almost got killed

Driving home on rt28 in NH tonite It had been raining out all nite and I was in the middle lane and the 3 lanes merge into 2 meaning that my lane and the one next to mine merged. So i was driving at about 35-40mph and the next thing i know some old chryslerguns it and cuts out infront of me as the lane merges. He came about 3 feet from my front bumper.So then the idiot realizes he cut me off to be first at the red light. So when hes about 300yds away from the lights he slams on the brakes( keep in mind that this is about 2 seconds after he cut me off ). So i swerve into the left lane and slam on my breaks to avoid a collision. Then my ass end slides out, so I tryed to compensate from for the spin, then the next thing i know is the driver side slamming the curb ( a good 6-8 inch curb). Which left me facing oncomming traffic (gladly there wasnt any). I look back and the other car is gone, So after I made sure my passenger was ok, I went out to asses the damages, All i noticed at first was that some of the lower plastic moulding was scratched up. So I got in and drove it to Chili's Restaurant and took a closer look under the street lights. I looked at my driverside rear tire and the tire is pointed inwards,(as taking a right turn). And it is angled. So after calling my dad, the police and AAA, all of which were no help except for my dad, I ended up with a broken benz, and no way to get any money from insurance or anything else. The police department said that even if i got the other persons plates that they could just say that they were merging , something crappy like that.So ill post some pics tomorow, just had to vent that, WHY CANT PEOPLE LEARN TO DRIVE! ahh i hate it f#*kin retarted drivers are the ones who send innocent people into accidents. Oh well poor benz, just glad that happened in my benz then a plastic honda.

[omegabenz]

Im sorry to hear about your troubles. Its better than being dead. I have an old car with drum brakes in the back and discs in the front which I upgraded, and someone did a Uturn infront of me, so I swerved into the left lane, and they did the same, I slammed on the brakes, and I spun around about three times on dry pavement ending up 180 degrees backwards going with the other side of the road, and facing a car in the center turn lane...Geez that was scary. i called my brother, and talked to him and he said are you still in the center turn lane, I said yea, he said why dont you drive to a parking lot and call me back. I was all shook up.

At least you can fix bolt on parts such as rims and things.

Hope all is well,

Austin

[vrsmith]

I'm glad that you and your passenger are OK. Remember, though, that self preservation is the first rule in nature. Driving your 300SDL accomplishes that: It would take a lot to kill you in that car! Fix the rims, fenders, road rashes and if it is ever totalled, thank MB that you'll be around to salvage the hood star and badges to be framed.

[JimSmith]

300SDL,

Sorry to hear of your mishap, but you brought up the number one problem in traffic these days, and that is no one seems to realize it is much easier to merge when you are going 45 or 50 mph than it is when you are going 0. People always try to put off merging to the last second, and then there is not enough room and they have to slow down or stop. Drives me crazy.

With all the road construction and lane blockages these days, merging skills would be a great benefit to all. And so would learning to speed up to merge. Hate to say something controversial, but if three lanes of traffic with a given density of cars merge into two lanes, the density has to increase to keep the same number of cars going past a given point per hour or you can speed the two lanes up to maintain the traffic rate.

The natural reaction appears to be to slow down, run the car per lane density up to an unsafe level (no spaces between cars), develop a traffic back up and inspire dopes to avoid early merging and maintaining a reasonable speed. All this leads to people moving along at a walking pace on an "X minus 1" lane superhighway, which makes no sense.

The process should consist of early merging by speeding the cars up in the lane being merged into, so you can still have a decent distance between cars as they move in to fill up that lane and keep traffic moving near the number of cars per hour as before the need to merge became apparent. The flaw with this concept is it requires drivers to cooperate which is like training a dog to share a steak with another dog (may be possible with a special pair of dogs, but not likely with the average dogs).

It really gets me irritated when this process seems to be going well with everyone cooperating and some jerk runs up to the point where the lane he is in tapers off and he can't go another foot, just to pass a few cars, and then traffic has to stop to let him in. Inevitably others follow and you get the traditional back up.

Glad you made it out unscathed (well, if we don't consider your wallet but being in one piece is more important) and hope you get the car back on the road again. Jim

[Ridge]

300SDL,

The scenario that you laid out is a common one in insurance scams. The scammer causes a rearender and claims whiplash along with several other people riding in the car. Insurance pays up, your rates go up and the scammer buys another junker and goes back to work searching for a new "accident". Your quick reactions probably sent him home without a paycheck.

Glad you weren't injured.

Ben

From one 300SDL owner to another, I hope all goes well.