Depression/generall unhappiness

Depression/general unhappiness

I was in a car accident a few hours ago. I rear-ended someone because he slammed on his brakes, and I did the same. Unfortunately, I was a little late.

My insurance is going to go through the roof, not to mention repair costs on my car. I'm now jobless, too.

If there is any such thing as a divinity, though, I was just given a "sign." I was looking through the SomethingAwful forums when I came across one that said "Is happiness a state of mind?" I opened it and read the poster's story. What happened to him was pretty much the same as the situation I went through earlier.

He said that happiness is a state of mind. I'm starting to think that this is true. After the inital shock wore off, I was pissed (for lack of a better word - "angry" doesn't quite cover it). The more I think about it, though, it's really not that big of a deal. I have to pay more in insurance, but at least everyone is fine. The two cops that were at the scene were very polite, as was the poor guy I rear-ended. Damage to the cars was not major - he'll need a new bumper, and I'll probably need a new hood, bumper, and possibly a few other odds and ends.

The point of this thread, though, is that as angry as we get at trivial things, it's usually not worth it. There are worse things going on in the world than me losing my car for awhile. I still have friends and family that care about me, and I care more for them than a machine that carries me around.

I think I got my Christmas gift early this year.

Thanks for reading through my little rant/emo post, guys

 

Good post, Taemos.
As you found out, sometimes we all just need to take a step back and realize that we don't have it so bad. Things can always be worse, yet we forget this in the midst of our busy lives.

 

I can't see the man sueing me. It was an older guy (probably around 65-70) and he was very nice. He figured the accident was a minor inconvenience. I'll take that into consideration, though, as this is America.

I will most certainly call up AAA, though, if that will lower my insurance any.

Thanks for the help.

 

Wow, now you got me all scared. I know that if you get sued they can take your car and/or home or boats and things like that but they cant take small things like a computer or tv can they? I think im going to have to write up something that in a case like this I can have a family member sign write away to have they take possison of my things. I dont want to lose my game collection

 

Only in America :110:

Anyways Taemos, glad to see you weren't hurt, and like you said, there are much more important things to worry about in life. But then again I don't think anybody should be concerning themselves about every injustice in the world.

Theres too much going on, and life isn't fair, and for the most part theres nothing you can do about it. Not saying you should turn a blind eye, but at some point you need to realise the world isn't all sweet and rosy.

 

Don't be so sure. Insurance is a serious racket, even if he has no injuries and was walking around fine after the accident you can still get suprises later on.

However, don't let this scary stuff bring down your enlightenment. It's true what you said, that we tend to stress over little things and constantly think whatever little inconvience that is currently going on in our life is like some major crisis. Maybe I'm not the first person to notice this, but it seems to me that when I keep a good attitutde, and keep things in perspective, then good things tend to happen. You know, the way you interpet events is more important than the events themselves, ask and ye shall recieve, etc. There is something to it.

 

You got into an accident? Join the club!

I got into a fender-bender about almost 2 weeks ago. I was at fault. I rear-ended a minivan. I didn't time my braking right, because it just got finished raining, and so the roads were wet. I hydroplaned, doing less than 10mph and hit the woman, who was at a complete stop. Luckily though, she and her daughter were ok, no injuries and only her bumper got damaged, not the rest of the back of her van. My car, only got a small crack in the front bumper, and I ain't gonna fix it, it's not worth it. Its my first accident, so my insurance company won't be as harsh as they are to frequent car-crashers. I freaked out too at first, but now I calmed down.

Another word of advice is to talk ONLY to your insurance company, don't talk to the other person's insurance company, even if they call you. File your claim, have them record your statement and let them pass that info onto the other person's insurance company. That's what I did.

In Florida, depending on the accident you were ticketed for, because I was ticketed too for careless driving, you have three options: pay for it and have points taken off, which is 3 points here; take the ticket at court, which is stupid IMO; or opt for the traffic school option where the amount of the ticket goes down a bit and the points will not be assessed. I recommend you do that because the insurance company will take that into consideration when figuring out your next premium.

