Accident concequences

[zdcol71]

Hi, guys... haven't been on for a while, been layed up in a hospital bed for the last couple of weeks and I thought I would share a few thoughts that have come to me whilst being idle.
They have a car bent of sorts, as the reason I am in hospital is vaugley related to a car crash many many years ago.
I have related the story on here before so won't go through all the detail, just to say that way back in 1973 I was a passenger with my dad,his best mate, and my sister, coming home one night from a football match in Dads pride and joy,2 tone VIP Regal Safari wagon,...short story, we were collected by a drunk driver who hit us head on after loosing control after fleeing the scene of a previous accident with a bloke and his pillion on a motor bike.This guy had been drinking all day with his mate (also in the car with him) celebrating his 21st.
8 people so far directly involved in this train of events, ...
Transpires that nearly 40 years later I'm lying in a hospitle bed because the scar tissue that was left when they cut me open to relieve the internal bleeding,(that actually saw me at one stage, clinically dead on the operating table) has actually cospired over the years to generate a massive disslogement of my internals that almost led me to end up, once again ,dead on an operating table. (That may have been a little dramatic but I was told I had been in a fairly precarious situation. Dad came up to visit tonight (he's now well into his 70s,still going like a train) and he says to me we should get hold of Ted xxxxxxxx, the guy driving the other car(yep, he still knows his name and every other detail about him), and find out wether he is still having any affects so many years on.
We also talked about Dads best mate, who he has seen all of twice since the accident,a promosing young chemist who worked at a refinery, but subsequently (after being in a coma for 6 months), lost his wife and two young kids to a divorce, and became a total social hermit.
My sister has moved on, but for all these years, since leaving her teens as a pretty young girl with a massive scar across her forehead, and numerous broken bones in her back, I'm sure she has probably never reached what she may have once dreamt of.
I never knew what happened to the guy and girl on the motorbike, though they too were hospitalised, maybe they never gave it another thought, maybe the are dealing with their own outcomes somewhere.
Ted xxxxx and his mate, once they were sentenced to do 3 months weekend detention ,well I never gave them much thought since, but I'm sure curious now to know how they both ended up. Did they learn anything from the experience, was it a lucky get off for them, are they dead, or are they maybe sitting around with their kids/grandkids, like I am now, trying to explain to them or trying to figure out with them how a brief act of madness involving cars, booze,disrespect, arrogange...whatever the ingredients...can have such far reaching effects on so many people.
No one actually died in this instance, but I'm thinking I'm rather luckier that an operation 40 years later is the reason all these thoughts and memories have been bought up, and not that I have been living with it all these years because someone we knew or loved has not been with us all those years.
Stay safe on the road guys, talk soon.

[Geez Louise]

Sorry to hear you are still having issues from your accident all those years ago. I can understand your curiosity on the whole situation. It would be interesting to find out what happened to the others and if the driver learned a lesson from the whole situation.

[deesun]

And people wonder why it's not good to drink and drive. We generally only think of someones injuries who has been involved in an accident for a short time till they get back on their feet. Rarely do we look into the future and see these kind of repercussions. Good luck mate, I hope you can have a fulfiling life and this isn't too much of a setback to you and your family. Good to see you think here is a good place to place your thoughts. Get a laptop and keep us up to date from your hospital bed.

[turk]

thanks for sharing this.
you see this on the news and you think about the people it efects,but only for a short time.
looking back now you can see so much efect for so long to so many.
best wishes to you and yours.

[MAGPIE]

Great post

[SEZ213]

Originally Posted by deesun

And people wonder why it's not good to drink and drive. We generally only think of someones injuries who has been involved in an accident for a short time till they get back on their feet. Rarely do we look into the future and see these kind of repercussions. Good luck mate, I hope you can have a fulfiling life and this isn't too much of a setback to you and your family. Good to see you think here is a good place to place your thoughts. Get a laptop and keep us up to date from your hospital bed.

This sums it up for me, my words are a little lost at the moment. So deesun, thankyou.

Thanks for sharing zdcol, I hope your operation is a success and you can either find what you're looking for if you choose to, or finally get complete closure from the event.

It sounds like big cuddles from Iggy might be in order.

