Peter's tip of the day....If you insist on having an accident, make sure you're in a Volvo!

What happened? I was driving down a lane in Aylesbury when a Mondeo came round a bend toward me, the driver lost control of the car on the bend and hit me practically head on. My car ended up sticking out of a ditch while the Mondeo came to rest on the road. I'm fine apart from a bit of tenderness where the seatbelt tensioner pulled me into the seat. The Mondeo driver was OK too, more than I can say for the Mondeo. Do you remember your O level physics and the principle of conservation of momentum? When I went to the garage to take these pictures there was a VW Polo in a serious mess - the driver didn't survive the accident. All I can say is that regardless of safety features like airbags and side impact bars, there's no substitute for a ton of Swedish steel around you.

The wheel and suspension were relatively undamaged by the impact - the damage you can see here was actually done by the tow truck! As it dragged the car onto its platform, the wheel stuck in the wheelarch and was pulled to one side.

From when I first saw the Mondeo to the impact was no more than 2-3 seconds, I can actually play the movie in my head and see it all happen in real time. I can see the Mondeo reach the apex of the bend, the rear slides out towards the kerb, the Mondeo slides across the road towards me, the Mondeo's bonnet fills my field of vision then BANG!!, the seatbelt tensioner grabs me and pulls me into the seat, the airbag explodes and then everything's quiet again as the car comes to rest, half in the ditch with the front wheels up on the road. Fortunately, the force of the sudden decelleration dislosdged all the chips which were stuck down the side of the driver's seat that I couldn't reach with the vacuum cleaner. I managed to recover some loose change too, so that was a bonus.

If you're wondering where the wing went, it's here

And if you insist on driving a Mondeo, pull over if you see a Volvo coming...

The interior of the Mondeo was wrecked, the windscreen smashed with bits of bumper and engine all over the road. My car is completely undamaged apart from the location of the impact, although there's no way to tell what damage has been done underneath the skin.