It was totally my fault. I was in my Jeep and saw someone was waiting to turn right. I can only have been doing 45mph or 50mph, but I braked too late.
When I realised I urgently needed to stop I braked hard and my foot slipped off the pedal. I had been out rowing and had crap all over my boots. I ended up running into the back of the guy’s car.
I knew that he wasn’t hurt, and I knew that I wasn’t hurt. It was just really annoying having to go through all the rigmarole of swapping our insurance details. At one stage he was going to take me to court for careless driving, but he dropped the case. And then there was a story in the local paper.
Ever since then I’ve tried to budget a bit more time for my journey. Instead of saying “Yes, I’ll definitely be there by 2pm”, I’m more relaxed.
Steve Redgrave, my old rowing partner, taught me to take it easy. It used to drive me nuts that he wasn’t worried about being half-an-hour late. But if you phone to say that you are running late, people don’t mind.
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I also try not to wear my muddy boots in the car."
Matthew Pinsent is a four-times Olympic gold medal rower