OUCH! At least you're OK, right?
Maybe this MIGHT make you feel a little better about what happened:
I work as a police officer in a "bedroom community" in the North Texas area. A couple of years ago I shagged a "single motor vehicle accident" call. Fellow involved needed to back his Honda Ridgeline out of the garage and planned on parking it in his driveway. Keyword: planned. He'd done this same thing "a lot of times in the past". Never had a problem before. Because his driveway is sloped at a pretty good angle he got in to the habit of turning the key, but not actually starting the ignition, so he could put it in neutral and let gravity do the work. He and his 10 yr old son climb in the front seats and he starts the backing maneuver ... with the driver side door open and his left hand gripping the door pull (similar to our Challengers) TIGHTLY. About half way down the driveway the door catches something, a tree about four or five inches thick, and begins to RAPIDLY pull away from him. Not one to be out-muscled by a little pulling he increases his grip on the door pull. Resistance continues. Exponentially. And he still refuses to let go ... as he is physically, quite forcefully, and RAPIDLY extricated from said Ridgeline. As he disappears out of the truck and tumbles across the front yard his son, horrified, watches from the front, passenger seat. Now, being the quick-witted lad that he is, the son decides that someone, ANYONE, needs to be "driving" this truck. With no one else available the son rises to the occasion and jumps into the driver's seat and begins to jam down on the brake pedal while simultaneously attempting to turn the steering wheel (the driveway, in addition to being sloped, has a nice curve starting about halfway up ... or down ... depending on which direction you happen to be traveling). Now remember, the key has only been turned far enough to allow the transmission to be placed into neutral and the vehicle is NOT running. NO power to the engine + NO power the complete electrical system = NO power brakes/NO power steering. Our brave hero was able to turn the front wheels far enough to navigate the remainder of the driveway curve, but still has NO brakes. Fortunately the street at the end of the driveway was void of any other vehicles (moving or parked) and the Ridgeline was able to "safely" (and by now fairly rapidly) cross the entire width of the road. And then jump the curb, still going backwards, on the other side of the street. UNfortunately he wasn't able to turn sharp enough to avoid the fire hydrant in the neighbor's front yard ... it was sheared from water line at ground level and trapped under the truck. Now firmly wedged in the undercarriage, the hydrant was forced to join in on the journey as the truck careened half way across the neighbor's yard, narrowly missing a LARGE tree before coming to a complete stop. With the help of a couple of firemen, two city water dept. employees and a 2-ton floor jack we were able to remove the hydrant from underneath the truck. Dad drove the truck back across the street with the driver side door tucked firmly against the left, front quarter panel.
SEE?! Could be worse, right? :saythat: Again, at least you weren't hurt?
