Today, on my way home from an activity with the wife and kids (I drove separately), I was rear-ended by a lady in a jeep who was apparently not paying attention to the road. Fortunately we’re both OK physically but she hit me hard enough that she broke her axle and tore the heck out of my trunk. I can only guess at what happened on that lady’s end of things but whatever it was, she was highly distracted until the last moment when she apparently tried to swerve to keep from hitting me, but it was too late.
So, this is how it went from my perspective:
I was sitting stopped in the road with my left turn signal on and waiting for oncoming traffic to clear so I could turn. Suddenly and with great force I was pushed forward several feet and was covered in fizzy Diet Coke from the can I had in my cup holder.
As soon as I was done being stunned at the surprise of it all, I got out quickly and ran back to make sure the other driver was OK. She let me know she wasn’t hurt and a man that had been planning to turn right where I was turning left had stopped and gotten out of his vehicle to check on us both. After making sure we were both OK, he said he would call in to the 911 dispatch and let them know that he was a willing witness if they needed one to help resolve any dispute that might arise in this incident.
I called the police to report the collision and while we were waiting for them to arrive, I got the OK from the dispatcher to move the vehicles off to the side of the road. The officers were there in under five minutes (Wow, nice response time!) and took our information and then helped us do a quick inspection of the vehicles to see if we would need to tow them. The Jeep was deemed not able to be driven because an axle appeared to be broken and leaking fluid. My vehicle, though smashed pretty badly in back was deemed able to be driven far enough to get home, which was only two more blocks.
I was given a police report number but was not given any contact or insurance details about the other driver, so I guess I’m going to have to obtain that from the police report as soon as I can get a copy of it. I’m thankful that nobody was hurt, at least not in any way that was immediately noticeable, but gosh this makes for an unhappy way to end the day! 🙁
