just totaled my 69 and almost totaled me

[old Rusty C10]

sorry to hear about you and your truck . trucks can be replaced you cannot. Hopefully the other driver had good insurance so youll be well compensated, although it never seems to be enough for the pain and all suffered. as to the drunk driver i have no sympathy better him than you and at least like alot of drun drivers he wont be repeating his acts

[CG]

Glad you made it out ok. Must be weird for you to look at that mass of metal and realize you were in it when that happened.

As for the fella that passed. I have zero sympathy for him. I do feel for his family though. Does anyone have any idea how many innocent people are killed or injured every year because someone makes the decision to drive drunk? You may as well just take out a gun, close your eyes and just start shooting it...you may hit someone you may not. I see no difference. Recently some lady out here was driving drunk down the freeway the wrong way. She hit an innocent young couple head on. Killed the 18 year old girl and the boy will probably never wake up from a coma. The most the drunk will get is 6 years...Where is the justice in that????????

Take care of yourself. You can always pick up another one of these tanks...I mean trucks.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by CG

Glad you made it out ok. Must be weird for you to look at that mass of metal and realize you were in it when that happened.

As for the fella that passed. I have zero sympathy for him. I do feel for his family though. Does anyone have any idea how many innocent people are killed or injured every year because someone makes the decision to drive drunk? You may as well just take out a gun, close your eyes and just start shooting it...you may hit someone you may not. I see no difference. Recently some lady out here was driving drunk down the freeway the wrong way. She hit an innocent young couple head on. Killed the 18 year old girl and the boy will probably never wake up from a coma. The most the drunk will get is 6 years...Where is the justice in that????????

Take care of yourself. You can always pick up another one of these tanks...I mean trucks.

I can't say it any better than that. I absolutely hate drunk drivers.
I wish you a speedy recovery!

[berencam]

just heard from my employer. she is keeping me on her payroll at 40 hours per week till i get better. i about fell out of my seat when i heard it.

[RicksTrucks]

Originally Posted by berencam

just heard from my employer. she is keeping me on her payroll at 40 hours per week till i get better. i about fell out of my seat when i heard it.

Glad you came out of it as well as you did. Great about your employer - who do you work for - I think they deserve a plug if you want to give them one. That is the kind of business I like doing business with - they take care of their people and it is not always about the bottom line. Get better and save another truck.

[Zonaman]

So sorry for you and the family of the other driver. Glad you're recovering. Did your seat belt have a shoulder strap or was it just across the waist?

[kwmech]

That should be one of those displays put up in front of the local high schools about the perils about drinking and driving. What was the other guy driving?

[BOSS]

Sorry to hear about this but glad you are still around.If you ever need anything just shoot me a pm.

[caminokid]

Berencam. I pulled the seat belts out of my 77. They are the 3 point ones. After seeing that I will put them in my 69 now. Dude I am sorry it happened to you.

I had a friend killed by a drunk driver. She was riding with the guy. He wrecked...got out of the car and left her to burn up in the car. She would have made it if he would have pulled her out of the car. So guys I am sorry if I have no compassion for the drunk. I feel feel bad for his family. Its a sad thing that people cant understand that this is a problem. If this is going o be a problem...then these breathalizer things should be installed in all vehicles to stop these idiots from driving....blow into it...over the limit...no start.

[Spray-Bomb]

Originally Posted by caminokid

If this is going o be a problem...then these breathalizer things should be installed in all vehicles to stop these idiots from driving....blow into it...over the limit...no start.

I agree, but man what a pain in the butt

A ex friend of mine has one of those in his car because of 2 DWI's & it take forever to get to start the car, but the way I look at it is he brought it on himself by being stupid

I think if you get 1 DWI you should have to have one, but here you have to have 2 before they make you put one in

[Spray-Bomb]

Wow !!!

Hope you make a speedy recovery (you definitely were being watched out for)
Sorry bout the other guy, its sad people make such stupid judgments

I'm glad I have 3-point belts in my black truck & it really makes me want to get rid of my yellow truck (like I already want to)

Can you still talk with ur busted jaw ???

[Yukon Jack]

That is an amazing amount of damage - WOW.

Hat's off to your employer for keeping you on the payroll - that is great of them!!

I hope you heal well and can be wrenching on another one soon!

[teeitup]

WOW, wishing you a speedy recovery, very sad for you, David's family, everyone involved. Wish you the best!!!