[kpcart]

people who critisize speed camera "revenue raising" and proclaim that no person can keep a constant speed while driving on a public raod SHOULD READ THIS STORY, it might make them think twice about there attitude to driving. people like that do no respect the dangers of driving a motor vehicle and the privlidge it is to drive such a vehicle. i think if we all respect the rules we are given, then we can avoid such sad incidents as discussed here. we should respect the police also, the only reason that policing speeding drivers has become "revenue raising" is because people continue to speed! and people are getting dumber, they do not take a speeding fine as a deterrent to not speed in the future, instead they take it as a reason to hate the government and the police and continue to break road rules and continue to act self righteous about their hate for revenue raising, even if they kill someone on the road in the process. it is a huge cultural problem in australia, and no wonder australians are considered some of the worst drivers in the world. reading through forums thread on this site proves this, there are people claiming that it is not humanly possible to control your speed in car!!!!

the time i am most careful of my driving is on friday and saturday nights, because i know all the aussies are out on the pis (pardon my language), and incidents like above can happen at any moment on the road.

[sudszy]

thanks for posting.

I think its good reading for people who just point to the number of fatalities and say the numbers are low, cant do much about it etc.

it emphasises that for every fatality, there are goodness knows many more stories such as yours where people are serioulsy affected by the incident for the rest of their lives either physically or emotionally, the "other" toll that we dont hear so much about.

[Bud Bud]

Originally Posted by kpcart

people who critisize speed camera "revenue raising" and proclaim that no person can keep a constant speed while driving on a public raod SHOULD READ THIS STORY, it might make them think twice about there attitude to driving. people like that do no respect the dangers of driving a motor vehicle and the privlidge it is to drive such a vehicle. i think if we all respect the rules we are given, then we can avoid such sad incidents as discussed here. we should respect the police also, the only reason that policing speeding drivers has become "revenue raising" is because people continue to speed! and people are getting dumber, they do not take a speeding fine as a deterrent to not speed in the future, instead they take it as a reason to hate the government and the police and continue to break road rules and continue to act self righteous about their hate for revenue raising, even if they kill someone on the road in the process. it is a huge cultural problem in australia, and no wonder australians are considered some of the worst drivers in the world. reading through forums thread on this site proves this, there are people claiming that it is not humanly possible to control your speed in car!!!!

the time i am most careful of my driving is on friday and saturday nights, because i know all the aussies are out on the pis (pardon my language), and incidents like above can happen at any moment on the road.

Careful this thread dose not deserved to be locked.

But since you are on your high horse, I have never read anywhere on this forum where people are pro street speeding or road racing "anywhere anytime", if they were they would be shot down in flames. The general consensus however has been more related to how speed cameras are used and not why.

In the above post at least the offending driver survived (and so did the all the unfortunate victims thank god) so if he went through a speed camera (if they were around 30+ years ago) before the accident then at least they would still have someone to send the fine to 10 days later. But how would that have helped the OP and his family at the time? It seems that the only thing that would or did stop the offending driver would have been prior Police presences and action or another victims car, not a speed camera. It might be better to keep on topic (including me) on this thread though.

Not good to hear that you are not well from somebody elses inconsiderate and selfish actions from so long ago. I read your original post detailing the accident when you first posted it and even then I thought to myself, how life changing these things really are.

I hope you are up and about soon and the long lasting effects of this accident do not keep you down for long.

Bud Bud

[EgoFG]

Budbud took some of my words.

But to further Suds thought.

Far too often the focus is on Deaths (on long weekends etc).
I would like Deaths and Hospitalisations reported so that we can see the tragedy of road carnage more accurately.

[deesun]

Originally Posted by kpcart

people who critisize speed camera "revenue raising" and proclaim that no person can keep a constant speed while driving on a public raod SHOULD READ THIS STORY, it might make them think twice about there attitude to driving. people like that do no respect the dangers of driving a motor vehicle and the privlidge it is to drive such a vehicle. i think if we all respect the rules we are given, then we can avoid such sad incidents as discussed here. we should respect the police also, the only reason that policing speeding drivers has become "revenue raising" is because people continue to speed! and people are getting dumber, they do not take a speeding fine as a deterrent to not speed in the future, instead they take it as a reason to hate the government and the police and continue to break road rules and continue to act self righteous about their hate for revenue raising, even if they kill someone on the road in the process. it is a huge cultural problem in australia, and no wonder australians are considered some of the worst drivers in the world. reading through forums thread on this site proves this, there are people claiming that it is not humanly possible to control your speed in car!!!!

the time i am most careful of my driving is on friday and saturday nights, because i know all the aussies are out on the pis (pardon my language), and incidents like above can happen at any moment on the road.

