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  1. #1
    Member clovenhooves's Avatar
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    What's with Birds and Accidents?

    Why does it seem like Firebirds and probably more so Trans Ams get trashed so often? Racing culture? Dark colors? (Black had the highest production numbers in later years, right?) Brake lights not as visible as on other vehicles? (That one is a wild guess.) Lousy handling? Driving disproportionately at night? If you want, please describe accidents and close calls you've had and the Bird you were driving.

  2. #2
    Chief of his tribe! LSCyaL8R's Avatar
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    Navy Blue Metallic
    2000 T/A Firehawk M6

    Mine is a dark color but hardly invisible, no more so than any other dark color.

    I think the brake lights are rather good

    These cars pulled nearly .9g grip stock on 90's rubber.... since most of us have modded suspension and likely better rubber than stock I wouldn't call it lousy handling

    I do tend to do more driving at night. Tis when the shows are around these parts. Also I work all day.

    Only close call I had was on a pleasure cruise. Just driving for the love of driving. I kid you not... I was rolling along in the right lane and some db in a lincoln, i think town car... may have been a continental, comes up real fast and swerves VERY fast toward my lane. In all seriousness his rear bumper came i'd say less than 3-5 inches from hitting my front end. Granted such a collision would have ended far worse for him than for me but I had only had the car for a month so I would have reasonably been devastated.

    The only thing that went through my mind as i swerved toward the shoulder to avoid him was omg if he hits me he's gonna spin. well that and OH SHIT! He never made it fully into my lane. he just as quickly swerved back to the center lane and sped off. Makes me think he was deliberately trying to run me off the road.... maybe someone with a blue bird pissed him off once and he thought it was me???

    Closest call I've had.

  3. #3
    Member clovenhooves's Avatar
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    Maybe better handling than the average vehicle, but not good handling for a car with a lot of horses. That's my experience. I don't want to derail the thread with a pointless argument about it.

    Bad year - I've had more than 10 close calls and a few accidents, in only a few thousand miles. Since only a few of those were any part my fault, I'm struggling to identify the reasons. Black, yes. In the years before, I had very few scares.

  4. #4
    middle aged teenager WS6S's Avatar
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    sunset orange/ black
    two 2001 ws6 m6

    well in my case a woman driver ( if you can believe that ) came over 3 lanes into the side of my bright bright red ws6 and totaled it,and totaled her fuckin volkswagon beetle.just the fact that a vw totaled it sucks.good side of it all i had $6500 into the car,her insurance company paid me $10300 and i said i want the car back so they said $9106.00 ,i said ok and got the car put it on craigslist and sold it the next day for 3200.00.now i just bought an 01 som 6 speed for 7250.00.so yes it sucks another t/a gone but look at the rebirth.

  5. #5
    middle aged teenager WS6S's Avatar
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    sunset orange/ black
    two 2001 ws6 m6

    oh ya 99 ws6 bright bright red "

  6. #6
    middle aged teenager WS6S's Avatar
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    sunset orange/ black
    two 2001 ws6 m6

    allright let me finish my rant about the vw,s about 8 months ago im in my big bright bright blue dodge ram and all of a sudden i feel the truck shaking like crazy.can you guess what it was,


    another fucking volkswagon ran under the passenger side axle,i got out and just about cried looking at my truck.$15000 in damages.they wanted to total it and i said hell no.i had dodge do all the work but it will never be the same.so the moral of the story is when you see a vw get the fuck away !!!

  7. #7
    Member brendan.9's Avatar
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    Red, Pewter
    03 cobra07 street glide

    i think it's usually the other people driving i was driving a brand new ford truck yes a truck in plain daylight and have almost got hit 4 times cause people never saw me and i wasn't driving a smart car i full size f-150. luckly i was watching were i was going and paying attention to other's which more people should do i couldn't beleive it every time was like jeez watch were your going Fuck

  8. #8
    Member turbojimmy's Avatar
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    Black
    2002 Trans Am Convertible

    Driving my pearl white Cadillac from 2005 through 2009 I was hit 5 times, the last one totaled it.

    Driving my black Grand National for 10 years - not even one close call.

    I've only had my black TA for 9 months, but beyond everyone wanting to f**k with me, I haven't noticed any more risk than anything else. Try riding a motorcycle - people try to kill you multiple times every time you take it out.

    Idiots are everywhere, no matter what you drive. I'd like to see a statistic that can support dark-colored Firebirds are involved in significantly more accidents than any other car. Just ain't true.

