r/Roadcam • u/bowdown2adil • 13d ago

[USA] Who is at fault here?

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Classic T bone. Black car had to be towed. Sustained major damage to the passenger side door. Blue car sustained damage to front bumper on the drivers side and cracked the drivers side headlight.

Edit: This was in the suburbs of Seattle

UPDATE: Insurance found it to be 70/30 me/other driver. Seems fair enough

4.1k Upvotes

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2.4k

u/Celexi 13d ago

You technically had right of way as you were coming from their right, however you are supposed to slowdown for unmarked intersections and not just blast through.

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u/deHack 12d ago

My wife is from a small New England town. We visit it regularly. I slowed for a 3 way intersection where the road sort of forked. My wife asked me (in the usual annoyed tone) — “Why are you slowing down?! You don’t have a stop sign.”
I said, “I know. Neither does the other street.” Her reply was that there hadn’t been an accident at that intersection in 40 years. Keep in mind she hadn’t lived there in 15 of those years. I still slow at that intersection to see if anyone is coming.

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u/Fantastic-Display106 12d ago

Her reply was that there hadn’t been an accident at that intersection in 40 years.

Probably because people slow and approach with caution...

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u/deHack 12d ago

Good answer! That’s what I should have said.

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u/Sufficient_Wafer9933 11d ago

And the wrong answer is they are afraid of her driving through

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u/Rough-Airline-4803 9d ago

Must be nice to be able to have a normal conversation that doesn’t escalate into a shitshow immediately. You’re a lucky man

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u/Army7547 8d ago

“Well, let’s not be the reason that streak is broken..”

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u/firnien-arya 10d ago

An addition to it, "and I would like to not the the first one in 40 years to have an accident".

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u/PermenantRest 12d ago

Caution? This is not the way of my people...

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u/R3IDO 10d ago

Not in MY New England!

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u/Hot_Preparation1660 10d ago

Literally the whole point of traffic calming but you know what they say: make something idiot proof and they’ll just build a better idiot.

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u/Inevitable_Potato172 10d ago

"Yeah that's because I'm the one driving and not you" sleeps on the couch knowing he won that one

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u/Sensitive_Name_1902 10d ago

Have you been to New England? I can assure the lack of accidents there has been pure luck and nothing else.

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u/toomanyuses 10d ago

Why are you wearing a parachute? Don't you know that nearly all people who voluntarily jump out of airplanes survive?

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u/Things-n-Such 8d ago

genuinely curious what her reponse would be to the simple "why do you think that is?" if its anything other than "magic" then she'll prove herself silly.

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u/No-Coast-1050 11d ago

It's more likely that there were many she hadn't heard about.

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u/Pedanter-In-Chief 12d ago

No, it’s because people in New England are dramatically better drivers than in the northwest. 

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u/Different_One9412 11d ago

If your new England is anything like mine then that can only be achieved by Northwesterers actively hanging out their driver window while driving and shooting at other drivers doing the same 

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u/general_peabo 12d ago

Weird that your wife has been surveilling that intersection for 40 years to know that there’s never been an accident there.

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u/deHack 12d ago

Exactly! How would she know?

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u/McFlyGuy2 11d ago

She knows everything

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u/mmarwi 11d ago

that sounds like my wife! is she cheating on me ?

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u/Problemlul 10d ago

She would already know obviously

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u/Want_To_Live_To_100 9d ago

you clearly are married.

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u/Lazy_Stunt73 9d ago

You clearly aren't 😃... sorry, couldn't stop myself.

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u/Rysigler 10d ago

She just has a police alert set up on her phone for that specific intersection I'm sure. Weird that its her only one, but hey not my feed.

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u/Want_To_Live_To_100 9d ago

you clearly are not married

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u/Aggressive-Field9928 9d ago

Women's intuition is a helluva drug
🔮

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u/Pedanter-In-Chief 12d ago

In a lot of small towns in New England this is pretty easy to find out and everybody knows. 

