accident
Yesterday, I was involved in a large car accident. Both of our cars were completely totaled. I am completely fine, save for a couple bruises, and so is the other driver.
With a fabulous diagram I made in MS paint about 10 minutes ago.
I was leaving work. Sitting on the edge of my work's driveway, with about a foot of my car sticking into the bike lane you see there on the right. I needed to get into the westbound (left) lane to get home, so I was sitting there with my blinker on waiting for an opening. As soon as there was a break in oncoming traffic in the westbound lanes, I did the usual left-right-left glance. On my first left glance, I saw a little white Nissan headed my way, but it was still far enough off for me to be able to make the turn (position 1 on my diagram)** I glanced right for a split second, then glanced left again as I started to make my turn. The white Nissan was the only car coming from that direction. She plowed into the driver's side of my car, causing my car to spin counterclockwise, at least one full rotation, possibly more. I remember 1 full rotation clearly. I called Dustin and stammered "car accident... I'm okay. At my work. Please come."
So anyway, my co-worker John was behind me in the driveway, so he saw the entire thing happen. He ran over to my car and shouted "Oh my god, are you okay?" I was (surprisingly) totally with it, and aside from the obvious shock. I looked up at him and said "Yeah, I'm fine. I need to get out of the car... Can you help me open the door?" He took one look at the door (which was completely smashed in) and one look at me and said "Yeah, this door's not opening for anyone. You just sit tight. We already called 911. Don't go anywhere." I'm not the helpless type at all, and I honestly felt fine, so I decided to climb over the passenger's seat to get out of the car, and that's when it hit me.
Take pictures.
I keep a small point-and-shoot camera on me at all times, so I grabbed my purse and snapped 1 picture, and took video of the entire scene. That's when two things became quite obvious to me:
1. The white Nissan was at least 60-70 feet away (position 3 on my diagram up there). If she hit my car hard enough to make it spin, and didn't come to a complete stop for another 60-70 feet, how fast was she going?
2. There were no skid marks at all. She didn't even hit her brakes. Usually, if it becomes clear that you're going to hit someone, what are your initial reactions?
-a. Swerve/Change lanes, which she could have, easily. She couldn't have missed me pulling out, given where she hit me. But I can't really hold the coulda/woulda/shouldas against her.
-b. Hit the brakes. There were no skid marks. At all. Anywhere. Which leads me to believe that she didn't hit her brakes until after she hit me. Why would you do that unless you weren't paying attention?
So anyway, I got my pictures and video, and walked over to the curb to wait for everything to unfold. The whole thing felt like a bad dream, and I was just waiting to wake up. I started feeling really terrible, because I kept on thinking that I completely ruined our chance of getting a house. Dustin showed up, took one look at the car, and and said "She couldn't have hit you in a better place. That's the strongest part of your car. If she would've hit you a foot further up or a foot further back, you could've been in really big trouble. You're VERY lucky."
My co-workers were so great about the whole thing. John stayed with me the entire time, and our service manager Sunil came out to make sure everything was okay. The cops came, took down my information, took a statement from John, and went to talk to the white Nissan driver, who turned out to be an 18 year old girl, who was sobbing hysterically.
The tow trucks came, and I told them to just take my car. Both cars were completely totaled (although her airbags didn't deploy, which is interesting to me), so it would be stupid of me to try and keep it around. Dustin and I emptied it out and watched the tow truck take my car away, which is when it all became real. My car was gone.
Dustin drove me home, where I got a chance to take a good look at myself. My left cheekbone looked a bit swollen, and I knew I'd end up with a couple nice, colorful bruises on my arm and leg. My neck and back feel fine. A little stiff, but nowhere as stiff as everyone said they'd be.
So now I get to deal with the insurance. We are going to the tow yard to release the car to State Farm. I am probably going to fight this, because given the evidence I collected, I have substantial reason to believe that she was speeding. Dustin says from the look of it, she was probably fiddling with her phone, too. But I have no way to prove that. If I'm upside down on my car (which I probably will be, by about $1000) I'm probably going to go after her for the rest of the money. I'm not too concerned about her car... It was like, a 2000 Nissan Sentra, which is worth... $5k tops. And that's being quite generous.
So there's that.
1. Water chestnuts. Taste delicious. Usually my favorite part of stir fry/Mongolian BBQ, unless there's tofu and sriracha involved.
2. Scenic drives.
3. Yarn. I suck at knitting, and I'm not much better with crochet, but I love yarn. My mom worked at a yarn store for a long time, and I used to walk though it and touch ALL of it. I love the differences in texture and color.
4. Warm cars.
5. When my commute takes place during that magical 5 minutes during the day when all of the traffic lights on Grant Line are green by the time I approach the intersection. My commute usually takes about 10 minutes (which is nothing to sniff at, considering my last commute took 40 minutes). If I go during the "sweet spot" I can make it to/from work in 4 minutes.
6. Having my back popped. I haven't really needed it lately, but it still feels wonderful.
7. Baby hair.
8. My health. You never realize how important it is to be able to get out of bed and see the world until something puts that in jeapordy.
9. My car. I hated that thing with a burning passion in the beginning, but once I figured out how to rock the manual transmission, I loved it. It really opens the car up and puts the driver in control 100% of the time.