    Jim

  9. #9
    Member brendan.9's Avatar
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    Red, Pewter
    03 cobra07 street glide

    i agree with you on driving the bike. you really learn how to drive more carefully and watch and make sure your gonna be safe cause if not your gonna die not that car. multiple times on the bike i was almost hit too but it is a lot smaller

  10. #10
    11 years of bangin gears cammed goat's Avatar
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    Phantom Black Metallic
    2004 GTO M6

    ^^I agree with the idiots being everywhere. My Beretta was hit five times. None were my fault. Last accident totalled mine as well. All because the idiot didn't want to wait for me to pass so he could turn. Thank God for witnesses. I was on my way home tonite on Rt46 and some wench almost rammed her rear bumper into my l/f fender. Something told me she was gonna try that stunt and the moment she tried, I showed her my high beams and she almost ended up in a ditch near my exit. People rest on this belief that it is okay to go out and make mistakes. Society has become WAY too forgiving IMO. If one cannot "walk and chew gum at the same time", then they should just stay out of our way.

  11. #11
    Member turbojimmy's Avatar
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    Black
    2002 Trans Am Convertible

    Quote Originally Posted by brendan.9 View Post
    i agree with you on driving the bike. you really learn how to drive more carefully and watch and make sure your gonna be safe cause if not your gonna die not that car. multiple times on the bike i was almost hit too but it is a lot smaller
    Yep. I can confidently say that riding a motorcycle has made me a better driver, no matter what I'm driving. Always looking ahead to the next potentially bad situation.

    Jim

  12. #12
    Member knightryda01's Avatar
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    midnight blue
    2000 Pontiac ram air ws-6

    If somebody hits my baby, they better be dead because I'd be whoopin some ass..... If they were dead I'd probally still drop a few good ones on them just to make sure.

  13. #13
    Junior Member gigs02ws6's Avatar
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    Blue Metallic
    2002 Pontiac TransAm WS6

    Quote Originally Posted by turbojimmy View Post
    Yep. I can confidently say that riding a motorcycle has made me a better driver, no matter what I'm driving. Always looking ahead to the next potentially bad situation.

    Jim
    Very Well Put!!! I am actually a MSF instructor so what you are saying makes perfect sense

  14. #14
    Member turbojimmy's Avatar
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    Black
    2002 Trans Am Convertible

    Quote Originally Posted by gigs02ws6 View Post
    Very Well Put!!! I am actually a MSF instructor so what you are saying makes perfect sense
    I took an MSF course last summer, which is where I learned a lot of defensive driving/riding skills. 4 of 5 of the accidents in my Caddy were rear-end hits. The 5th one was unaviodable, but I play it back over and over wondering if there was something I could have done.

    The Chief of Police blew a yield sign from behind a van on my left that had stopped to let him out (no lights or siren were on in his unmarked Explorer). I couldn't see him and he couldn't see me - he just pulled out and hoped for the best. I was coming up at about 40 MPH in the right lane and didn't see him until impact. Naturally, the police report said it was my fault - it's the subject of pending litigation. I'm not real popular with the local po-po, having sued the Chief and all.

    The Caddy doesn't look that bad, but both bags blew and the frame rail was swayed over pretty good. It was a total loss. I loved that car, but I replaced it with my '02 TA so it's not all bad.


    Jim

  15. #15
    Detailing + Design third_shift|studios's Avatar
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    My life is a
    Ben Stiller movie.

    firebirds (phoenix) by nature, are reborn after their firey death. Hence why they get in so many accidents. LOL.

  16. #16
    Senior Member bluehawk2000's Avatar
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    midnight blue
    2000 trans am

    I agree with riding the motorcycle I have had people jerk in my lane with me having 5 feet to stop on a harley soft tail 1200cc's and pipes with no baffles so dont tell me you didnt hear me beside you, step brother took care of that stupid bitch we made the turn he whipped his studded belt off and beat the hell out of the side of that f250 while screaming you stupid bitch you almost killed my brother lol. But I havent noticed anything in the t/a while I was home on leave when I bought it, if anything I noticed that people tend to stay away from me in attempt not to have an accident with me is all I can guess.

  17. #17
    Member clovenhooves's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by turbojimmy View Post
    Driving my pearl white Cadillac from 2005 through 2009 I was hit 5 times, the last one totaled it.

    Driving my black Grand National for 10 years - not even one close call.

    I've only had my black TA for 9 months, but beyond everyone wanting to f**k with me, I haven't noticed any more risk than anything else. Try riding a motorcycle - people try to kill you multiple times every time you take it out.

    Idiots are everywhere, no matter what you drive. I'd like to see a statistic that can support dark-colored Firebirds are involved in significantly more accidents than any other car. Just ain't true.

