whew!

[2eclipse]

well...
i didn't make it to belly dancing last night.
instead, i got to be the middle guy in a 3-car pile up.
some jackass slammed his breaks on 2 cars in front of me.
and the golf in front of me did too.
so i put mine on and started to swerve to the side. i heard screeching tires behind me. then a tow-truck hit me.
no one was badly hurt. i'm the worst of the lot and i have a bruised knee, a cut lip(where i bit it) and a rasberry under my chin from the zipper on my coat. both airbags deployed. there was smoke.
i was able to move the car to the side of the road and frantically call ross.
he got there before the police, as did the boyfriend of the girl in the golf.
they were both very nice. her car has a small crack in the bumper and no other damage. the tow truck's push bumper got knocked half-off.
did i mention i didn't make it to belly dancing?
ross and i went and got some food and came home and chilled out, but it was really hard to sleep last night.
he is taking me in to work today because obviously i have no car.
the good news
the truck's ins. has already said they will pay for my rear damage.
the bad news
they were trying to get me to say i hit her before he hit me this morning. honestly i don't remember. things happen so fast.

i'm just SO so happy that no one was badly injured.
what i don't get is that i was never afraid. very zen in the moment i realized i might not be okay. very adrenaline/shock high. and then i just thought it was all a collossal joke.

Comments

[sooper.livejournal.com]

I've been in a few accidents and I've definately felt that wierd, serene feeling right before it happens. Very freaky. Good that you're ok, though.

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

isn't that a weird feeling? i first encountered in when an 81 year old hit me head on going the wrong way down the road. i was in a suburban. she was in an ittybitty thing. i was at a complete stop and i thought. "wow. she's going to hit me"
and i was at peace with that thought.
i drove to work afterward.

[sooper.livejournal.com]

This is in contrast to the incident I had last week with my airbags where the only reason they went off was a bad sensor. I didn't expect them to go off, so it kinda freaked me out.

[wanderingbastet.livejournal.com]

Very glad you're okay!

(And you're the second person on my flist to be in a car accident this week. Yikes!)

thanks:)

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

do i know the other person? i hope they are okay.

Re: thanks:)

[wanderingbastet.livejournal.com]

I doubt it. kitty_bitch, a friend from Indiana. Both he and the other person in his car are fine, too. :-)

[mirage897.livejournal.com]

My God, so happy nobody was hurt.

[sidhedevil.livejournal.com]

Holy crap! I'm glad you're ok, hunny!

One thing (coming from a cop's daughter =P): do NOT let them imply that this accident was your fault in any way. At all. If the girl in front of you braked hard and the dude in front of her braked hard, make sure you express to the authorities that it was the tow truck that sent you shimmying into the cars ahead of you. Even if you're not sure how it went down.

If you admit to hitting the girl in front of you first, you might be ticketed for Failure to Reduce Speed to Avoid an Accident (or some such law; particulars depend on the state). There's no law against slowing down to avoid an accident though, and that's exactly what you should say to any cops, lawyers, and/or participants in the accident. Otherwise not only do you lay yourself open for the trucker to sue your insurance, but any disputes you try to make after the fact about the way things went down will take months (if not years) to be incorporated into the police report.

*HUG*

I bet that's more than you wanted to know. =P

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

thanks.
i was SO fortunate.
the cops don't particularly care one way or the other at this point. no one got a ticket from this one.
also it looks like the guy behind me was definately lying.
because the girl in front says that she only felt one impact. if i had hit her once, i definately would have hit her again when the truck hit me.
your dad must have given you SO many tips about how to handle any given situation! any particularly good ones?

[sidhedevil.livejournal.com]

Just make sure that the police report doesn't list you at fault in any way. In most cases, you'd be listed as something akin to "Car 1" (again, terminology will vary by municipality).

Sadly, a lot of this I learned through experience. I got slammed by a lady turning left (she had a stop sign and I didn't) back when I was 18, and the recruit (i.e., brand spankin' new cop) mislabeled me as Car 1. It took us *months* to get my sister's emergency room fees paid because I was fallaciously listed as Car 1. And if her poor little broken ribs weren't bad enough, the worst part was that the lady tried to take a swing at me when I got out of the car. Ugh.

What sort of tips are you looking for, though? Accident-related, general cop-dealing, or other specific incident-related tips? I'm a veritable font of police information, as is adderyn (although his is professional and mine is just from being the Little Sister of the 5th District =P).

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

lol.
nothing specific. just thought you might have some funny insights. my body, doc is a policechild and he is FULL of them. his dad was an irish cop in philly in the district the mafia ran.

thankfully, MN is a no-fault state. in this case, it means that the police are not ALLOWED to say anyone is at fault or imply such to the ins. companies, only to charge people with breaking the law.

[planetjake.livejournal.com]

Well at least you're ok.
*hugs*
Don't let it stress you out mmm'kay?

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

at least everyone was okay. big relief.

[cuddlejunkie1.livejournal.com]

I hope your okay...I know that accidents can be scary. Hugs!

[lucifermourning.livejournal.com]

ouch. sounds quite alarming. i'm glad to hear you're okay.