Now if you hurt anyone in an accident where its your fault, then you have good reason to feel depressed.

It took me a while to realize that I shouldn't get all worked up over it, because no-one got hurt, no major damage was caused, and I can afford the ticket, which I have 20days left to pay off... and ever since that accident I've been driving much more cautious and at the speed limit than before...

 

I just want to expand a little more on what ASSEMbler said about the safe driving course. You should check to see if your insurance company is willing to let you take the course in lieu of taking a premium hike. Some will, some won't, some will only do it for certain courses. Also check to see if your state does the point reduction for the course as not all states do that either.

One thing to be wary of if you start getting very strange requests from the person you hit or their insurance: slamming scams. There is a huge number of rear-ending scams going on. The way it works is someone will just drive around until they find someone behind them travelling a little too closely. Then they slam on their brakes and get hit, hoping to make a couple grand in the process. If you suspect something like this happened, let your insurance company know and they will take care of it. I'm not saying that this is what happened to you, but I have know someone who had it happen and it wasn't pretty to deal with.

And if you ever start to feel down or depressed, simply flip on one of the afternoon talk shows (Dr. Phil, Maury, etc.). If watching the people on those shows doesn't make you feel better, then call up the show and join them. At least you will get a free trip out of it. :thumbsup:

 

Got into a very serious crash about a year and a half ago. I lost control on the highway while trying to merge on a rainy day and was hit by a Tractor Trailer towing horses at 60MPH. Luckily the man and his son were very nice and understanding about the situation. I wasnt sued, so dont think that your going to get sued just because its America. Side note: I had scratches...thats it. Id be dead if the driver didnt swerve into the other lane and nail my truck box. Horses and the truckers were fine too.

Kevin, warn me when your on the road in PA eh? I dont wanna get nailed by you going 100MPH on the highway then only get a lamp outta it :lol:

 

I was in my mom's Toyota 4-Runner with her and a friend of her's years ago. The car in front of us stopped, so we stopped as well. The small Ford sedan behind us didn't even see us; they plowed right in the back of our SUV and totaled it, completely! I was in the back seat of the SUV and my mom and her friend were in the front. They we hurt, but I amazingly wasn't (till a week later of back pains). Our SUV then hit the car in front of us, leaving dents.

We made the mistake of not telling the police the story of the accident before leaving in the ambulance. Now, we are also at fault for the car in front of us, which doesn't make any sense!

I can say I'm also grateful my mom, her friend, and I made it out in one piece from that SUV! Things could've been much worse if we were in a sedan...

 

Don't sue him, sue his company and end up with all of his stuff:lol:

 

I took some pictures this morning:







That about covers it. I had two more pictures from the side, but I don't feel like uploading them.

I'm fine right now - no aching or anything. I have to go pick up a police report sometime, which will probably be tommorow. My mom said that since we don't have collision insurance, I may not get my insurance payments jacked up, depending on what the other guy does. We'll see.

I turned out having a better mood at the end of the night yesterday than I did in the morning. I guess it's wierd how these things turn out.

 

Har har, All Id ask for some broken bones is a Katana :lol:

Oh Mark you reminded me back pains came about a week after my accident too. I still have trouble with it but I dont think its entirely from the accident.

 

Just be prepared for the worst. A family friend literally hit a person going 2 mph, barely a dent in either car. All is fine until a month or two later, when she finds out she is being sued, and the guy comes in like he has a broken neck and crap (which he didnt by anymeans, unless someone with a broken neck can walk around the car to make sure that theres no damage or anything). Just stay on top of thing, definatly check out the police report, and all that.

 

If paramedics were called in, if either one of u called 911, and they didn't leave filing a report, then that person can't claim injuries that were caused by that crash in the future.

Even in the citation and police report you get, if there aren't any injuries declared, then that person can't make a claim a few months later.

 

Good. There were two police at the scene, and both of us were fine (I heard the other guy say so), so this is a bit of a relief.

Oddly enough, I didn't get ticketed for the wreck, although I did get one for having expired tags (which I didn't know about - thanks Dad!). I always thought that someone would walk away with a ticket for this sort of thing.