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(This makes 4 wrecks in 4 years. #3 was my fault (back into a parked car, sigh), the rest weren't.)
Back at the end of January, I was in a 3-car wreck. (Spoiler: I'm okay.) It was pretty minor for me and the guy in front of me... the woman behind me, well... she was uninjured.
There was a monster truck thing happening at the stadium near my house. When it was time to end, I figured, okay, we have a couple cab stands a short walk from the stadium, I'll head to one of those.
Traffic was pretty bad, of course, but I stuck it out. As I approached the line leading to a red light, I was (of course) braking, when suddenly I felt a not-so-gentle THUMP to my van. Nothing really major, but it was enough to push me into the car in front of me. (Remember, I was still moving when I was hit.)
I called the police (absolutely essential to keeping my job), then got out to inspect the damage. Car in front of me? Minor scratches to his rear bumper, ditto my front bumper... we didn't even swap paint. Car behind me... well, it's drivable, but people will know not to drive in front of this woman.
Unfortunately, she munched my wheelchair ramp pretty bad: the ramp was physically bent (and this ramp is rated to hold up to something like 1000 lbs), the opening mechanism was damaged to the point that I could just barely open it, and other minor things. Sigh.
Oh, but it gets better. When I approached the woman who was the root of the problem, she said, not "Are you okay?" or anything remotely similar, oh no... she said, "What do you need from me? I need to leave."
Well, gee, ma'am, that doesn't sound AT ALL suspicious, no indeed. So I told her, "What I need is for you to wait here until the police arrive." She argued a bit, and I finally told her, "If you leave, I'm reporting you for leaving the scene of an accident." I found out later that I was in the wrong on that last point, but whatever, it worked, she stayed.
Some time later, the police are wrapping up (no citations issued directly related to the accident), and I found out from the officer dealing with me:
1) the woman didn't own the car
2) she didn't have a driver's license
3) she was in fact an illegal immigrant
...but...
4) the car was insured
5) she was (theoretically) covered by said insurance
6) they weren't going to arrest her for her illegal status, or even write any tickets
I wrapped my night up by going to the ER to get checked out, because I was feeling all-over muscle soreness, a very unusual thing for me. The doctor told me it was from being continually stressed and tense, and isn't uncommon in car accidents. He prescribed me a muscle relaxer and sent me on my way. Too bad driving on those relaxers is DUI territory; I had to choose comfort or income. Yay for ibuprofen, I guess. (I was sore for a couple days afterward, and that was it.)
Back at the end of January, I was in a 3-car wreck. (Spoiler: I'm okay.) It was pretty minor for me and the guy in front of me... the woman behind me, well... she was uninjured.
There was a monster truck thing happening at the stadium near my house. When it was time to end, I figured, okay, we have a couple cab stands a short walk from the stadium, I'll head to one of those.
Traffic was pretty bad, of course, but I stuck it out. As I approached the line leading to a red light, I was (of course) braking, when suddenly I felt a not-so-gentle THUMP to my van. Nothing really major, but it was enough to push me into the car in front of me. (Remember, I was still moving when I was hit.)
I called the police (absolutely essential to keeping my job), then got out to inspect the damage. Car in front of me? Minor scratches to his rear bumper, ditto my front bumper... we didn't even swap paint. Car behind me... well, it's drivable, but people will know not to drive in front of this woman.
Unfortunately, she munched my wheelchair ramp pretty bad: the ramp was physically bent (and this ramp is rated to hold up to something like 1000 lbs), the opening mechanism was damaged to the point that I could just barely open it, and other minor things. Sigh.
Oh, but it gets better. When I approached the woman who was the root of the problem, she said, not "Are you okay?" or anything remotely similar, oh no... she said, "What do you need from me? I need to leave."
Well, gee, ma'am, that doesn't sound AT ALL suspicious, no indeed. So I told her, "What I need is for you to wait here until the police arrive." She argued a bit, and I finally told her, "If you leave, I'm reporting you for leaving the scene of an accident." I found out later that I was in the wrong on that last point, but whatever, it worked, she stayed.
Some time later, the police are wrapping up (no citations issued directly related to the accident), and I found out from the officer dealing with me:
1) the woman didn't own the car
2) she didn't have a driver's license
3) she was in fact an illegal immigrant
...but...
4) the car was insured
5) she was (theoretically) covered by said insurance
6) they weren't going to arrest her for her illegal status, or even write any tickets
I wrapped my night up by going to the ER to get checked out, because I was feeling all-over muscle soreness, a very unusual thing for me. The doctor told me it was from being continually stressed and tense, and isn't uncommon in car accidents. He prescribed me a muscle relaxer and sent me on my way. Too bad driving on those relaxers is DUI territory; I had to choose comfort or income. Yay for ibuprofen, I guess. (I was sore for a couple days afterward, and that was it.)
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