Car Accident
I burst into tears the moment I stepped into work this morning.
Embarrassing, slightly mortifying, and very, very upsetting...if only because I was so sincerely upset.
I was driving into work this morning, and as some of you know, I've recently become employed at an Abstract company as a typist after 2 1/2 years of unemployment. The job itself is in Duluth, so it's a good 30 miles for me to drive, mostly on the freeway. I was in Duluth, having just pulled into an exit lane, and was behind a black SUV. The weather was really foggy and it was misty-sprinkly, and it had rained previously so the roads were definitely wet.
Following behind the SUV at the speed of traffic---or at least the speed of the SUV---I drove about a couple hundred feet. Suddenly, the SUV veers to the left, back onto the freeway. I was confused, but thought s/he realized they'd gotten onto the wrong exit lane, but realized damn quickly it was because the line of cars in front were at a dead stop. I slammed on the brakes, while trying to angle/steer the car to the right on the shoulder of the road, but I hit the car in front of me anyway. Which I'd realized almost immediately was going to happen because it was too close, the road too wet, and there was no stopping or manuevering to speak of.
The car that I hit ended up pulling off to the side of the road after driving up a ways (I'm horrible at calculating distances), and a bunch of cars behind me stopped. I immediately tried to open my door, but couldn't, and I could see the front of my car was scrunched up and damaged. I got out on the passanger's side of the car, and found out the grill had fallen out and the front part was pretty damaged.
Plus side: the car in front of me was hardly damaged. There was only a scrape of paint on his bumper, and even then it wasn't that big. Andy, the driver, (a college kid, I think) seemed pretty nice and not too upset. I, of course, apologized several times. He said that the line of cars had stopped, and he'd hydroplaned and almost hit the car in front of him, too. With luck, nothing financial and law suit-ish will happen. Even if it did, which I don't think it will, I don't have any money to speak of anyway.
Andy's car not being damaged was a huge plus.
Down side: I was driving my dad's car. Hence, why I burst out crying as soon as I got to the office. He doesn't have collision, plus I was driving his car because he'd been nice enough to lend it to me while my own car was being fixed. (The turn signals and hazard lights don't work, and we dropped it off at the mechanic's Tuesday night.) I was DEVASTATED because it was my dad's car. If it had been mine, the consequences to the accident would have been all mine, and I would have had the decision to either fix the car or drive the crappy-scrunched up car. But now, it's my dad's.
He's the type that he'll refuse to let me pay for any damages, and I only hope that there are no engine problems. As it is, with the body problems, he said he'll look them over (probably tomorrow since he's working the night shift tonight, so he won't be home when I get back from work). If they don't interfere with driving, he'll more than likely not take it in to get repaired. He is the type who's car-mechanic savvy, so he may be able to do something on his own. He'll have to with the headlight on the driver's side, which is loose, so I'll try to tape it down tonight after work with mailing tape (what we have at the office, other than scotch tape).
I'm feeling much, much calmer now. Still not happy about my daddy's car being all wrecked because of me, but I'm not hysterical anymore either. I just wished it hadn't happened, and I'm all kinds of pissed at the SUV driver who caused the accident. Sure, s/he saved their own ass, but it left me screwed over completely. And, on a cheery note, s/he didn't even bother to stop.
Nice.
Though, to give mankind it's due, a nice guy did stop behind me. Once I started picking up all the car pieces in the exit lane, he got out and told me not to bother. He made sure Andy and I were okay, and he started to call 911 just before some highway patrol type person stopped. (About a minute later, a patrolman stopped to take our report.)
As far as the work Ad-ware/Spyware thing, I'm still infected...just not as bad. But I didn't care so much about that and wanted to get this out. It's definitely been theraputic. Of course, meeting up with that SUV driver would be more so! Grrr...
Embarrassing, slightly mortifying, and very, very upsetting...if only because I was so sincerely upset.
I was driving into work this morning, and as some of you know, I've recently become employed at an Abstract company as a typist after 2 1/2 years of unemployment. The job itself is in Duluth, so it's a good 30 miles for me to drive, mostly on the freeway. I was in Duluth, having just pulled into an exit lane, and was behind a black SUV. The weather was really foggy and it was misty-sprinkly, and it had rained previously so the roads were definitely wet.
Following behind the SUV at the speed of traffic---or at least the speed of the SUV---I drove about a couple hundred feet. Suddenly, the SUV veers to the left, back onto the freeway. I was confused, but thought s/he realized they'd gotten onto the wrong exit lane, but realized damn quickly it was because the line of cars in front were at a dead stop. I slammed on the brakes, while trying to angle/steer the car to the right on the shoulder of the road, but I hit the car in front of me anyway. Which I'd realized almost immediately was going to happen because it was too close, the road too wet, and there was no stopping or manuevering to speak of.
The car that I hit ended up pulling off to the side of the road after driving up a ways (I'm horrible at calculating distances), and a bunch of cars behind me stopped. I immediately tried to open my door, but couldn't, and I could see the front of my car was scrunched up and damaged. I got out on the passanger's side of the car, and found out the grill had fallen out and the front part was pretty damaged.
Plus side: the car in front of me was hardly damaged. There was only a scrape of paint on his bumper, and even then it wasn't that big. Andy, the driver, (a college kid, I think) seemed pretty nice and not too upset. I, of course, apologized several times. He said that the line of cars had stopped, and he'd hydroplaned and almost hit the car in front of him, too. With luck, nothing financial and law suit-ish will happen. Even if it did, which I don't think it will, I don't have any money to speak of anyway.
Andy's car not being damaged was a huge plus.
Down side: I was driving my dad's car. Hence, why I burst out crying as soon as I got to the office. He doesn't have collision, plus I was driving his car because he'd been nice enough to lend it to me while my own car was being fixed. (The turn signals and hazard lights don't work, and we dropped it off at the mechanic's Tuesday night.) I was DEVASTATED because it was my dad's car. If it had been mine, the consequences to the accident would have been all mine, and I would have had the decision to either fix the car or drive the crappy-scrunched up car. But now, it's my dad's.
He's the type that he'll refuse to let me pay for any damages, and I only hope that there are no engine problems. As it is, with the body problems, he said he'll look them over (probably tomorrow since he's working the night shift tonight, so he won't be home when I get back from work). If they don't interfere with driving, he'll more than likely not take it in to get repaired. He is the type who's car-mechanic savvy, so he may be able to do something on his own. He'll have to with the headlight on the driver's side, which is loose, so I'll try to tape it down tonight after work with mailing tape (what we have at the office, other than scotch tape).
I'm feeling much, much calmer now. Still not happy about my daddy's car being all wrecked because of me, but I'm not hysterical anymore either. I just wished it hadn't happened, and I'm all kinds of pissed at the SUV driver who caused the accident. Sure, s/he saved their own ass, but it left me screwed over completely. And, on a cheery note, s/he didn't even bother to stop.
Nice.
Though, to give mankind it's due, a nice guy did stop behind me. Once I started picking up all the car pieces in the exit lane, he got out and told me not to bother. He made sure Andy and I were okay, and he started to call 911 just before some highway patrol type person stopped. (About a minute later, a patrolman stopped to take our report.)
As far as the work Ad-ware/Spyware thing, I'm still infected...just not as bad. But I didn't care so much about that and wanted to get this out. It's definitely been theraputic. Of course, meeting up with that SUV driver would be more so! Grrr...