I was just in a fender bender
and my nerves are shot! I can't believe I can type, my hands are shaking and even my fingers are shaking.
It was my fault, a momentary lapse of attention while sitting at a stop light. The light turned green and for some reason I glanced down then hit the accelerator to move forward but the car in front of me hadn't moved!! So I bonked him in the rear hard enough to leave the imprint of my license plate on his bumper, didn't dent it, just left an impression!!
We did the whole insurance exchange, but I am still freaked out that I did this! I am 72, almost, and have had a total of 2 fender benders in my entire life, prior to this one.
I just needed to tell someone. 
I was bad.
= new reply since forum marked as read
And be glad it's just a fender bender and no one got hurt. 
I tried to back out of the garage before the door was all the way up a few years ago. The crash of the rear window woke me from my stupor. And now I have an after-market backup camera, so no excuses next time. That was the only time I ever hit anything. (The garage door survived.) Yeah, I was freaked out and crying uncontrollably when I called my insurance agent. She was a sweetheart and took care of everything.
Fender benders are always unnerving. Don't beat yourself up about it. If you drink, go have a glass and take a few deep breaths. If you don't, still take those deep breaths.
I fell in Lidl about a year ago and had just started a course of prednisone which I blamed, of course.
I just always try to go too fast, my brain moves fast, but the world around me sometimes doesn't move at that speed. It's up to me to slow down, the rest of the world isn't going to accommodate my pace, and neither is my body willing to go that fast anymore. 
But it is a tough adjustment, I have to say. I am just out of synch in the meat world. I do fine online.
I was just reminded of another mishap I had. We had just moved and I had to go to DMV for my new driver's license. Well, the place is in the middle of nowhere. We had come from FL, where the roads are straight and flat and the shoulders are as wide as an extra lane. Here, everything is hilly and curvy and narrow.
I drove right past DMV and couldn't find a place to turn around. So I kept going until there was a T in the road and I saw a house on the right, on the road I'd have to turn onto. Problem was that the road dropped off steeply on the other side, so I was afraid to drive into that driveway and back out onto the road and maybe go down the mountain. So I backed into the driveway. Woopsie! That was my education about ditches on the sides of the roads here. Rear passenger wheel went in and I was tilted, without any hope of getting out.
There was a big dog tied to a tree, straining to get loose and have me for lunch. I called AAA. They asked if I was ok, and I said I was, but scared to death. So they said they'd send someone PDQ. Meanwhile, the owner came home in his light blue pickup truck with the confederate flag on the front license plate and a gun rack in the back. He leaned out his window and said, "stuck, huh?" Then he went inside. At least he didn't set the dog loose on me.
AAA came really fast. He said he'd just taken a car off the side of a mountain and was in the area. All he had to do was reach into the rear wheel well on my driver side, hook a chain, and pull me out. No damage at all.
Then I had to stop at DMV to get my license, which, miraculously, I still was able to do. I really wanted to go home, but decided that I had gone to through too much to just make it a wasted trip.
And I was only 49 at the time. 
We still laugh about it, mostly because of where I was going when it happened. 
making me laugh and lifting my mood. Thank you all!
The beer is helping. 
Enjoy that beer. I could use one myself now. 
Glad you're feeling better.
just try to relax and know that all ages, genders, peoples get into accidents... my daughter was driving my car last month and was in an accident that totaled my car... she was upset for a bit but I let her know I knew it wasn't on purpose and these things happen
you will be ok
but the truth is, I only drive a few times a week, more than three times would be a lot, and I don't drive more than 5 miles from my house. In fact, I rarely drive more than a mile from my house. I don't drive at night.
My BFF, legally blind and not a driver, and I drove all over North Carolina back in June. No problems, but sure doesn't happen on a regular basis. I still never drove at night.
I see what is coming, but I know it is not that time yet. Having worked with brain injury patients my entire career, I am acutely aware of driving issues.
This incident is a one-off, but still a scary one.
When it comes time for me to stop driving, I will be thrilled to give it up. Let somebody else chauffeur me around.
In first grade, more than 65 years ago, we had a tool to learn to write with. It was called, "a pencil." They still sell them I am told, but I have a supply that I use over and over again. At the other end of the pencil, (not the end you write with, but the other end) there is an eraser. Why is there an eraser? To help those of us who often make mistakes.
...Now on this machine, called a computer, there is a thing called, "a delete key." It is a form of a modern eraser. So I back up the typing, and it deletes my erroneous typing. Now, I use that key all the time because I make a lot of mistakes in typing. Neither one of us are bad. We just make mistakes, here and there and over there. We are NOT BAD. We are not alone....Lots of people make mistakes. And that is why I think they still put erasers on pencils, and we still have the delete key.
