Quote:
Originally Posted by Rain Man
Side story. Back when I was a kid, cars didn't have soft bumpers. They were hard metal and chrome.
At one point in my teen years my family was headed out for the day and I was going to catch a ride with my dad. Our driveway was on a strong slope, and my dad's car was behind my mom's car with a couple of feet separating them. I started to go in between the cars to get to the passenger side, but right as I took the first step between the cars, my mom pushed in on the clutch for some reason and rolled back into my dad's car.
I was able to get back in time by a flea's width, but man, it still gives me the sweats to think about it. Both car bumpers were exactly at knee level, and if I had been one second earlier both of my knees would've been crushed. I remember looking ashen-faced at my dad who was looking back at me with the same expression.
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I was a senior in high school when something very similar happened to my mom but she was not so lucky. It was 1978 and we had a 1970 Dodge Coronet station wagon. On this the back window is manually rolled down at the back of the car. My mom had gone shopping at a grocery store that used rollers to deliver your goods out to a pick up location. Kinda cool. So my mom pulls up, gets out and goes to the back to unroll the window so she could open the tailgate. Another person pulled up behind her and put his column shit automatic in neutral. Then he grabs his receipt off the dash and reaches to the passenger window to give it to the worker. Of course he hits the shifter putting it into drive and catching my mom just above both knees. He starts to get out of the car to go to her help and she has to tell him to get it out of drive, he had not even thought about that.
Although she was probably "lucky" since it was above the knees my mom was never the same. She was 39 at the time so not that old but it was years before she could walk well and eventually had both knees replaced.
So be very glad that you did were able to get back out of the way.