Hit and Run
Almost a month ago I was on the receiving end of a hit and run out in Maple Bluff, barely outside the Madison city limits. crabmoon and I were driving out to The Inferno (she convinced me to go, don't ask me how, because I'm not really sure). I missed my turn and went into the parking lot of the strip mall there. I was driving safely, had the right of way, and was looking for a safe place to come out onto the street again. As I passed one of the aisles, a car comes up on the left and smacks into me. There was enough time for Lindsay to scream "OH MY GOD" and for my to try to turn out of the way, futilely. The whole car jolted to the right. I was sure it was severely fucked. I snap over to my left to see the lady driving the other car.
I started pulling foward to get out of the way of other cars, and the chick bolts. She just speeds off. I turn with enough time to catch part of the license number and the color of the car. And I did what any reasonable person would do -- I went after her.
Despite the incident, she was still obeying traffic signals, so I caught up to her at the next light. I had Lindsay call the police, so we had the color, make and model of the car, and a license plate number. Score, right? Well, apparently she realized she was following us and bolted. We ended up going down Hwy 30 towards the interstate before she really sped off (she hit me with her bumper, so apparently she's fine). We thought we caught up to her again and followed her onto some road (Thornton? I forget), but it wasn't her. We pulled over at an apartment complex and waited for the police, who told us we had to go back to Maple Bluff.
While stopped. I also had the chance to assess the damage. From the outside (in the dark) you could barely tell anything was wrong. There was a softball-sized pucker in the side of the car right behind the wheel well, and the hubcap was all scuffed up with red paint, but it didn't look terrible. The car was obviously drivable, but the impact really messed up my alignment so that the wheel sat turned 15 degrees to the right in "neutral" driving position.
The vehicle is currently in the shop now and will be until Friday. The damages were assessed at about $1200. My insurance is going cover all but $500 of that. That is, until they catch the person who did it and make her pay for it.
Oh, about that. I just called the police again to see if they got her. Apparently the information I gave them was traced back to a woman (I was right, score!) in La Crosse, but the only address they had was a P.O. Box and no phone number. What? Seriously? Is it even legal to put a P.O. Box on your vehicle registration? Don't you have to have some other information available to even open a P.O. Box? This is friggin' ridiculous.
~Sean
I started pulling foward to get out of the way of other cars, and the chick bolts. She just speeds off. I turn with enough time to catch part of the license number and the color of the car. And I did what any reasonable person would do -- I went after her.
Despite the incident, she was still obeying traffic signals, so I caught up to her at the next light. I had Lindsay call the police, so we had the color, make and model of the car, and a license plate number. Score, right? Well, apparently she realized she was following us and bolted. We ended up going down Hwy 30 towards the interstate before she really sped off (she hit me with her bumper, so apparently she's fine). We thought we caught up to her again and followed her onto some road (Thornton? I forget), but it wasn't her. We pulled over at an apartment complex and waited for the police, who told us we had to go back to Maple Bluff.
While stopped. I also had the chance to assess the damage. From the outside (in the dark) you could barely tell anything was wrong. There was a softball-sized pucker in the side of the car right behind the wheel well, and the hubcap was all scuffed up with red paint, but it didn't look terrible. The car was obviously drivable, but the impact really messed up my alignment so that the wheel sat turned 15 degrees to the right in "neutral" driving position.
The vehicle is currently in the shop now and will be until Friday. The damages were assessed at about $1200. My insurance is going cover all but $500 of that. That is, until they catch the person who did it and make her pay for it.
Oh, about that. I just called the police again to see if they got her. Apparently the information I gave them was traced back to a woman (I was right, score!) in La Crosse, but the only address they had was a P.O. Box and no phone number. What? Seriously? Is it even legal to put a P.O. Box on your vehicle registration? Don't you have to have some other information available to even open a P.O. Box? This is friggin' ridiculous.
~Sean