Since when were we talking about revenue raising? Go away to another thread and spread your trolling somewhere else, revenue raising by cameras booking people for a riduculous 5k over is totally different to the sentiments being put up here by the OP.

[gtfpv]

to the OP , touching thread , thanks for sharing . get well soon .
i'm so sorry to hear of the ongoing crisis , and emotional strain over your life . its understandable , and i know you feel lucky as well .
trying to answer some of your unanswered questions i'll suggest this .
IT was a stupid accident from some young idiot that caused this , and i'm sure the guy has had to live with it all of his life and it is in his mind too , he would've paid somewhere in his life for his actions no doubt , i think everybody does .
i was left in a car bleeding from the head , the other driver drove off , never to be seen again , i often wonder how he lives his daily life . i wasnt injured badly , but he wouldn't know if im in a wheelchair ,or dead, or non injured and not effected . ( in some strange way that would be a high punishment for him ) - not knowing . he may have guilt that he not need have , cause i'm ok . the accident scene at asign post still has flowers on it to this day . as the day before the accident someone was killed in the same spot .
this driver might think the flowers are in memory of me .
either way , i know a little about how you may feel , glad nobodies life was lost .

[NickyN]

Originally Posted by zdcol71

Hi, guys... haven't been on for a while, been layed up in a hospital bed for the last couple of weeks and I thought I would share a few thoughts that have come to me whilst being idle.
They have a car bent of sorts, as the reason I am in hospital is vaugley related to a car crash many many years ago.
I have related the story on here before so won't go through all the detail, just to say that way back in 1973 I was a passenger with my dad,his best mate, and my sister, coming home one night from a football match in Dads pride and joy,2 tone VIP Regal Safari wagon,...short story, we were collected by a drunk driver who hit us head on after loosing control after fleeing the scene of a previous accident with a bloke and his pillion on a motor bike.This guy had been drinking all day with his mate (also in the car with him) celebrating his 21st.
8 people so far directly involved in this train of events, ...
Transpires that nearly 40 years later I'm lying in a hospitle bed because the scar tissue that was left when they cut me open to relieve the internal bleeding,(that actually saw me at one stage, clinically dead on the operating table) has actually cospired over the years to generate a massive disslogement of my internals that almost led me to end up, once again ,dead on an operating table. (That may have been a little dramatic but I was told I had been in a fairly precarious situation. Dad came up to visit tonight (he's now well into his 70s,still going like a train) and he says to me we should get hold of Ted xxxxxxxx, the guy driving the other car(yep, he still knows his name and every other detail about him), and find out wether he is still having any affects so many years on.
We also talked about Dads best mate, who he has seen all of twice since the accident,a promosing young chemist who worked at a refinery, but subsequently (after being in a coma for 6 months), lost his wife and two young kids to a divorce, and became a total social hermit.
My sister has moved on, but for all these years, since leaving her teens as a pretty young girl with a massive scar across her forehead, and numerous broken bones in her back, I'm sure she has probably never reached what she may have once dreamt of.
I never knew what happened to the guy and girl on the motorbike, though they too were hospitalised, maybe they never gave it another thought, maybe the are dealing with their own outcomes somewhere.
Ted xxxxx and his mate, once they were sentenced to do 3 months weekend detention ,well I never gave them much thought since, but I'm sure curious now to know how they both ended up. Did they learn anything from the experience, was it a lucky get off for them, are they dead, or are they maybe sitting around with their kids/grandkids, like I am now, trying to explain to them or trying to figure out with them how a brief act of madness involving cars, booze,disrespect, arrogange...whatever the ingredients...can have such far reaching effects on so many people.
No one actually died in this instance, but I'm thinking I'm rather luckier that an operation 40 years later is the reason all these thoughts and memories have been bought up, and not that I have been living with it all these years because someone we knew or loved has not been with us all those years.
Stay safe on the road guys, talk soon.