    Jim
    "Idiots are everywhere," very true, but it's a statistical fact that dark-colored cars are more likely to get into accidents.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_safety
    The study analysed risk by light condition. It found that in daylight black cars were 12% more likely than white to be involved in an accident, followed by grey cars at 11%, silver cars at 10%, and red and blue cars at 7%, with no other colors found to be significantly more or less risky than white. At dawn or dusk the risk ratio for black cars jumped to 47% more likely than white, and that for silver cars to 15%. In the hours of darkness only red and silver cars were found to be significantly more risky than white, by 10% and 8% respectively.

    Maybe the main problem is that, unlike most vehicles, in many model years, Birds often are black or black in low lighting. (Same for Camaros, probably.) Almost all the Birds I see being parted out are dark-colored.

    My most recent close call with another vehicle involved an SUV casually switching to the left lane by lane on the freeway without signaling. It was low-speed, and I had a feeling that driver was a moron (I think pay extra attention to large vehicles), so an accident was easily avoided. By the way, I put the post in this section because I want to hear specifically about experiences while driving cars in the Firebird family.
    Last edited by clovenhooves; 01-07-2010 at 09:02 AM.

  18. #18
    King 0f n00bz shady milkman's Avatar
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    blacker than wesleysnipes
    98' trans am

    pretty simple really...these birds are relatively cheap..and are getting cheaper as the years go by...meaning more people are able to afford them..at younger and younger ages...add to that the power these cars have and the shitty state the suspension is in on most cars that are not owned by true gear heads..it leads to accidents. 10 year old suspension and shocks equal less than optimal..add inexperience with driving and rwd and poor driving conditions and you can see why.

    .9 on the skid pad doesnt mean shit when your shitty sealed beam headlights dont pick up that deer or w/e in front of you..so you swerve and try to correct..but your shitty 10+ year old decarbons(shitty brand new) are blown out and you loose control.....

    nature of the beast i suppose...these situations i just listed are the reasonings i give my self to spend very soon 700-900 on konis, and multiple thousands of dollars on the rest of my suspension.

  19. #19
    Member clovenhooves's Avatar
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    Great points, hadn't even realized the headlights provide lousy lighting, no wonder I'm a little scared at night and could barely see on a rainy night. Fixing my car's suspension, shocks, etc., apparently haven't been enough to give it good handling.

  20. #20
    Member turbojimmy's Avatar
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    Black
    2002 Trans Am Convertible

    Quote Originally Posted by clovenhooves View Post
    "Idiots are everywhere," very true, but it's a statistical fact that dark-colored cars are more likely to get into accidents.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_safety
    The study analysed risk by light condition. It found that in daylight black cars were 12% more likely than white to be involved in an accident, followed by grey cars at 11%, silver cars at 10%, and red and blue cars at 7%, with no other colors found to be significantly more or less risky than white. At dawn or dusk the risk ratio for black cars jumped to 47% more likely than white, and that for silver cars to 15%. In the hours of darkness only red and silver cars were found to be significantly more risky than white, by 10% and 8% respectively.

    Maybe the main problem is that, unlike most vehicles, in many model years, Birds often are black or black in low lighting. (Same for Camaros, probably.) Almost all the Birds I see being parted out are dark-colored.

    My most recent close call with another vehicle involved an SUV casually switching to the left lane by lane on the freeway without signaling. It was low-speed, and I had a feeling that driver was a moron (I think pay extra attention to large vehicles), so an accident was easily avoided. By the way, I put the post in this section because I want to hear specifically about experiences while driving cars in the Firebird family.
    There are infinite factors that can sway statistics in one way or the other. The study you referenced was from Australia, where traffic laws are different, roads are designed differently, cars are shaped differently, drivers are trained differently, etc. and so on. I'm not saying that there's no credence to the statistics, but applying them to U.S. vehicles and Firebirds in particular is a bit of a stretch. The study also doesn't consider who is at fault for the accident, with the only criterion for the study being that the vehicle needed to be towed away. So the "fact" that black cars are involved in more accidents may be the result of the type of driver that gravitates toward a black car, the kinds of cars that are typically painted black, the usage of black cars versus cars of other colors, etc. rather than a visibility issue.

    My uncle is in the salvage business and has a penchant for Vipers. Every Viper he's gotten has been hit in the front after having left the roadway for some strange reason. It doesn't make Vipers dangerous cars, it's a commentary on how their owners drive them.

    Anyway, I haven't had any noticable difference in close calls in my black TA than in any other car I've owned (black or otherwise). Based on my experience, I'd say that white Cadillacs are more likely to be involved in an accident than any other GM product*

    *sample size 15, survey conducted over a 20 year period, YMMV

    I apologize for polluting your thread with my Cadillac.

    Jim

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