About a month ago i was rear ended in my Z. I just got the Z back, but one thing i've noticed since the accident is that whenever i'm at a stop light, or stop sign and i look in my rear view mirror, my heart starts to pound whenever i see a car approach from behind me. Fearing that i'm gonna get rear ended again. I swear I find myself with my foot on the gas getting ready to dive into the lane next to me to avoid an accident.

This has been my only accident ever in my life, i've become so paranoid

 

It depends on you, i was hit on my drivers side door almost, and spun across 5 lanes, and didn't even know what hit me, in the first place. I still look twice before i cross a road, and that was two years ago. I dont do it as much though it just depends where i'm at, because all of the accidents i've had, basically could have been prevented.

LIke my friend a couple of days ago got hit from somebody running a redlight,in her new murano what is up with that .

 

It depends. If this persists for more than a couple of months it means you have an anxiety disorder from a tramatic experience. You could, get over it though. Take baby steps. Have a homie ride in a nother car behind you and just tale you till u get comfortable. You feel your heart race just breath deeply, and it will go away in 2 minitues or less. Cheers.

 

it'll go away soon enough. my driving slowed down a lot after my first ticket for a couple months or so because i was so paranoid about being caught again. but a year later i'm back to my old habits no problem . it's natural don't fret it.

 

Dude best thing to do is not roll to a stop or use gears to slow u done... Obviously still use them but generally use the brake a bit. The reason people get rear ended it cause the person behind you dont see brake lights. so if you are using your brakse from the point in which you are beginin to slow down it give people a better indication.

 

+1 I know sort of how you feel. When I was in middle school, my friend rear ended a semi. He was talking, not paying attention, and I saw him NOT slowing down, and BAM! Wasn't too bad of an accident, but to this day I am a TERRIBLE back seat driver; get nervous when someone I am riding with comes to an abrupt stop or something. It has gotten better in recent years, but I still get that feeling that you are talking about. Funny thing is, I don't sweat it when I drive and stop haha only when its someone else driving.

 

you need to mount a 50cal turrent on your car, with a dedicated gunner under orders to take out any vehicles presenting a danger to your car.

 

I know how you feel, I was in a near-death high speed accident (Passenger) in college, and for MONTHS after that, I would not trust anyone with a lead foot, I would get so anxious that I would really just want them to stop the car so I could get out... It got better after time, but here I am 4 Years later, and I still get tense with people driving crazy....

 

It takes awhile to recover from surprise buttsecks, but in time, and with a little reconstructive surgery you will no longer fear the evil from behind:


You will get over it...just takes time.

 

Along the same line many members have or have had a motorcycle as a daily driver. When you step from a motorcycle to a car, you bring along some unique anxiety and techniques.

 

Ptsd

 

Yeah I fear the woman driver. Got T-boned from some chick going 40 yapping on her cellphone plowing straight through a stop sign into my car.

 

+1

I still get a little worried when I see someone that is coming up really fast while I'm at a dead stop. Especially when they look like a real beater... I just pray that their brakes are good enough to stop in time.

I also just saw an accident yesterday with 4+ cars. One, a Murano, was tailing this Tacoma. Probably going about 70 mph and the Murano was literally 3 feet from the Tacoma. Behind the Murano was some POS van, didn't really notice what it was, probably a Toyota. He was about 3 feet behind the Murano and a light was coming up (and heavy traffic). So naturally the Tacoma goes to break and the Murano is so close that they fail to notice the break lights in time (I really don't know if they could even see the lights because of how close they were). *SMASH* The front of Murano got trashed and the Tacoma got pushed into another lane. *SMASH* The POS van smashes into the Murano and sends it into the car in front of it and then gets pushed off the road into a ditch. Scary **** to see.

 

Yeah I got rear ended by some moron in an Accord, and for the next like 8 months I was super paranoid about people coming up behind me. I also started slowing down way earlier and leaving a lot of room in between me and the car ahead of me so that if someone was gonna hit me I might be able to scoot up so they didn't.

 

I had a pretty bad wreck in 05 where I was coming through an intersection and this truck pulled out in front of me and then stopped, blocking the whole intersection, and I t-boned him. Now every time I see someone about to pull out in front of me I get that tense adrenaline feeling, it sucks. Almost exactly one year later I was in another accident on I-985 near Gainesville, GA where I was clipped from behind by a truck and never saw what hit me. I get a little nervous now whenever I'm in that area.

The weird thing is that I used to drive circle track race cars and was in a lot of hard crashes in those and never got nervous, never had flash backs, and would just get out of the car and move on but I still haven't been able to do that fully on the street.

 

This will be someone's sig before long.

 

After any accident you look at things in a whole new light. It'll take a while to not see the "ghost in the mirror", but you'll get over it. You will and have started to constantly scan mirrors and other car/truck locations looking for ways or short-cuts that can get you out of danger. I have not been in an accident in over 16 years and I feel that the constant awareness is a good thing: Not necessarily relaxing but good.

The good thing is that even though it's small (short, low to the ground, etc.) the Z is a very well designed sports car. It'll protect you, and that's all that you can ask. In addition it also has the power to get you out of many dangerous situations and the handling to go with it.

Terry in NC
============================

 

cheesy line but time will heal

 

the good new is that you are a more defensive driver now, the bad, well, post traumatic stress......time will heal! good luck

 

Good advice. And that compliment is from a shrink. Can't get much better than that.