What a horrible accident that was, one that still haunts you physically and emotionally. I hope the surgery went well, and you have no lingering pain or problems following. I agree with you about your sister, it must have been difficult for her with the massive scar on her forehead.... I'm a girl and I'd have been very self-conscious about a scar. I'm glad she's moved on. Maybe ask her if she has any lingering problems with her back? I hope not.... You know, even if lives weren't lost, all of you were affected in some way. And Ted xxxxx and his mate only got 3 months weekend detention? Unbelievable. I hope Ted xxxxx and his mate frequently suffer nightmares from the accident they caused and I sure hope if they are still living today, that the same thoughts you wonder about is what keeps them up at night. They're lucky they got off with 3 months weekend detention.

Take care, and thanks for sharing this with everyone. I hope everyone remembers this and drives safely.

[bruceboss]

Originally Posted by kpcart

people who critisize speed camera "revenue raising" and proclaim that no person can keep a constant speed while driving on a public raod SHOULD READ THIS STORY, it might make them think twice about there attitude to driving. people like that do no respect the dangers of driving a motor vehicle and the privlidge it is to drive such a vehicle. i think if we all respect the rules we are given, then we can avoid such sad incidents as discussed here. we should respect the police also, the only reason that policing speeding drivers has become "revenue raising" is because people continue to speed! and people are getting dumber, they do not take a speeding fine as a deterrent to not speed in the future, instead they take it as a reason to hate the government and the police and continue to break road rules and continue to act self righteous about their hate for revenue raising, even if they kill someone on the road in the process. it is a huge cultural problem in australia, and no wonder australians are considered some of the worst drivers in the world. reading through forums thread on this site proves this, there are people claiming that it is not humanly possible to control your speed in car!!!!

the time i am most careful of my driving is on friday and saturday nights, because i know all the aussies are out on the pis (pardon my language), and incidents like above can happen at any moment on the road.

some of your points are completely ridiculous ,, firstly the incident here was drink driving , not speeding .. im sure most would agree a sober driver doing 90 in an 80 zone is a lot safer than a drunk doing 70 in the same 80 zone.
secondly , your rant about revenue raising being something drivers in this country deserve , is an absurdly socialist / fascist remark , and if you think speed zones are set up purely for safety reasons then you need to start researching the polices own press releases and even current affairs on mainstream media , to quickly discover in most cases where speeders are caught , they are caught in "speed TRAPS" where the limit drops from one speed to a lower speed , or where for instance a 3 lane highway with grass median is reduced to an 80 or 90 zone from 100 or 110 without notice , and for no aparrent reason ..
thirdly , i would assume from your scathing attack on Australian drivers that you are a foreigner with a perfect driving history and harbour a hatred for the freedom to own and operate a motor vehicle which it seems you think is a privelege and not a right ..... albeit a right that can and should be revoked in criminal cases .
This attitude is how gun ownership in this country became virtually banned , wowsers and do-gooders screaming like idiots about how a few doing the wrong things should result in the loss of a nations rights ..
If this is how you want Australia , then i dare you come and take MY RIGHTS.!!

[Ben73]

Originally Posted by kpcart

people who critisize speed camera "revenue raising" and proclaim that no person can keep a constant speed while driving on a public raod SHOULD READ THIS STORY, it might make them think twice about there attitude to driving. people like that do no respect the dangers of driving a motor vehicle and the privlidge it is to drive such a vehicle. i think if we all respect the rules we are given, then we can avoid such sad incidents as discussed here. we should respect the police also, the only reason that policing speeding drivers has become "revenue raising" is because people continue to speed! and people are getting dumber, they do not take a speeding fine as a deterrent to not speed in the future, instead they take it as a reason to hate the government and the police and continue to break road rules and continue to act self righteous about their hate for revenue raising, even if they kill someone on the road in the process. it is a huge cultural problem in australia, and no wonder australians are considered some of the worst drivers in the world. reading through forums thread on this site proves this, there are people claiming that it is not humanly possible to control your speed in car!!!!

You find any thread to spread your opinion(troll) don't you. Now you even post in thread that have nothing to do with your agenda.