How many people have you known who have died in an automobile accident?

not one.

I know someone who killed himself in a car using the car exhaust but I don't think that's the same thing.

Thankfully, none.

i had 7 people die in my graduating class before graduation, 4 of them died in car crashes. it was really hard on us. i will never forget them.

My Grand-uncle Joe. He was a good man.

And thank you much for dredging up such a pleasant memory.

My aunt died in a car accident while she was still young. It was before I was born so I never actually knew her, but she's still special to me. I've seen pictures and I think I would have really liked her.

My mom's best friend was run over by a drunk driver while she was walking on a sidewalk with her little boy.

My brother has had two friends die in the last four months. He's 17. While I was in high school two of my friends died and a couple of years after we graduated another did. I was just wondering how common that was...

One of my ex-bosses, however, became a state trooper, and one day when he pulled a guy over for speeding, the guy pulled a gun on him and shot him to death. Very sad. Turns out the guy had just killed his wife and was trying to get away.

My grandmother :(

SEATBELTS, everyone, dammit!!!!!

She'd still be alive today if she'd been wearing hers. Now she won't get to see me get my PhD, and she won't get to see her 7th grandkid born next year, and she didn't get to see my oldest cousin get married... and... and... we miss her.

Small irony - My grandmother and grandfather first met as kids during this Back-To-The-Future-esque incident in which my grandmother was hit by a car. Odd that one car accident brought my grandmother into our family, and that another one took her from us.

I don't know the exact number. Figuring it out would have been pretty painful. Let's just say enough to NEVER let anyone drink and drive if there is anything I can do to stop them.

None

Three. My dad's father was killed when he got out of his car on the road to help a stranded motorist and was struck by a drunk driver... but I didn't count that since he died when my dad was 9. A good friend that I worked with and a neighbor who was on a motorcycle.Also, just within the past week, I heard on the news that my old soccer coach was struck by a car while he was walking up the sidewalk to buy a newspaper.

Avocado: did the accident bring your grandmother into the family, or your grandfather?

drdt: Well, both, I guess :) I was referring to the rabbi's remark at her funeral, about how her life was framed by these 2 automobile accidents.

Avocado: ouch! I don't think I like your rabbi much.

I lost my three best friends back in August. They were hit by a drunk driver. The thing is they were all coming over my house to pick me up, and go to a movie. I was the last one to talk to my friend, Lauren.

Lauren - My deepest sympathies - I can't imagine how awful that must have been for you!

drdt - Thanks, but he said it gently enough, and it was based on things that someone in the family had told him. He wasn't our family rabbi per se, we're not that religious... so he talked with family members before the ceremony to get some idea of what to say about her. So, somebody felt that it was important enough that it be mentioned that they told it to the rabbi. I actually find some peace in it... like, it's possible to heal more easily from the senseless tragedy of the auto accident when I know that had it not been for another auto accident, I would not be around.

My best friend in from preschool until her death when i wasn in about 2nd grade, was sitting on her living room counch with her little brother and her dad, when a drunk driver went through the wall behind them, killing them all (not instantly) while her mother was in the kitchen getting popcorn.

A kid that I went to high school with died in a car accident this weekend. This survey is sad. :(

Several one-person-separated, but none personally, thank heaven.