No more Saturn
Well, I finally have something worth doing a post about again. This morning, on the way back from dropping pat off at the train station, I was in an auto accident.
At about 5:30 this morning, I was traveling south on hy1 back towards the house in the left-hand lane. A semi tractor trailer was ahead of me stopped in the lane. So, I was going to lane shift to the right so that I wasn't stuck behind him. Just as I moved to the right , I see in front of me a dump truck sitting sideways , stopped across the right lane. He apparently started pulling out from a gas station but could not make the turn since he needed to cross into the left lane and the semi was blocking him from completing the turn. I hit the brakes but didn't have enough room to stop *WHOMP*
I hit him, front of my Saturn striking into a heavy metal brace covering the fuel tank below his driver's door. Fortunately, the guard brace was there or I might have wound up rupturing the fuel tank. The brace didn't stop the Saturn from denting the tank but at least it did not break open. However, the front-end of the Saturn didn't do well in challenging a heavy metal brace. Sort of like driving into a metal wall. :P
NO..I was not hurt at all and neither was the dump-truck driver. I was already breaking and not traveling that fast by the time we actually made contact. But, the impact was still enough that I'm fairly certain the damages to the Saturn are going to be great enough that repair costs will exceed the value of the car. At least as far as book value goes. My 2000 SL2 with 146K miles isn't going to book very high. Bad part is the car was mechanically perfect and had a nearly flawless body. For whatever it is I get from insurance, I'm sure it isn't going to be enough to replace it with as good of a car. :/
Just for the record, the truck driver was sighted at fault for failure to yield right of way. So, the accident was not my fault. Of course, I can't help but wonder if my eyes weren't better , could I have seen the unlit truck side in the dark earlier and had time to stop before striking it?
At about 5:30 this morning, I was traveling south on hy1 back towards the house in the left-hand lane. A semi tractor trailer was ahead of me stopped in the lane. So, I was going to lane shift to the right so that I wasn't stuck behind him. Just as I moved to the right , I see in front of me a dump truck sitting sideways , stopped across the right lane. He apparently started pulling out from a gas station but could not make the turn since he needed to cross into the left lane and the semi was blocking him from completing the turn. I hit the brakes but didn't have enough room to stop *WHOMP*
I hit him, front of my Saturn striking into a heavy metal brace covering the fuel tank below his driver's door. Fortunately, the guard brace was there or I might have wound up rupturing the fuel tank. The brace didn't stop the Saturn from denting the tank but at least it did not break open. However, the front-end of the Saturn didn't do well in challenging a heavy metal brace. Sort of like driving into a metal wall. :P
NO..I was not hurt at all and neither was the dump-truck driver. I was already breaking and not traveling that fast by the time we actually made contact. But, the impact was still enough that I'm fairly certain the damages to the Saturn are going to be great enough that repair costs will exceed the value of the car. At least as far as book value goes. My 2000 SL2 with 146K miles isn't going to book very high. Bad part is the car was mechanically perfect and had a nearly flawless body. For whatever it is I get from insurance, I'm sure it isn't going to be enough to replace it with as good of a car. :/
Just for the record, the truck driver was sighted at fault for failure to yield right of way. So, the accident was not my fault. Of course, I can't help but wonder if my eyes weren't better , could I have seen the unlit truck side in the dark earlier and had time to stop before striking it?