Major Auto Accident
 

My wife just called me["looks like an 85 year old woman lost control of an suv in the Colony Publix parking lot --whacked approx 6 vehicles "

I hope no one is injured. Keep us posted.

Colony
 

My husband just came back from Colony. He said there were many police cars EMT etc. He said the cars she backed into had a lot of damage.

That's why God created backup cameras. I too hope there were no injuries.

I am thinking a back up camera would not have helped, more like hit the gas instead of break, or medical emergency. We arrived just after

My husband worked part time in a body shop up north after he retired and he said that all of the vehicles with the backup cameras always came in with side damage because people only relied on the camera instead of looking around their car.

This whole thread is very sad. I am sure that the 85 year old lady was once a twenty year old with excellent driving skills and a fifty year old who was very careful while driving and a sixty year old who could still turn her neck to check behind her.

We all will reach a point when someone takes our keys away if we are unable to see for ourselves that it isn't wise to drive anymore. I see no cause to belabor the obvious point here.

I hope no one was hurt. I hope she did not have a medical episode, such as a surprising new heart symptom. I hope it never happens to anyone reading this thread. Or to me.

I had known this 87 year old lady for a about 10 years prior to this terrible event and believed she should have given up her keys a few years before this happened. She was the widow of a big band leader and had some money. There were multiple lawsuits, of course. I do not know what eventually happened to her. 13 Hurt as Car Rams Into Crowd - latimes

In New Mexico starting at age 79 one needs to get checked every year to keep a driver's license, actually a yearly renewal. It used to be at age 75.

don't sweat it the Fl minimum auto insurance will make everyone whole !!!!

My dad was in his late 80s and had dementia but refused to give up his car. Without guardianship my sister and I could not legally take away his car. I contacted the registry and provided documentation of his dementia and they revoked his license so he never knew it was us. He started to deteriorate quickly after that and I hated having to do it.

My father voluntarily gave up driving. He was born in 1898 and had been a traveling salesman back to the days of the Model T and the old Lincoln Highway. He never had an accident, to my knowledge never had been issued a ticket, and was one heck of a good driver, teaching me many of his bag of good driving tricks. He never developed dementia but had started to suffer from Parkinson's disease which is why I suppose he decided to give up driving. We never discussed why. He just knew it was time.

This left the driving to my mother who learned to drive only at about age 45. She suffered some minor strokes in her early eighties. Now getting her to stop at that point took some doing. I literally came to tears, begging her to give up her keys after I rode with her on a test drive. What finally convinced her, and I do not know how I ever got the thought, was I asked her "How would you feel if you hit a child who ran out into the street in front of you?" That convinced her. My brother and I moved our parents to a very pleasant assisted living facility where they loved it. My mother only lasted a couple more years but my father lived to age 94.

Life is a series of phases.

Similar situation here.

Although it tore me up to have to do it, I kept in mind that I knew it was the right thing and might have even saved someone from getting hurt...or worse. :(

God did not create them. Manufacturers create them and pass the charges to the buyers. This is one of the best safety features a driver can have and should be in every single car that is being manufactuered these days.

Backup cameras very soon will be standard equipment.
 

Backup cameras will be mandatory in all vehicles under 10,000 lbs. built in and after May of this year.

more important than back up cameras are auto braking--they work, I know from personal experience

I like the sarcasm. Florida's $10,000 minimum liability would barely pay for a crushed fender or an emergency room visit.

More info, my wife sketched a picture of the accident:
1) very heavy "burning rubber" marks- the car was in reverse all the time
2) wheels were turned to the left
3) hit 4 cars parked on the left side
4) hit 2 cars parked on the right side as it continued to circle
5) a Publix employee was very lucky , he jumped out of the way in the nick of time
Total distance covered way for than 120'

Another observation, besides being elderly, the woman was described as being very,petite--another example of a driver operating a vehicle that doesn't fit them as they age

One of my Grandmother's, then my Mother's, greatest fears. So sad.