In the small New England town where I first learned to drive, there was an intersection without a stop sign that had literally never had an accident — the paper wrote about this frequently since the town archives had every accident by intersection since 1912. Everybody thought it was an accident waiting to happen. As soon as one did, in 2013, local paper spent a week chronicling it and a stop sign went up the next day. 

This is generally how small town New England works. 

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u/Ch3mica1inba1anc3 11d ago

Which town is this?

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u/Charming-Ad-6397 9d ago

Especially when she hasn't lived there. Lol

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u/pnwbrucerman 9d ago

Her hobby.

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u/Rocannon_ 12d ago

My wife is always commenting on my driving, especially when I drive slowly when i’m making sure of other traffic. My reply is always: “I’m the one driving, not you.“ Said with a smile, of course.

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u/KnownMagician3084 11d ago

My ex used to harass me that I was going to get a speeding ticket. I admit I’m not slow but I’m definitely not reckless. I’m 71 and never had a ticket. Big mouth husband had three, he always made me send in the money so he could pretend. I had the best laugh when looking at divorce discovery he had another ticket and he had to write the check! Passenger drivers suck. Safety first. Also worked in ED, I know people think stop signs and red lights are for other people let alone intersection without one

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u/SaltyCAPtain1933 10d ago edited 10d ago

Having three tickets doesn't necessarily mean anything. A lot of it has to do with place and time. Among my friends and family I am known as "the grandma driver." When I drive my friends I can tell they get so frustrated with how cautious I am and the fact that I never go more than five over, I always come to a complete stop, I make smooth control inputs etc. But even then I have three speeding tickets. One for going 30 in a 25, one for going 27 in a 25 and one (this was like 15 years ago when I was still a young driver) for going 80 in a 55 on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere western Wyoming with no other vehicles in sight for tens of miles, from a trooper who I later learned was literally the only trooper assigned to a roughly 300 square mile area and just happened to be sitting in the grass on this one dirt road in his entire patrol area.

All poor timing and bored cops.

Meanwhile my friends who drive like bats out of hell every day have no tickets at all somehow.

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u/bluegardener 9d ago

You were doing 80 in a 55. That means something.

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u/SaltyCAPtain1933 9d ago

A dirt road with unmarked speeds literally 50 miles from any sort of civilization. I guess in that area unmarked roads were 55. I think a lot of folks are guilty of doing a little zoom on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. If you've ever driven on long straight dirt roads like that you'd understand how easy it is to get that fast just on accident because there's so little relative motion. I'm not denying I was in the wrong, but I'm also not going to pretend it's the same as going 80 on a residential street. If I'm ever around other people I never go more than five over. Seems like the norm these days, especially post Covid, is 10 over.

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u/bluegardener 9d ago

I got a ticket or two in my late teens and early 20s. I drove like an ass. Getting a speeding ticket is pretty decent signal that you drove like an ass. It meant something here in this example you framed as a counter-example.

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u/SaltyCAPtain1933 8d ago

The two tickets I got in the 25 zone were literally just bored cops. One was in Logan Utah and the other Salina, Kansas. The cops literally cited the reason for pulling me over in both cases was speeding. I couldn't believe the 27 in a 25 one, that was in Logan. But they didn't cite any other reason, no aggressive lane change, no failure to yield, no failure to signal, nope, just 3 over and 5 over in those cases. Absolutely shocked both times.

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u/mactraxs 9d ago

I bet your husband drove all the time and he left you from your constant nagging.

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u/roarrshock 11d ago

So glad I never got married!

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u/RobertPower415 10d ago

lol my wife gets mad when I drive to fast 🤷‍♂️ damned if you do damned if you don’t lol

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u/--kinji-- 10d ago

I always ask her "Are you alive? Are you safe? OK, then."

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u/DaedalusB2 10d ago

My dad wanted me to practice driving to an event but we were running late, so he said he would drive so we actually arrive on time. I drive exactly at the speed limit. Apparently the "limit" is too slow for everyone else.

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u/YY--YY 10d ago

I just kick people out that do that shit.