10. Peacocks.
With a fabulous diagram I made in MS paint about 10 minutes ago.
I was leaving work. Sitting on the edge of my work's driveway, with about a foot of my car sticking into the bike lane you see there on the right. I needed to get into the westbound (left) lane to get home, so I was sitting there with my blinker on waiting for an opening. As soon as there was a break in oncoming traffic in the westbound lanes, I did the usual left-right-left glance. On my first left glance, I saw a little white Nissan headed my way, but it was still far enough off for me to be able to make the turn (position 1 on my diagram)** I glanced right for a split second, then glanced left again as I started to make my turn. The white Nissan was the only car coming from that direction. She plowed into the driver's side of my car, causing my car to spin counterclockwise, at least one full rotation, possibly more. I remember 1 full rotation clearly. I called Dustin and stammered "car accident... I'm okay. At my work. Please come."
So anyway, my co-worker John was behind me in the driveway, so he saw the entire thing happen. He ran over to my car and shouted "Oh my god, are you okay?" I was (surprisingly) totally with it, and aside from the obvious shock. I looked up at him and said "Yeah, I'm fine. I need to get out of the car... Can you help me open the door?" He took one look at the door (which was completely smashed in) and one look at me and said "Yeah, this door's not opening for anyone. You just sit tight. We already called 911. Don't go anywhere." I'm not the helpless type at all, and I honestly felt fine, so I decided to climb over the passenger's seat to get out of the car, and that's when it hit me.
Take pictures.
I keep a small point-and-shoot camera on me at all times, so I grabbed my purse and snapped 1 picture, and took video of the entire scene. That's when two things became quite obvious to me:
1. The white Nissan was at least 60-70 feet away (position 3 on my diagram up there). If she hit my car hard enough to make it spin, and didn't come to a complete stop for another 60-70 feet, how fast was she going?
2. There were no skid marks at all. She didn't even hit her brakes. Usually, if it becomes clear that you're going to hit someone, what are your initial reactions?
-a. Swerve/Change lanes, which she could have, easily. She couldn't have missed me pulling out, given where she hit me. But I can't really hold the coulda/woulda/shouldas against her.
-b. Hit the brakes. There were no skid marks. At all. Anywhere. Which leads me to believe that she didn't hit her brakes until after she hit me. Why would you do that unless you weren't paying attention?
So anyway, I got my pictures and video, and walked over to the curb to wait for everything to unfold. The whole thing felt like a bad dream, and I was just waiting to wake up. I started feeling really terrible, because I kept on thinking that I completely ruined our chance of getting a house. Dustin showed up, took one look at the car, and and said "She couldn't have hit you in a better place. That's the strongest part of your car. If she would've hit you a foot further up or a foot further back, you could've been in really big trouble. You're VERY lucky."
My co-workers were so great about the whole thing. John stayed with me the entire time, and our service manager Sunil came out to make sure everything was okay. The cops came, took down my information, took a statement from John, and went to talk to the white Nissan driver, who turned out to be an 18 year old girl, who was sobbing hysterically.
The tow trucks came, and I told them to just take my car. Both cars were completely totaled (although her airbags didn't deploy, which is interesting to me), so it would be stupid of me to try and keep it around. Dustin and I emptied it out and watched the tow truck take my car away, which is when it all became real. My car was gone.
Dustin drove me home, where I got a chance to take a good look at myself. My left cheekbone looked a bit swollen, and I knew I'd end up with a couple nice, colorful bruises on my arm and leg. My neck and back feel fine. A little stiff, but nowhere as stiff as everyone said they'd be.
So now I get to deal with the insurance. We are going to the tow yard to release the car to State Farm. I am probably going to fight this, because given the evidence I collected, I have substantial reason to believe that she was speeding. Dustin says from the look of it, she was probably fiddling with her phone, too. But I have no way to prove that. If I'm upside down on my car (which I probably will be, by about $1000) I'm probably going to go after her for the rest of the money. I'm not too concerned about her car... It was like, a 2000 Nissan Sentra, which is worth... $5k tops. And that's being quite generous.
So there's that.
1. Water chestnuts. Taste delicious. Usually my favorite part of stir fry/Mongolian BBQ, unless there's tofu and sriracha involved.
2. Scenic drives.
3. Yarn. I suck at knitting, and I'm not much better with crochet, but I love yarn. My mom worked at a yarn store for a long time, and I used to walk though it and touch ALL of it. I love the differences in texture and color.
4. Warm cars.
5. When my commute takes place during that magical 5 minutes during the day when all of the traffic lights on Grant Line are green by the time I approach the intersection. My commute usually takes about 10 minutes (which is nothing to sniff at, considering my last commute took 40 minutes). If I go during the "sweet spot" I can make it to/from work in 4 minutes.
6. Having my back popped. I haven't really needed it lately, but it still feels wonderful.
7. Baby hair.
8. My health. You never realize how important it is to be able to get out of bed and see the world until something puts that in jeapordy.
9. My car. I hated that thing with a burning passion in the beginning, but once I figured out how to rock the manual transmission, I loved it. It really opens the car up and puts the driver in control 100% of the time.
10. Peacocks.