Two Car Accidents in Two Days
Yup. That's been my week so far. The first accident happened on Monday evening after work. Magus and I decided to detour from our regular route home to go pick up dinner. I stopped behind a lone line of cars waiting at a red light. The car behind me (a yellow Chevy) also stopped. The car behind them (a silver Lexus) stopped as well. However, the car behind THEM (a black Honda SUV) attempted to change lanes. When they realized that they didn't have enough room to change lanes, they just kept driving forward, not noticing that the whole line of cars in front of them was not moving. So the Honda rammed the Lexus, which rammed the Chevy, which hit me. Luckily, I was far enough back from the person in front of me that I didn't hit anyone. Thankfully, no one was hurt. The damage to my car was visible, but minimal. Especially when you considering that the three other cars all had to be towed away, and I was able to drive mine home. (For those of you keeping track at home, this is the second time this car was rear-ended while at a standstill in traffic, and the fifth time a car of mine was rear-ended, while at a standstill, to such a degree that repairs were needed. We shall not discuss the numbers of times I've been given lovetaps while driving, as those are just a part of life in heavy traffic areas.)
The next day (yesterday) I opted to work from home so that I could more easily get my car to the body shop and pick up my rental. (The car is a lease, so I wanted to make sure it got repaired.) A little before noon, I left the house to drop Magus off at school on the way to the body shop. (I was supposed to be there by 12:30.) When I drop Magus off at school, I just usually pull over to the curb to do so, and this day was no different. It WAS different in that there was already a car parked where I normally would pull up to, so I just stopped behind it, not noticing that the curb was yellow (due to its proximity to the little intersection there on campus). Magus gets out of the car, I check the road next to me, see that it's clear and start to pull out. I get to be ALMOST parallel with the parked car that I was just behind when a pickup truck slams into my driver side door, crumpling it and exploding the window all over me. I was rattled, and covered in exploded glass, but unharmed. (And so very, very thankful that I wear sunglasses when I drive during the day, as getting glass in my eyes would have been BAD.) I had to crawl out through the passenger side of the car, but, eventually once the pickup truck was moved, we were able to determine that my car WAS still drivable. (Not entirely safely on account of the pile of glass in the well by the pedals; but drivable.) And, after calling in the SECOND accident in as many days to my insurance company) I was able to just complete my trip to the body shop.
Now the first accident was clearly not my fault. So, I have no worries there with my insurance company. They will get the money they are owed from the responsible party, and my rates shouldn't be affected. The second accident is a little bit more of a grey area. The pickup truck that hit me TURNED onto the road AFTER I left the curb. He wasn't there when I stared to leave the curb, so I didn't see him, but he should have seen me. BUT I was pulled along a yellow painted curb, which is a no-no. So I am not sure how they are going to handle this one when it comes to fault. Personally, I don't think I am at fault. This feeling is compounded by the witnesses in the area (including Magus) who said they didn't think it was my fault, AND by the fact that when the pickup driver left the scene, he drove like a bat outta hell down the road. Seriously, his acceleration was fast enough that it made me take note of it, despite my still shaken state. Who DOES that after they've been in an accident? Luckily, AGAIN I was not hurt. I was sore later on, and I had a bad headache, but that was probably stress related, as I feel fine so far today. Also interestingly, none of the EIGHT AIRBAGS in my car deployed. I don't know whether that is a good thing, as it might mean that the accident really wasn’t that bad, despite how scary it was at the time, or if it means my airbags are defective. I'm choosing to believe the former, because it seems like my Kia can really take a hit. The crumple zones on that thing WORK.
So, yeah...that's been my week so far. Funny enough, this all happened AFTER having spent Saturday with my Ma helping her pick out/purchase a new car (she got a Toyota Camry). I feel like the universe is trying to tell me something...*
*I think that it is maybe that I should really stop owning cars. *sigh*
The next day (yesterday) I opted to work from home so that I could more easily get my car to the body shop and pick up my rental. (The car is a lease, so I wanted to make sure it got repaired.) A little before noon, I left the house to drop Magus off at school on the way to the body shop. (I was supposed to be there by 12:30.) When I drop Magus off at school, I just usually pull over to the curb to do so, and this day was no different. It WAS different in that there was already a car parked where I normally would pull up to, so I just stopped behind it, not noticing that the curb was yellow (due to its proximity to the little intersection there on campus). Magus gets out of the car, I check the road next to me, see that it's clear and start to pull out. I get to be ALMOST parallel with the parked car that I was just behind when a pickup truck slams into my driver side door, crumpling it and exploding the window all over me. I was rattled, and covered in exploded glass, but unharmed. (And so very, very thankful that I wear sunglasses when I drive during the day, as getting glass in my eyes would have been BAD.) I had to crawl out through the passenger side of the car, but, eventually once the pickup truck was moved, we were able to determine that my car WAS still drivable. (Not entirely safely on account of the pile of glass in the well by the pedals; but drivable.) And, after calling in the SECOND accident in as many days to my insurance company) I was able to just complete my trip to the body shop.
Now the first accident was clearly not my fault. So, I have no worries there with my insurance company. They will get the money they are owed from the responsible party, and my rates shouldn't be affected. The second accident is a little bit more of a grey area. The pickup truck that hit me TURNED onto the road AFTER I left the curb. He wasn't there when I stared to leave the curb, so I didn't see him, but he should have seen me. BUT I was pulled along a yellow painted curb, which is a no-no. So I am not sure how they are going to handle this one when it comes to fault. Personally, I don't think I am at fault. This feeling is compounded by the witnesses in the area (including Magus) who said they didn't think it was my fault, AND by the fact that when the pickup driver left the scene, he drove like a bat outta hell down the road. Seriously, his acceleration was fast enough that it made me take note of it, despite my still shaken state. Who DOES that after they've been in an accident? Luckily, AGAIN I was not hurt. I was sore later on, and I had a bad headache, but that was probably stress related, as I feel fine so far today. Also interestingly, none of the EIGHT AIRBAGS in my car deployed. I don't know whether that is a good thing, as it might mean that the accident really wasn’t that bad, despite how scary it was at the time, or if it means my airbags are defective. I'm choosing to believe the former, because it seems like my Kia can really take a hit. The crumple zones on that thing WORK.
So, yeah...that's been my week so far. Funny enough, this all happened AFTER having spent Saturday with my Ma helping her pick out/purchase a new car (she got a Toyota Camry). I feel like the universe is trying to tell me something...*
*I think that it is maybe that I should really stop owning cars. *sigh*