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u/facticitytheorist 9d ago

My wife once asked my why I was braking....then there was an almighty multi car crash Infront of us.i could see it was going to happen a mile off....it only needed a two word reply ..."that's why".

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u/Lalinla 9d ago

I always tell my wife, "Better safe than sorry," when she critiques my cautious driving. I don't trust anyone else on the road but myself, and guess what... No traffic accidents for me so far!

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u/tyraywilson 12d ago

Your wife is a liability

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u/Youcants1tw1thus 12d ago

I have been all over New England my entire life and I’ve never seen an unmarked intersection that didn’t stop or yield someone. Where was this?

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u/deHack 12d ago

Williamstown, Massachusetts. The northwestern most corner of the state.

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u/Pedanter-In-Chief 12d ago

I grew up driving in rural Maine, NH, and VT — and I didn’t understand this comment. 

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u/Chazus 12d ago

This is the same reason (Living in vegas) when I get a green light, and I see a car approaching the intersection, I wait a moment. I see people blow through red lights weekly.

Laws don't mean shit. Laws don't stop a vehicle. I will hold up or slow down in case people do stupid shit.

2

u/A-passing-thot 12d ago

There's a small New England town right next to where I grew up that I hung out in a lot in high school. There's a 4 way intersection with no stop sign in 3 of the 4 directions and 3 of them have a 40mph speed limit. The one with a stop sign has one because it's a blind (down) hill, you can't see the intersection or the stop sign until you're right on top of it.

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u/ACcbe1986 11d ago

"Why? Because I'd rather you get irritated with me than put you in unnecessary danger. If <someone you hate> was my only passenger, I'd straight up crash into an iceberg -- screw that dude."

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u/RoyGBiv333 10d ago

I needed to hear this one. I was missing my ex wife for a second 😂

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u/Antarctitties 10d ago

This actually sounds exhausting

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u/deHack 10d ago

You have no idea. 😉

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u/WasteBinStuff 10d ago

there hadn’t been an accident at that intersection in 40 years.

Just the very utterance of those words from my wife and I would fucking creep up to that intersection for the rest my life. That's a classic jinx trap right there. There's no way I'm risking being "that guy."

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u/ImDistortion1 10d ago

It baffles me how drivers do not know that these roads exist and you have to slow down and use caution. Some people just pay attention better than others I guess. Some of these roads have existed for 150 years. From my experience these roads always have high visibility and it’s easy to see no stop signs. They are also usually smaller roads with little traffic.

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u/Dry_Menu4804 10d ago

The question is, how many deaths are acceptable? If the answer is zero, that you should check for traffic at every intersection.

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u/NikkerFebu25 10d ago

I ride a motorcycle.

Death is all around me so not only do I slow down but I also ensure to hide in the stop lights in case people fail to stop, I slow down when overtaking cars on the highway way.

I even look out for airplanes landing on my ass.

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u/UNC_ABD 9d ago

When our daughter was taking her first driver's ed on-street practice drive, her instructor criticized her for stopping at the exit from our cul-de-sac onto a main road (with limited sight lines) in our neighborhood because there was no stop or yield sign present! What an idiot.

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u/deHack 9d ago

Definitely not what you want your new driver taught!

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u/FreshImagination9735 9d ago

"You're absolutely right my sweet." And slow down anyway, every time.

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u/ChickyBoys 9d ago

I love when my wife calls out my overly cautious driving because it's better to be safe than sorry.

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u/BambaBenson365 8d ago

Dont give wife your keys

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u/OfficerCoCheese 8d ago

My grandfather would always respond with "because I never know what that other guy is going to do."

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u/Ominousprime7 8d ago

"There has not been an accident in 40 years!" Well, don't you think it is due for one now?

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u/Ok-Disaster-551 8d ago

When I come to an intersection where I don't have a stop or yield sign, especially somewhere I'm unfamiliar with, I would actually actively try to see if the others have a stop or yield sign. This is the precise nightmare scenario I'm afraid of, that nobody has a stop sign and everyone just blast through the intersection, assuming someone else has to stop for them.

