From: janel 

On Sun, 01 Aug 2004 15:49:50 -0400, Richard B. 
wrote in message news::

>I think that's more due to the state we live in.  Absolute idiots out
>there.
>

Well, the first one was my fault.  We had had a little sleet during the
night, and I was on my way to work headed uphill with an empty truckbed
when I hit black ice.  Watching the houses go by through the front
windshield as I slid sideways before going into the ditch was when I
decided I didn't get paid enough for that.  My unswerving rule in the
intervening 20+ years since then has been "pay me, don't pay me,
charge me with a vacation day, charge me with a personal day, your call,
don't care - see you when the roads clear up".  I know that sounds
silly to anyone who lives where snow and ice is a regular occurrence.  But
I live in the southern USA where we get very little of the frozen stuff,
and most people are like me and don't get enough practice to know how to
drive in it safely.

The second crash happened on an entrance ramp getting onto I-85, the car in
front of me stopped suddenly, I got stopped, the car behind me didn't. 
There were no headrests in a truck then, of couse, and my head snapped back
far enough to hit the glass.  That was when I found out that whiplash was a
little more serious than just a means to collect money from the insurance
company.

The third and final wreck happened when my ex was driving it.  He was
hauling a load of hay, and some nitwit pulled out from a stop sign in front
of him without looking.  He locked the brakes down, but with a full load,
he was just too close to her to get stopped before he t-boned the car.  She
didn't have her seatbelt fastened and went headfirst into the passenger
door.

The third wreck warped the frame, and the truck never felt right after
that.  So, I bought a new one and sold the old one.

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