WHAM!
(No, former A.C.T.S. members, this one really wasn't my fault.)
So, I had this whole rant worked up -- a fairly snarly one -- and it all vanished in a wisp of empathy this afternoon.
This morning, I was on my way to work on an Essential Monday. The Actual Monday was part of a long weekend with the CBB in Telluride (and the quaint suburb of Rico), visiting my Best Friend Sara, and taking in the Barenaked Ladies latest Colorado appearance, at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.
So anyway.
It's Essential Monday, I've just (reluctantly) left the CBB at my place, snoozing away. I came to a stop behind 8 or 10 cars who were also stopped for the stoplight ahead. Was thinking about the day to come, and debating if I wanted to have office coffee or water with my granola-bars-masquerading-as-breakfast, when
WHAM!!!!!!
I got rear-ended.
The world was all blurry and whirling for a moment, and then I took a moment trying to figure out what had just happened. Crap. Somebody just fucking rear-ended me! Shit! Wait a minute....I can't see anything.
Where are my glasses? Where the fuck are my fucking glasses? Oh crap oh crap oh crap what just happened and where are my glasses? I had hung my clear pair in the cell phone holder when I put my sunglasses on, where are they? Crap. Okay, the car in front of me is moving; put on the hazards so people know I'm not moving. Where the fuck are my glasses?!?
Now here's where it takes a twist. As I'm giving one last look for my glasses (incidentally, my vision is roughly 20/5,130 without them), I see the car that hit me pull out from behind me. I can tell it's a silver small SUV of some sort, but nothing more. I'm giving them some sort of motion with my hands that was supposed to mean "I can't find my glasses because you hit me so FUCKING hard, please don't go anywhere, no don't you DARE run away". And they pull away.
Hit. And. Run.
So, I use my worthless eyes to make sure no other car-shaped blobs were in the right lane and pulled into the nearest parking lot -- my optician's building, as irony would have it. Called the cops, and explained that someone just fucking hit-and-ran me. While waiting for the officer on the scene, I looked more for my glasses. The ones that were in the cell phone holder were on the floor of the passenger's side. The ones that had been on my face were now in the back seat.
The tiniest little police lady showed up a bit later to take care of the details. Very nice tiny police lady. Very understanding, with a sense of humor -- something that helps a never-been-in-an-accident-like-this, nerves-shot-to-hell person like me deal just a little better with the situation.
A guy who was on his way to work in the other direction stopped to offer his assistance/eyewitness account (a volunteer firefighter, so he asked about 3 times if my neck and back felt okay, and pointed out that my airbag could be in a less stable state, so be careful). And another lady who was behind me saw this driver take off and tried to follow, and was able to get a partial license plate.
So now I'm late for work, my mood is wrecked (not to mention the trunk of the car), and suddenly I'm stuck paying for all this. Thank God I have a pretty reasonable deductible, and rental car coverage, so at least my cost for paying for a rental isn't too bad, comparatively. Mind you, it's still more than I had planned on shelling out for this type of thing. And with recent other events, my huh-that's-not-an-expense-I'd-planned-on fund is beyond tapped.
So I had this whole rant worked up, and was going to blog that when I got home (with a MUCH-appreciated ride from Princess Katy), but then a phone call from Tiny Police Lady changed it all.
She managed to try the right combination of elements from the various license plate/vehicle descriptions we got, and found the driver.
An 80-year-old lady named Mary.
Now, how do you direct a snarly rant towards an 80-year-old lady? Especially when my family has had the unpleasant task of dealing with a driver who's just gotten too old to drive safely? My own late Grandad had his last stint on the road when he changed lanes into a lane that was still being used. I've had my license for 22 years now, and can't imagine losing that independence now, let alone when I've been self-mobile for several decades.
So I'll bet Mary's family has some words with her as to whether she's really still equipped to be driving herself. I hope they do, anyway. I was wearing my seatbelt, had my foot on my brake, and was a safe distance from the car in front of me. What if I hadn't? What if I'd had my dog in the car, with her nose sticking out the window? What if the car she hit had a tiny teething person in a car seat but gnawing on a rattle? What if......?
So, I'm hoping that she'll take this 2nd opportunity to do the right thing, and take ownership of the mistake, so that her insurance pays for things, and I can be relieved of the deductible and the rental car cost. Does this still affect my premium? Dunno. It'd better not, though I know statistically, the insurance company has to consider whether I've been involved, not necessarily whether I'm at fault.
All I can say is, Mary is DAMN lucky the drum is unharmed. Heaven help her if the Drum Sergeant had to get involved.
So, I had this whole rant worked up -- a fairly snarly one -- and it all vanished in a wisp of empathy this afternoon.
This morning, I was on my way to work on an Essential Monday. The Actual Monday was part of a long weekend with the CBB in Telluride (and the quaint suburb of Rico), visiting my Best Friend Sara, and taking in the Barenaked Ladies latest Colorado appearance, at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.
So anyway.
It's Essential Monday, I've just (reluctantly) left the CBB at my place, snoozing away. I came to a stop behind 8 or 10 cars who were also stopped for the stoplight ahead. Was thinking about the day to come, and debating if I wanted to have office coffee or water with my granola-bars-masquerading-as-breakfast, when
WHAM!!!!!!
