a left turning light to go green so I can go to the parking lot where I park my car. Light goes green and I start turning when I see an old lady (on a cell phone of course, mind you) inching forward on the opposite way making a right (turning to the same street I was turning. It doesn't seem like she even tries to look around to see if it was ok to turn and I was too far into the turn to smash the brakes, so I see she's gonna hit me on my passenger side rear wheel so I accelerate as fast as I can to get out of there but she still catches the side of my rear bumper.

She comes out of the car and says "what's going on here, you ran a red!" LADY, I HAVE A SPECIFIC LIGHT THAT TELLS ME WHEN I CAN TURN, HOW DID I RUN A RED? HOW CRAZY DO YOU THINK I AM TO GO AND DO THAT AT AN INTERSECTION?? The light was a left turning light in which I have about 10 seconds to make it through before it goes yellow.

Turns out she was following a friend of hers who was taking her to change her car's oil. She seemed to agree she was in the wrong when her friend said "how about we just let this thing go?" and I agreed because it looked like it was nothing and I can't afford to get late to work. So really it is very superficial damage on the passenger side of the rear bumper only, nothing else, not directly behind it or anywhere else. Everything is in place, it looked like scratches but quite frankly I am not sure it is, I cleaned it with my hand and most of the white stuff (I think her car's paint) came right off.

Do you think that'll buff out? I am very unfamiliar with that, so I am not sure how much it would be for an area that small.

If you are visiting florida, by all means have someone drive you around if at all possible! People here cannot drive!

 

old people are miserable drivers, re-testing needs to be mandated.

/thread

 

True....i have tons of defensive driving skills while living here

 

I've become quite skilled at it, I have dodged literally dozens of accidents, damn near dodged this one too (I'm sure me recognizing what was about to happen and trying to get the hell out of dodge saved me a wheel and probably 10x more expensive body work). But off the top of my head: Dodged mad (surprise surprise) old man coming out of a store on the right and deciding it was ok to go directly to the left lane, move forward while hearing someone's brakes lock up behind me only to look in the rear view mirror that they were still only about an inch to crash into me, dodging a (you know it) old lady who realized that she had to turn left only after she had passed her street....... I could go on and on.

 

LOL hearing this makes me love Cali that much more.....
:p

 

^^^ you mean you don't deal with similar drivers here in Cali????! haha man where are you living at??? Here in San Gabriel, you always gotta look out for the other guy cause everyone is either on the cell phone, eating or making up their own traffic laws



and bernardos70, I would try some regular wax and try to buff it out-- if her car just barely rubbed yours, then it will most likely come out =) Try Scratch X by meguiars, that stuff works pretty nicely

 

Thanks for the tip! You really have to be a really good driver here I guess, not only do you have drive well, you have to dodge other drivers' stupid mistakes.

I will go out and buy scratch X tonight once I get home. I got scared for a second because I saw some big marks but they were her white car's paint that rubbed off.

 

Florida is known as "God's Waiting Room" you know

I live a city over from Laguna Woods/Leisure World of SoCal and its AWFUL! I think about two years ago (in my old car) I was hit on my drivers side by an old lady who was too short to see sh|t. It was a double lane left turn, I was on the outside lane and she on the inside. Apparently she didn't realize a car was next to her as she tried to move in to my lane! When she got out she was the rudest old woman I've ever come across. She didn't have the patience to wait till my mom came (I was hysterical, first accident). Her excuse was "I'm late for bingo!" Grrr.

But yea, I've used Scratch-X on my car before too (someone tapped my bumper trying to squeeze in a non-existent lane to go right) and it buffed out the scratch well enough no one saw.

You should've given the old lady hell for being on the phone, being old, and not paying attention! Also they should mandate re-testing of drivers over XX years, or send DMV people out to watch how people really drive on their own.

 

+1

 

x10

 

Statistically, elderly drivers cause less accidents and are less of a danger than 16-25 year old drivers.

They can be very annoying, but usually they cause very minor fenderbenders at the worst. Us young drivers kill people everyday and in large numbers due to our wreckless driving and high speeds. Yes, they are probably the most annoying drivers on the road, and retesting is probably necessary, but don't kid yourselves. On the relative scale of things, there are many other things which are a much higher priority.

IE, driving and using a cell phone causes way more deaths and accidents than street racing. And strictly by the numbers, 16-21 year olds shouldn't even be allowed to drive.

 

i'm not sure about other places around LA, but i think downtown LA is one of the worst. since they're all in their expensive luxury car things with lawyers that get paid up the ___ for 1 minute of consultation.....

 

I'd look that up again. I was watching Top Gear the other day and Jeremy said statistically the elderly cause more accidents than young people at this point in time. Of course, this is England, I'm not sure how it is in the US, but I imagine it couldn't be much different.

 

It is. . . I did research paper on it for Econ Thesis (transportation efficiencies and US regulations). US law differs greatly from Europe in terms of how the youth get licenses. Vehicles aren't as readily available as they are to the youth in the US. . . no where else in the world is.

 

Now that you mention that fact, it does make sense. I'd like to know if it's significantly more, in percentages.

 

Hialeah is the best place to learn how to drive in my opinion.

 

A friend of mine lives there and her parents have a body shop......... they must be making tons of money!

 

Lmao for sure.

 

Well i have lived in florida and cali and I have to say cali is worse. I never saw so many damn accidents in cali. But what really ____es me off is that the west coast doesnt have a fast lane or 95% of the people dont know thta. I mean you got idiots driving 5 under the speed limit in the left lane. I am in WA now and i swear nobody can drive here. Its like they are scared to use a gas pedal. I mean i thought Cali was bad but damn WA is so much worse. They cant even drive in the rain when thats all it does here. But also to mention i think people in cali are scared of hills you can be on the highway going 70 and then a hill comes up and everyone slows to 35 it is such BS. I just love to drive so mcuh and i mena cruise around i dont race but it sucks out ont he west coast so much more than the east coast.

 

I wish I still had the numbers but that was years ago (and many hard drives ago). The best measure is to look at insurance rates, as they really have the best statisticians around, and it's their business to know the associated risks with each group. Furthermore, they have the highest incentive to be accurate, as it is tied into their P&L.