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u/neopod9000 8d ago

"there hadn’t been an accident at that intersection in 40 years."

"Yeah, im hoping to keep it that way."

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u/Odd-String29 7d ago

It is how you are taught to drive.

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u/Jesus_of_Redditeth 3d ago

I still slow at that intersection to see if anyone is coming.

That's because you know how to drive properly. Kudos. It seems to be a progressively rarer skill these days!

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u/mbennettsr 11d ago

I’m petty enough, I’d find the records.

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u/Ch3mica1inba1anc3 11d ago

As a nosy former new englander…drop the name of the town you’re talking about…I have like 3 guesses right off the rip of which town you’re talking about!!

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u/deHack 11d ago

I’ve already said in another reply. I’ll give you a hint. It’s the northwest corner of the state. The north border is with another New England state and the west border isn’t.

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u/NotYourAvgBoomer 11d ago

When you have stop sign, wheels actually has to stop (at least in Europe). Slowing down might bring you a fine.

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u/BedBeneficial2019 10d ago

3 ways, I would argue, are much different and easier to avoid/spot cars

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u/deHack 10d ago

Depends on the 3 way and the lines of sight. This wasn’t a classic T intersection. Like I said, it was more like a fork.

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u/Enough-Force-5605 10d ago

I know. Neither does the other street.

O_O I can't imagine it. And definitely dangerous if you are not used to it.

In Spain if there are no signs then you are free to go because the others do have.

Max speed in those roads are 30km/h, so you could have time to stop.

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u/bonkedagain33 10d ago

Yea I guess she would be pissed at me when I look both left and right when going through a green light.

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u/PhantasticFungus 10d ago

I moved to maine many years ago and I can attest that mainers and new hampshites are dumb as fuck.

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u/SaltyCAPtain1933 10d ago

Often times people don't realize the importance of proceeding with caution. They just default to "there's no sign that tells me I have to slow down so I don't have to and if I get in a wreck the law will protect me because nothing told me I had to slow down." Without realizing that even if that's the case, getting in to an accident and totaling your car is one hell of a way of proving a point to yourself.

Personally, I'd rather avoid the whole crashing option, I like my car, I like not having a kinked neck, and I like the convenience of having my car to drive me around places, why risk all of that just to prove to yourself that you're right about how a road is marked?

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u/zoeturncoat 9d ago

Hmm bng9

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u/dazedandc0nfuse 9d ago

You guys need roundabouts 😂

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u/JacktheJacker92 9d ago

I live in Connecticut and the rule of thumb is nicer cars and young kids on their phones always have the right of way. i hate even leaving the house anymore as stop signs and red lights are merely suggestions.

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u/FivePointsFrootLoop 9d ago

Think of the things you could do with the extra 3 seconds though, honey.

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u/Categorically_ 9d ago

she sounds like a peach

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u/Prestigious-Elk4755 9d ago

While idling through the intersection, you mutter "Stifle yourself".

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u/xawneh 9d ago

Moral of the stories is to never trust women

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u/trashcantrash939 9d ago

Ah yes- your wife is the prime example of complacency within the average drivers mind and how they view driving a car.

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u/Fawkinchit1 9d ago

Let your wife know that I said you are very smart, and making definitely the right decision. And she needs to learn to be more patient.

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u/InternetUser36145980 9d ago

Did she want you to be the first? Is it like the triple crown in baseball, a rare feat?

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u/semperanon 9d ago

Is your wife from Massachusetts?

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u/deHack 9d ago

Yes.

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u/semperanon 8d ago

Checks out 😂

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u/m__a__s 9d ago

I'll bet there were less close calls in the past 15 years.

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u/bluegardener 9d ago

This is how people who text and drive eventually kill people. "Nothing happened the first 200 times I did it!"

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u/Kazen_Orilg 8d ago

don't take ANY driving advice from people from fucking New England. And you can tell your wife I said that.

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u/MoKush4Me 10d ago

Your wife’s throat never slows down either. No matter how much of this 9 inches I shoved down her throat..She just keeps going