I got rear-ended.
The world was all blurry and whirling for a moment, and then I took a moment trying to figure out what had just happened. Crap. Somebody just fucking rear-ended me! Shit! Wait a minute....I can't see anything.
Where are my glasses? Where the fuck are my fucking glasses? Oh crap oh crap oh crap what just happened and where are my glasses? I had hung my clear pair in the cell phone holder when I put my sunglasses on, where are they? Crap. Okay, the car in front of me is moving; put on the hazards so people know I'm not moving. Where the fuck are my glasses?!?
Now here's where it takes a twist. As I'm giving one last look for my glasses (incidentally, my vision is roughly 20/5,130 without them), I see the car that hit me pull out from behind me. I can tell it's a silver small SUV of some sort, but nothing more. I'm giving them some sort of motion with my hands that was supposed to mean "I can't find my glasses because you hit me so FUCKING hard, please don't go anywhere, no don't you DARE run away". And they pull away.
Hit. And. Run.
So, I use my worthless eyes to make sure no other car-shaped blobs were in the right lane and pulled into the nearest parking lot -- my optician's building, as irony would have it. Called the cops, and explained that someone just fucking hit-and-ran me. While waiting for the officer on the scene, I looked more for my glasses. The ones that were in the cell phone holder were on the floor of the passenger's side. The ones that had been on my face were now in the back seat.
The tiniest little police lady showed up a bit later to take care of the details. Very nice tiny police lady. Very understanding, with a sense of humor -- something that helps a never-been-in-an-accident-like-this, nerves-shot-to-hell person like me deal just a little better with the situation.
A guy who was on his way to work in the other direction stopped to offer his assistance/eyewitness account (a volunteer firefighter, so he asked about 3 times if my neck and back felt okay, and pointed out that my airbag could be in a less stable state, so be careful). And another lady who was behind me saw this driver take off and tried to follow, and was able to get a partial license plate.
So now I'm late for work, my mood is wrecked (not to mention the trunk of the car), and suddenly I'm stuck paying for all this. Thank God I have a pretty reasonable deductible, and rental car coverage, so at least my cost for paying for a rental isn't too bad, comparatively. Mind you, it's still more than I had planned on shelling out for this type of thing. And with recent other events, my huh-that's-not-an-expense-I'd-planned-on fund is beyond tapped.
So I had this whole rant worked up, and was going to blog that when I got home (with a MUCH-appreciated ride from Princess Katy), but then a phone call from Tiny Police Lady changed it all.
She managed to try the right combination of elements from the various license plate/vehicle descriptions we got, and found the driver.
An 80-year-old lady named Mary.
Now, how do you direct a snarly rant towards an 80-year-old lady? Especially when my family has had the unpleasant task of dealing with a driver who's just gotten too old to drive safely? My own late Grandad had his last stint on the road when he changed lanes into a lane that was still being used. I've had my license for 22 years now, and can't imagine losing that independence now, let alone when I've been self-mobile for several decades.
So I'll bet Mary's family has some words with her as to whether she's really still equipped to be driving herself. I hope they do, anyway. I was wearing my seatbelt, had my foot on my brake, and was a safe distance from the car in front of me. What if I hadn't? What if I'd had my dog in the car, with her nose sticking out the window? What if the car she hit had a tiny teething person in a car seat but gnawing on a rattle? What if......?
So, I'm hoping that she'll take this 2nd opportunity to do the right thing, and take ownership of the mistake, so that her insurance pays for things, and I can be relieved of the deductible and the rental car cost. Does this still affect my premium? Dunno. It'd better not, though I know statistically, the insurance company has to consider whether I've been involved, not necessarily whether I'm at fault.
All I can say is, Mary is DAMN lucky the drum is unharmed. Heaven help her if the Drum Sergeant had to get involved.
posted by PammyJean at 11:10 pm
7 Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Oh honeybun, that's horrible. Still, in the cosmic view, it's just the car. And car's can be fixed. Let's just hope somebody flushes Mary's keys down the bog, and soon.
Are you kidding me!?!?!? You are the 3rd person I know (including The Bohunk) that has been rear-ended in the last month!! Your insurance will not go up, unless they consider any accident your fault (rear-ends are usually not considered the fault of the person who was the recipient of the "car up the tailpipe" trick.....) How badly was your car damaged? And dont count on your insurance paying for the rental car either - they wouldn't for us; they expect the other guy's insurance to, and they wouldn't for us either. I'm hoping you're ok, and do me a favor - CALL!!!!
wow - Pam. That sucks but glad they found out who it was. Good luck with it. Been through three accidents myself and it's a PITA getting it all figured out. Glad you're not hurt!
and - if you car is totalled (or just really banged up), I think this is a good reason to get your Smart car. I think it's a sign -- a painful one but someone's telling you that "Tiny Car" should be on an appopriate car. :-)
That really sucks - hope you are OK. Many older people make me nervous, including my father.
Dang Pam, I've been away from all you kiddies posts for too long. June wasn't a great month was it... Hope you're doing well and now on to catching up with the other posts!
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