That's the same sort of thing that happened to me in the only thing I've been in that could be termed an accident. (Additionally, I've been in three ditches; one due to a mechanical problem with my first car, two due to Iowa winters, and only one of those resulting in me being in the ditch for longer than two minutes.) Interstate traffic suddenly slowed down, causing a domino reaction. I managed to stop completely short of the car right in front of me, but the person behind me wasn't so lucky.

Iowa road laws being what they are, the other driver was deemed "at fault". Their insurance paid for the resulting body work, half of my new tires and alignment (it didn't look or feel that bad when I drove it off the scene, but one of my front tires was showing steel by the time I got home. And naturally, I wanted to get a set rather than just replace the one that was bad.), and the rental of the shiny new PT Cruiser that I got to drive for the next two weeks. I was in the process of moving boxes over the weekends to what is now my house, and I was impressed by the amount of stuff it could hold. The Cruiser is a funny-looking car, and one of those that always looks smaller than it is, until you're right by it. I am now favorably disposed towards the model.