[70cst]

WOW berencam ... you are going to have to do a second thread to keep us informed on your progress. This has some very intersting comments...Geeeeee even some which had nothing to do with your accident. Hopefully each day you will start feeling better. I an curious how you insurance settles on a $$$ value on your truck. Keep us updated and I am sure you will get all the help required to get you back into one of our trucks.

[Bowtie001]

You are lucky to be alive. He must have been going mighty fast to go through the front end like that. Is the broken jaw and skull from hitting the steering wheel? Man, it looks terrible. Did the truck have shoulder belts?

You are not lucky to be alive - the man upstairs decided that you should be.

Get better soon.

-Brian

[ChaseDale3and8]

Keep us updated on David's condition. Hopefully he will make it, learn something from this and never do it again. I really hope that he pulls through this. His family and friends have suffered enough already. They are victims of this tragedy as well. Whoever saw him leave wherever he was at last must be carrying around a lot of guilt right now for not stopping him. They should have hog tied him and taken his keys by force if they had to, and found him some transportation home.

I wish that someone had stopped me that night 17 years ago when I rolled my truck after I thought that I had a big red S on the front of my shirt and was so invincible. I was 24 at the time. I'm still paying for it to this day, and will continue to do so until the day that I die. I have constant neck and back pain from it, (broke my back and neck) and sometimes some really severe headaches, but I'm still alive. I thank God that nobody was with me, and that I didn't hit anyone else when I wrecked. I couldn't live with that if I had hurt or killed somebody else due to my ignorance while I was out having "fun".
I'm just lucky that this was all that I got as a result of being stupid one night.

I learned from my mistake, and don't drink alcohol at all anymore. It's not just you that it affects once you make the decision to drive in a drunk condition. You're just playing Russian Roulette, and no matter how many times you got away with it in the past or present, the day WILL come that it will catch up with you. Getting a DUI isn't the worst thing that can happen as a result. Waking up in the hospital not knowing where you are, then being told that you had a wreck when you know that you'd been out drinking all night, and the first thought in your head is that you may have killed somebody, is the worst that can happen. Not to mention what I put my family and friends through. It was like living in hell.

My friends that tried to stop me said later on that they should have all ganged up on me and tied me down that night and took my keys till I slept it off. They all learned a lesson from my mistake too. They felt a lot of guilt for not trying harder to stop me, but I told all of them that it wasn't their fault, that I was the one to blame since I decided to be stupid that night.

I have given rides home to friends of mine that have called me too drunk to drive home since this happened to me. Like someone said on this post "I'd rather lose a couple of hours sleep than go to a funeral". I couldn't have stated this better myself.

We all make mistakes, especially when we are young. Hopefully good sense will take over eventually, and we learn not to do stupid things as we get older. I know that I'm not the only one here that has ever driven drunk. If you are still doing it, take this post as a lesson and STOP!!!

I really like the idea of the bumper sticker! I want to buy one of them myself after they get made. I wish you the best on a speedy recovery, and when you get healed up and buy another old truck, if you need some help with it just give me a shout, because I'm just up the road from you! ...Joe

[augie]

Get well , and count your blessings

[tkeduk8r]

wow... I read all the comments about being in a tank and surviving, and I agree if you werent, you wouldnt have made it... you needed every inch of that thing... I know personally that I am watching head lights and what they are doing on each car that approaches me at night, and the later it gets the more paranoid I get... I almost refuse to drive anywhere after the bars get out around here... anyway, finally the good guy survives one of these and not the other way around... now, at least, you get to look for a new project truck.. i would save a few remaing good pieces from your wreck to put on the new one for charma....
--Mike

[Ole Blue 68]

Berencam,

Sorry to hear about the accident It seems that its usually the dd's who wind up on the better end of these accidents while innocent people wind up in the ground. So between that and looking at the damage to your truck, you know for sure that somebody upstairs was definitely looking out for you.

Hope you get well soon.

[ND_guy]

Glad to hear your ok.

[72Levi]

Sorry to hear about your accident, I hope you heal fast, take care and our prayers are with you.

[bouncytruck]

Looks like you've got someone watching over you. That is the most damage I've seen to one of these old trucks.

[shaneschevys]

Glad to see you are ok. Good luck with your recovery.

[Gray Ghost]

WOW...that's a bad wreck...you are very lucky. I often tell people how these old trucks are tough as nails and they always tell me about 'crumple zones'. Didn't do the other guy much good huh?

Thanks for showing us the carnage, very sorry about your truck but damn glad you made it through the ordeal.

[HeavyD]

Can't believe your chest isn't crushed after seeing that bent steering wheel. Glad you will be Ok.