We have a camera in our car....not sure if all are like ours but we've found it's hard to view anything during the day due to glare etc. I rarely use it but crane my neck to really make sure nothing is back there. My observations are in backing out that folks (pedestrians) don't hesitate to keep walking despite the fact the car is 2/3 of the way into the turn so one has to be REALLY cautious.

That little lady isn't alone in being tiny and the car too big. Observations are there are many here who appear to be looking through the steering wheel and not over it. I do have to wonder if this one didn't have some kind of medical event....OR....got flustered and made it worse.

About a year ago I bought a new vehicle having the backup and overhead view cameras, warning beeper and so on. These features came with the package I wanted. At that time I thought the cameras and beepers were superfluous. But, I soon came to appreciate how helpful they are. I own an older vehicle in great shape but now when I drive it I miss the cameras, bells and whistles the new vehicle has which I have come to rely upon. Personally, I feel these features add to safety, especially from fender benders in parking lots.

In the instant case I do not feel cameras would have helped. Her foot must have jammed down on the throttle for whatever reason. Glad no one was hurt!

The new backup alert sensors on our 2017 Honda has saved me from disaster many times since it's purchase. That feature alone is almost worth the cost of a new car!

When ever I can, I do not pull my car into a parking spot that I must back out of. I am a very firm believer of "pulling through" and parking my car. Come time to leave the spot, I pull out of the spot. It is like backing into your driveway and pulling out into the street. You have full visibility forward, left and to right as you slowly leave the parking spot and I never need to crane my neck when pulling out of a parking spot this way. I've been pulling through into parking spots for many many years. I've noticed in recent years, many many more drivers are parking their cars by pulling through as I do.

Was anyone hurt?

NO--luck was on everyone's side

I agree. I also find it easier to back into a parking place when I arrive (if there is no other traffic) than to back out when I leave because when you arrive you have a perfect view of all things happening in that traffic lane.

Sounds like she inadvertently put her gear in R instead of D and became flustered. Or something fell on the gear screen, blocking the shift from shifting to D.

Just as long as you don't take up two spaces...

I think for some reason she could not shift gears from R to D. Probably something blocked the shift lever - her wallet or purse?

I haven't backed out of a parking lot spot since my early 30s :) I will park out further when I have to just to be able to pull thru. It is always dangerous to back out regardless how old you are or the range-of-travel of your neck.

I also will go further away in lot to find a spot I can pull through and park. I don't mind at all to be safer when leaving the parking spot.

Just asking, does this mean when you leave your parking space that you are entering a drive lane going in the wrong direction?
If so, I'm assuming you have to make a very wide turn in order to drive out in the correct direction.
Over the past three years I've seen two fender benders result from similar pull thru parking. Once a woman turned too sharply scraping the side of her car against the rear end of the correctly parked car next to her. In the second incident a man made too wide of a turn and bumped in to the rear of a correctly parked car on the other side of the drive lane.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding the type of parking you're describing and these two incidents don't relate at all.

I'm guessing they're talking about only in lots where you can turn both ways when leaving.

I usually park way out in the lot to avoid door dings. If possible I drive through to the facing parking spot if and only if one can turn both ways coming out of it and the parking is perpendicular to the dividing line rather than diagonally to it.

Of course one is wise to be certain there is no concrete parking stop at the front of an open parking space before attempting a drive through to the abutting space. lol

The problems you described can happen when the parking spots are marked at an angle, rather than straight perpendicular lines. I have no difficulty at all pulling out of an angled parking spot. I have been doing this for many years and I do pull out of the spot and go in the proper direction of the traffic. Fender benders happen because people can not gauge the size of their own vehicle.

Nope. I just answered this in my previous post. I pull through in all parking lots no matter how the lines are marked and I drive in proper direction of the traffic. This is very easy for me and REALLY easy in a golf cart!

Yes, that is how I do it.

When I park at Punlix with the angled parking spaces, I pull through the space. Then when I leave, I have to go the wrong way temporarily until I can turn around.

This has never caused me a problem.

Of course, we use the Publix at Lake Deaton which is not crowded, and I park a long way from the door so there are not a lot of cars around.

All of us old codgers have learned how to live our lives to best suit ourselves.

Well said Gracie